FROM THE DIARY OF A SABHA HOPPER - MY ARTICLE IN SAMUDHRA

[CRama]

My above article containing the reviews of some of the concerts I heard during the season (I totally heard 56 concerts) has been published in this month's SAMUDHRA. They have slightly edited my article- as mine is a very lengthy one ( as lengthy as I write my reviews). But the cut is very marginal. They have inserted photos of all the artistes in the respective paras which has made the article appear very beautiful. I give below the article as sent by me.

FROM THE DIARY OF A SABHA HOPPER - by C.RAMAKRISHNAN

Since the first week of December, I planned my official duties to enable to attend as many concerts as possible during this season. Oh! what joy and enriching experiences from a multitude of performers, styles, banis, standards and what a treasure of ragas and talas and kritis and pallavis unleashed in the process. The fringe benefits are meeting of friends-old and new, tasting delectable food in the canteen, buying CDs etc. I will like to share some of my experiences through these columns.

VETERANS- WE SALUTE YOU
Sangeetha Kalanidhi Dr. Vedavalli’s concert for Music Academy stood tall for her vidwat, sruti sudham, adherence to sampradayam, sheer sense of the raga swaroopam and sincerity in execution which was evident all through the concert. She opened the concert with a sedate Manasaguruguha in Anandabhairavi and followed up with unambiguous alapanas of Durbar for Munduvenuga and Sama for Guruguhaya. The Parama pavanarama which was taken as the main song and the elaborate RTP in Keeravani were treatises in themselves.

I heard veteran vidwan T.V.Sankaranarayanan after many years. I have felt many a time that he repeated the same songs too much. But this concert was a pleasant surprise for me. He commenced the concert with Bhajare manasa Raghuveeram in Gowla, a composition of Walajapet Venkatramana Bhagavathar. Another unheard song- Rama ninnu neranammithiraa in Anandabhairavi followed. This was followed by the song Appa unnai maravene in Bilahari. I heard Sree Sathyanarayanam in Subhapanthuvarali for the first time now from this vidwan. The piece de resistence was however, Majanaki in Kambodi with the neraval at Rajaraja and torrential sarvalaghu swaras. His manodharmam, open throated singing, sruti sudham, sarvalghu swaras combined together to present an unforgettable concert experience. Mysore Nagaraj- I was hearing him after many years- provided excellent accompaniment with his silken touch and abundant imagination. Harikumar and Coimbatore Mohanram were equally supportive in Mridangam and Ghatam respectively. The huge audience in Academy gave a well deserved standing ovation that lasted for more than 5 minutes.

O.S.Thyagarajan is another senior vidwan known to give unadulterated classical fare with a penchant for singing maximum Thyagaraja Kritis in his concerts . He started his concert for Mudhra with a serene Sathinchane and took up Emijesithe for main and presented a wholesome Kambodi for RTP in a rare talam which he announced as Rudrachapu. It was a concert with old world charm and there was sizeable turnout for the concert in spite of torrential rains. Embar Kannan’s violin was soaked in melody and Mannargudi Easwaran’s Mridangam embellished the concert significantly

STARS OF TODAY - WHO CARRY FORWARD THE LEGACY
Ravikiran’s Chitraveena concert for SAFE showcased his usual high standards in selection as well as quality rendition. M A Sundareswaran, Neyveli Venkatesh and Vaikom Goplakrishnan provided necessary support. An unheard composition of Uthucaud Venkatasubbaiyer in the ragam Kedaram starting with the words Gajamukhanujam on Nithyakalyana Subramania swami was very enjoyable. Ninnuvinaga mari dikkevarunnaru in Purvi Kalyani was the central piece of the concert with alapana, niraval and swaras in the popularly known ‘VilomaChapu’ followed by an energetic Tani by Neyveli Venkatesh and Vaikom Gopalakrishnan. Ravikiran concluded the concert with a self composed thillana in Dwijavanthi.

