KV Ramanujam@Vanimahal(Mini) on Nov 26th,2011

[rajeshnat]

KV Ramanujam@Vanimahal(Mini) on Nov 26th,2011
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"The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see.” - G.K. Chesterton


Flute : K V Ramanujam
Violin : MA Sundaresan
Mrudangam : Tanjore Kumar
Ghatam : Pudukottai Ramachandran

Concert duration/Day : ~ 2 hours and 20 mins/Saturday
Concert Type : Nirvana (open ended with no concert to follow)
Sabha/Hall : Obul Reddy Hall

1.vAthApi - hamsadhwani - MD
2.manasA yEtulO (S) - malayamArutham - T
3.gAnamoorthE (rAga sketch)- gAnamurthi - T

4. paridAnamicchitE - bilahari - Patnam
5. satilEni (R,S) - poorvikalyAni - ponniah pillai (Attn Lakshman Sir which ponniah pillai is this TQ or his great grandson)
4 mins each for flute and violin alapana
8 mins swaras
6. vidajAladurA ?? - janaranjani - T

The motivation to hear this rare vidwan again was seeded as he played so beautifully 2 years back .I was late and missed the first number .As I settled I heard a very flowing evening breeze of malayamArutham, the vidwan played well with a round of swaras . The evening breeze got a few notches better with a wonderful blow of gAnamoorthE , the light raga sketch was a balm with a wonderful soothing experience sustained in the krithi.

Like Flute Mali who had such fast fingers possibly for this bilahari KVR modelled like mAli. shri KVR had lot of speed and his movement of fingers did produce a brisk bilahari. PoorvikAlyAni was well done , the karuna rAsa was there and there was no repetition which typically I generally spot for most carnatic practioners as they go in this recurring poorvikalyani.The rare satileni with a touch of swaras was very good.THe brisk
vidajAlaudura was nice and it was a good wait to hear the main.

[rajeshnat]

7A. rAmakathA sudhA (R N S T) - madhyamAvati - T
8 mins rAga alApana
15 mins neraval and swaras
7B. tani avarthanam for 11 mins

8. darbAri kAnadA krithi by annamAcharyA
9. his own composition in sumanEsaranjani on Sholinghur narasimha perumAl
10. tunbam nErgayiL - dEsh - bharathidAsan
11. mangalam

The MadhyamAvati was really superb, it was beautiful while in the first half there was more virtuosity and skill , the serene blow came and settled in my senses with a really touching madhyamAvati, the neraval and swaras were beautifully played and I immensely enjoyed.

I thought the tukkada line up will be the usual chinnanchiru kiliyE that generally flautist play, but he surprised with me with a extremely soothing darbAri KAnadA ,I asked him at the end what that krithi , he said an annamAcharya krithi in darBari , I forgot to note that , darbAri was superb.

IN my first concert he played the same sumanesaranjani, he did not announce the krithi, this time after wonderfully playing this near madhuvanti esque sumanesaranjani, he announced to MAS that the composition was on Sholinghur narasimhar. This sumanesaranjani krithi was a testimony that carnatic music has an intrinsic divinity , even if there is no words.

The sowkyam culminated with a wonderful desh , with a few longer blows desh was just too besh besh besh

MA Sundaresan supported very well with his extraordinary spark and intellect , but at many times there was bit excessive intrusion , felt at times violin was main and flute was support. The mridangist Tanjore Kumar played well , the sound was bit high with only 12 rasikas(max),when I entered it was just 8, I called the mike man to reduce the sound and indeed he did. PUdukottai ramachandran was fantastic he callibrated without drowning the other artists , especially considering that flute requires that extra callibration

[rajeshnat]

Now coming back to the famous quote of GK Chesterton "The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see.”, one can draw quite a bit of analogy to a carnatic concert.

I am not sure if I am a traveller or a tourist(because in general I feel I am both) , but I assume the remaining 11 co-rasikas are travellers , but in this hustle-bustle world driven by marketing/connections , at times if vidwans dont graduate to perform from travel spots to tourist spots in timely intervals, the no of travellers visiting travel spots will surely dwindle to nearly zero.

In short GK Chesterton I would have extended the quote atleast this way
"The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see.
If the touristspot is not marketed/visited , the dwindling traveler will slowly forget to see the travelspot"

Remember we have all shades of quality(from best to worst) in both the travel spots/tourist spots.

Overall a very good to excellent concert.

[mahesh3]

wonderful review. really enjoyed reading it.

[bilahari]

Great quote, and thanks for the review as always, Rajesh. Flautists really seem to love madhyamAvati!

[Lakshman]

sATilEni guruguha is by Ponniah Pillai of TQ.

[arasi]

Rajesh,
You whet my appetite, whether I'm a tourist or traveler!Wonder if he's playing again this season when I'm there.
Keep your reviews coming. You are a sports writer. I mean, a 'sporty' writer. May your tribe increase...
Excuse my jet lag if it shows.

Bilahari,
Are you in the talai (yAya) nagar yet?

[Nick H]

It is very sad that such a great artist should draw such a small number of audience, especially in a big hall. I suppose everybody in the city had the same excuse that I had for not attending this program: fear of the rain and the roads at that time.

Well, it was a genuine concern on the day, but I am so sad that I missed this. I had the great pleasure of hearing Sri Ramanujam in a house concert, courtesy of Veena J & J: I don't think that I have ever heard such beauty from a flute.