Ramakrishnan Murthy for Mudra, 3/1/2016

[sankark]

Charumathi R, Manoj Siva, BSP

Wrapping up darbar Alapanai, rAmAbhirAmA m cApu s@rAmAbhirAmA
kAlaiththUkki ninRAdum, Imbued with sowkyam of utmost degree
shanmukapriyA marivErE dikkevarayya n@sannuthAnga srI venkatEsa nIvu nannu brOva dayuntuta nyAyamA. short wholesome nereval
mukhAri

[sankark]

after RKM's essay, violin version felt a little lacklustre and over long. pAhimAm ratnAchala nAyaka. Manoj's silken playing takes it to a different plane altogether. n@satyOjAthAdhi pancha mukhAri ...

[sankark]

kalpanaswarams and a fireworks finish*, tani. Percussion duo rocked during KS.

* - the vAdam that nereval and KS (atleast elaborate) for MD's songs aren't necessary and are superfluous seems to have a basis. I could easily imagine swarams for a mAdhavamanOhari song but here in this instance it appeared superfluous.

[sankark]

durmArgacarA, started from,dharmAthmaka dhana dhAnyamu
trilOkamAdhA nannubrOva s@shankari
kalyAni, perhaps RTP

[pattamaa]

Ram sang Kalyani well, waiting for thanam

Awsome concert so far

[sankark]

thAnam + rAgamAlikai thAnam in ghana pancha rAgams, vAni mAmpAhi gIrvAni pAvani nitya kalyAni, m triputai 2 kalai

[Rsachi]

kalyAnAdbhuta-gAtrAya mArgazhivizhamurtaye
sarvarasikAmodAya saMgitAtmane namaH

Translation :
Obeisance to the God of Margazhi VIzha, who has regaled all rasikas with a magnificent array of Kalyani presentations by varied artistes!

[sankark]

rAgamAlikai swarams covering the other majors kAmbhOji, thOdi, s'bharanam and bhairavi in that order and coming back to kalyAni, mini tani, and KS again in ghana pancha rAgams

[sankark]

ini enna pEchirukkudhu
slOkam (yOgIndrAnAm) kApi, kannada?

have to leave

[pattamaa]

You missed wonderful virutham from narayaneeyam...yogindranam in five ragas and converging to Sahara sayana vibho

[rajeshnat]

Ramakrishnan Murthy@Mudhra on Jan 03rd,2015
--------------------------------------------
Vocal : Ramakrishnan Murthy
Violin : Charumathi Raghuraman
Mrudangam : Manoj Siva
Ghatam : B S Purushottaman

Concert Type : Nirvana - No concert to follow
Day/Duration : Sunday/ 4 hours concert
Concert Type/Crowd : Ticketed - 600 peak
Sabha/Hall : Mudhra/RKM School

This is the only 4 hour concert that is usually given to Mudhra . Unfortunately in the whole of chennai in the season there is just one, for that matter apart from sarvani sangeetha sabha there is no 4 hour concert.
For this reason i will call this concert as chennayil SanJose or Chennaiyil NewJersey

1. Nattaikurinji varnam
2. ramanukku mannan mudi -Ananadabhairavi -AK
3. inta kanna (R ,S) - bilahari - T
4. Ramabhi rAmA - darbar - T

I purposely did not attend any concert in the last two days with the only intention to attend this 4 hour concert . It is quite a target to make it on time with few constraints . I did not hear an ounce of above 4 , i just saw the list from some person who sat next to me

[rajeshnat]

5. Oru kaalai thooki - yadukulakAmbOdhi - MT
6. mari verE evarayya rAmA(N) - shanmughapriya - patnam
02 mins alapana and nearly same violin return
neraval in shannuthAnga shree venkatesa neevu for 4 mins

7A. pAhimAm ratnAchala nAyaka(R N S) - mukHari - MD
12 mins alapana 8 mins violin return
8 mins neraval in sathyAya jyothi .... pancha mukha hari sharanE
9 mins swaras
7B. tani for 25 mins

8. dunmarga chara starting with anupallavi - ranjani -T
9. triloka mAthanannu(S) - pharas -SS
swara sketch

10. RTP for 59 minutes
11 mins alapana and 9 mins violin return
taanam for 10 mins in kalyani and then 4 mins in ghana raga pancharatna ragas

