RKSK - Naada Inbam - 21.12.14

[bilahari]

R.K. Shriramkumar - Violin
K. Arun Prakash - Mrudangam
Anirudh Athreya - Khanjira

Approximately,
Ananda naTana prakAsam - kEdAram (R)
samAnamevaru - kharaharapriya (RNS)
sItApatE - khamAs (RN)
birAna brova idE - kalyANi (RNS)
inta sowkhyamaninE - kApi (RST)
sakhi prANa - chenchuruTTi (sketch)
chandrasEkhara - sindhu bhairavi (R)
gItArtamu - suruTTi
mangaLam

Surprised nobody's reviewed this concert. Watched it via Parivadini. Fabulous concert, I thought. Kept the energy up throughout and there was solid manOdharmam in almost every piece. The kharaharapriya was the highlight of the concert for me - intense alapanai and elaborate neraval that was evocative especially in the upper octave followed by high voltage swaras. RKSK's swaras impressed me especially throughout - beautiful sarvalaghu patterns and a great sense of proportion in both quantity and velocity. RKSK's extremely vocal interpretation of kritis always astounds me; not a syllable seems to be out of place. However, to me this is a double-edged sword. Sometimes his desire to maintain fidelity to the vocal articulation of kritis results in multiple bows on the same swaras that sound a little jarring to me. I personally think it's fine to adapt kritis to instruments even if it means compromising sahitya shuddam a little, but I'm sure the purists would vehemently disagree. I also think RKSK is still very much an accompanist in practice: his kritis sometimes have rough edges (i.e., not perfectly tailored transitions between sangathis/lines), and his playing sometimes sounded a little rushed to me, especially in the khamAs alapanai. His classicism (not a single HM-esque phrase in that kalyANi) and minimalism (no jazzed up kriti renditions with kArvais leading to numerous cycles of random filler sangathis) are both very attractive. His full use of the bow with azhuttam a la his guru, VVS, is always lovely to watch and hear too.

I am ambivalent towards KAP - his playing always straddles the sensitive-listless line, and in this concert, I felt it was too much the latter. Anirudh was consequently a little muffled too, although I generally enjoy his playing.

Happy to see RKSK giving violin solos, and look forward to more from him and his contemporaries. Thanks to Parivadini for bringing this concert to those of us stuck oceans and continents away.

[rajeshnat]

Bilahari,
It is always a pleasure to read your views , you went to a hibernation since last year. Keep it coming.

[sureshvv]

Did you leave out an amazingly moving vazhi maraithu irukkudhe?

I find his solo concerts much more elevating that when he is accompanying. The violin sounds much more melodious.

Arun Prakash and Anirudh Athreya were outstanding. The audience was full of fellow musicians.

[Nick H]

...which, at one point, was a disadvantage! The thani could not be heard with a dozen putters of talam! As humans (even musicians ) are not machines, that makes every clap sound like a dozen ball bearings being dropped into a tin can. Whatever Galileo said, they do not all land at the same time!

I suspected, though, that what was going on was a complex numbers-fest with three musicians who particularly enjoy that just having fun doing it.

It was a wonderful concert, and I did not begrudge them that fun.

Btw... I'm in the pro-Arunprakash camp

[vasanthakokilam]

Whatever Galileo said, they do not all land at the same time!

That tala putting cacophony in general and especially during tani is one practice CM can do away with. Let us talk about that format change!!

Nishabda kriya for all beats please!

[Nick H]

Absolutely. "Air talam" doesn't bother anyone, as long as it is not to dramatic