The concert of Gayathri Girish accompanied by Dr.Hemalatha on the violin, Ganapathiraman on the Mridangam and Nerkunnam Sankar on the Ganjira was held on 9/12/14 for Mudhra. The first ragam of the day was Kundalam, 61st melam in the Asampoorna mela paddhathi equivalent to Kanthamani in the 72 Melakartha scheme. The raga and song Sri Sugandhi kundalambike are very rare and I was hearing the song for the first time. It is on the consort of Mathrubhootheswarar. Dasarathe, the grand composition of Thyagaraja in the majestic Thodi was presented with complete loyalty to the bhavam as conveyed by the saint composer. Andolika was taken up for the RTP. The pallavi was a complex one- Khanda Triputa in which Laghu in Tisra nadai, first dhrutham in Chatusra nadai and second dhrutham in khanda nadai. Total 33 aksharams. Trikalam was done with precision. Trikalam in such a tricky thalam is not every body’s forte and Gayathri Girish did that with elan.

Gayathri Girish also presented a special Ragam Tanam Pallavi concert under the banner of Saraswathi Vaggeyakara Trust. She chose Hamsanadam ragam and Hamsanadam talam for the pallavi. This is one among the 108 talams and its angas are-2 Laghus (8 aksharams), 1 Plutam (12 aksharams), 2 Drutams(4 aksharams), 1 Guru(8 aksharams). Thus total 32 aksharams. The pallavi was Hamsanaadavinodini paalayamam Hamsini niranjani. After singing a detailed neraval, she sang anulomam covering 5 speeds followed by pratilomam. This was followed by anulomam-Vilomam. Hamsanadam being an audava raga, other audava ragas like Hindolam and Mohanam were taken up for the ragamalika swaras. B.U.Ganesh Prasad excelled in his alapana, tanam and returns. B.Sivaraman and Rajagopal embellished the concert significantly. I understand that this is the first time any musician has done RTP in this ragam-talam combo. This RTP is another example for the sincerity, hard work and confidence in which Gayathri is able to conduct any programme -thematic, lecdem or regular concert.

In the last one decade or so, there was a visible absence of a Nadaswara Vidwan in the stature of TN Rajarathnam Pillai or Karukurichi Arunachalam who could attract masses to the music halls. Injikudi Subramanyam, the young Nadaswaram Vidwan had filled that void. Eventhough Nadaswaram and Tavil are inseparable, Injikudi has been performing with Violin and Mridangam accompaniment and presenting highly melodious concerts recently. His manodharmam, blowing technique, patantharam all are praiseworthy. Here is one musician who gives pride of place to the jeeva of the raga through sensitive portrayal. In his concert for Mudhra, four ragas- Hamsadhwani (Raghunayaka) Lathangi(Marivere), Bhairavi (Rakshabettare) and Subhapanthuvarali (Nandanandana-Bhajan) were very elaborate and awe inspiring. Subhapanthuvarali was presented commendably with mostly Bismillah khan prayogas. The accompanists H.N.Bhaskar and Melakkaveri Balaji gelled well.

Dr.Sowmya’s concert for Narada Gana Sabha maintained the usual high standard. Her Nadupai, Sree Guruna palithosmi-Padi and Ninnuvinaga as the main were abundant proof for her vidwath and craftsmanship. Her RTP in Vagulabharanam in Khanda Ata thalam was an aural delight. Her penchant for capturing the raga with just the first long note even if it contains just one swara is amazing. The concert of Bombay Jayasree Ramanath for Bharat Kalachar was awe inspiring from the word go. I feel that now she is singing with more weight and azhutham. Her sruti alignment, poise, grace, impeccable diction, right grouping of words, visranthi wherever required, capacity to stay on one note for extended time all produce heavenly music. The raga alapanas of Bilahari for Sree Balasubramania, Malayamarutham for Anumane of Arunachalakavi, Bhairavi for Rakshabettare and Kunthalavarali and Vasantha for RTP, Desh were pregnant with time tested sancharas displaying every facet of raga with compelling beauty. The RTP in Kunthalavarali and Vasantha was highly innovative.

