Hyderabad Ramamurthy@Thippirajapuram on May 06th,2018

[rajeshnat]

Hyderabad Ramamurthy@Thippirajapuram on May 06th,2018
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Vocal : Hyderabad N Ramamurthy - 5th generation disciple of Poochi->Ariyakudi-> Madurai Krishnan->BRC Iyengar
Violin : E Dinkar - disciple of NCH Krishnamarcharyulu
Mrudangam : Chennai Thyagarajan - disciple of G Harishankar and CS Murugabhoopathy

Concert Type : Nirvana - no concert to follow
Day/Duration : Sunday/ 3 hours and 40 mins with two speech breaks , morning concert
Concert Type/Crowd : Free concert / Around 150 Max
Temple/Hall : Varadaraja swamy Temeple, Thippirajapuram
Occasion : 100th anniversary of NS Venkatraman(NSV)

1. viriboni - bhairavi varnam - pichimariyam Adiappah
2. VAthApi (S) - hamsadhwani - MD

Garland break

3. thulasi dhala moolachE (N,S) -mAyamAlavagowlai - T
neraval in Sarasiiruha punnaaga champaka pattalakuravaka
4.nagumOmu - Abheri - T

5. bhajare re re citta (R N S)- kalyani - MD
neraval in nijarupa dAna
Brief speech break

6. Punniyam oru kOti - keeravani - PT
7A. rAma katha sudhA (R N S T) - madhyamavati - T
neraval in bhAmAmaNi jAnaki saumitri
7B.tani

Ragam Pallavi Swaras(RPS) series begins
8. seethamma mAyamma (Raga, pallavi of krithi and swaras) - vasanta - T
9. broChE vA revarE (Raga , pallavi of krithi and swaras) - shree ranjani -T
10. nAdasudhA rasa (Raga ,pallavi of krithi and swaras) - Arabi - T
11. mariverE gathi (Raga ,pallavi of krithi and swaras) - Anandabhairavi - SS
12. anurAgamuleni (Raga ,pallavi of krithi and swaras) - Saraswati - T
Ragam Pallavi Swaras series ends

12. sukhievarO - KAnadA- T
13. marukelarA - jayanthashree - T
14. shree subramanyAya namastE (Ragam Taanam) - kAmbOdhi - MD

15. rAma rAma rAma yenirO - thillang - PD
16. venkatAchala nilayam - sindhubhairavi - PD

17. sAgara sayana vibhO - bhAgeshri - MDR
18. thillana ni ra ga ma ga ri sA - poorvi - Tirukkokarnam Subbarama Bhagavatar (popularized by MDR)
19. manasa sanchararE - shyama -SB
20. nee namA roopamulaku - sowrashtram - T

Note :I dont have minutes this time , i just jotted in a small paper the tukkadas and writing mostly from my memory, I am assuming i did not miss any song

[rajeshnat]

Thippirajapuram and NSV family
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Thippirajapuram is a village near kumbakonam enroute to mannargudi . This village is about 10 kms south east of kumbakonam . Thippirajapuram is very close to musically most famous village semmangudi and very close to the temple shrine of alangudi.Thippirajapuram is surely a small village with no sign of ever even becoming a town like kumbakonam.

NS Venkatraman (known as NSV) was born in 1918 and died on 1994. Some time in mid 60s to mid 70s after working in cities he decides to settle in thippirajapuram with his wife , daughters and son. There was economic hardship and thippirrajapuram fitted him and his family . He stayed from mid 60's to mid 70's .NSV's son wanted to celebrate his appa's centenary and his maternal grandson also supported partly , kind of 90% work done by NSV son and the last 10% done by NSV maternal grandson . NSV family invited Ramamurthy for a carnatic concert in the morning and in the evening had a bhagavatha puranam /ramayana parAyanam by Sengalipuram Mohana Rama deekshitar .

