Suryaprakash @ Sydney, Australia on 5 August 2012

[mohan]

R. Suryaprakash – vocal
Murali Kumar – violin
Sridhar Chari – mrudangam

Time/Date 4pm to 7.30pm Sunday, 5 August 2012
Concert duration: 3.5 hours
Sabha: Pallavi, Sydney – Celebrating the birth centenary of Sri Madurai Mani Iyer

1. sloka (vakratunda mahakāya) followed by
sāmini tōdi (varnam), pantuvarāli, ādi, Nagapattinam Veerusami Pillai
2. sadānanda tāndavam, bahudāri, ādi, Achuthadasar (n, s)
3. ō jagadamba, ānanda bhairavi, ādi, Shyama Sastri
4. amma rāvamma, kalyāni, khanda capu, Thyagaraja (r, n)
5. sarasa sāmadāna, kāpi nārāyani, ādi, Thyagaraja (s)
6. chésinadella, tōdi, ādi, Thyagaraja (r,n,s,t)
7. RTP, hamsānandi - hamsadhwani - hamsanādam - hamsavinōdini, ‘ānandini sadā pāhi, sakaladwani swarūpini, sūnāda niranjani, sāmagāna viṇodini, ṣri hamsa’, misra capu, R. Suryaprakash
8. viruttam in kāpi, kāmbhōji and bhimplās followed by
kandan karunai puriyum vadivél, bhimplās, ādi, Guhan
9. gā ma ga ri ga pa ri ga sā (English note)
10. Mangalam, sourāstram, ādi, Thyagaraja


Sri Suryaprakash concluded his short Australian tour with an awesome concert for Pallavi. He included very detailed presentations of Kalyani and Thodi which scaled breadth of these grand ragas. The highlight was neraval in both these kritis. He crowned the concert with the elaborate hamsa-rāga pallavi (first sung in Chennai a couple of weeks ago) which took the audience upon Saraswati’s celestial swan.

In between he included favourites of Sri Madurai Mani Iyer such as sadānanda tāndavam, ō jagadamba and sarasa samadana.

He was extremely well supported by Melbourne-based artistes Sri Murali Kumar (disciple of MSG) and Sri Sridhar Chari (disciple of UKS).

Sri Suryaprakash now heads to Singapore for a concert on 11 August.

[Lakshman]

It is interesting to note that the kAmavardhini varNa is credited to Poochi Iyengar by T.K.Govinda Rao in his varNasAgaram book and to Vinai Kuppier by Vinai A.Vaidyaligam in his book Gita prabandha mAlai.

[mohan]

Lakshman-ji - no idea who it is by. I got Nagapattinam Veerusami Pillai from a Rajalakshmi CD cover

[keerthi]

Lakshmanji,

You can add Parameswara Bhagavatar and T. Tyagayyar to that list of misattributions. The composition is quite definitely by Veerusami Pillai. He refers to his native ksEtram and deity in his varnams - nAgapura for nagapattinam, and SoundararAja for the eponymous deity.


Could you please list any varnams of this composer you have, other than the kalyAni and pantuvarAli ones..?

[rajeshnat]

Mohan
chésinadella in tōdi as a main is quite rare . There is so much of nadaswara touch and possibly GNB touch is always there

May I know how long he sang the RTP please, was there alapana/taanam/neraval/swaram in all 4 ragas. Three and half hours concert just gives an opportunity to hear 3 neravals and a pallavi too ?

[mohan]

The RTP went for about 1 hour 5 mins with about 25 mins of ālāpana (vocal and violin). He did all manōdharma aspects in all the 4 ragas.
tōdi ālāpana was around 15 mins vocal and 10 mins violin. tōdi ālāpana also had lots of long nādaswaram-like phrases. There was also a brief greha bedham from tōdi Rishabham to mōhanakalyāni.

[arkumar]

Hello Murali uncle,

Trust the concert went well. I simply enjoyed your concert with Suryaprakash sir in Melbourne. Congratulations once again!
regards,
Ashwin

[arasi]

Mohan,
I'm so glad Suryaprkash's concert was an enjoyable fare for the Sydney audience.
Happy to hear that he could sing for more than three hours. It meant that he didn't have to sing a concise pallavi at all--given his imagination and energy!

[Gladfan]

Lakshmanji,

You can add Parameswara Bhagavatar and T. Tyagayyar to that list of misattributions. The composition is quite definitely by Veerusami Pillai. He refers to his native ksEtram and deity in his varnams - nAgapura for nagapattinam, and SoundararAja for the eponymous deity.


Could you please list any varnams of this composer you have, other than the kalyAni and pantuvarAli ones..?

When you say Kalyani one, are you saying that the popular Vanajakshiro Varnam in Kalyani is not actually a composition of Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar, but of Nagapattinam Veeruswami Pillai? That is also dedicated to SoundararAja of nAgapura.

[keerthi]

When you say Kalyani one, are you saying that the popular Vanajakshiro Varnam in Kalyani is not actually a composition of Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar, but of Nagapattinam Veeruswami Pillai? That is also dedicated to SoundararAja of nAgapura.

Yes, it is this varNam I refer to. There is no reason to believe that it is by ramanathapuram 'pUci' Srinivasayyangar. It is most definitely by 'rakti' veerasami piLLai.