Ramana Balachander @ARkay Convention, 18/12/2017

[Rasika_first]

I attended this prodigious talents Veena recital couple of days at Arkay in Luz. The concert is available on youtube.
Ramana Balachander - Veena
Arvind Ranganathan - Mridangam
KV Gopalakrishnan - Kanjira

1. Koluvai Unnade- Devagandhari - Adi - Thyagaraja
2. Meena Lochana - Dhanyasi - Misra Chapu - Syama Sastri -
3. Missed it
4. Enduku Pedalla - Shankarabharanam - Adi - Thyagaraja

What a sublime concert this was. Ramana has mastered this beautiful instrument and his gayaki styles brings out the perfect tonal quality of the instrument thereby bringing the essence of the krithis too. It is as though someone is actually singing the krithi. Very few vainikas sing as they play along and Ramana does that as he plays the first line of the Pallavi, Anupallavi and the charanam on most occasions.

He started with Thyagarajas beautiful Devagandhari piece. I have Nedunuri sing this and the kalapramanam is a tad slower but really didn't affect the raga bhavam. This was followed by the majestic Dhanyasi. This ain't an easy ragam to sing or play because of the tricky dhaivatham . He was like a painter, his manodharmam just flowing and the final canvas was indeed beautiful.

The pick of the day was Shankarabharanam. His gamaka laden phrases in the mandhara sthyayi was so meditative. One could just shut eyes and forget everything around us. The sound was so therapeutic. Tanam that is synonymous with veena was played with astute brilliance. Neraval for the krithi was done at Veda Shashtra.

I hope this talented boy gets more opportunities in the future. He has couple of more concerts this DEcember. Rasikas who make it are sure to enjoy the concert. Here is the youtube link to the concert. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnKpcWWfOOs&t=3688s

[balavenu]

(3) was edAri sancherintura in Sruti Ranjani (Thyagaraja)

[sureshvv]

Did he sing along in places? I found this somewhat distracting.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Did he sing along in places? I found this somewhat distracting.

'Sampradayam' recommends that Veena be accompanied vocally by the Vainika.

(Dikshitar identifies himself as 'Vainika-Gayaka guruguha' in the kriti 'Balagopala'-Bhairavi)

[rajeshnat]

I think singing is surely distracting the intense nadham which is why we all go to veena in first place . If vainikas leave the muse 100% to the strings that would be ideal , this sampradayam of singing along can be jettisoned.

[sureshvv]

'Sampradayam' recommends that Veena be accompanied vocally by the Vainika.

(Dikshitar identifies himself as 'Vainika-Gayaka guruguha' in the kriti 'Balagopala'-Bhairavi)

Having never heard (even in a recording) of Dikshitar, I cannot comment on him. After hearing Ramana, especially after his voice breaking, I feel that he sounds better when he just plays. I don't know how he will reconcile that with Sampradayam.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Friends,
As rasikas well know, singing doesn't mean following the instrument throughout. It could be at the beginning of the Pallavi/Anupallavi/Charanam indicative of the Sahitya.Have not you listened to old recordings of Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer or the like (if not Muthuswami Dikshitar)? In a recent concert of Prof KG Vijayakrishnan @ Ragasudha for Parivadini he demonstrated this aspect beautifully. Many senior Vidushis have been adopting this age-old practice.
Ramana is a Shresta Vainika and I request him to continue what he does. A good voice will be an additional asset!

[rajeshnat]

SRK,
Jayanthi kumaresh only announces and she does not sing or may be she has minimally sung . Few months back nirmala rajasekar sang along the pallavi for a kalavathi MD song , that did not augur well. I remember the great vainika vainika kalpagam swaminathan did sing few phrases to the microphone but i was lucky then that she did not sing directly to a seperate microphone .

200 years back just may be many concerts had flute and veena as pakkavadyam it was may be sampradayam , now violin as accompaniment rules . Infact as such we should not be disturbed at all with our primary aesthetics of sound -let sampradayam get corrected if need be.

[arasi]

In J&J's concerts, Jayshri does sing a bit, and I don't find it intruding. Just humming it as it were, and not singing into the mic full-throated. At the very beginning, so that the playing remains pure sound till the end...

[sureshvv]

The pro I see is that it reminds me of the lyrics. The con is that unless the vidwan is a good vocalist, it obscures the music. Conforming to "Sampradayam" is neither here nor there. In most cases, the con seems to outweigh the pro.

[srikant1987]

It is difficult to do both things with necessary attention simultaneously. It might work better in duos like JJ -- or Ganesh Kumaresh or Lalgudi Siblings, where one can stop playing and sing, while the other continues to play.

It's much easier to play half a line and then sing the rest of it, and vice versa.

[kvchellappa]

As I heard, Ramana sings just in passing and he blends it with the instrument, it does not sound intrusive. The veena rules the roost and there isn't much to frown at it.

