R. Ramani - Naada Inbam - 21st Dec 2011

[bilahari]

R. Ramani - Veena
Neyveli Skandasubramaniam - Mrudangam
Adambakkam Shankar - Ghatam

Duration: 2h

Approximate Songlist:

01. calamELa (varNam) [sketch] - nATTaikurinji - Adi - Mulaivittu Rangasami Nattuvanar
02. praNamAmyaham [sketch, S] - gowLai - Adi - MV
03. tyAgarAjAya namastE (?) [R] - bEgaDa - rUpakam - MD
03. toli janmamuna (?) [R, S] - bilahari - jhampa - T
04. marivErE [R, S] - latAngi - khaNDa cApu - PSI

05. srI varalakSmi [R, S] - srI - rUpakam - MD
06. vara nArada - vijayaSrI - Adi - T
07. bAlagOpAla [R, tAnam, N @ nIla dIra sarIra, S, T] - bhairavi - Adi - MD

08. kriti in sencuruTTi
09. venkaTAcala nilayam - sindhu bhairavi - Adi - PD

Smt R. Ramani presented a truly weighty and beautiful concert this morning to a sparse but attentive audience for Naada Inbam. It was my first time listening to this vidUSi, who came highly recommended from Srikant, and she did not disappoint. Right from the sketch of nATTaikurinji, there was a certain dignity and seriousness in her playing. Her raga alapanais were extremely succinct and never meandered. She presented a few well-chosen sangatis for each raga that effectively conveyed its essence, though I did wish she would pause more frequently to allow us to appreciate and absorb her music. There was no unnecessary display of virtuosity in her playing throughout and no melodrama, which was especially evident in her crisp bilahari with none of the GPM,,,,,,,GR,, - GPDM,,,,,,GR,,, type repetitions.

The kritis were all played beautifully, but I wasn't sure about the identity of several, so I apologise for any errors. I particularly enjoyed the bEgaDa and srI raga kritis, with the srI being treated in an unusually sprightly manner. LatAngi was a welcome change for prati madhyama elaboration, and her piDis were such that even in the SRGMP region, there was little, if any, indication of kalyANi. While I enjoyed marivErE, a neraval would have been welcome for the kriti.

Vara nArada was played in an appropriately quick kAla pramANam before the main item. The bhairavi was truly a class apart from start to finish. The raga alapanai was dripping with sowkhyam, and she used DND phrases particularly beautifully. TAnam was played first in bhairavi and then in ghana panchaka ragas, and each presentation was crisp and the transition seamless. The tAnam had beautifully ma-ending phrases initially and was developed well ascending the octaves. RR's kAlapramANam while playing tAnam was especially noteworthy. BAlagOpAla did not fail to move, and RR's neraval in the first speed was especially elegant, and she played some madhyama kAla neraval too, which was appropriately brief given the nature of the kriti. As with all the swaraprastArams this morning, the bhairavi swaras were largely sarvalaghu-oriented and crisp. I wish she had spent some more time on kIzh kAla swaras though.

All in all, it was a masterclass concert by the vidushi, some scattered apaswarams and tuning problems apart.

Both percussionists were sensitive to the vainika and accompanied competently for the kritis and manOdharma segments, though the ghaTam sounded too soft to my ears. The tani was sedate in keeping with the kriti, and it was decent accompaniment throughout.

[cienu]

Thanks Bilahari for covering Ramani Mami's concert. Lovely list and nice to see that she played "Bilahari" too .

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Thanks bilahari for the review. An excellent menu 'made for Veena'.

A person who is always there to promote good music, she graced the Veena concert of Aswin Anand on 19th at Nada Inbam (which I had reported in this forum)

[srikant1987]

Thank you, bilahari! You overtook me in attending a concert of hers, though. It is such a pathetic thing, though. I don't want to spoil this thread saying how hard it is to come by concerts of such great vaiNikas these days. But I urgently want to listen to RR or Kalyani Ganesan mami.

[rbharath]

its a hard miss.

i did some jugglery to be away from office on the 20th morning, for Rama mami's concert at MA and was planning to repeat it on 21st for this one. However, the manager woke up before me!

i so wanted to listen to Ramani mami. Its been a very long time since i heard her a concert of hers. But, it was not this one, unfortunately

[rbharath]

Smt. Ramani tells me that she played
manasuna neranammiti in begada, a composition of PSI, kanukontini in bilahari and charanu charanu in senjurutti.

[bilahari]

Thanks for the corrections, bharath. I do not know any of these kritis.

Two weeks into the season, this remains a highlight concert for me.

[srikant1987]

Shame on you, Bilahari! How could you mix up kanugoNTini with toli janma!
kanukoNTini is in Adi tALam. This is why you should note down tALam names in your notebook.

I don't know about this manasuna neRanammitini and caraNu caraNu, though. :$

[bilahari]

Hey hey! I didn't take my notebook for this concert. At least now there's an impetus to look up this kriti!