Pallaivi in mishra jAthi triputa taalam
pallavi - vAnee mAmPAhi geervAni pavAni nithyakalyani
swaras in kalyani
then swararagamaliga one avarthana in kAmbOdhi + todi+ shankarabharanam + bhairavi

Then mini tani
and then swaras in kalyani and ghana raga pancharatna ragas

11. ini yenna pEtchu - sahAnA - vaideeshwaran koil subbarama iYer
12A. slokham yogeendrAnam -kApi
+ sAndra nandava - bEgada??
+ nirmuktham - subhapantuvarAli
+ brahmatatvam - sindhubhairavi
+ parabhakyam - bHageshri
12B. sAgara sayana - bHageshri - MDR

13. varadAmani yEna oril?? - shuruti- is that tirruppugazh - AGN??
14. neenAma roopamulaku + mangalam kosalendrAya

[arasi]

Rajesh,
Haven't heard rAmanukku mannan muDi in Ananda Bhairavi--only in hindOLam...

[rajeshnat]

4 Hour concerts are indeed special . No rationing anywhere excepting perhaps giving bit more violin return in alapana . As i entered RKM was singing a soulful yadhukulakAmbODhi , the kaalai thooki was brilliant start sowkhyam and pitch of his voice was aligned nearly perfect to even all time greats.

shanmmughapriya was slighly too less powerful , the raga did not have that much power and his neraval could have been more even though he settled well. Mukhari was lovely all thru , the alapana was sung in a methodical fashion and the krithi was well done - certainly he gets a lot of TMK and VijaySiva (thru RKSK) influence there. The neraval was wonderful , he built it with more phrases of MD krithi and he garlanded beautifully different phrases to perhaps give more sahitya swaroopam for sanskrit lovers . I am zero on sanskrit but I could get the edifice of how md has built this masterpiece krithi . He lost bit of stamina in stamina or put it other way he could not run that much with power but it was not much to complain as he is planning for a long concert

post tani the two fillers were well done , possibly he could have stuck with one the swara sketch of pharas could have gone more . When musicians are bit over commmittted the likely big 5 raga is kalyani . THe alapana was measured and i felt he could have gone with more kalyani swaroopam (courtesy of hearing more musicians dwelling kalyani). The taanam was mostly madhyamakala and he really did very well. With he moving to few one avarthana phrases in ghana pancharatna ragas it added more oomph effect.The second speed kalyAni taanam was not as wonderful as lower speed but done very well. The pallavi was a rksk compositon which murthy announced ,very clean no onspot manodharmam but it was home work well done . Swaras in kalyani was well done with a round in other big 5 ragas . A mini tani was given and he again briefly started kalyani and then went to the pancharatna ragas and he reversely traversed and hit the bulls eye kalyani. The approach of swaras in RTP was certainly a combo like vijay siva and a
bit of TMK - no fiery fast firework of swaras

sahana was just good . The yogeendranam was superb - lovely choice of ragas and he sang in a very detailed fashion like his most adulated yesteryear great KVN. The jump into sagara sayano was emotively brilliant and I liked this segment of slokham for nearly 15 mins .If you had 3 to 3 and 1/2 hour concert , we can never have a detailed RTP ,main and detailed slokham.

I think he sang a thirruppugazh starting with lines varadAmain yEna Oril and ended with neenAma roopamulaku and mangalam kosalendra with standing ovation which he deserved .

Violinist was certainly erring in proportion but ragabhavam and melody was indeed there in every raga, also her near zero intrusion made the concert more appealing . The percussion team paired well , manoj played with lot of sensitivity that will go well with RKM voice and texture .Tani could have had few more rounds of fireworks but it was BSP who played marginally better.

One area RKM could have been better
-------------------------------
1. RKM can bring bit more swara prasthana magic bit longer cycles of swaras and can cut bit more dependence on may be little extra violin return.Little more speed and melkALa swaras would add more charm to his music.

RKM has learnt a lot of wonderful stage craft like giving a mini tani and then going with swararagamaliga in kalyani and with five ragas . Also it was a neatly planned concert .

Personally he is the first musician whom I have heard two 4 hour concerts. Thank you RK Murthy there. ofcourse it is bad that i missed the first 40 minutes . There was lot of rounds of applause and young murthy indeed deserved .