NSV was very very attached to carnatic music , his maternal grandson recollects some thing that he used to say very very frequently

NSV said in 1980's
" Athiyala romba Ariyakudi"
" Athukku apparam naraiya semmangudi"
" appa appa Flute Mali"
" Kadasila ellathaiyum thooki pOttu only MD Ramanathan"

Roughly translating that in english , nsv carnatic music staple started in early days with lot of ariyakudi , then lots of semmangudi , with lot of short sojurns with flute mali , then he kept his complete focus dumping almost all artists and stayed with only MD Ramanathan.

Thippirajapuram as a village has got two agraharams one south and north with perumal and siva temples being its landmark . NSV son with lot of support from natives of Thippirajapuram (particularly one Anandan mAma) conducted the centenary celebrations inviting 70 relatives and about 100 locals may have participated . NSV son about 8 to 10 years back worked in hyderabad and he had close connection with the musician hyderabad ramamurthy. Ramamurthy is a second generation hyderabadi his roots are in tamilnadu but his father settled in hyderabad and he also works in hyderabad . NSV son recollects a lot of musical spark with ramamurthy and has heard lot of recordings and live renderings in person. NSV maternal grand son has heard one famous recording of Ramamurthy with RKSK and JV in an audio casette which was done in 90s .He heard it 5 years back.


Over to concert - Part 1 of 5 from varnam to submain
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Ramamurthy has a nice sAreeram and he started with a bang .The finest of finesst varnam viriboni in bhairavi was the opener. The voice was tested just like his grand paramaguru ariyakudi and he appeared to faithfully follow the kutcheri paddhathi as set by his great grand paramaguru poochi ramnad srinivasa iyengar. The second speed in viriboni could have been better , but still the intensity of classicism was set . I have heard only twice or thrice in the last 15 years the song vathapi as #2 . Vathapi is like a submain , it takes time and due to paucity of time usually musicians skip this extraordinary MD krithi. But vathapi is one of a kind , muthuswamy dikshitar gives way too many juicy full toss sangathis kind of gives so many chances to get into intense carnatic groove . ramamurthy did sing very well , the hamsadhwani swaras had a trajectory like a kvn sowkyam , hamsadhwani swaras were well done . There was a brief garland break

Post garland break the Thyagaraja master piece thulasi dhala mulache was sung , I could observe so much of DKJ in his diction . The neraval line and swaras were well done , possibly he standardized like mayamalavagowlai superstar Srinivasa iyer but he felt short in swara aesthetics . Possibly since the concert was held in thippirajapuram and not the nearby semmangudi there was a slight less downpour of MMG swaras. Kalyani was taken up as a submain, standard text book kalyani with a lovely md krithi bhaja re citta , the diction was superb and DKJ was again before us. The neraval and swaras of kalyani were very very ariyakudish without giving any feel of over elongated submain. For some reason few senior patrons of the village were invited to talk ,i am not sure if submain was mistaken as main

Part 2 of 5 - from slight racy krithi to Main
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Post speech break ramamurthy did a wonderful selection . I am assuming he could not connect that much with bhajare citta but when he sang nagumOmu in Abheri that was well received . The song had a bit sobre start like BMK but from jagamelE semmangudi came to thippirajapuram . The main was ramakatha sudha in madhyamavati . Incidentally NSV Son and ramamurthy exchanged lot of emails prior to concert and ramamurthy obliged more than what can be done for one concert.


Madhyamavati had a little bit of crowd unrest , nothing to do with musician and organizer this was around 2 hours mark . per se I felt ramamurthy madhyamavati focus slightly wavered and he kept singing wonderfully without losing the iota of lovely muse that madhyamavati usually has. Swaras were way too measured and I am assuming he had to do that considered what all he planned . The preceding Puuniyam oru koti was superb the lining of KVN in ramamurthy was intense . His parama guru madurai krishan (ariyakudi disciple) , i have no clue how he sings , but all i know is that he tuned lot of songs . His guru BRC iyengar was also a Hindu critic is what i recollect and I have not heard his recordings. Ramamurthy does not rush and punniyam oru koti was added by ramamurthy as he had known thru NSV son that NSV was a paramacharya devotee .

