SuryaprakAsh@hamsadhwani on Feb 17th,2015

[rajeshnat]

SuryaprakAsh@hamsadhwani on Feb 17th,2015
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Vocal : Suryaprakash
Violin : B Raghavendra Rao
Mrudangam : Tanjore Murugabhoopathy
Kanjira : S Venkataramanan

Occasion : the mahasivarathiri Day and also 25th silver jublee celebrations of hamsadhwani sabha
Concert Type : Nirvana - No concert to follow
Day/Duration : Tuesday/ 2 hour and 20 mins concert
Concert Type/Crowd : Free concert - 100 to 150 peak
Hall : Hamsadwani , Indira nagar , the one in chennai and not bangalore

01A.vakrathunda mahAkAya - slokham on lord ganesha - nattai
01B.shivarthraya mahaganapthim (S) - nAttai - S V D
6 mins swaras

02. shambho mahadeva(N S )-pantuvarali-T
4 mins neraval in parama dayAkara mrgadhara hara gangAdhara and 6 mins swaras

03. roopamu jUchi-padavarnam in todi- mUTTUswami Dikshitar??
04. sadAnanda tAndavam(S)-bahudAri-AD
4 mins swaras

05. shree mAthru bhootam(R S)-kannada-MD
3 mins alapana and 2 mins violin return
2 minute swaras

06. varuvArO (R) -shyamA - GKB
2 mins alapana and 1 mins violin

07A. Single Raga RTP in kalyani for 38 mins
pallavi line was un darisanam kidaikkumO natarajA dhayAnidhE
Raagam 22 mins with intermediate 7 mins violin return
taanam for 6 mins
pallavi and swaras for 10 mins

07B. tani for 12 mins

08A. viruththam petra thAi - bhAgeshri +
uttra dEgathai - subhapantuvarAli +
katra nenjagam - mohananam +
namaSivAyattai - mAnji
08B. varugalAmO ayya - mAnji - GKB

09. karpagamE - madhyamavati - psivan
10. thullumadhu - hamsAnandi - AGN

[rajeshnat]

MahasivarAthri creates a sudden spike of concerts in chennai for a day in a dry month . Artists are lined up generally for an hour in an akhandham fashion. THere was one series in Arkays hall mylapore , one in BVB hall organized by papanasam kumar, one in besant nagar . What caught my attention was one that came up new from this year , it was a sai murugan temple in kodambakkkam , a sign of new spread in a carnatic deficient area . But all these places artist get boxed with too little time. As usual ragasudha had one and hamsadhwani had another , i skipped the former and went with this as these two had more time for an artist

Concert had many pluses but putting only distinct pluses :
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1. Todi padavarnam was a composition of muthuswami dikshitar on thiruvarur thyagaraja . This was announced by suryaprakash and he also announced that Tiger varadachariar tuned the swaras for this lovely todi composition and made a passing mention on rukmini devi arundale. I just searched the google to find that rooopamu juchi authorship is still not agreed upon . Putting that trivialities of authorship side , the musical output was simply fanta fabulous.I thoroughly enjoyed it and the different shades of todi gamakam was carnatic rather true carnatic intense.(Attn Ravisri or keerthi or vidya any more insight on this padavarnam??)

2. Single Raga RTP has always a bit of charm. I have heard suryaprakash singing single raga rtp about a decade back . Kalyani was particularly sung very well in alapana . The taanam was non metered - suryaprakash should have gone bit more is what i felt , he sang more like 98% percentile taanam singer , i missed bit more expansion there. The pallavi and swaras were well done - this pallavi was his paramaguru number and mmi came in great form there

3. The varuvAro appeared special with an opening thrust in anupallavi and also the swaras in pantuvarali showcasing his other non marketed paramaguru SSI . The faceless moonji - maanji was a forceful wonder and i liked varugalamO in his leisurely rendering. THe bahudari filler was fast and long and with no leaning on the crutches of violin and with he singing bahudari swaras in one go just suits my taste - a TRS way.

Few minuses that did not go well:
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1. In The first shivathraya Suryaprakash voice was not heard that well in comparison to jacked up volume of mrudangam. THat got adjusted from halfway of pantuvarali.

2. THe start was at 06:40 pm and he roughly closed around 9 pm . While suryaprakash did a good justice to all Lord shiva numbers . Lord shiva's wife shakthi and his younger son muruga were rushed fast in madhyamavati and hamsanandi .

3. Possibly bit more elaboration in neraval in pantuvarali or swaras in kannada, I felt there was a bit of excess ration .

Few words about accompanists:
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1. Raghavendra Rao has one of the fastest bowing speed. He adds a lot of aesthetics with his speed and i enjoyed all his swara returns , particularly he gave few mmi like crescendo in swaras especially in nattai even when suryaprakash did not give- that kind of showed he showcased the mmi school . His taanam play was enjoyable but I have something to crib in his alapana. There is a lot of jazz like sangathis where the intense carnatic anuhbhavam is gone in his alapana return, particularly i felt like that in kalyani.

2. Murugabhoopathy roll in right was impressive . The sound volume was high for first number . Overall he indeed lifted the concert.

3. S venkataramanan is a restrained artist and he shows generally his assertion more in the second half and that was indeed the case. I did not pay full attention to tani but there was not anything to crib or praise.

