Sri MSN Murthy - violin
Sri Patri Satish Kumar - mridangam
about 3 hours.
1. palukavEmi nA deivamA - poornachandrika - T
2. heccarikagA rA rA- yadukula kambhOji - T
3. chentanE sadA - kuntalavarALi - T (S)
4. ardhanAreeswaram - kumudakriyA - MD (AS)
5. pArvati ninnu - kalgaDA - SS
6. vidamu sEyavE - KharaharapriyA - T (ANS)
7. RTP mOhanam - tisra jhampa Sankirna nadai (ATNST)
srirangapatE chaturangapatE kasturirangapatE / sripatE sArangapatE sEshasayana (sri) rAgamAlika swarams in nAyaki, hamIr kalyAni, brindAvana sArangA
8. marulu konna dIra - senjurutti - jAvaLi
9. madhurAshtakam (brief) - sindhubhairavi
+ pasyati disi disi (jayadEvA)
10. tillAna - atANa - NC KrishnamAcharyulu
11. nI nAma rUpamulaku - magaLam - sowrAshtram
I was simply blown away by the music of Pantula Rama. She was extraordinary today, not just because she performed a technically perfect and amazing concert. But she did so with the poise, composure, grace and elegance that only comes with someone that is extremely comfortable in their own skin. From her countenance to couture to the dignity of her presence on stage. No frills, just pure music. There is a "measured ease" about her, a term that I use to refer to someone that seems calm and unhurried even when they are rushing to catch the last bus. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of complexity and vyavahAram in her music. But she is breaks it down to make it appear facile.
I enjoyed the briskness with which she began on palukavEmi. Her telugu diction is impeccable and her sAhitya suddham is praiseworthy. After a soulful and gentle heccarika, she changed the pace with the joyful steps and jumps of kuntalavarALi. Rama's alapanai of kumudakriyA had notes of melancholy, although Murthy's return captured the same spirit, his response sounded more like the dark notes of the minor scale. I wonder if Murthy has any training in W. Classical music. There were many elements of his bowing and note grouping patterns that seemed like someone with equal felicity in Stravinsky/Schumann as with the music of the east Godavari.
I wish Rama chose a more spritely piece after kumudakriya; I am not a huge fan of kalgaDA or pArvati ninnu. But by that time, I was so surprisingly taken by the music that I was lapping it all up. I am so used to hearing Semmangudi and his several generations of followers treat karaharapriyA, that it was very interesting to see Rama's refreshing expressions in this rAgam. And full points to her for her choice of vidamu seyavE. No one sings this anymore! And this is not my selective sampling. The last time I heard someone sing this was Prof. S. Ramanathan!
The RTP was brilliant. Rama handled a very complex pallavi in tisra jhampai (sankirna nadai) with considerable repose. First of all, sankIrna nadai is hard for most people to just keep tALam to, but she handled it like it was a ripe banana; doing trikAlam, stretching and folding the pallavi line (composed by MSN Murthy) as its prosody of the melodic line fell in with the 9:4 metric structure.
But despite all I have said about Rama and her great music, the real star of the day for me was Patri Satish Kumar. What a wizard! He even looks like he just stepped out Hogwart's school. His energy and spontaneity make him one of the most desirable accompanists of today.
Despite the intricacies that he was serving up, the concert had all the placidity and gentleness; almost going to show that rhythmic complexity and musical sowkhyam are not orthogonal dimensions. They can co-exist. And they can get along famously!
Patri created perfect gaps for himself to display his skill. He anticipated sangatis with great skill and when playing for sahityA, he embellished them with a lot of creative energy and perfect use of thoppi. His tirmanams had such a gorgeous sense of symmetry about them that it was hard to be believe that much of it is improvised.
Patri's tani in sankIrna nadai was a class apart. It is hard to get a sense of his vidwat as a laya vidwAn, as his accompaniment is very tabla-esque and he makes the valanthalai/thoppi balance look so simple. But today he played a keezh kAla sankIrnam of the kind not attempted by any of today's mridangists; something that would place him in the line-up of all time greats. Since the generation of TS/UKS/PR and their gurus, I have not heard many attempt keezh kAla sankirnam as a matter of course. Today, Patri was handed a sankIrna nadai tani and he rose to the occasion. Patri's playing represents a paradigm shift in modern mridangam playing.
Rama ended with some beautiful pieces as tail enders. The tillAna by NCK was especially lovely. And as is now her trademark, she sang the mangalam with all the charaNams, except ironically for prahlAda nAradAdi bhaktulu pogaDakuNTE
A top shelf concert by a very scholarly artiste with the finest taste and a refined sense of aesthetics, with very talented accompanists who more than supported her today.
:namaste: This ends a wonderful and nourishing music-filled weekend for me. Feeling refreshed. And you?