Part 3 of 5 - Ragam Pallavi Swaras (RPS)
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NSV Son and Ramamurthy had a symbiotic relationship. NSV son gave a huge list of favourite of his dad NSV and he also had suggested so many songs that Ramamurthy sings very well . Ramamurthy wanted to satisfy his friend NSV Son and came up with a brief raga alapana .He conceptualized where he just sang just the pallavi of the krithi preceed by alapana then then added a quick round of swaras for about 5 krithis . I would like to call that as RPS (raga pallavi swaras). Quite honestly NSV grand son did not like that idea that much but many in the audience including few uninitiated masses did like it .I also liked few of them especially marivere -ananda bhairavi and brochE va revarE -shree ranjani.The other three in ragas arabi, sarasawathi and vasantha did have punch but all said the classicism was always there. Please donot mistake as a cheap attempt at all , he never diluted the classicism .

Correction to what I wrote on Part 3 of 5 added on May 11,2018:
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This idea RPS came from NSV son and not from ramamurthy . I have miscommunicated that in my above post as though ramamurthy did that . I had to hear the recording from my mobile to cross check who was the idea . Ramamuthy acknowledges and also states that he would like to get back to serious music.

[rajeshnat]

Part 4 of 5 - Back to krithi normalancy with a dash of taanam
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Ramamurthy mentioned that he did experiment this RPS and he prefers to go over his usual course from now on.What a start after strategic time out .Is there a better krithi than sukhi evarO that had lovely muse and his voice did not sag with RPS experimentation.If MMI sukhievaro went past, the GNB marukelara in jayanthashree was not that far in muse and extremely well received .

NSV grandson only made just one request for the whole concert he asked ramamurthy to sing if possible taanam before main krithi, he did not even look at any of emails between ramamurthy and nsv son. The main was madhyamavati, but still he sang a taanam before subramanyaya namaste . NSV favourite song is shree subramanyaya namastE and the brief ragam and taanam was well done , the song is taxing and ramamurthy did a great presentation.

Part 5 of 5 - tukkada tail that never pandered to mass
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The tukkada tail did not wag like a tv soap opera broadcast . He certainly gave a great canvas of krithis in all languages , I liked rAma rAma in thilang a lot for its aesthetic special muse. Special obesiance went to NSV thru his idol MDR and the sagara sayana was exceptionally good .The last poorvi thillana popularized by MDR did not hit that great MDR-KVN sowkhyam spot. Manasa sanchhararE was well received , I bet many are hearing that after many years after seeing the shankarabharanam movie. I am not a big fan of venkatachala nilayam in sindhu bhairavi . Post the concert when he went inside the temple to the sanctum santorum of perumal temple , ramamurthy just like that sang the saranga krithi varadarajam upasmahe . That saranga without any accompanist was way too special that NSV grandson heard.

Accompanist role
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E Dinkar is stock violinist and has mostly played in hyderabad . He is a student of NCH krishnamarcharyulu and he is a peer of MSN Murthy . He played with lot of restraint and did not rush any sangathis . Felt for few songs like nagumomu and swaras of vathapi he could have played bit more faster but all said he indeed gave a great support . The alapana return of kalyani was well done and had the same pracheena feeel. Chennai thyagarajan left toppi usage was very good and reminded of his guru CS Murugabhoopathy(CSM).Chennai Thyagarajan is perhaps one of the only performing student of CS Murugabhoopathi . I am not sure how many students of CSM are playing today other than chennai thyagarajan . Incidentally Thyagarajan has learnt from kanjira superstar G harishankar. His patterns were restrained and he went with the gentle and deep undercurrent flow of ramamurthy. Tani was brief and well done by chennai thyagarajan, he kept the limelight with the main singer

Few first for NSV Grandson's kid
--------------------------------
I am sure many would have guessed by now the grandson of NSV. In case if you are still wondering I am NSV grandson. My kid for the first time attended a live concert . My kid knew just one krithi which is bhavayami gopala bhalam in yamuna kalyani thru her classmate.She has not tasted any live music in madras.She came quite late , her father was thinking even if not hamsadhwani but atleast mayamalava gowlai she can make it , but that did not happen.

