Ramakrishnan Murthy gave an unforgettable nectarine concert to an audience Ramesh Swamy described as a "class" audience today. I later told Ramesh that if I get to hear a concert this good, I would feel sated for over a full year until next Gokulashtami series
RKM had L Ramakrishnan on the violin, Manoj Siva on the mridangam, Sukanya Ramagopal on ghatam, and Sripada Rao and Ramana on two tamburas. You will get an idea of his mood when I tell you that he asked the two tamburas to play on with no let up during the tani also.
The song list :
1. Sadguru GajAsya VanI - shloka - Begade
2. Nadatanum Anisham - Chittaranjani
3. Nilayatakshi - Paras
4. Nenarunchi Nanu - Malavi
5. Pankaja Lochana - Kalyani
6. Swami Mukhyaprana - Yadukula Kambhoji
7. Sri Rajagopala - Saveri
8. Tani
9. Bilahari RTP - khanda nadai, chaturashra triputa ateeta eduppu
Sahitya: Ahobilaharim naraharim sadashraye maalolam murarim
Ragamalika Swaras: alternate vocal/violin hindola abhogi athana ranjani nagaswarali valaji bhupalam mohana nilambari kannada sindhubhairavi saranga suruti
10. Eppovaruvaro - Jaunpuri
11. Shloka/virutta
Shrutva gunan - Bhagavata - Behag
Ai murali - Shikshastaka - darbari kanada
Kasturi tilakam - Krishnakarnamruta-suruti
12.Alasaraparitapam - suruti
13. Mangalam
From Chittaranjani swaras, through an un-perfunctory Malavi, a most wonderful Kalyani, a well-enunciated Purandaradasa kriti on Hampi Anjaneya (tuned in YK by RKSK), a profound Saveri, a delightful Bilahari, a riotous ragamalika, a most meditative and very well delivered set of shlokas, and very emotive Eppo Varuvaro and Alasara, Ramakrishnan Murthy showed what a "JUST SO RIGHT" Carnatic concert is. I could not help recalling the Rio 2016 100m Butterfly gold medal winner Schooling, who got a hug from Phelps, the legend. That Schooling from Singapore had emulated the evergreat Phelps since 2008 Beijing, gave me a thought. If KVN had been there today, he would have given a hug to RKM.
There are moments in a concert when the music is so measured and profound that you hesitate to clap, lest it disturb the music. In Soundarya Lahari, Adi Shankara says Saraswati (a part of the musical ensemble for the ananda natana) muted her vina strings so as not to disturb the divine sound of Parvati's own AAH while witnessing Siva's dance. Today the audience bade its time to applaud. The music was so good - the Kalyani, Saveri, RTP, Tani, Shloka.
Yes, talking of Tani, and mridangam accompaniment, Manoj Siva was outstanding. He bore the proud trademark of Palghat Raghu bani. He jells really well with RKM- could it be because he has accompanied KVN many times!?
Ramakrishnan on the violin was good and got many claps. If he can modulate his volume a bit more, and play on the lower string, especially in places when the vocalist is meditative, his playing will go up a few notches. Sukanya was spirited during the tani.
Ramakrishnan Murthy is all good news. Especially for those like me who look for music that is as splendrous as the description of Krishna in the shloka Kasturi tilakam...
And the song list shows you how RKM paid his tribute on the occasion of Gokulashtami. God bless such artistes!