MaharAjapuram Ramachandran@nAyaki on Jan 18th,2014

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rajeshnat
Posts: 10121
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

MaharAjapuram Ramachandran@nAyaki on Jan 18th,2014

Post by rajeshnat »

MaharAjapuram Ramachandran@nAyaki(kotturpuram)on Jan 18th,2014
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Violin : Kumbakonam M R Gopinath
Mrudangam : Mannargudi Easwaran

Concert Type : Nirvana - no concert to follow
Day/Duration : Saturday / 2 and 1/2 hours
Concert Type/Crowd : Ticketed concert - about 60% full (around 75)
Hall: Chettiar Hall in RiverSide Road , Kotturpuram , on the banks of Adyar River

1A.alapana of LalitA for 2 mins
1B. Viruththam - bhakthiyuDAR kAriyaThil padharA migundha pOrumaiyuDan - lalitA - ????(whose line is that Lji )
1C. vanajAkshirO vibhUni - varnam - lalitA - Tanjore Ponniah Pillai

2. vaNdeham jagath vallabham(S) - hamsadhwani-AC
8 mins swaras
3. shee valli devasEnApathE (R,S) - natabhairavi- psivan
10 mins alapana and 4 mins violin return
and 6 mins swaras

4. jambupathE (raga sketch) - yamunAkalyani - MD
5. himagiri tanayE - suddha dhanyAsi - HMB

6A. kAmAshi bangAru(R, N, S) - varALi - SS
10 mins alapana and 6 mins violin return
neraval for "shyamA krishna paripAlini shyamA" for 6 mins
8 mins swaras
6B. tani for 8 mins

7. shree chakraraja - ragamAliga (shenjurutti+ punnagavarali+ nadanAmakriya+ sindhubhairavi) - Agasthyar
8. cella kani vAzhAl solladA - brindAvani - YazhpAnam veeramani
9A. viruththam- kandA guhA shanmughA - amruthavarshini - ???(Lji help)
9B.eNmugham paraiyyA - amruthavarshini - YazhpAnam Veeramani

10A. viruththam peTra thai thanai - revati - thiruvarutpA
10B. bho sambHo - revati - swami dayananda saraswati
11. neenAma roopamulaku - sowrashtram - T
Last edited by rajeshnat on 19 Jan 2014, 13:52, edited 1 time in total.

rajeshnat
Posts: 10121
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

MaharAjapuram Ramachandran@nAyaki on Jan 18th,2014

Post by rajeshnat »

Musicians of this era always face a conundrum. The conundrum is depth vs breadth . Should they go for depth where they take a limited set of krithis and sing repeatedly to get more and more polish and aesthetics. Or should they take up breadth where the shear spread of repertoire gives joy to rasikas to enjoy the musician . I think the jury for all this conundrum is listening rasikas (makkal theerphu magesan theerpu- rasikas verdict is also gods verdict). In todays era breadth is indeed needed of course not losing aesthetics is the key which is where many musicians in many concerts lose out when they take up breadth.

Maharajapura ramachandran over the years has concentrated on a fairly limited set of krithis centering on depth where his numbers were mostly his appa santhanam's numbers and a very limited outside quota of his appa (like swarajathi in bhairavi). Now the artist are living in an era where they are looking at feedback from rasikas is my best guess . Incidentally in this concert there were atleast 2 to 3 numbers which ramachandran sir is singing to reinforce that he is also interested in breadth and not just depth. This concert was a headturner for me to think that maharajapuram ramachandran is also interested in breadth. :-o

Lalita as a varnam was some thing I searched few years back. I did hit few google links pointing to sindhuja(the sandiego sanfransisco reviewer from our rasikas team) who has composed one. As such when ramachandran was starting the alapana during the first 2 mins in pristine lalita , I was internally thinking will he go for hiranmayeem as the first number . He moved from alapana to a lovely viruththam the words and his accentuation was perfect emphasising the serene aesthetics of lalita . bhakthiyuDAR kAriyaThil padharA migundha pOrumaiyuDan was that goosebump line , it roughly means with devotion if you work without a tinge of panic and an intense patience you can achieve . Wow it was to me- should i love lalita the ragam or the emote and meaning of this lucid viruththam.

The surprise was the vanajAkshirO vibhuni varnam in lalita that he sang . He announced at the end that varnam was composed by tanjore ponniah pillai(I used to think sindhuja did it first but actually tanjore ponniah pillai did it a century ago) .I liked ramachandran's lalitha with his arresting swaras at the end .I also lost the varnam words - which i think is best as it asserts music and not stays as prose. At the end of the concert i talked with ramachandran sir as to whom he learnt this varnam , he said he got it from TMT or a sishya of TMT- it just slips me . Anyway lalita oozed with emote and I could not ask for any better start.