My kid just entered the temple hall with her mother prior to start of kalyani.I was surprised the kid was listening intently to melakartha 65 - kalyani .The kids attention was there for the whole RNS of kalyani , some thing that the kids father struggle for life (if the krithi is say not kamalambAm bhajare or vasudevayani or abhayAmbA) . Later she lost interest and went around the temple her interest was partly there in Ragam pallavi swaras may be RPS was a hit .I saw her face no sign of like or dislike same face whether it was saraswati or anandabhairavi or vasantha or arabi or shreeranjani. O Gosh ,next time if i take the kid for a live concert i will not request a taanam but ask the artist to render the cluster of bhairavi and kharaharapriya and few of its great children. My parents donot know which live concert that i have attended though i conjectured and i know it is one of the three, but I am happy I as a parent do know for sure that my kid attended the first concert in that core carnatic belt of thippirajapuram in kumbakonam . I was not born to hear my celestial greats like MMI-SSI-GNB in that mayavaram kumbakonam belt , optimistically looking at it the next gen has far more music to start with . I have to see her recurrent attention span towards arts (particularly carnatic music) but that is still subjudice.

Conclusively
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POst concert completion there was a brief vote of thanks by two folks one talking about NSV and thippirajapuram ,the other thanking artist(that was done by me).I said the folowing

Personally I really felt ramamurthy is a great singer , my earlier tape hearings had a lot of semmangudi and ariyakudi . In the concert I felt he had a strong diction like DKJ and a strong sowkhyam like KVN. His song selections were all Intensely classical(read the first post of songlist again in case you rushed).

I just told one thing about my NSV thatha when i gave vote of thanks .I wanted to share with you all. In early 80's there used to be some song in a radio where my thatha would ask me the raga. I would say i dont know.Then I would ask my thatha the first alphabet , he would say K , then I would say kalyani, kharaharapriya ,keeravani but i would have got all wrong , the answer was kedaragowlai. Few months back i made it easier for my daughter i said y for yamunakalyani. I just said at the end you all need to spend bit more time to minimally like CM and understand just a tiny bit then this CM is ocean. The next gen of mine has far more music to start with , best wishes for my kids recurrent attention to ragas other than kalyani.

Overall an excellent concert for 3 hours and 40 mins with atleat 20 minutes gone for speech and garland.

[arasi]

Rajesh,
Loved reading this. You would know, for many reasons...
Was touched by all the music which has gone into the fabric of the family's rasikatva history, and in music too, as amply seen in your review of Hyderabad (Thippirajapuram) Ramamurthy's concert.
Your kid is super smart. She knows the value of Kalyani unlike you

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Excellent review, Rajesh!
Perhaps one of the 'longest' menu ever.
But for your attendance I don't think the report would have reached rasikas.org.

[ganeshkant]

Hyderabad Ramamurthy gave a good concert in SVBC last month.I sent him my wishes thro FB.
Rajeshnat,really touching review.

[CRama]

Rajesh, Congratulations for organising a musical event in your native Tippirajapuram collaborating with your uncle. This is really a well paid tribute to your Thatha who had considerable influence on your development as a sensitive Sangeeta rasika. I wonder how you could spare your precious time for this alongside your demanding office schedule. Add to that- the elaborate review that you have posted.

Secondly, I appreciate your choice of the vidwan Ramamurthy- as against the shining stars of Chennai. I have heard Ramamurthy in TV, SVBC and he sings well. Needs to be supported.

The format of Ragam Kriti Pallavi and Swaram- Sorry. I pray the young musicians with an eye for innovative format should not take a leaf out of that. He could have sung the full kriti (skipping the ragam) of less number of kritis and swarams.

The concert had extended more than three and half hours. Very nice for the team to exert that much and that would have satisfied you immensely. Hope that the next gen rasika- what is her name- will blossom into a singer in due course. Best Wishes.

