Maharajapuram Ramachandran@BGS on Dec 08th,2015

[rajeshnat]

Maharajapuram Ramachandran@BGS on Dec 08th,2015
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Vocal : Maharajapuram Ramachandran
Violin : MA Sundareswaran
Mrudangam : KR Ganesh

Concert Type : Nirvana - No concert to follow
Day/Duration : Tuesday/ 2 hours and 20 mintues concert
Concert Type/Crowd : Paid concert - 30 peak
Sabha/Hall : Brahma gana sabha /Sivagami petachi hall

1A. viruththam - gaNapathi eNrida kalangum valvinai - sunaadaviNodhini
1B. gana nAyakam (varnam)- sunAdavinOdhini - NS Ramachandran
2. umaiyOr bAganE(S) - nattai - psivan
swaras for 4 mins

3. Sharana gatham endru (N) - gowlai- GKB
neraval in karunAkataksham panna vEndum kanaka sabayil for 4 mins

4. tsAla kalla lAdu (R N S ) - Arabi - T
10 mins alapana and 6 mins violin return
Neraval in ilalO sari for 4 mins
swaras for 6 mins

5A. karunai puri iDu tarunam (R N S T)- varAli - Koteeswara Iyer
10 mins alapana and 6 mins violin return
6 mins neraval in aruNirainda kaTAkSa vIkSaNi ambikE unnai nambinEn ini
swaras for 7 mins
5B. tani for 10 mins

6. mahAlinga vibhO (R) - shivaranjani - swamidayananda saraswati
2 mins alapana

7A. anayukaradharE aadimoola - dwijAvanti - PD
7B. started with bandugalO enadhillA (krithi is kandu kandu nee illA) - dwijAvanti - PurandaradAsA

8. kanda guha shanmugha - kavadi chindu
9. nee nAma - mangalam

[rajeshnat]

Maharajapuram Ramachandran teamed up with MAS and KR Ganesh . The viruththam start in sunaadavinodhini was very emotive and ramachandran handled with his usual baritoned sAreeram. The varnam with a dash of swaras at the end was impressive . Shri ramachandran always has a special liking to carry forward atleast 3 or 4 pancharathna ragas in almost all concerts . Today I had a taste of all four . The nattai krithi of papanasam sivan had more rhythmic asymmetry and ramachandran used his voice to give a lot of sahithya anubhavam . This krithi of sivan is very lucid to connect to lord ganesha. The gowlai krithi with a rare neraval was a bit of touch and go , in general you dont hear neraval in gowlai

The best number was indeed arabi. Sangathis in alapana were breathless , his 10 mins was equal to atleast 15 minutes of 90% of musicians . His sareeram and few closed mouth hmmmm sangathis were just superb. Neraval was well done with swaras , in arabi he showed how he has internalized more of his grandfather.

Varali alapana and second half of swaras were well done , in krithi and neraval his energy was quite fluctuating. In tukkadas ,He sang a lovely shivaranjani and it was wonderful - even a stone will get the emote of shivaranjani , after all i am just a human. After many many years I heard shri santhanam megahit kannada ugabhooga anayukaradharE not in brindavana saranga but it was in dwijAvanti . His rendition was superb. Santhanam used to sing a very elaborate thamizh viruththam in lines kanda guha shanmugha , but unfortunately ramachandran has tuned that as a kavadi chindu , bit fell flat.

The violinist mAS showed his class with his MSG/MSA/Parur flashes almost every where . If i could borrow the recent experience of hearing sriram parasuram lecdem i can see more of vaadhya touches in violin then gaayaki touches . KR Ganesh father is perhaps the most famous mrudangam guru , i dont know how his father KUmbakonam rajappa iyer plays . But KR Ganesh was more like vellore ramabadran sarvalaghu everywhere and I certainly enjoyed- may be a bit of more fireworks in tani would have been more apt. At times the sound and speed was not in line with the sareeram and speed of ramachandran.

Few general comments :
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- In general I see ramachandran packs lot of sangathis with almost zero sag and I have noticed in main he falls considerably short in breath and at times there is a little over strain by him. I could aurally note that he could not go that extra mile in varali .

+ However the emote is there with a very strong sAreeram . He has consciously atleast in this concert given fresh numbers away from santhanam repertoire in few numbers like nattai, shivaranjani and varali . The shivaranjani number he tuned with swami dayananda saraswati few years before the demise of swamiji was a clever janaranjakam to perhaps push away his dad's bho sambho in revati which is indeed great.