Humble suggestion to mudhra sabha
-----------------------------------
Radha and Mudhra Bhaskar - Since you plan your concert series for roughly three weekends . Try having three 4 hour concerts during 3 weekends inviting three artists .It is evident that artists can only sing when they are given time for eg how wonderful it was that after main rtp and submain there was a detailed slokham yogandreenam with a long ragamaliga was sung - it just gives a complete experience.

Overall an excellent concert for 4 hours with my 3 hours and 20 minutes attendance

[rajeshnat]

Rajesh,
Haven't heard rAmanukku mannan muDi in Ananda Bhairavi--only in hindOLam...

Arasi
We had this discussion few months back. there was another review where it was mentioned that murthy sang this song in aanandabhairavi and not hindolam.

[CRama]

Thanks to Sankark and pattamma for giving song by song information from the venue and also Rajesh for his detailed review. Still I could not resist my temptation. Hence my four cents.

• It was an exhilarating and enthralling concert from the word go. Even though RKM has rendered dozen plus concerts during the season, his voice showed no sign of fatigue . Even after four hours concert, he looked as if ready for another concert. People are sceptical about long duration concert. But RKM proved that if the fare and aesthetics are properly presented, rasikas will be ready to sit for long duration concerts. There was never a dull moment in the four hours concert. The hall was full and this must be the maximum crowd pulling concert in this season. (But I am not judging the concert based on the crowd.) This is one concert where 100% of the audience enjoyed the concert. I am saying this because after each song, the entire audience applauded which normally do not happen. A few may applaud and other may stay mute. But here the volume and length of applause was so high that many times RKM had to wait till the applause subsided to start the next song.

• The Natakurinji Ata tala varnam is a rare one. It is a composition of Patnam Subramania Iyer.

• The next song was Ramanukku mannan mudi in Anandabhairavi. This song was a misfit in that juncture. It will be more suitable to sing in the middle of the concert as a filler. Regarding the version in Anandabhairavi, I presume, this would have been the original raga for this song given by Arunachala kavi and it would have been subsequently tuned in Hindolam by ARI. (Just like Yaro Ivar yaro’s original tune being Saveri). This is my wild guess.

• Bilahari alapana was very good. In neraval, I do not know whether he forgot the words or there are two versions. While doing the neraval, he used the lines Rajilludaina Tyagaraja and Rajillu Sree Tyagaraja interchangingly. I have learnt as Rajilludaina.

• Durbar alapana was excellent. Very rarely you will get such an elaborate and intense alapana of Durbar.

• Kalai thookki was rendered with full of raga bhavam and sahithya bhavam.

• For the song Marivere dik evarayya Rama (Shanmugapriya) elaborate neraval in the lines Sannutaanga Sree Venkatesa neevu Nanu brovayuntuda nyayama gave the complete meaning.

• Mukhari was taken as the main raga and the alapana extended to 10 minutes. In the process, there were some repetitions in the alapana which obviously he could not avoid. Pahimam Rathnachala is a rare song and this is the first time I heard somebody singing this song as the main. He did ample justice to the song through his elaborate neraval and two kala swaras. The koriappu had very interesting patterns. The entire song took 45 minutes.

• In a four hour concert, the obvious choice for RTP will be one of the big five ragams- for the singer have got ample time for presenting the raga in a very detailed manner and so Kalyani fits the bill perfectly. A brief outline of Kalyani was first presented and then the detailed alapana consuming 12 minutes. Here I would like to make one point. When time is not a constraint, he could have followed the pattern of GNB or KVN in Navarathri mandapam concerts- presenting the ragam in 2-3 phases with violin interludes which can go upto 20 minutes. Because Kalyani has got enough scope and this much luxury of time may not be available in other concerts. Neverthless, he presented the RTP in a very scholarly and enjoyable manner. In the tanam, after the tanam in Kalyani, he presented tha tanam in the Ghana raga panchakam. The pallavi was in Mishra Triputa 2 kalai, coined by his Guru RK Sreeramkumar. Vani Mampahi Geervani Pavani Nityakalyani. In RM swara section, he presented in all the other big ragams and sang the full pallavi in those respective ragams. After a very brief tani, he presented the pallavi in one kalai and and sang some cracker swarams in Kalyani followed by the ragams of the Ghana raga panchakam. He sang the swaras in two rounds forward and reverse and ended in Kalyani. It was a very intelligent and aesthetic presentation which the audience immensely appreciated. The entire RTP took 60 minutes.

