Sree Ramaseva Mandali, Bengaluru concerts

[kvchellappa]

I write briefly on the concerts held under the auspices of Srree Ramaseva Mandali, Bengaluru, as no one else appears to have covered them.
I attended the concerts of Smt. Gayathri Venkataraghavan and Sri Saketharaman.

GV on 10th Apl
Team:
GV
Padma Sankar
Ganapathiraman
Sukanya Ramgopal

It was a characteristic GV concert with melody and bhava.
The pieces sung comprised:
Jaganandakaraka Nattai T
Smaran Unde Malayamarutam PD (Brief alap)
Marivere Dikkevaru Latangi PSI (Alapana, swaras)
Kshirasagarasayana Devagandhari T (alapana)
Chakkaniraja Karaharapriya T (Main)
Thani
Pibare Ramarasam
Thillana
Mangalam




Saketharaman’s concert on 11th Apl.

The team:
Saketharaman
Akkarai Subhalakshmi
Neyveli Narayanan
Dr. Karthik

Era napai- Thodi varnam of PSI in brisk tempo and pleasing melody that continued to the end intact.
Jaya Jaya of Purandaradasa Nattai PD (brief alapana, with new sangatis(?).
Ramanukku Mannan Mudi of Arunachala Kavi, in Hindola starting at Anupallavi. (alapana and swarams)
Sudha Madhurya in Sinduramakriya of T ( chittaswarams by Saketharaman as announced by Karthik).
Tsallare in Ahiri of T (alapana; moving; made me think of MS).
Janakipathe Karaharapriya Sivan (Main)
Resounding thani. (The nadam was melodic. Of course, some people walked out during thani, its grandeur not deterring them).
The organisers wanted to intercede, but Saketaraman waved them off and sung
Chalamelara Saketharama, cutting short their introduction of him, starting once again from anupallavi. Raga Margahindolam; T kriti.
A heavenly desh followed. Saketharaman asked Subhalakshmi to play thani. She did, and it was marvelous. He sang a pallavi ‘Raghuveeram Raghavam Ramam bhajami…..’ He announced that it was in kantachapu talam first part in chatusram and later part in tisram. He sang swaras in ragamalika, Saveri was the second ragam..
Baro Krishnayya (raga malika),
Rama rama enniro in vasantha of Purandaradasa,
Thillana
Mangalam

It was blockbuster of a concert. There was absolute team work and camaraderie on the stage.

Hope knowledgeable people contribute.

[arasi]

Chellappa,
Nice of you to bring us a flavor of the grand Rama Navami festival of Bengaluru from the very start. Hope you and others keep it going until the festival comes to an end--even brief write ups are appreciated. A song list is always looked forward to!

Wonder what's going to be the most favored rAgA this year among musicians. RamA and T songs will dominate, of course...

[hnbhagavan]

Sri Chellappa has covered the Rama seva mandali concerts.The concerts of GV as well as Saketaraman were excellent.
However Saketaraman with Akkarai Subbulakshmi ,Neyveli Narayan and Ghatam Kartik can be termed outstanding.

[squims]

I wanted to attend both GV and Saketharaman's concert, but due to being delayed at work, couldn't attend either.

I did manage to attend a part of Smt.Nityashree's concert on the 9th though. Her voice was in terrible shape. She was evidently struggling. Dhanyasi, a string of small kritis and Kalyani were presented while I was there. Had to leave during Kalyani aalaapanai since it was really difficult to listen to her that day. Maybe some vocal support would have helped.

Looking forward to Sanjay's concert tomorrow. Hopefully the rains don't play spoilsport!

[gardabha_gana]

How are the speeches

[kvchellappa]

Not too long. One would like to go without them, but the concerts are possible because of the sponsors and sponsors need some publicity apart from the hoardings.

[Thalaivarda]

More info here.

http://arohanaavarohana.blogspot.in/

[arasi]

Thanks Thalaivarda for giving the link to Badari's blog. Hope you Bengaluru rasika team of reviewers bring your musical experiences to us till the very end of the Rama Navami festival

[badari]

Quick updates...

With back to back concert attendance .. im finding difficult to complete the review

However.. pl keep visiting my blog as i keep updating as and when i find time.

Each of the 4 concerts were blockbuster over the other.

Yesterday Dr KJY delivered an unimaginable 3hr 45 min concert for a packed house of 8000 audience.

Today Sanjay overtook with a masterclass on ragamAlika tAna....(an endless list of rAgas) followed by a tiSra jAti khanDa naDai jhampa tAla RTP in bahudAri..

[kvchellappa]

Sanjay's concert reminded me of this line from Ramayana: रामरावणयोर्युद्धं रामरावणयोरिव Sanjay's concert was like Sanjay's.
Varadarajan's accompaniment reminded me of description of Sita छायेवानुगता He followed Sanjay like a shadow.
When Ritigowla was over, there was a thunderous clap, so I thought. Actually, the rain battering the rooftop overwhelmed the human applause. My friend remarked, 'வந்தவர்கள் கைதட்டல் ஓய்ந்துவிட்டது. வானவர்கள் கைதட்டல் ஓயவில்லை.'
When Sanjay finished singing Niravadhi sukhada (it was rhythmic and melodious with a lot of verve), I remarked, 'A while ago, it rained outside. Now it has rained inside.'
Venkatesh kept thani a brief affair. The audience sat through, for 2 reasons, one of course is Sanjay and the other is his sense of timing, which is the best among CM musicians. The thani came along midway through. The sound from mridangam sounded to my ears like thavil. I felt I was in a marriage hall. It is not to take away the greatness of his playing. Morsing was enjoyable.

[arasi]

Chellappa,
You and your friend had a poetic time as well!

Badari mentions a viruttam and a pAsuram. What were they? (Ranjanimalavi has written a review in a separate thread and he left before it was sung).

There is no mention of the ghatam, though we see a player on stage in Badari's blog!

[varsha]

https://www.mediafire.com/?dxv1gct3a7rme2n
Somu praises Sree Ramaseva Mandali

[kvchellappa]

There was no ghatam, only morsing.

[badari]

Dear Chellappa,

Next time we should catch up at SRSM.

However, i liked your brisk review of Sanjay.

[kvchellappa]

Sure. I intend to attend on 16th. 9900460069

[arasi]

Chellappa,
Now I know that there was no ghaTam. I must have been dozing off when I saw Badari's blog. The tamburi(A) player is sitting sideways and so the kuDam (base) of it looked like a ghaTam to me! #:-s