+For me attimes he singing like his grand dad especially in arabi was a clear exhibition of intensity without leisure sangathis - I love vishwanatha iyer for his impulsive approach.

-The concert was advertised from 6pm start . Sabhas like BGS and MFAC are more dear to me as they give full evening to musician unlike breaking as evening 1 and 2 . Ramachandran started at 06:20(no issues there) and ended at 08:40 . It was a paid concert and if at all he had used that 40 extra minutes to sing a RTP that would have been wonderful .No RTP was indeed a disappointment in a prime slot in a prime ticketed sabha.

Overall a very good to excellent concert for 2 hours and 20 minutes.

[mahavishnu]

Thanks, Rajesh. Nov 8th or Dec 8th? Yes, you are right. The Maharajapuram school excels in Arabhi.
I heard that KR Ganesh's home was very badly damaged in the floods My best wishes to him and his family at this difficult time.

[Lakshman]

7b is kaNDu kaNDu nI enna kaibiDuvarE krSNA by Purandaradasa.

[arasi]

Rajesh,
Thanks for the review, thanks for being there to support the artistes and the sabha by attending. A lot of professionalism is seen on their part--especially Ganesh, even with all the troubles at home. The music should go on, to counter balance all the ills brought about by the rains, it's clear.

The lyrics would have been more emotive, the bhakti bhAvA as well, both with artistes and listeners alike.

Sounds like a good concert where Ramachandran brought both his father and grandfather to mind...

So far, we have heard that O.S.Arun, Gayathri Venkataraghavan, Sanjay and M.Ramachandran have sung. Those of you who attend concerts at least write a few lines of review please, and share your experience....

I have said it in the Lounge. I repeat. gsastrigal was unfairly blamed for writing a review.When he wrote about Arun's concert, he was criticized as if he was partying when there was a ban against music and he sneaked away to listen to it

[rshankar]

Arasi: Are you sure if Sastrigal was raked over the coals for the review or for his views on Sri Vijay Siva's cancelling of his concerts?

[arasi]

Ravi,
I assume that he was not aware of what Vijay and Manoj Siva had to go through--just as many of us don't read all the newspapers and do not read face book comments are not in the know.

"How could he think only of listening to music in all the catastrophe?" was the accusation, if I'm not mistaken.

I do respect the feelings of some artistes who have cancelled their concerts. We all react differently in moments of sorrow. Everything doesn't come to a standstill even when tragedy strikes us in a personal way. Things to be taken care of, arrangements made. Just because we are mourning, we don't ask a laughing child to stop. In fact, it comes as a breath of fresh air when there is gloom all around. Adults may starve, but will not forget to feed the children...

[kvchellappa]

There was a post in FB that some artists who blurted out that they would not sing are coming to sing under some pretext. The point is that harsh comments as made against GRS were perhaps not warranted. A tragedy is not lessened by prolonged period of austerity. From what I read in FB (there were more volunteers than victims, help cut across religion, selfless and nameless service by many people, etc.), Chennai has put up a brave face. Those who sing and listen are no less sympathetic or sensitive. Sanjay sang govardhana giridhari (a piece of sensitivity from an atheist), thunbam nergaiyil, conveying his sympathy in his own style; Anuradha Sriram sang with the victims when she met them.

[sureshvv]

Sanjay sang govardhana giridhari (a piece of sensitivity from an atheist).

I don't think that is a fair or accurate characterization. Where did you get this, from harimau?

[rajeshnat]

suresh
KVC is referring to bharathidasan(tunbam nergayil) who is an athiest - not govardhana giridhari. The , is in wrong place in his post.

[thanjavooran]

Shri rajeshnat,
Excellent writeup . Nothing is left. Simply fascinated by the format of the review.
With wishes,
Thanjavooran
10 12 2015

[kvchellappa]

SS is not religious-minded and a friend of mine has said it besides Harimau. He hints at it in his interviews also, but he does not offend believers. To be an atheist is no stigma. His music captures the mood of the songs even if he may not personally believe in their import.

[rajeshnat]

KVC Sir
Sanjay may not be religious minded but I am not sure you can go that far to say that he is an atheist after reading few q and a . My interpretation of bharathidasan was wrong as stated in the above post .

[sureshvv]

Kvchellappa... You may be reading between the lines to suit your own preconceptions. To disavow organized religion & its overt symbology is very different from being an atheist, stigmatic or otherwise.