23 Dec was observed by Music Academy as Remembrance day of Maestro U.Srinivas who was snatched away in his prime. That day in the slot booked for the late Maestro, Lalgudi G.J.R.Krishnan and Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi accompanied by Maestro Umayalpuram Sivarman and Giridhar Udupa presented a very moving concert. Krishnan briefly mentioned about his close association with the young genius and the concert contained some all time Lalgudi fare like Sree Kanthanee in Bhavapriya, Naajeevadhara in Bilahari, Sreenivasa thava charanam in Kharaharapriya and RTP in Bindumalini- the raga which was synonymous with U Srinivas. Najeevadhara was presented in all its grandeur- with the cascading sangathis. The alapana of Bilahari by Vijayalakshmi and Kharaharapriya by Krishnan revealed dexterity, clarity, fine blend of thick and thin shades which enhanced the beauty of the ragam immensely. The pristine classic style associated with Lalgudi school with its focus on vivid portrayal of the sahithyam part was much soothing and they maintained a comfortable decibel level also. Umayalpuram Sivaraman was absolutely sharp and crisp, literally never missing a single beat. The thani by Umayalpuram Sivaraman and Giridhar Udupa was electric and received thunderous applause.

Abhishek Raghuram is the unique amalgam of vidwath, manodharmam, craftsmanship and exhuberance. His concert in Vani Mahal was a blockbuster concert of sorts. His Mohanam alapana was brilliant, his imagination riding high throughout. For Rajagopalam bhajeham, sparkling swaras were rendered at Parijatha thanu moolam. Kanada alapana for Sukhi evvaro was brief. Elaborate all traversing swaras at Suswaramu ganamutho was pretty refreshing. I felt fortunate that he chose Kambodi for RTP. His sojourn into the tara sthayi and dwell into the mandra sthayi and his manodharmam was simply astounding. His lightning brighas, jarus, flashy sangathis and long sangathis all made this 90 minutes Kambodi unforgettable. Vittal Ramamurthy gave good support. His Mohanam alapana was outstanding. His swara returns were most appropriate. Sumesh Narayan- I am hearing for the first time. I heard that he is Thiruvarur Bhakthavalsalam’s student. There was clarity, nadam, dexterity, excellent use of thoppi and that verve and gusto needed to match Abhishek. He will definitely make it big soon. Sreesunderkumar was a good match for Sumesh.

Ranjani Gayathri has emerged as the top singers during this season. Their manodharmam, synchronization and coordination, diction, familiarity with Hindustani music etc contribute to their high position in the concert circuit. I got to hear two of their concerts. The concert at Narada Gana Sabha adhered to the high standards rasikas expect from them. The raga alapanas of Abhogi (Nannu brovu) Subhapanthuvarali (Ennalu oorage) and Kambodi for RTP provided ample proof of their vidwath and manodharmam. They sang one song of Papanasam Sivan in the ragam Manirang -Paradevate un padam nambinen which was new for me. Their abhang and tukkadas are also loved by all. In another concert for Chennai Cultural Academy, they sang a splendid RTP in Keeravani.

Child prodigy flautist Shashank presented a highly satisfying concert for Mudhra with his well sruti aligned music, impressive tone, neat gamakas and grip over laya coupled with enormous manodharmam. He is also a very rasika friendly musician who seeks his audience choice before playing varnam, RTP etc. He commenced the concert with the Navaragamalika varnam and went on to present a nice sketch of Kalyanavasantham for the ever green Nadaloludai. His elaborate alapana of Kalyani for Etavunera showed his expertise in traversing a wide range in his instrument. His technique of playing two octaves simultaneously, a very tough task, is standing testimony to his practice and dedication. This was amply displayed in the raga alapanas. The raga alapana of Natakurinji for pallavi had some blissful passages which he could effortlessly produce with the use of flutes of various srutis. B.U.Ganesh Prasad, Neyveli Venkatesh and Guruprasanna provided excellent support.

Malladi Brothers are known for their pure pristine classical fare in the Nedunuri bani. And they are also heavy crowd pullers. Their varied repertoire, sowkhyam, perfect diction, shruti sudham, abundant manodharmam, solid patantharam elevated them as front line singers within a short time. In their concert for Mudhra, they started with a rare varnam in Anandabhairavi followed it up with Nedunuri masterpiece Rama ninnu nammina in Mohanam. Simhendramadhyamam (Pamarajanapalini), Mukhari (Muripemugalige) and Natakurinji (RTP) were presented very elaborately with the complete raga bhavam and perfect grip over laya. They were accompanied by M.A.Sundaresan on the violin, V.V.Ramanamurthy on the Mridangam and K.V.Gopalakrishnan on the Ganjira. They again demonstrated that they will never disappoint listeners.

