Maharajapuram Ramachandran@RR Sabha on Dec 17th,2014

[rajeshnat]

Maharajapuram Ramachandran@RR Sabha on Dec 17th,2014
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Vocal : Maharajapuram Ramachandran
Violin : Nagai Muralidharan
Mrudangam : Mannargudi Easwaran

Concert Type : Nirvana - No concert to follow
Day/Duration : Wednesday/ 2 hours
Concert Type/Crowd : Free concert - ~ 200
Sabha / Hall : RR Sabha / PS High School dakshinamoorthy Hall

01. pranamAmyaham(S)-gowlai-MV
9 mins swaras
02. narasimha(S)-Arabi-ST
4 mins swaras

03. thunai Purindarul(R S)-varamu-psivan
9 mins alapana and 5 mins violin return
3 mins swaras
04. gAnamurthE(RS)-ganamurthi-T

05A. enneramum uN nAmam(R N S T)-poorvikalyani-SS
12 mins alapana and 6 mins violin return
neraval in "anbudan unnai aDaikalam adaindEn akhilandEshwari abhirama sundari" for 7 mins
7 mins swaras
05B. tani for 11 mins

06. narAyanA ninna-suddhadhanyasi-PD
07. guruvayoor appanE appan -reetigowlai-AK
08. suttumvizhi-?? + ?? + kAnadA (ragamaliga) -BharathiyAr
09. mangalam

RR Sabha is a very old sabha , for the last 7 or 8 years they are renovating and constructing their hall and it is not done yet. This year I see them taking up PS High School, it is indeed a great move as in the last few years PS high school was not used during dec season. Maharajapuram School is known for janaranjakam , certainly the third generation ramachandran is very sincere in presenting his appa santhanam numbers with a significant briga polish like his tAthA vishwanatha iyer.

The baritoned voice boomed from the start , more than the gowlai krithi I immensely liked his long swaras in gowlai.Arabi turned out next , it was a bit of drop in quality as usually their school are great arabi singers . With the cittaswaras and swaras it turned out well.

The submain varamu was fantastic and the pick of the day . I have heard the same krithi and the raga alapana in similiar fashion before , but it never bores me simply because of his voice glide that too with power where he holds his breath and glides minimally in descent without losing the breath. In varamu alapana i could hear more aesthetics then his illustrious appa and I have no clue of how vishwanatha iyer sings varamu.

ANother patented krithi ganamurthi was sung with right alankaram for almost all sangathis . The poorvikalyani was the main , it is my 10th concert of the season and this is my first PK of the season. While PK has a circular approach by many musicians and i think that is the reason why many feel bored . But ramachandran atleast in alapana was essence with lot of sparkling fast paced brigas . HE almost sang in one cadooble the whole alapana . I liked his alapana and i was expecting this SS thamizh krithi as he has sung before . The krithi was not that well rounded , his neraval was bit repetitive , swaras were not that engaging as his alapana, ideas were there but bit of disjoint feeling in layam .

The fillers were all santhanam numbers . I think he got few chits or may be they were pre planned requests . While my head swinged like a doll with narayana in sudda dhanyasi , the plead in reetigowlai for guruvayoor appan was not that aesthetically pleasing .He rushed a bit and started with anupallavi narayana ena navOdu . The santhanam melliflous sangathis came in full with bharathiyar's suttum vizhi , all three were haunting ragas i could catch clearly the KAnadA in sAthiram pesugiral that was so beautiful. Bharathiyar touches with his simplicity and what a wonderful tunesmith he was.

The two accompanists Nagai Muralidharan and Mannargudi Easwaran are the usual stock acccompanists of ramachandran . Both of them played very well , while muralidharan had a slightly high volume but easwaran was perfect - he has mastered in controlling aggression and he gives always the sowkhyam.

In the last concert that i attended of maharajapuram ramachandran there were few numbers which he consciously sang that were not sung by santhanam (on top of my head i am recalling a ponniah pillai varnam in lalita and poothavalE viruththam), but this time the whole package was santhanam. The 200 rasikas inclusive of me were loyal followers to janaranjaka bAni of maharajapuram . Ramachandran could have given bit more variety , he usually has a tendency to sing the first few numbers as near sub main and I always notice there is an energy sag in Main - losing a vistarama main status which happened again. For a change he did not finish with Bho sambho in revati which was refreshing too.

Overall a very good concert for exact 2 hours.

[ganeshkant]

The rAgams normally are bhimplAs , behAg and kAnadA in suttumvizhi in their school.

[HarishankarK]

The rAgams normally are bhimplAs , behAg and kAnadA in suttumvizhi in their school.

Did Bharathiar indeed tune the songs that are being today, because i myself know suttumvizhi song in around two different ragamalikas and two single raga tunes.
I don't think Bharatiyar was a tunesmith. He was a great poet, no doubt.

[arasi]

Bharathi sang out his poems mostly. He did specify certain rAgAs and modes (of the folk kind--chindu) for several of his verses.

The version we learned of these verses were in senjuruTTi and nAda nAma kriyA.

[rshankar]

Actually, the mahAkavi may not have been a tunesmith, but he did have rAga suggestions for many of his compositions, and not just cindus, right?
But even as present-day tunesmiths change rAgas for so many compostions, from Purandara Dasaru's padas, Arunachala kavi's kRtis, to Narayana Teerthar's tarangams, etc...it's not surprising that the mahAkavi's compostions have also been retuned...I must say that the retuning has added to the esthetic value in most cases IMO.