Suryaprakash@Sastri Hall on Dec 09th,2015

[rajeshnat]

Suryaprakash@Sastri Hall on Dec 09th,2015
-----------------------------------------------
Vocal : Suryaprakash
Violin : Dr Narmadha
Mrudangam : Trivandrum balaji
Kanjira : KV Gopalakrishnan

Concert Type : Nirvana - No concert to follow
Day/Duration : Wednesday/ 3 hours concert inclusive of 10 to 15 mins speech by Cleveland VV Sundaram
Concert Type/Crowd : Free concert - 40 peak
Sabha/Hall : MMI Listening Group /Srinivasa Sastri Hall

1A. vakrathunda mahAkAya slokham -hamsadhwani
1B. vAthapi gaNapathim(S) - hamsadhwani- MD
7 mins swaras

2. sharanam sharanam raghurAmA(R) - asaveri - Arunachala kavirayar
4 mins alapana without violin retur
3. enta vedukOndu( R N S) - saraswati manOhari - T
5 mins alapana and 3 mins violin return
neraval in cinta dIrcuTa kenta mODirA for 5 mins
swaras for 8 mins

4. dunmargacharA (R) - ranjani - T
6 mins alapana and 4 mins violin return
5. palukavadEmirA - devamanohari - MV

6A. kapAli (R S T) - mohanam -psivan
14 mins alapana and 6 mins violin return
swaras for 8 mins
6B. tani for 14 mins

7. RTP in simmhendra madhyamam
32 mins pallavi
7 mins ragam , 8 mins taanam and rest in pallavi and swaras
pallavi line guru mani gAna madura guna mA mani nin pAdamE charanam parama
swaras in simmhendra madhyamam + nalinakanthi + darbari

8A. viruththam -vanamAl mazhaiyE kudaiyAga mAri kAtavanE - sahana + nAl thorum eNDum - sindhubhairavi - divyaprabandam
8B. ramachandra prabhu - sindhubhairavi - ST

9. eppa varuvArO - jonpuri - GKB
10. note shankarabharanam - HMB
11. thirrupugazh thullumadha - hamsanandi - AGN
12. pavamAna

[rajeshnat]

Madurai Mani Iyer Listening group is a group that meets once in few months and share their passion of talking/listening about greatness of Ganakaladhara madurai mani iyer . They organized this concert . The concert was advertised at 6pm start with cleveland V V Sundaram giving an inaugral speech. There was brief rain and the weather turned bit lousy but the rains just lasted for few minutes(thank god). As I entered after introduction by sabha patron ,V V S spoke contextually about madurai mani and gave a lovely introduction of all artists . VVS talked about one anecdote of madurai mani in tirukodikaval where how mudikondan venkatarama iyer used to come and see mmi to appreciate mmi in company of rajarathinam pillai.He told few attributes like intellectual curiosity , intellectual honesty and intellectual rigour that is there in suryaprakash music. He also connected few anecdotes about palakkad raghu, msg and gave a bright varnam like start to the whole concert. Overall very contextual with no vala vala rambling by sri vvs.

The start in hamsadhwani with evergreen vathapi was a cracker , lovely swaras followed with percussion getting into zone of excellence right at the beginning was wonderful. The vilambit sharanam sharanam with an asaveri raga alapana was well done , this krithi just oozes with bhakthi and the spacing of lyrics gives a unique asaveri swaroopam.

THe krithi pick of the whole concert was indeed saraswathi manohari. IIRC I have heard a rare recording of mmi singing alapana of saraswati manohari.When suryaprakash took it ,for a long time i could not figure out the raga despite me zoning to the crowded melakartha 28.More than the alapana the krithi especially neraval and swaras was brilliant with so many patterns of manodharmam.

The ranjani could have been more elaborate and the next devamanohari with two rounds of cittaswaras was not in the earlier zone of excellence . Who wants mugged up cittaswaras when there is copious onspot kalpanaswaras available ??. Mohanam alapana had a lot of vintage vishwanatha iyer piDis and the krithi and swaras were well done .

The pick of the concert is indeed simmhendra madhyamam RTP. The alapana was sung typically in anthakalathu fashion with a brief violin interlude .Taanam for a change was much more than alapana and ideas kept up with the intensity. The pallavi line was wonderful with suryaprakash connecting his parama guru.He composes brilliant lines and this one is really fantastic. The pallavi rendition was not just plain sarvalaghu , it had trikalam and the percussion brilliance of Palaghat raghu was also showcased. Swaras were more in line to exhibit MSG school and Narmadha kept up very well in both nalinakanthi and darbari. The darbari swaras were so long and it was creativity at its best.Swaras had a bit of swara poruttam in lines mA madura ...guna...nin pAdamE charanam , drift of TRS in swaras was also there.

He ended with a nice viruththam connecting rain mAri kAthavanE ... mazhaiyE kudiaiyAga and it was certainly contextual to the rain and calamity. All the rest of tukkadas were well done with energy being consistently high or even higher than vathapi.