CARNATIC MUSIC IS SAFE IN THEIR HANDS
R.Suryapraksh has emerged as a vidwan of considerable merit and popularity coming from the MMI lineage. He presented a scintillating concert for Mudhra. His Samodam paripalaya in Ramapriya of Swati Tirunal, Mohanarama in Mohanam and RTP in Bhavapriya revealed his high imagination and spirited delivery. Bhavapriya although a very rare ragam was rendered elaborately with strict adherence to the grammer of the ragam.

Amrutha venkatesh gave a neat concert for the Academy. Amruta rejoiced in establishing an air of tranquility through her pleasant voice gliding through the notes of the scale. During alapana, Amruta took the raga through a steady and smooth development to the higher pitches, sans bombast, and the violin followed suit in the same suave style with rich vibrancy, employing mostly conventional sancharas, Her voice modulation is appreciable. Pankajaksha tavaseva (Thodi, Swati Tirunal), Tulasibilva (Kedaragowla, Thyararaja) with neraval at Jalajasanadi and RTP in Varali were well executed. She is steadily climbing the ladder under the tutelage of Prince Rama Varma.

I heard the concert of Salem Sreeram in the Academy for the first time and he was a discovery for me. I understand that he is a student of Calcutta Krishnamurthy. He is an immensely talented vocalist who is yet to get deserving exposure in the Chennai concert circuit. There was total abandon in the singer's style, without loud ostentation. His alapanas of Bhairavi for Keechukeechu and Bilahari for Dorakuna and the elaborate Chandrajothi for RTP were top notch with the appropriate mix of bhava and brighas. Kudos to him for taking up Chandrajothi for the RTP and also handling it with class.

This season, I could see a few Veena concerts in some of the sabhas. Position is slightly better than last year. I was waiting for a long time to hear the Veena of Jayasree and Jayaraj duo. Their RTP concert for Saraswathi Vaggeyakara Trust was superb. They played a pallavi composed by pallavi specialist Chengelpet Renganathan Sir in ragam Kharaharapriya. The pallavi contains the names of all the three pontiffs of Kanchi Sankara Mutt. It was presented in a very scholarly manner with all the technicalities of the pallavi. Sad that the duo did not play in any other place during the season.

Sandeep Narayan, the star disciple of Sanjay Subramaniam presented a wholesome fare in his concert in the Academy. His style, voice modulation and body language exactly follows his master, not a defect though. He commenced the concert with a brisk Ata tala varnam- Manamohana in Mohanam. The next song Velayya Dayavillaya of Koteeswara Iyer has a very nice melody. I was hearing this song for the first time. Sandeep presented two pieces very elaborately Ninne nammithinayya and RTP in Sankarabharanam showng musical maturity far beyond his age. The raga alapanas with the characteristic sancharas coupled with his manodharmam were top notch and the glides to different ragas in the ragamalika segment of the RTP were much enjoyable. I hope next year he will be given the prime time slot. He is ready for that.

Another vidwan who revealed his immense calibre is Hemmige Srivatsan, a disciple of KVN- probably the true representative of KVN bani in today’s concert circuit. I have not heard him earlier. His Panthuvarali (Aparama), Reethigowla (Janani ninnuvina), Thodi (Dasarathe) were soaked in sowkhyam and abundant raga bhavam. It was like a gentle breeze without any thunder or storm. He sang a brilliant RTP in Simhendramdhyamam. Since he is settled overseas, his concerts are not heard here. I felt happy that I chose to attend his concert.

Ramakrishnan Murthy is another young vidwan who has captured the rasika’s attention within a short period with his music filled wih sowkhyam and excellent voice modulation in the bani of KVN spreading an air of tranquility wherever he performs. In his concert for Mudhra, he presented the rare ragam Narayanagowla (Sree ramam) with great confidence without any shade of its cousin Kedaragowla. It is commendable that with just one phrase he could announce the arrival of a rare raga. His voice was in great form while singing Sankarabharanam for Endukupeddala and the song was presented with time tested sangathis and the swaras were resplendent with raga bhavam. He sang RTP in Dhanyasi. After KVN, rarely anybody takes up Dhanyasi for RTP. Hats off to Umayalpuram Sivaraman who played marvellously and at the age of 80 years. Umayalpuram Sivaraman’s Mridangam was a big boost to the concert and the thani was energetic and appreciated by the huge turnout of listeners.

