Prince Rama Varma's Lec dem on Sri. K S Narayanaswamy

[Rasikapriya2013]

To mark the centenary year of Vidwan Sri K S Narayanaswamy, The man and his music, Sri Rama Varma gave a talk on the same for the morning Lec Dem at the Madras Music Academy on 29th December.
Touching briefly on the life of his Veena Guru Sri K S Narayanaswamy, he shared his musical dialogues with his Guru through demonstration. Though very very short this lec dem threw light on Sri K S Narayanaswamy's deep knowledge and his passion for music.
He also played some clippings of Sri KSN's Lec dem which he mentioned has been uploaded on Youtube in seven parts.
The 'Moderate to the extreme' approach of KSN towards music,the cliched idea that he was just 'a veteran who played sampradaayamaana shuddhamaana sangeetham',his lovely insights into the nuances like how the Ragam Shankarabharanam and Kalyani can be differentiated even without showing the madhayamam , the difference in the way the shuddha madhyamam is treated in Bhairavi and Kharaharapriya , the way Hindustani and Carnatic Gamakams vary,(this was illustrated with a short but impactful rendition of a phrase of Chakravakam and Ahir Bhairav by Sri Rama Varma),SriKSN's soft spoken nature, his open mindedness to appreciate other genres of music , the way he stressed on the importance of pure notes too.
All this and more was demonstrated by Sri Rama Varma in the very insightful lecdem.There was a good turnout despite the bad weather .

[Rasikapriya2013]

There was something in the lecture for listeners of every level be it a student , a teacher , a performing musician , a serious rasika or just a lay rasika like me .
The audience was full of all the above types of listeners.I spotted many performing veterans , present day star musicians and several upcoming artistes in the audience.
Sri TVG and Smt R.Vedavalli spoke about the lecture and conveyed their appreciation.
Another thing I forgot to mention in the previous summary was that Sri Rama Varma drew a very apt parallel between the soft spoken nature and unimaginably high gnyaanam level of Smt Suguna Purushottaman and that of Sri K S Narayanaswamy.

[sweetsong]

It is so nice to see how he constantly remembers the people he holds in high esteem,
whether they happen to be physically present there or not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7i3V6WEFBU

[sureshvv]

Some of the most beautiful writing I have read are 3 articles by Rama Varma on BMK, MMI and MDR. I am not sure if it was on rasikas.

http://ramavarma.yolasite.com/the-writer.php

[sweetsong]

Excerpts from this lecdem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Lbv4Jj9VMU