[sureshvv]

Yes. Mostly it is a murmur. Cannot make out the words either.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

As I heard, Ramana sings just in passing and he blends it with the instrument, it does not sound intrusive. The veena rules the roost and there isn't much to frown at it.

Yes.
That's what I pointed out too.

[ram1999]

'Sampradayam' recommends that Veena be accompanied vocally by the Vainika.

(Dikshitar identifies himself as 'Vainika-Gayaka guruguha' in the kriti 'Balagopala'-Bhairavi)

Having never heard (even in a recording) of Dikshitar, I cannot comment on him. After hearing Ramana, especially after his voice breaking, I feel that he sounds better when he just plays. I don't know how he will reconcile that with Sampradayam.

It is just one of 2 sangathis that he has sung while playing each kriti. I did not find it to be intrusive. His veena was definitely outstanding.

Lalgudi Jayaraman and Srimathi Bhramanandam have played the lalgudi pancharatnam and sung the first couple of sangathis of pallavi along with playing the violin. Kalpagam Swaminathan used to sing along while playing the veena.

But I am not sure if they can do both the entire stretch of the concert !!

[Nick H]

I have only seen him once, so have little basis for comment, but he did make me think... If he wants to sing along, then he should have a mic and go for it, otherwise it is a distraction.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

I observed that Ramana was NOT singing all along but only occasionally to indicate the sahitya.

Thank God, no one has said that he is singing raga aalaapana and swaras too!!

[shankarabharanam]

Being a vainika I can say that singing along has always been the tradition. Technically they don’t sing the whole song because that distract the player as well as the listeners. In case of Ramana he just sang the few lines to indicate what song he was going to play and during the charanam before taking it up for elaboration.

It is heartening to see a youngster play veena so efficiently and especially in they gayaki style. Hope rasikas and Sabha organizers encourage him. Such encouragement would motivate Students to learn this divine instrument.

[rshankar]

From the clips of Ramana, and Smt. Kalpagam Swaminathan (and Smt. Ambujam Vedantam, IIRC) I’ve heard, singing along is actually never distracting. And it’s part of their charm for me. Doesn’t take away from any aural experience.

[shriram.krishnan72]

What a dream this boy is! Hope he begins a new revolution in Veena which is much needed. The singing did bother me too and feel it could be avoided given that there is no compulsory tradition that I know of which needs him to sing. But his playing is godly. Gifted...

[Jigyaasa]

From the clips of Ramana, and Smt. Kalpagam Swaminathan (and Smt. Ambujam Vedantam, IIRC) I’ve heard, singing along is actually never distracting. And it’s part of their charm for me. Doesn’t take away from any aural experience.

Completely agree. The vINA is the instrument best suited to reproduce what the human voice can, as regards Carnatic music. Their coming together is an ideal amalgam.
Additionally, the sAhitya pAThAntara of a great tradition such as Smt Kalpakam Swaminathan will otherwise be lost to posterity. I think that's why such vaiNikas strike a judicious balance by singing the line of the pallavi or anupallavi once or twice while playing the instrument and then only playing.

[Rasika_first]

Being at the venue, I can vouch that it didn't really affect the listening experience. In fact I felt Ramana has a good voice too. One also needs to understand that veena to my knowledge is tuned to E sruti. So it is in fact a little tough for a male or lady musician to sync their voices to the instrument. But with practice they do it. Kalpakam mami used to do it and so did Ranganayaki Rajagopalan.

It isn't a tradition but I think veena is one of the closes instrument to the human voice and that it does sound good when some one sings along. As many members have pointed out, one can't sing continuously while playing.

[shriram.krishnan72]

@Rasika_first - That is a fair point. I concede what I said earlier. Will listen to it in person and reassess.

[bilahari]

Wonderful concert. Somehow this young man has such an uncluttered and keen understanding of ragas. Maintained a great kalapramanam throughout too. Devagandari and shankarabharaNam were top class. Look forward to watching him grow as a vainika.

[sankark]

. Look forward to watching him grow as a vainika.

And a mridangam artiste too. He is also a mridangam student.

[sranjani]

Ramana is extremely talented and he does not sing the full song .he just starts the pallivai.ofc for rtp he sings and shows the talam first .its absolutely fine.his music is divine and he gave a splendid 3 hr concert in our sabha ( Thrimoorthi sangeetha sabha) has a great future and yes sabhas should give him more oppurtunuties

[arasi]

I don't know if any of you from the forum attended the one veena concert I went to in the limited time I had in Chennai. I have heard her live several times before, and like her playing a lot. Jayalakshmi Shekhar's playing is pleasing, soothing and it touches the heart. She sings along a bit and it's not intrusive at all.. At times, when I thought she continued singing, it was the vINA which was doing the singing after she had stopped singing! So, it depends...