ON Hamsadhwani sabha:
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This concert was preceded by namasankeerthanam by sengalipurmam ??? dikshitar . They wrapped on time and I have to thank hamsadhwani seceratary sundar on that , it is quite a challenge to make namasankeerthanam artist to wrap on time .shri Sundar created a local mahasivarathri miracle.

The dikshitar tOdi for 13 minutes was the best for musical todi depth. The structure of the concert was very much poochi-ariyakudi typecast with the padavarnam drop .I did not even know about this todi number at all, in the last 15 years i donot recollect a post in internet forum. .The rest of the numbers did create sufficient interest .

Overall an excellent concert for 2 hours and 20 minutes.

[rshankar]

Rajesh - as far as I know, rUpamu jUci is not a composition of Sri MD.
In its orginal format, it was a tAna varNam, but when Smt. Rukmini Devi, who had fallen in love with this, wanted to choreograph it, she asked Tiger Sri Varadachari to compose the sAhitya for the muktAyi/eTTugaDa and caraNa svaras, and in doing so, the varNam became (like) a padavarNam - Smt. RDA's choreography for this varNam is exquisite, and is probably the first varNam learned by most dancers belonging to the kalAkshEtra lineage.
04. should be sadAnanda (as one word) or sadA Ananda if you want to split it.
08A. The mAnji portion of the viruttam should be namaSivAyattai....

[Nick H]

In The first shivathraya Suryaprakash voice was not heard that well in comparison to jacked up volume of mrudangam. THat got adjusted from halfway of pantuvarali.

It might have had a further adjustment too, but it was still not enough. It was an irritation that made me sad for a while and then my ears adjusted and I was able to enjoy Suryaprakash's concert as I always do.

[gmohan]

Very nice concert. Varnam was beautifully sung. Post concert had a chat with Suryaprakash, when I told him after MDR this is the first time i am hearing this varnam in a concert he was able to recollect the year of the concert and accompanists!! I am a huge MMI fan but I really appreciate the fact that Suryaprakash has his own style, a fine blend of his own individuality and the impeccable pedigree of MMI school!

[arasi]

You all make me feel as if I should have stayed on in Chennai to hear this concert

Well Nick, it's the UK rasikAs who have a chance to listen to him now!

[Nick H]

Yes. I hope he is able to be warm enough to sing!

[MaheshS]

Subbudu wrote a scathing review of MDR's singing of the Thodi varnam in the MA. I revere MDR, but Subbudu was right

[mahavishnu]

Rupamu juchi is such a beautiful varnam.

I personally think that Subbudu wouldn't recognize good music if it him in the face. Can't say I have a very high opinion of him or his taste in music, and he does not possess the judgement and sensibility that it takes to be a good reviewer of music. In many ways, Subbudu reminds me of characters like Rush Limbaugh.

[cacm]

[quote="mahavishnu"]Rupamu juchi is such a beautiful varnam.
I personally think that Subbudu wouldn't recognize good music if it him in the face. Can't say I have a very high opinion of him or his taste in music, and he does not possess the judgement and sensibility that it takes to be a good reviewer of music. In many ways, Subbudu reminds me of characters like Rush Limbaugh.
i agree! rush .l. comparison is more apt in MORE AREAS that I dont wish to get into here......VKV

[cacm]

[quote="MaheshS"]Subbudu wrote a scathing review of MDR's singing of the Thodi varnam in the MA. I revere MDR, but Subbudu was right .
AFTER A BRILLIANT '66 M.A. CONCERT OF MDR(PAPA VENKATARAMIAH-T.S.) HIS REVEW was such TRASH R.K.Narayanan was so upset he wanted me to confront SUBBUDU & discuss why he writes such non-sense. S broke an appointment with me to discuss more than 10 times! Next time I met him was in CLEVELAND where I had to ESCORT him to receive an award! He must have prayed to the right God! & I to the wrong one.....He rewarded the organisers with a USELESS REVIEW BEC. HIS IGNORANCE OF DANCE WAS WORSE..... HIS REVIEWS BELONG IN THE pages of A "National Enquirer" ARTICLE IN usa. In India there used to be a paper called Indu Nesan strictly yellow journalism. He belongs there. There is always 50 percent probability of being right according to Statistics when one has two choices.....VKV

[arasi]

Mahavishnu,
I have been looking for you and you are chiming in! Work keeps you busy, I think. Miss your posts these days

VKV is the benign ('not in this case', I hear him protest!) 'spell it out as is' feller and really, how can you not heed him?

[mahavishnu]

Arasi, Thank you for looking for me Yes, tied up at work. I browse, but rarely find the time to post anything meaningful. There are some excellent discussions going on, that I hope to participate in at some point.

[gmohan]

"Subbudu wrote a scathing review of MDR's singing of the Thodi varnam in the MA. I revere MDR, but Subbudu was right "

He wrote the review after attending the concert or from the comforts of his drawing room!! Subbudu was suspended by Indian Express Delhi for writing review of a concert without attending, did it many times, got caught that time!!

Also he wrote some rubbish about MMI then came to TSK's (MMI used to stay at his place in Delhi) house to apologize and plead ignorance!!