Maharajapuram Ramachandran at Orlando, Florida on 4-28-2018

[Sundara Rajan]

Maharajapuram Ramachandran- vocal
Vanjamuri Kamalakiran-violin
Vijay Ganesh- Mridangam

1. Charukesi VarNam-"Innum en manam" by Lalgudi Jayaraman- 9 min
2. Begada- M.Dikshitar's VallabhA nAyakasya- 11 min.- including swaram & violin return
3. Sriranjani-BrochEvArevarE - Thyagaraja's- 8 min. + 4 min.swarams
4. PanthuvarALi-"sadA enna hridayadalli" of Vijaya Vittala dAsa-+extended swarams-15 min.
5. Sri rAga-Thyagaraja's "5th gem" endarO mahAnubhAvulu - 15 min.
6. AbhEri raga- Thyagaraja's ever popular NagumOmO- 11 min.
7. VeeramaNi's rAgamAlika- "sAranga maruganE, sAvEri bAlanE, mOhana kumAranE-----
followed by nAyaki, sAramathi,---------karaharapriyA, bhairavi, thOdi etc. 13 min.
Such compositions employing rAga names are popular among some rasikAs, but NOT "my cup of tea", with little scope for raga elaboration.
8. Mohanam- obviously a "request"- 9+3 min AlApana; 8 min. ThyagarAja's EvarurA ninnuvinA, plus 5 min. swarams
8a. Thani Avarthanam-5 min.
9.YamunA kalyANi- Thyagaraja's "hari dAsulu vetalE"- 3 min.
10.RamalingaswAmi(VaLLalAr)'s ArutpA- "pertra thAi thanai maha maranthAlum--" followed by
11.DayAnanda Saraswathi's "bhO sambhO siva sambbhO" in rEvathi raga
12.Purandara dAsA's "GOvindA ninna nAmavE chandhA" in popular Hindustani
"Janasammodhini" rAga, which is said to be derived from rAga Valaji by adding
R3 (Chatussruti Rishabha) 13. followed by MangaLam

Carnatic concerts are very few and faaaar between in Orlando,FL area. This concert was offered as part of the JeernOdhAraNa mahA kumbhAbhihEkam of our temple in Casselberry, a suburb of Orlando, FL . Because of the "hOmam" being conducted outside, this concert scheduled for 6:30 p.m. was delayed until 7:30 p.m., although the artists had arrived on time. This gave a few of us the opportunity to chat with Sri. Ramachandran. I have listened to live concerts of his grandfather Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer in the 1950"s in India before I moved here to the U.S.in 1960. I have listened to only one or two live concerts of his father Maharajapuram SanthAnam here. Of course, I have dozens of his tapes and CDs.

Ramachandran had earlier stated that he had to accommodate several requests of his hosts and their friends and hence I guess his choice of songs was limited. Under the circumstances he provided a very good enjoyable concert. His "bANi" reminded me of his father, but his voice reminded me of his grandfather.
The youngster Kamalakiran did an excellent job of accompanying the senior vocalist. This was not a surprise to me since I had witnessed his similar performance in Cleveland Aradhanas. Mridangist Vijay Ganesh complemented the concert well and his short Thani Avarthanam was enjoyable.
This "once in a blue moon" concert happened on a "full moon night" and was a delight to the local audience !

[rajeshnat]

This concert was offered as part of the JeernOdhAraNa mahA kumbhAbhihEkam of our temple in Casselberry, a suburb of Orlando, FL . .....
....
I have listened to live concerts of his grandfather Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer in the 1950"s in India before I moved here to the U.S.in 1960. I have listened to only one or two live concerts of his father Maharajapuram SanthAnam here. Of course, I have dozens of his tapes and CDs.
.....
His "bANi" reminded me of his father, but his voice reminded me of his grandfather.

Sundararajan Sir
What is jeernOdharana mean ?

You must been one unique sishya having listened to MVI and then just listened to 2 of santhanam .

May be a slight error in your communication on bani and voice . To me
(santhanam emote vishranthi muse + vishwanatha iyer restlesss brighas ferocity)/2 = maharajapuram ramachandran
It looks ramachandran sir got bit caged with the late start and you may have lost a lot of orlando magic. Aa great musician who takes the best of his father and his grandfather and also adds his own emote and power . Best wishes for his remaining tour

Thank you for your great review.

[MaheshS]

This concert was offered as part of the JeernOdhAraNa mahA kumbhAbhihEkam of our temple in Casselberry, a suburb of Orlando, FL . .....
....
I have listened to live concerts of his grandfather Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer in the 1950"s in India before I moved here to the U.S.in 1960. I have listened to only one or two live concerts of his father Maharajapuram SanthAnam here. Of course, I have dozens of his tapes and CDs.
.....
His "bANi" reminded me of his father, but his voice reminded me of his grandfather.

Sundararajan Sir
What is jeernOdharana mean ?

An Introduction to Jeernodharana Kumbhabhishekam [PDF]

[Sundara Rajan]

Thank's for the quick response,Rajesh.
JeerNa=digestion/breakdown/damage
uddharaNa=repair/rectification/uplifting
(Ref.: jagadhodharana= uplifting/saving the universe)

Initial opening celebration when the kumbhas(pots at the top of the gopuram) are given a shower of holy water = Kumabha AbhishEkam.
This abhishEkam is usually repeated every Twelve Years for repairs.
Our temple here was opened in 2005. For various reasons the second abhishEkam could not be performed in 2017. Hence this year.

It is long since I listened to the grand father. I remember his voice as very masculine (gambeeram), Santhanam's was somewhat softer and Ramachandran's is in between. That is what I meant. Opinions do differ.
He had less time for his concert, just about 2hours+

[Sundara Rajan]

While I gave a literal translation/ meaning of the words,jeernodharana, Mahesh has provided a reference to the religious significance of the event. My response and that of Mahesh apparently crossed. Thank you both.

[arasi]

Sundara Rajan,
You and Thanjavooran don't sound geriatric at all in your detailed description and attention span in your reporting of concerts. Wish I had that amount of concentration!

As for the voices of the three vidwans in the family line, Santhanam's voice had a ghAtram (depth and resonance)--bell metal quality, but he also 'konju'-fied here and there, sweetening it. Rajesh's description of the youngest Maharajapuram is close to my impression about him. Charmer, the senior most certainly was. His stage presence I haven't forgotten, though we were tots then

[rajeshnat]

Can we ever do a mahakumbabhishekam without doing a jeernodharana kumbabhishekham?

Nice description about 3 generation of maharajapurams- thatha appa and son - Arasi and Sundararajan Sir.

Sundararajan sir ,
You could have pushed another half an hour, you may have got few pointers on the lines of what i said. Unfortunately due to time constraints , you did not get jeer yes dharana of his jeer sareeram, instead it was jeer no dharana concert.