• The padam came as a welcome surprise. The slokam was meditative and oozing with melody. Kapi was at its best- asal degree kapi.

• I doubt the thirupugazh was in Devagandhari-because I just left at the beginning of this item.

Violin by Charumathi Raghuraman was excellent- Revealed her years of training under the Doyen TNK . Her bowing was very melodious, and had manodharmam and anticipation to complement. Mridangam by Manoj Siva and Ganjira by B.S.Purushothaman greatly embellished the concert. Manoj Siva’s filling of gaps and clarity of strokes was commendable.

Canteen- He must have incurred some loss yesterday. For hardly any body came out during the concert to taste his delicacies.

Regarding Rajesh’s suggestion of having 4 hour concerts on the weekends during the season, I presume many artistes will not be ready to sing four hour concerts during the season as they have to preserve their voice and energy for the full season.

[rajeshnat]

A brief outline of Kalyani was first presented and then the detailed alapana consuming 12 minutes. Here I would like to make one point. When time is not a constraint, he could have followed the pattern of GNB or KVN in Navarathri mandapam concerts- presenting the ragam in 2-3 phases with violin interludes which can go upto 20 minutes. Because Kalyani has got enough scope and this much luxury of time may not be available in other concerts.

May be one interlude of violin is enough sir - where from the second round of alapana in kalyani he/she can jump into taanam. There are atleast 5 kalyanis I have heard where musicians sing in one go for atleast sing for 20 minutes . Fragmentation takes the joy and 4 hour concerts should only defrag.

[rajeshnat]

Regarding Rajesh’s suggestion of having 4 hour concerts on the weekends during the season, I presume many artistes will not be ready to sing four hour concerts during the season as they have to preserve their voice and energy for the full season.

You have a valid point. Yes agreed many will not make up . But there are *few vidwans and vidushis* who will surely make up as they have real stuff and more importantly carnatic guts . Let mudhra offer to those few and we rasikas can take it from there. The only thing there is the vidwans / vidushis have to be told very early(as early as academy slots being told to artists) so that other neighbouring slots in those days can be adjusted with other organizers atleast with a day or two gap .

This is the way to go - let there be time given - otherwise not much difference betwen sabha concert and tv margazhi utsav. HOw much of arm twisting happens where so many capable musicians are asked to sing for 2 hours and get out . I want mudhra to be the best sabha in the town and I fully support from the lead with my nungambakkam pettai organizers there .

It is most important to increase the appetite for carnatic classicism - otherwise critical count of rasikas will think margazhi utsav with adbreaks is also carnatic music- they have to tangibly see the difference .

[pattamaa]

enough has been said about this great concert, let me write down my comments...

1. ramanukku mannan mudi - hearing in anandha bhairavi for first time... Rendered very well..
2. bilahari alapana - loved the fast brigas over the scale towards end. Neraval - CRama's observation is interesting, i missed it, my notes says as raajillu sri thyagaraja only... Manoj supported very well, soft, deft strokes throughout, and loved his fillings during kaarvais.
3. Observed in kalpana swaram mel kaalam - mostly non elongated, as it should be. Dhirga swarams in mel kalams should be avoided as Ram did.
4. Darbar was classic and YK keerthana was sung in nice kalapramanam.... loved the slow tempo, heard him singing chetasri in BGS few days before in similar tempo... He also held tara shadjam as kaarvai for one complete avarthanam
5. shanmukhapriya alapana was very brief, and fast, could have been more detailed... neraval was lovable
6. there may be repetitive sangathis in mukhari, around pnsr and rmgrs....but, i am fine in this version, no compromise on raga bhavam.. paahimam ratnachala - loved it, along with neraval... neraval was over two avarthanams... very well done, but mel kala neraval was one round only...
7. durmarga chara and triloka matha were quick fires...
8. kalyani had some nice sanchcarams and brigas... some of the kalyaani's don't register well with me (as other oft repeated prati ragas - pantuvarali, purvikalyani etc)... this version was very good and standard... He did do trikalam, but i couldn't follow laya details otherwise. raga malika swaras were well done, and as CRama wrote, he went forward and reverse couple of times, over same avarthanam on gana panchaka ragaas. great command.. the transition from Sri to Naatai across the RIshabam deserves special mention
9. after detailed RTP and great appreciation, when he sang ini enna peechirukkudu,, there was laughter !!
10. virutham from narayaneeyam was lovely, lot of focus on kaapi.... and was enjoyable.. wish i hear this rendering again, was so famously sung by legendary MDR...
11. devagandhari piece was indeed thirupugazh (varda mayil meedil ??)
12. Mangalam was sung in full, all charanams....

