ranjani-gAyatri@NGS(Abbas ) on Jan 16th,2007

[rajeshnat]

Accompanied by charumathi raghurAman - violin , arun prakAsh - mridangam and guruprasad -ghatam

...
2. kanaka sabhApathi darisanam (?,S)- dhanyAsi - GKB
3. annapoorNE visAlAshi(RS) - shyamaa - MD
4. panniru kan malar malarndha kadale (R,N,S)- pantuvarAli - thiruvarutpa (ramalinga swami)
5. mAthAdi bekayyA ...manam kanindhu(R) - devagAndAri - AmbujamKrishna

6. varanArada nArAyana - vijayashri - T
7. rAmA neeyeDa (R,S,T) - kharaharapriya - T

8A. "viruttam" nAlum nagaramum natriru kOyilum - rAgamaligA -??
8B. chandrasekarA eesaa - sindhubhairavi - Anai vaidhyanAtha bhagavathar
9. bhajan "barusae badiyAra sAvunki??" - meghmalhAr - meera bhajan
10. abhang?? - sadAmandirAta vinOba - yaman kalyAni ?? - namadev???
11. nee nAma - sowrAshtram - T

Late to the concert, just heard the start of the dhanyAsi more championed by ranjani,swarams were just good. A brief rAga sketch in shyamaa was nice and the popular annapoorNE was good, though there was little excessive thrust in the anupallavi.An excellent rAga alApanai in pantuvarAli was followed by another excellent rendition of a rare thiruvarutpA set to tune by their guru shri PS Nararayanaswami. The neraval in the lines "en iru kaNN maniyE en thAye" provided a lot of symmetry in pantuvarAli for sisters to give an outstanding neraval pattern . Swarams were excellent in pantuvarAli.

A rare devagAndhari kriti in manipravalam which I heard few months back in their exclusive concert of ambujam krishna was repeated , appeared as a good brake for the throttle of pantuvarAli. The vijayashri rAga was sung quite fast with lot of traces of varAli, unlike what I heard before with an upcoming yougster Smt K.gAyathri in kutcheri season where it was more a complete varAli.

The alApanai by Smt gAyathri in kharaharapriya was very good , though not very elaborate as what I had heard in my last concert. The krithi was sung well, but the absence of neraval made the krithi little less interesting.Even the swarams were ordinary with Smt gAyatri more adjusting to Smt ranjAni and noticably dipping the elaboration that is generally always there in kharaharapriya. Also there was not much take and give (usually the sisters are too good) with violin in kharaharapriya.

I recollected the famous rAjapArvai song "Andhi mazhai pozhigiradhu", where some of them would write it off as more hamsAnandi than vasanta. But Smt gAyathri's starting phrase of viruttam in the line "nAlum nagaramum natriru kOyilum??" was more vasanta with slight traces of hamsAnandi. Nevertheless who cares when both rAgas are lovely and also when Smt gAyathri's rendition being outstanding.

The sisters sing viruttams brilliantly and that message was carried forward in the lines "mannAgi vinnagi" where Smt ranjani took it in amrithavarshini and smt gAyatri wrapped it up excellently in sindhubhairavi. The tukkada in sindhubhairavi was good.

The sisters announced the meerabhajan in meghmalhAr which was almost brindavana sAranga.They also announced that the rendition will be in different range like slight drizzle and downpour of rain. Well I didnot notice that , perhaps the drizzle was apt for ranjani and the downpour was apt for gAyatri. The last abhang looked like a rasika's favourite, but I felt they had delivered better abhangs?? before.

Charumathi was excellent especially in pantuvarAli, though she was not given too much chance to reply in kharaharapriya. ArunprakAsh was always bit drowsy in his play, aggression even absent in tani puts me off . Guruprasad was quite good in tani and played very well for the songs.

[arasi]

Rajesh,
On pongal day, Arunprakash was life itself when he accompanied Sanjay in a concert at Bangalore. You know well that I have no merit whatsoever to speak about mridangists. As a rasika, I find him very pleasing to listen to. He has a fine touch and his pauses please. I have found him a little bit low key too a few times, but he is a fine player.
Please don't ask, 'what do you know'? I know not, but I listen and I like what I hear. He is not aggressive (that's one of the reasons I like him). Some great mridangists of yesteryears still play just as well but my, their travels seem to have given them a whiff of rock music and is that why they play havoc on our eardrums, perhaps? I insist that I am ignorant about percussion. Still, an accompanist is there to raise the level of the music by his ably supporting the main performer. This is exactly what Arunprakash does very well...

[vijay]

Arasi agree with you 100% - not only about his soothing accompaniment (although like Rajesh I too like a bit of assertiveness if not agression!)...but also his brilliance in laya-wizardry.

I heard him play for Sanjay at Asthika Samajam recently - I just could not keep up with his Misra Chapu tani even though I understood many of the nadais. Of the senior mridangists only Palghat Raghu and at times, Guruvayoor Dorai give me more trouble.

He also varies his accompaniement depending on the artist - it is usually very soft for female artists whereas when he plays for Sanjay he tends to be more forceful.

[Jigyaasa]

The concert commenced with a Varnam, Sarasija in NAta, followed by a very brief sketch of DhanyAsi before Kanakasabhapati... I for one was just mesmerised by the MeghmalhAR Bhajan. The small Alapana that preceded it was so soothing to the ears...

[mahesh3]

Vijay/Arasi,

I've heard Arun Prakash enough times to develop an appreciation for him as an accompanist. His accompaniment sounds excellent to several krithis, and he tends to give gaps when critical sahityam is being sung....which sometimes elevates the mood of the renedition. It is his thanis that I fail to appreciate, in that he fails to show selectivity, and I can't really keep proper time on some of them. To my limited knowledge, it always seems like he is playing every bit pattern he has learned. And the sollus are definitely repititive.

Reminds me of a nephew I had, who refused to study from the rule book, so his ma would drill every single bit of information into his head. When the exam came, and the question paper was delivered, he would take the question-paper, stuff it into his desk, and promptly proceed to write everything he had inside of his head. It works, but is it the best? Yet, for tonal quality, give me an Arun Prakash over a Srimushnam any time of day

[mri_fan]

He is a good accompanist for songs, and people appreciate his soft tones. However, a fair criticism of him I think is that his thani's are not complicated, especially when compared to Srimushnam, Dorai, or the older veteran players. I'm more than ready to blame it on his age/experience. I never had the opportunity to listen to some of today's top mridangam artists when they were younger, but I'm expecting that as artists like Arun Prakash and Neyveli Venketesh get more experience, their thani's will also develop into more intricate patterns. But as it stands now, Arun Prakash's thani's are probably not his strong suit.

Just my two cents

[vijay]

Mahesh, MRI-fan, it is probably difficult to keep time precisely because of the complexity of his playing. This guys is dead sure of his idams in any nadai and his quick-silver brain can device the appropriate landings in the most complex of korvais - that is why I respect him tremendously...

Anyway, I do agree that, like many younsgters, his playing would improve over time - I am not comparing him with the greats just yet...but I do look forward to his concerts because they really give you something to much on (on the flip side, just when you think you are learning to float on the ocean of laya, comes this bloke to disabuse you of any such fancy notions!)

[vijay]

much ---> munch