Veena: L Ramakrishnan 15 Aug 2014

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Nada Inbam, Chennai
15.08.2014 : 6.15 to 7.15 p.m.
(Live webcast by Parivadini)

Veena : Vid L Ramakrishnan

Accompanists
Vid. Thanjavur Kumar: Mridanga
Vid.Pudukottai Ramachandran:Ghata

1. Varnam: Kanada: Neranammithi
2. Sree Ganesaatparam: Ardradesi(Mirsra jhampa): Dikshitar
3. Saraswati Namosthute: Saraswati-Rupaka-GNB
4. Sree Subrahmanyo maam rakshatu: Todi-Aadi- Dikshitar (raga aalapana, Taanam in ragamalika)
5. Viswanathena:Samanta (Janya of Nagabharanam)-Adi- Dikshitar
6. Patiki haarati re: Surati – Adi-Tyagaraja

The concert was part of Veena Vidushi Kalpagam Swaminathan(1922-2011) Birth Anniversary and it was most befitting that L Ramakrishnan, himself a sishya of Kalpagam Mami presented the concert. I could not attend the concert in person and the review is based on a fairly edited version of the recording which is available on line in parivadini (youtube).

Ramakrishnan has always been ‘quality conscious’ and this concert was no exception. And being a professional in an altogether different field, his efforts in this direction are laudable. As is the custom, he takes care to render important portions of the kriti vocally too during the concert.

The choice of kritis was good as it provided a couple of rare uruppadi-s in some ‘not so commonly handled ragas’ like Ardradesi and Samanta. Handling compositions in Veena in talas like Ata / misra jhampa is not easy and Ramakrishnan fared well. Saraswati Namosthuthe gave the much needed ‘prati madhyamaraga relief’ in the concert. Todi aalaapana was sober and there was a taana (ragamalika) including Athaana, Kalyani, Sahana and surati. Swaraprastaara for the kriti was rendered only in the keezhkaalam at the Pallavi matching the mood and tempo of the composition.

The concert was rounded off with Patiki haarati re (surati).

I understand that last year (April 6, 2013) a print version of the first volume of Kalpakam Swaminathan’s notations of Dikshitar kritis, typeset from a notebook of her handwritten notations was released. Dr. S.Seetha and Prof. S.R.Janakiraman were the guests of honour.
Dr.L Ramakrishnan had given a speech on the occasion.

[Nick H]

I had not been able to attend last year's performance, so made sure not to miss this year's by forumite friend L Ramakrishnan.

I have only seen his guru a couple of times, but noted her very straightforward presentation and felt that Ramakrishnan echoed that. I enjoyed it very much.

(just my uneducation observation/opinion)

[rshankar]

Way to go, Ramki (Vainika on the forum)!

[vainika]

Thanks Siva Sir, Nick and RShankar. I just looked at the video and noticed that the segments where the webcast quality was choppy have been excised, about 10+ minutes including parts of the varnam, alapana, tana and k-svaras. Thanks Parivadini for the recording/broadcast.

[Sreeni Rajarao]

Ramki,
I was happy to find your concert here! Enjoyed it immensely!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DTzOISYAYA

[gardabha_gana]

Ramki/Parivadini - how long will the recording be available?

[parivadini]

No one has objected for archiving the concert. I guess it should be available until YouTube exists

[arasi]

Ramki,
Thanks to Parivadini, I heard part of the concert (occupied as I am at the moment). Happy to hear you play after listening to you at your place. Is it all right if I say that you sound even better, and are playing with more confidence and verve?

[parivadini]

It was a fantastic concert. Very much appreciated singing along as well,especially from a lay listener's point of view like yours truly.Hope we get to hear a lot of your concerts (with a selfish interest of putting up a lot of your concerts on parivadini I add,even concerts in the us you can do the live webcast all you need to do is download encoder software,we mail you a xml source file and hardware requirement is a laptop with 2gig and one decent web cam and one usb sound card and a decent internet connection)

Cheers
Venkat