[rajeshnat]

Refer back to post #2 , I have made 4 line updates at the end on the RPS

Correction to what I wrote on Part 3 of 5 added on May 11,2018:
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[rajeshnat]

The format of Ragam Kriti Pallavi and Swaram- Sorry. I pray the young musicians with an eye for innovative format should not take a leaf out of that. He could have sung the full kriti (skipping the ragam) of less number of kritis and swarams.

Crama,
I also stated that i did not like it , infact i stated that in my vote of thanks before every one .But for few ragas like that brochEvA revarE raghupathE (shreeranjani) and especially MariverE (anandabhairavi), it kind of clicked. Ramamurthy also told explicitly post RPS, i will get back to serious music.

When he sang the full sukhi evarO and marukelara I felt he was simply back to Poochi-Ariyakudi school that he faithfully follows . My conjecture is that Ramamurthy did that as an one off beat exercise more to satisfy my maternal uncle and he surely like you and me did not really believe that exercise in full. However musically he surely did not make anything light, he is intensely classical . On a side note ,My maternal uncle is just 4 years and 3 months elder to me and he must have been a very pushy sabha seceratary who got 5 RPS.

[Sundara Rajan]

Thank you Rajesh for the description of the village Thippirajapuram in addition to the detailed review of the concert. I am reminded of my school days (mid 1940's ) in the village Ailoor aka Sriramasmudram on the banks of kAveri river in Musiri taluk. I had friend/class mate by name Muthu and his brother Balu. They were from Thippirajapuram and went to school with me at the Zamindar's High School in Kattuputhur two miles away. They were living with their maternal uncles Venkatarama Iyer and Ramadurai Iyer. Muthu, Balu and I used to ride in the same bullock cart to the school daily. I do not know their father's name. I wonder where Muthu and Balu are now; they must be about my age 85 ! Reminiscence of long bygone days !!

[hnbhagavan]

There seems to be no U tube recording!

[CRama]

Rajesh, How are the locals exposure to carnatic music. Is there music concerts happening there once in a while. Did the majority of the audience sit through the full three and half hours concert. Or audience dwindled gradually.

[rajeshnat]

Rajesh, How are the locals exposure to carnatic music. Is there music concerts happening there once in a while.

Crama,
On locals exposure I donot know .On concert frequency and concert happenings . I do know in kumbakonam there is one sabha vani vilas sabha
which functions and conducts yearly series. About 7 or 8 years back when I went once to kumbakonam there was one concert in one temple like
nageswaran or kumbeshwaran temple or chakrapani temple .I did not attend as i had to take the train and i vaguely recollect that was after some religious discourse.

In villages in south east or east belt of kumbakonam (15 km radius of thippirajapuram )there are villages around thippirajapuram like srivanjiyam, vishnupuram , nachiar kovil, semmangudi(which is actually a village agraharam within a village) ,konnerirajpuram ,alangudi,manjakudi , sengalipuram . I am assuming the yearly event held in manjakudi in a school/ashram started by Late dayananda saraswati village must be the most happening carnatic concert place .

In thippirajapuram village during my thathas time Late Srivanjiam Mani iyer used to reside there. KUmbakonam City Union Bank Late chairman narayanan(in particular) and his son kamakoti have done a lot of service for CM and few other fine arts and built few elementary schools also right there in thippirajapuram . About 8 years back I went once to my paternal native village which is nallamangudi near nannilam which is near tiruvarur ,there the tiruvarur yearly festival conducted by mummoorthy trust holds Carnatic concert. As such in mayavaram-kumbakonam-thiurvarur belt , I am not sure if concerts are held other than the few that i mentioned.

Did the majority of the audience sit through the full three and half hours concert. Or audience dwindled gradually.

Audience reached the peak of 200 to 300 at half time , we told that the lunch is only at the end of morning concert so some captive relatives mostly stayed but other Local natives kept on rotating . Some time around 3 hours the news leaked that the lunch was served then many left. I would say around 100 stayed for the full concert which was a healthy mix of both relatives and natives . This village thippirajapuram is around 3000 in population and 300 attended that is around 10%.