In 4 hour concert, he presented 14 items including mangalam... this speaks volume... focus on manodharmam, and not simply packing songs after songs...

Wish Mudhra release audio video.. and agree that they should have such a 4 hour concert (by capable vidwan/vidushi) once in two months atleast... Is Dr Radha bhaskar listening ?

[arasi]

Rajesh,
MMU's inevitable ads and the music which plays in the background have nothing to do with it. All the rest of it IS CM!

I also wish multimedia changes the signature tune: tyAgarAjA, thyAgarAjA! ni da pa ma pa da ni sa!

[CRama]

pattamma and all others. This great concert will be webcast by Paalam in the middle of April- Watch the date- Will be the Sunday preceding Tamil New Year Day. Don,t miss it. Yaam petra inbam ellorum peruga.

[CRama]

kalpanaswarams and a fireworks finish*, tani. Percussion duo rocked during KS.

* - the vAdam that nereval and KS (atleast elaborate) for MD's songs aren't necessary and are superfluous seems to have a basis. I could easily imagine swarams for a mAdhavamanOhari song but here in this instance it appeared superfluous.

Can never agree that neraval and kalpana swaras are superfluous for MD Kritis. Have you not enjoyed Vasavadi sakala deva or Neela neerada sareera or Kumaraguruguha mahitham or Syame Sankari (Mamava Meenakshi).This song, you would have heard neraval and swaram for the first time so it would not have registered in you. But quite accidentally, today I heard a DVD of Vijaya Siva which I purchased from KGS two days back. There also he has presented this same Mukhari song very elaborately- with alapana, neraval at the same place and elaborate swarams in two kalams. It was very enjoyable.

[sankark]

kalpanaswarams and a fireworks finish*, tani. Percussion duo rocked during KS.

* - the vAdam that nereval and KS (atleast elaborate) for MD's songs aren't necessary and are superfluous seems to have a basis. I could easily imagine swarams for a mAdhavamanOhari song but here in this instance it appeared superfluous.

Can never agree that neraval and kalpana swaras are superfluous for MD Kritis. Have you not enjoyed Vasavadi sakala deva or Neela neerada sareera or Kumaraguruguha mahitham or Syame Sankari (Mamava Meenakshi).This song, you would have heard neraval and swaram for the first time so it would not have registered in you. But quite accidentally, today I heard a DVD of Vijaya Siva which I purchased from KGS two days back. There also he has presented this same Mukhari song very elaborately- with alapana, neraval at the same place and elaborate swarams in two kalams. It was very enjoyable.

Key operative words being - "elaborate", "seems to have" & "in this instance". I indeed like good nerevals, irrespective of the author.

Is that DVD a concert of VS from SKGS? I believe he did that 2 - 3 years ago in SKGS, I mean pAhimAm ratnAcala nAyaka.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Many of MD kritis come in the Upaasana category where Neraval is not attempted. Sri Kamalaambike (sri), Panchabhoota kritis etc

Neraval for Dakshinamoorthey may not impress though 'possible'. Swaraprastara is of course common at Pallavi.

[CRama]

sankark. That DVD is Melbourne concert. It cost Rs.500/.As I wrote earlier, VS is selling his DVDs/Audio DVDs in the concert venues.
By the way, who has sung swarams for Madhavamanohari song?

[CRama]

Sivaramakrishnan, You should hear the neraval at Viyathadi bhoothakirane for Kamalambike (Thodi) by MS and DKP.

[HarishankarK]

• The padam came as a welcome surprise.
Ini enna pechchu irukkudhu po po is a Javali by Subbaraman.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

CRama, I wanted to point out that neraval is not recommended /not taken up for Upaasana kritis and some very rare uruppadi-s of MD.

[CRama]

AS per my knowledge and the book I have referred (Katchery kayyedu) Ini enna pechu irukkudu is a padam only. The structure of the song itself looks like a padam only.