Maharaja Swathi Thirunal Day concert by Sri Rama Varma

[Rasikapriya2013]

Maharaja Swathi Thirunal Day concert by Prince Rama Varma with Sri S. Varadarajan on the Violin and Arjun Ganesh on the Mridhangam.

This was at PRC Centenary hall on the 19th of April, 2014 . It was a welcoming change to enjoy a concert with such clear Acoustic balance from the beginning till end!!!

Concert started with the introduction of Swathi Thirunal Maharaja, and his musical compositions.

List of songs

1. "Shibhikayil" Utsavaprabandha krithi in Mangalakaisiki ragam describing Lord Padmanabha in Pallakku vahanam. This was rendered in a vilamba kalam, bringing out the complete bhavam of the song.

(Utsavaprabandha compositions is a graphic description of the ten day festival in the Padmanabhaswami temple. It is written in Manipravalam which is the name given for highly Sanskritised Malayalam.)

2. "Pahi Shripathe Mohana Murthe" in ragam Hamsadhwani. Starting with a neat Alapanai, he brought out the brilliance of Maharaja Swathi Thirunal's compositions, stressing on the swaraksharams and adding on to the beauty with colourful rounds of kalpanaswarams.

3. "Maamava Padmanabha sadaa" in Varali was rendered with full of Raga Bhavam . Neraval at "Danalola manojakara murali gana" followed by a beautiful and dynamite round of kalpanaswarams, showed the depth of his knowledge to create and extemporize in such a free manner. His vainika sense of aesthetics, shruthi/thala shudham, clarity in pronunciation and Peace makes his music very pleasant and enjoyable.

4. Choosing to sing "Anandavalli" in Neelambari describing the Devi at Padmanabhapuram was my personal favourite for the evening.

5. "Bogeendra Shayeenam" in Kuntalavarali was rendered in a nice speed with beautiful kalpanswarams.

6. An exquisite alapana of Saveri which featured Devi Pavane in adi thalam was the main for the evening. The ability to travel through the intricate and minute nuances of the raga and with such great ease from the lower to higher octave took the concert to great heights for that evening. His approach to Kalpanaswaram for this song was really brilliant. He started on the swara vistharam with "Samajapungava" in second kalam and adorning it with strings of swaras and ending effortlessly with "Bhavayami Raghuramam's" swarams. The round of kalpanaswarams was rendered with passing the baton from Sri Rama Varma to Sri Varadarajan and then to Arjun Ganesh.
Sri Varadarajan followed his singing like a shadow not missing on even a single note. This was the first time Arjun Ganesh is playing with Sri Rama Varma and Varadarajan. He played like a seasoned accompanist for Rama Varma. His thani was melodious, not loud, soothing with perfect sense of timing.

7. "Sarasiruha" in Desakshi tuned by his guru Sri Balamuralikrishna.
Though each song and its meaning was briefly introduced, the explanation given to this raga and how it can be misinterpreted for Bilahari if sung wrongly was very informative.

8. Last one was a Hindustani Bhajan in Subapantuvarali, "Aaye Giridhara Dware".

[HarishankarK]

In Dikshitar's school manipravalam is a composition which has a mixture of more than 1 language. 1 line sanskit, 1 line tamil, 1 line Telegu etc.

Aaaye Giridhar is in raga Poorya Dhanashree (more equivalent of Pantuvarali than Shubha Pantuvarali{which is closer to Gujri Todi})

[CRama]

Very good selection of songs by the Prince. Any webcast is available.

[Rasikapriya2013]

[quote="HarishankarK"

Aaaye Giridhar is in raga Poorya Dhanashree (more equivalent of Pantuvarali than Shubha Pantuvarali{which is closer to Gujri Todi})[/quote]

"He announced it as Thodi in the Hindustani System and Shubha Pantuvarali in our system".

A link to the song...
http://youtu.be/UNaaAdQqxnE