[rajeshnat]

15. rAma rAma rAma yenirO - thillang - PD
16. venkatAchala nilayam - sindhubhairavi - PD

17. sAgara sayana vibhO - bhAgeshri - MDR
18. thillana ni ra ga ma ga ri sA - poorvi - Tirukkokarnam Subbarama Bhagavatar (popularized by MDR)
19. manasa sanchararE - shyama -SB
20. nee namA roopamulaku - sowrashtram - T

The order that ramamurthy sang is not as above . that was recollection order not the concert order. This was the order and he only ended with thillana prior to manglam.

15. rAma rAma rAma yenirO - thillang - PD
16. sAgara sayana vibhO - bhAgeshri - MDR
17. manasa sanchararE - shyama -SB

18. venkatAchala nilayam - sindhubhairavi - PD
19. thillana ni ra ga ma ga ri sA - poorvi - Tirukkokarnam Subbarama Bhagavatar (popularized by MDR)
20. nee namA roopamulaku - sowrashtram - T

[rajeshnat]

From your left to right R Dinkar(white jibba),Hyderabad Ramamurthy and Chenai thyagrajan (white shirt), photo taken inside the varadaraja swamy perumal temple venue in thippirajapuram on May 06,2018

[arasi]

Rajesh,
It would be nice if you can ask the natives if they can trace Sundara Rajan's school friends and their families!

[shankarank]

There was also a upanyAsaka named SrI V. Ramamurthy dIkshitar from Thippirajapuram. I have heard him perform upanyasams in my locality twice or so. His son used to reside in Madurai for a while.

[rajeshnat]

There was also a upanyAsaka named SrI V. Ramamurthy dIkshitar from Thippirajapuram. I have heard him perform upanyasams in my locality twice or so. His son used to reside in Madurai for a while.

Ramamurthy Dikshitar younger son is mohana rama dikshitar and elder son is pattabhi. Infact Pattabhi mama is very elder to mohana rama dikshitar In the upanysam we had pattabhi mama accompanying mohana rama dikshitar. As with many families of that generation everywhere in india there will be an elder sibling and a very young sibiling and I am conjecturing that distance is what easily couples one generation to the next. My uncle NSV son and Mohanarama dikshitar are of the same age .Pattabhi and the first few daughters of NSV are very elderly. I do know the most famous sengalipuram anantharama dikshitar is related to ramamurthy dikshitar , but i dont know how.

On a side note in that village right now say one house is now converted to kanchi Maha periyava sthalam , one house is full of ramana maharishi photos etc and most of them are 75+ in age. Mohana rama dikshitar is extremely forward looking to bring the anantharama deekshitar legacy, his upanyasam with his anna was on May 06th night at the same temple. While few houses are razed and built in thippirajapuram, many houses still retain the same old charm . In these houses all that you see is sunlight coming into the center room flanked with a big thinnai (front porch) in front and a long garden in the back.

[shankarank]

Rajesh, Thanks for sharing the details.

http://www.thehindu.com/obituary/12th-A ... 680721.ece

R.KALYANARAMAN(64) Rtd IOB S/o Tippirajapuram Ramamurthy Dikshitar

And that is most likely the son that resided during his tenure in Madurai - in our locality.

[nsridhar22]

Great detailed review Rajesh. Thanks a lot for organising this concert and also reporting in such detail. It made a fascinating read. I am hearing about Hyderabad Ramamurthy for the first time and what a great lineage he comes from. I hope to catch some recording of his sometime in the future.

Thanks again for the great review.

[ganeshkant]

There was also a upanyAsaka named SrI V. Ramamurthy dIkshitar from Thippirajapuram. I have heard him perform upanyasams in my locality twice or so. His son used to reside in Madurai for a while.

I was in Sidhamalli (22 kms.from Mayavaram) from 11.05 to 14.05 for Sita Kalyanam that has been celebrated for the past 8 decades + !
Both Pattabhi & Mohanram deekshidhars were present and gave pravachanam for close to 2 hrs.each day.They are continuing the legacy of their fore fathers.Mohanram was happy to know about their mention in our forum.He lives in Virugambakkam,Chennai.