The second hamsadhwani vallabha of AC was a bit miss , could not hear violin that much but from midpoint it got adjusted , swaras were not that impressive in hamsadhwani. The 3rd number was an extremely intense alapana . When maharajapuram ramachandran sings alapana for 10 mins , you all should add another 50% time . I dont think i have heard maharajapuram vishwanatha iyer singing an alapana of natabhairavi , but his briga speed and an azhuttam was very vishwanatha Higherish.The krithi shree valli devasenapathe Was expected and I liked it - incidentally for me to hear a very established senior artist like ramachandran singing a natabhairavi was nice - my memories of this krithi just rests with one abhishek raghuram and another prasanna venkatraman who both did a splendid job in the past.

Another conscious effort which was towards breadth was jambupathE - dikshitar krithi in yamunAkalyAni. I have usually heard him and his appa sing haridAsulu but I am not sure if santhanam sang jambuPathE . I think ramachandran referred bit of notes but overall with his baritoned voice dikshitar indeed struck a good chord in me.

The next fast filler himagiri tanayE was nice but without a dose of swaras , i think it just went in a jiffy. Anyway nice show perhaps another #3rd?? number to show his breadth. The main was his often repeated number in varALi , the alapana of 10 mins in varAli was not that 50% extra punch as his natabhairavi . However his azhuttam and varAli suits well. The kamakshi krithi of SS with a touch and go for neraval was nice , may be neraval could have been better. The swaras were fairly copybook sangathis . He could have spaced varAli well

In the tukkadas he kind of waved tata to his thatha and moved to his appa . The first shree chakra raja is a number which puffs rasikas ego inclusive of myself where we all think we can also sing .However with the next short alapana of brindavani and a cella kani vAzhal , a lord muruga number tuned by his appa santhanam penned by yazhpanam veeramani was really superb and took our ego away. I never get tired of these numbers . Another thamizh viruththam in kanda guha shanmugha was not as great as his appa , he bit rushed like his thatha and ended up with another jaffna veeramani enMugam paraiyya and kept up the emote high.

His last tukkada was bho sambho with a preceding thiruvarutpa in revati was very nice , perhaps he can consciously adopt to drop this number as it is surely repeated and the breadth gets obscured because of this last drop #:-s , nevertheless musically no cribs there. :)

MRG played wonderfully and his proportion sense gave a lot of unobtursive touch points to maharajapuram ramachandran. Mannargudi easwaran played neatly and had quite an energy when compared to my last few concerts of his . Tani was just good.If there is some thing that i missed in this concert was his lack of singing even one detailed neraval #:-s .

His tatha MVI said all other composers excepting thyagaraja were all pOkkiris and he adored the krithis of T. Incidentally his grandson gave just one pavamAna of T . He is carrying the legacy of understanding the pulse of the audience is how i take it and for a change skipping T. I am sure he will sing more and more krithis of T in the next concert.

Overall an excellent concert for 2 and 1/2 hours.

Nick H
Posts: 9472
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 02:03

Re: MaharAjapuram Ramachandran@nAyaki on Jan 18th,2014

Post by Nick H »

Had been meaning to attend Sri Ramachandran's concert for some time, but had not made it in past six or seven years.

Had also been meaning to sort out the route to this hall from the Adyar Gandhi Nagar side through the Koturpuram village.

Nice to be able to achieve both yesterday evening.

From my uninformed (but I'll admit to a little experience ;) ) viewpoint, I agree absolutely with Rajesh's "excellent." I felt that the presentation and balance of the programme was well thought out, and that it had a flow that carried us from start to finish, with no thought at all for the time. I could, in retrospect, say that, yes, I would have liked some more neraval, especially of the extended kind --- but this looking back at the meal and saying, all was good, I should have liked more of my favourite.

The hall is excellent, and for a modern, square-built auditorium with a traditional stage, its acoustics are pretty good if not among the best. There seems to be some rudimentary wood-slat acoustic treatment. Rudimentary it may be, but it seems effective at removing most of the harsh reflections that hurt my ears.

I have the feeling that the majority of the audience were local, many of them might have come from within walking distance (I saw quite a few on the road) of the hall. I fear it is neglected as being too far away and difficult to find. It is neither: it is just one bridge away from [loosely-defined] Mylapore and very easy to find. There is parking inside, and copious free road space outside. More should come and enjoy this excellent concert venue!

rajeshnat
Posts: 10121
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: MaharAjapuram Ramachandran@nAyaki on Jan 18th,2014

Post by rajeshnat »

Nick
Good points about the sabha and the sound system. I was told that this sabha is running its 19th year since inception.The main contributions are from annual membership - quite a lot pay but they dont turn up is what I heard. This is my 5th concert or so , the road is broad with surely a lot of space to park .At times the AC is cold , but they switch it off , but Nick comes prepared with his shawl.

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