Prof.Mavelikkara Subramanian @ MES Kalavedi, Malleswaram. 15

[braindrain]

Vocal : Prof. Mavelikkara Subramanian

Violin : M Chandrasekharan

Mrudangam : M T Rajakesari

Ganjira : Vyasa Vittala

List:

01. Unnai yand’ri vErA ( varNam) – kalyANi – Lalgudi Jayaraman

02. gaNapatE suguNanidhE – janaranjani – Harikeshanallur Muthaiah bhagavathar ( A,S )

03. nannu brOvu laLitA – laLita – Shyama Sasthry ( A,S )

04. katha SravaNa mADu – rItigauLa – Purandara Dasa ( A,S )

05. brOva bhAramA – bahudhAri – Thyagaraja ( A,S )

06. purahara nandana – hamIr kalyAni – Dikshitar

07. ika nanu brOva – bhairavi – Pallavi Sesha Iyer ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & swara @ ‘bhava sAgaramandu munigi vetala jikki’

08. pullAi janiykkarutO – rAgamAlika ( sahAna, madhyamAvathi?, Subha pantuvarALi) – Mavelikkara H. Ramanathan

09. mangaLam- saurAshtram/ madhyamAvathi – Thyagaraja

One classy concert. Every thing from the start was top class. Every alapana, the kalpana swaras that followed, the way each kriti was presented.. fabulous. MC was superb through out and played an outstanding bahudhari.

[CRama]

Prof Mavelikkara Subramaniam is a highly respected musician and teacher in Kerala. I have heard him in the eightees in Kerala.AS most of the musicians in Kerala, he also follows typical SSI style.

[keerthi]

Crama,

I was at this concert, and had gone there with a similar expectation, that Kerala musicians tend to be in the Semmangudi mould. I didn't find any explicit semmangudi elements in his singing. Could you point out any features that struck you as being SSI-reminiscent?

My observations -

When he launched into the AlApa of Lalita, I was quite sure it would be one of the SSI chestnuts - hiraNmayIM or agastIswaraM. I was pleasantly surprised to hear him launch into lalitA! brOvu lalitA! nannu brOvu lalitA! with a flourish. That one imaginative takeoff made my day; and even if the rest of the concert had been boring, [which it wasn't]I was willing to condone it; all for that well-thought out take-off. The swarakalpana in lalita was equally good, with some small poruttaM passages, that were symmetric to the tune of MgM, for na-n-nu in the pallavi.

When he launched into a rItigauLa AlApana, I again expected a jananI ninnu vinA or a paripAlaya mAm srI padmanAbha; but he sang this excellent pada tuned by R.K.Srikantan, (hari) kathA shravaNa mADO. If any, the Semmangudi influence was evident here to me. SSI had a tendency to sing a lot of sriranjani passages in his rItigaula, and many of his shishyaparampara in kErala and tamil nADu have inherited that. In Sri Subrahmanyam's Alapana, there were several sriranjani phrases and a couple of unadulterated bAgesri kAnada phrases; MC tried to smooth them over, by playing the rItigaula-corrected versions for a few rounds; which the vocalist didn't pick up; and then MC too lapsed into the bagesri-blotted rItigaula. Swarakalpana had no such phrases.

Another highlight of the concert was the bahudhAri AlApana. While MS sang a very good AlApana, MC stole the show, starting with GNB's pallavi line unnaDiyE gatiyenRu..he played a very imaginative frewsh bahudhAri, mirroring all that MS sang; and some.

He played some smooth glided in the avarOha, much like we are accustomed to hear in kEdAra - s\n-p\m-g\s; to great effect and some well knit passages like sgss-nsnn-pnpp-mpmm-gmgg-s. The vocalist again launched into the kRti in an unconventional way - with bhAramA? bhAramA rAma? bhAramA raghurAma? and then brOva bhArama raghurAma.

He emphasises 'nannokani brOva bhAramA?' at the end of the pallavi by singing it twice along with abhinaya! [while all the world is yours, is it a burden for you only to protect me?]

Ika nannu brOva is one of the best bhairavi songs, composed by that much-ignored wizard composer Pallavi Seshayyar. It made a good choice for the main song. After a few rounds of swarakalpana, the vocalist launched into the first cycle of the kuraippu, then went straight to the last passage of kuraippu; without doing the diminishing cycles in between. He must have been distracted, or tired.

The malayAlam song 'pullAy janikka' was sung with much feeling and has lyrics similar to the UttukAdu song 'pullAy piravi'.


Despite all my nasty nitpicks, it was a very dignified, engaging concert.

[braindrain]

After a few rounds of swarakalpana, the vocalist launched into the first cycle of the kuraippu, then went straight to the last passage of kuraippu; without doing the diminishing cycles in between. He must have been distracted, or tired..

Keerthi, I think it was the time pressure. He did rush through the neravl and swarakalpana to some extent. From the beginning of the bhairavi alapana, he was continuously looking at his watch. MC had to leave the same evening. Which is why the post main was limited to one song, I guess.

[CRama]

Keerthi, Thank you for the detailed analysis of the concert. I wish I had been there for this concert. Any how I am in Chennai, and hope that he will enthrall Chennai listeners some day.
Reg SSI influence, now I cannot point out any factor because I had heard him in the early 80s and I dont remember anything now. I do not have any recording of his music.
Mavelikkara Ramanathan was also a famous singer in Kerala, whom I have heard in the seventees in Kerala. IIRC, he is the uncle of Mavelikkara Subramaniam. He is the composer of the Malayalam song.

[braindrain]

Mavelikkara Ramanathan was also a famous singer in Kerala, whom I have heard in the seventees in Kerala. IIRC, he is the uncle of Mavelikkara Subramaniam. He is the composer of the Malayalam song.

This song can be heard here ( sung by Athipata Ravi - a well known Kathakali Singer) , to get an idea. I thought the version by Prof Subramanian was better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9oVOnMIp-g

[annamalai]

SSI had a tendency to sing a lot of sriranjani passages in his rItigaula, and many of his shishyaparampara in kErala and tamil nADu have inherited that.

Interesting. This was one of the points mentioned by Calcutta Krishnamurthy during the GNB appreciation lecdem. He was pointing out Dwaithamu Sukhama renditions replete with Sriranjani; I was oblivious to this, until KSK's observation. KSK demonstrated how GN would approach Reetigowla. Similarly, how GN would handle a vakra raga like Malavi - Nennarunchi nanu.

[sweetsong]

Review in the Hindu

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp ... 835302.ece