Violinst narmadha in swara returns was really superb . Her alapana in ranjani was a slight letdown but in mohanam her appa like glides added charm . There are ragas in MSG school which they get it so well and her skillful play in darbari , nalinakanthi were indeed wonderful. Tvm Balaji has a lovely usage of left toppi , he gives more share of toppi than many mrudangist and he indeed lifted the concert to more enjoyable zone . Perhaps he playing often with KVG (they had a recent us tour together) was also a main reason . KVG played a lot and with a strong voice and longer cycles of neraval and swaras they were indeed cutting loose .All four of them kept up caution in their homes and they had a free mind in sastri hall.

There were three wow moments in swaras , one in hamsadhwani where for the first half for nearly threee minutes suryaprakash and narmada were dazzling only with sa ri ga , the darbari long swara cycle with so many patterns was superb. The best of wow moment was in saraswati manohari where the entire four were riding a high speed ferrari and braking and passing the baton to other two. personally the saraswati manohari and pallavi double was worth it. It was also nice to see young sudarshan mohan from US who is a performing disciple of Suryaprakash to put strong saraswati tambura to the well set team .

If suryaprakash had cut either the ranjani or devamanohari and apportioned that time to either main or pallavi that would have been much better.

Overall an excellent to outstandingconcert for 3 hours inclusive of 10 to 15 mins speech.

[Rsachi]

Spirited reporting of what seems to have been a wonderful display of musical creativity and team work. Thanks Rajesh!

[arasi]

Rajesh,
A concert special in many ways.

Topical in two ways. Even those artistes affected by the floods were there to signal that professionalism comes first, even in the aftermath of a crisis.

VKV would have regretted his not being there in Chennai yet on yet another occasion of gAna kalAdhara being honored in the way you describe: VVSundaram's apt intro to MMI, Surya's presentation with the lovely pallavi in S madhyamam and the rest. Narmada's highlighting of some of Surya's singing, enhancing it all with her expertise.

My only objection to your write up is the expression 'mugged up' Can't imagine the said artiste to practice that. His imagination is rich enough to explore many possibilities. He was briefly dwelling on the traditional combinations a tad longer perhaps, is my guess

Thanks Rajesh. Bring us more reviews...

[sureshvv]

I think rajesh meant "mugged up" because chittalswarams are not spontaneous. What he fails to see is that they are carefully crafted to crystallize the raga swarupa - and are sung as a tribute to the composer.

[arasi]

Got it...

[cacm]

quote "arasi"Rajesh

VKV would have regretted his not being there in Chennai yet on yet another occasion of gAna kalAdhara being honored in the way you describe: VVSundaram's apt intro to MMI, Surya's presentation with the lovely pallavi in S madhyamam and the rest. Narmada's highlighting of some of Surya's singing, enhancing it all with her expertise.
Dear A&R,
Thanks for the description of SURYA PRAKASH'S CONCERT W/Narmadha on the Violin & the other two competent percussionists. I was to have landed on 9th morning & was eagerly looking forward to attending the concert.Man proposes.....Disposes you can fill in the dots!.....I really missed the MMI LISTENING GROUP members as they are TRUE INSPIRATIONS TO ME & HOPEFULLY RASIKAS EVERYWHERE.......
I want to LAMENT the LACK OF RECOGNITION SPECIFICALLY:
SURYAPRAKASH has shown OVER THE YEARS not only his MASTERY but his steadfast DEVOTION in VERY creatively PRESENTING the GREATNESS OF MASTERS- I am always EXCITED to discuss MMI, SOMU, & MKT as well as the GIANTS OF THE GOLDEN AGE AMONG OTHERS with him & I always recall the memory of Late S.S.Venkataraman (MMI used to call him L.I.C. Venkataraman & ask if he had shown up & will not start the concert without his presence!) with whom I used to attend the concerts! Unfortunately HIS TALENTS & GENIUS ARE YET TO BE REWARDED WITH THE RECOGNITION HE DESEREVES- I still lament that at that period LISTENERS LIKE ME WHO HAD ZERO CLOUT used to feel sad T.K.Rangachari, Madurai Somu,. T.S.Kalyanaraman etc were not properly recognised- I can go on&on- &HOPE THE LISTENING PUBLIC WILL DEMAND RECOGNITIONOF HIS TALENTS......
I can say the same thing about DR.M.NARMADHA (who I consider to be the BEST VIOLINIST TODAY) who has imbibed the PERFECTION OF MSG & HER RANGE IS EVEN LARGER & WIDER because of her RESEARCH INTERESTS & PRACTICE REGIMEN-PARAELELLS THAT OF THE ONE&ONLY IMMORTAL MS-; I do not know why these two are not being hero-heroine worshipped by rasikas today as ARI, SEM, MMI, LGJ, MSG, PMI,PSP were in my time. At least Tiruchi Sankaran FINALLY is being recognised for his OUT OF THIS WORLD CREATIVITY & ARTISTRY....I thank S.VENUGOPAL for his enormous contributions ; I am sure his very critical-no nonsense Father the GREAT CHITTI Sundararajan would approve.....LONG LIVE THE MMI LISTENING GROUP.....VKV