There was a time a couple of decades back when people used to be sceptic about the future of carnatic music. We have crossed that apprehension. We have got a new breed of immensely talented and dedicated young vidwans and vidushis who have left other professional fields and taken up Carnatic music as full time career. They are constantly learning and expanding their horizon. We can feel assured that these young musicians will emerge into vidwans and vidushis of highest order in the days to come and glorify this divine art form.
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[Nick H]

The beginning of February, and already the 14/15 season is beginning to feel long gone. Even though we were mostly at different concerts, thank you for bringing it alive again

[CRama]

I was waiting for Samudhra's release for posting it in this forum.

[Nick H]

Congratulations on getting published. I'm sure that the magazine article looks good with photos. I will look for it if I have the chance.

[rshankar]

CRama - thank you for sharing, and congratulations on the publication.

[sureshvv]

The title should be been "From the diary of a consummate connoisseur". This was no random sabha hopping. Congrats!

[priyaram78]

Thanks for sharing in detail your concert experiences. Congratulations.

[Rsachi]

CRama,
you have written it extremely well, sir! Thank you!

[music1]

The Review / write up - Crisp and clear.
Beautiful !

[munirao2001]

CRama Sir,
I missed completely 2014. I kept in touch with only the online edition of Friday Review-Music reviews and reports. Your reporting two generations of Vidwans-Great Maestros;Maestros;Vidwans;Vidushees performances, your enjoyment, your conclusion of high hopes for the future of Carnatic Music came out very clearly. Please continue the good work.

munirao2001

[rajeshnat]

Crama
Lovely and crisp write up . showing all and only the positives of current CM practioners. Thank you.

[mahavishnu]

Very nice, CRama.

[bombal]

CRama sir super!

[ganeshkant]

A very nice write up.I immensely enjoyed reading and can empathize with you which makes it look like my own experience.congrats.

[S.NAGESWARAN]

Dear Sri CRama,
Thank you for the complete overview of the Chennai Music season 2014.
S.NAGESWARAN.
04.02.2015.

[arasi]

CRama,
You are a rare combination of a rasikA. Your astuteness in musical matters and your rasikatvam are balanced to the right degree. Some analyze a performance to the nth degree that one's experience of it escapesthe readers. Others (like me) just express their response to the music presented, without much knowledge about the theory of music.

You are one of our ideally-cast reviewers, I think

Anyhow, your being at fifty odd concerts (have done it once, years ago?) and then to make careful notes about them all before sharing them with us is commendable. Hope you inspire others to keep your style of a clear-cut path, without getting distracted or too nitpicking about the concert's content

[thanjavooran]

Shri CRama,
Simply su -perb !
with wishes,
Thanjavooran
04 02 2015

[hnbhagavan]

Super write up.I was little disappointed as there no reviews on some of the concerts of the season.One such concert was on Dec 23- the day dedicated to Mandolin Srinivas.This was filled by a moving tribute concert by Sri Lalgudi Krishnan and Vijayalakshmi.The concert was really melodious and calmed down the feelings of the day in Music Academy without Mandolin wizard.
The tani by Sri Sivaraman and Udupa was very brief and a memorable one.
Thanks to CRama for reliving those golden moments.

[MV]

Nice work CRama

[pvs]

Thank you CRama. Excellent all in one as per your enjoyable, knowledgeable review style. I'm surprised there's no mention of TNS in your all capturing canvas (of course there's not enough space to fit it all).

[vasanthakokilam]

Thanks CRama for the coverage of the concerts in such an excellent fashion.

[CRama]

Thanks to all the forumites for the compliments and best wishes for my article. Your feedbcak is the driving force for me to continue to write in a small measure. I have sent to Sruti an article on RTP during the season. I hope it will be published in the March Sruti issue.
pvs had inquired why there is no mention of my favourite musician TNS in this write up. Reason One- I did not include all the musicians for the reason of page constraints. Already it is lengthy. Second- while copying my article into rasikas.org, some mess happened, in that my comment regarding TNS concert disappeared. If I remember correct, I had written like this- In spite of his voice related problems, Veteran Vidwan Madurai T.N.Seshagopalan presented a stunning RTP in Gopikathilakam in his Academy concert, a very rare raga which was highly enjoyed by the huge crowd of discerning listeners.