Prasanna Venkatraman@SKGS Mini on Sept 23rd,2018

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rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Prasanna Venkatraman@SKGS Mini on Sept 23rd,2018

Post by rajeshnat »

Prasanna Venkatraman@SKGS Mini on Sept 23rd,2018
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Vocal : Prasanna Venkatraman
Violin : Parur M A Sundareswaran
Mrudangam : Arjun Ganesh
kanjira : Dr nerkunam shankar

Concert Type : Nirvana - No concert to follow ;Ticketed concert
Day/Duration :Sunday/2 hours and 20 mins
sabha/Hall : skgs Mini - KamakOti hall as part of Gokulashtami Series

1. vanajAkashi - ata tAla varnam - Kalyani - Pallavi gopala iyer
2. brOchevArevarE (S) - Sriranjani - T
swaras for 5 mins

3. kadaikaNN vaithennai aalammA(R S) - bEgaDa - ramaswamy sivan
8 mins alapana and 4 mins violin return
neraval in santhatam pugazhnthu Koora guha dAsan for 4 mins
4 mins swaras

4.shree valli dEvasEnApathE(R)- natabhairavi - Psivan
10 mins alapana and 6 mins violin return
5. bHogEEndra sAyinam - kuntalavarAli - ST

6A. shree rAjagOpala (R N S T) - sAveri - MD
9 mins alapana and 4 mins violin return
7 mins neraval in dhIrAgragaNya dInasharaNya
swaras for 7 mins
6B. tani for 10 mins

7. sonnadhai seidhida - vandanadhArini + jayanthashree+ devamanohari+ mAnd - House is divided some say GNB others say mayuram vishwanatha sAstri

8A. oorilE kAni illai - KApi + pAriLnin pAdamoolam- darbAri kAnadA - pAsuram
8B. govardhana giri dhAri - darbAri kAnadA- NT

9. pavamAna

rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: Prasanna Venkatraman@SKGS Mini on Sept 23rd,2018

Post by rajeshnat »

Vidwan Prasanna Venkatraman was , is and will be always a brilliant classical musician . There is more musirish bhAvam in his music , musiri i mean by having certain throw with power and not really gushing with sangathis and sancharas .There are few pockets of sanjay here and there but to me he is more a musiri typecast thru TK govinda Rao and possibly his most pradhana guru TR Balamani who has given so much to him.

SKGS mini hall is the most aesthetic sabha and hall , the chairs are neat , AC is on (AC is atleast needed for sound and aural sanctity in hall) .There are just 4 or 5 Bose speakers kept just above in the front with nice resplendent lights. SKGS especially kamakoti hall has got so much of musical arOma , i only wish the concert could have gone bit more but still it is ok as the tani did not eat that much the concert.

I came few minutes late thinking i would miss a great varnam like an aabhogi or bhairavi , but i was feeling okay as only kalyani varnam got started . MelakarthA 65 was half way when I entered. Prasanna was one step before chirunau in the popular ata tAla varnam vanajAkshi. Chirunau in second speed was not sung that much with the expected second speed finesse , the mrudu angam fingers of Arjun Ganesh was already well set , but Prasanna needed bit more time to settle .

Last concert i cribbed that chitravina ravikiran did not give me a GNB Shade of Ramnad krishnan atleast in the first half . Bingo being in chennai you have some redemption soon , prasanna came up with a beautiful shree ranjani krithi brochevarevarurE which is a ramnad krishnan delicacy to me. What can i say with this krithi brochE WOW revevered everywhere , sadguru thyagaraja created magic with just not words directed with rama bhakthi but with his asymmetrical sommersaults in pallavi and there is so much of laya piDi. One can also add that sriranjani opening with #2 is one of the most juiciest full toss for any mrudangam artist .Ganesh stockiness and arjunas pointed aims was rolled as one ArjunGanesh this mrudangist is simply on a roll from the last time I heard him at Mudhra with my favorite vocalist,he creates magic, will be surely a big star in the future.

On a side note sunday evening had one concert in mylapore ragasudha (vishudev nambuduri) and at Mambalam SKGS(Prasanna) , i settled for this particularly the more subliminal reason was the addition of spectacular Arjun Ganesh. BeGaDa was the heavy submain that prasanna took up . Alapana was clinical with a nice rendition , he was bit measured in neraval and especially swaras . I am sure he would have heard his paramaguru musiris brillaint sishya TRS singing begada , certain orientation there will help him to sing a better bEgaDa in the future.

I have noticed Prasanna often repeats natabhairavi . many many years when he just moved from mumbai to chennai , we rasikas team hosted a concert of his at a small hall in nungambakkam , even that day when i was the MC for that concert (as coolkarni had some leg injury) prasanna with another brilliant mumbai to chennai import violinist charumathi raghuraman played IIRC only natabhairavi as main .Shree valli devasenapathE was the chiseled natabhairavi krithi , a touch of DKJ/DKP indeed was there. He sang a lovely natabhairavi with nice aesthetics.

Bhogeendra sayinam without swaras is bit of a disappointment , his present guru sanjay sings that exceptionally well , prasanna just cut short with only the krithi . Atleast at that point with both bhogeendra and shree valli, i was just feeling he could take bit more risk like sanjay in going towards few swaras and giving bit more punch .

sAveri was the main. I guess the orientation of alapana was bit quintessentially semmangudi sweep for most time , few points he had distinct sanjay pidis but he was predominantly slowing bit down to give more saaveri aroma that stayed bit stronger . I and Crama were expecting shree rajagopala and only that came , it is a tough MD krithi to sing and i enjoyed his presentation , very measured neraval and swaras more a shade of KVN ,DKJ and nedunuri came to me there . I am not sure if musiri has sung shree rajagopala.

The last oorilE pasuram was well sung , the kApi had a strong voice but did not have that much of contours of special coffee but darbAri was simply fantastic. I expected govardhana and told that to crama , then i changed my mind to say it could be even chandrachooda, Oh i forgot at that time that chandrachooda was lord shiva krithi , crama corrected that chandrachooda was a lord siva krithi we both smiled and crama left .The brilliant govardhana giridhari synched so much into my heart (darbari is one of a kind rAga), personally many years before i was moved by this raga darbari when neyveli sang, he is a gold medal chandrachooda , prasanna gave a near silver medal finish with govardhana.

MA sundareswaran is a genius in one aspect , he gives shades of alapana and raga very quickly .Incidentally at times his weakness of intrusion during krithi also did not happen . MAS sir please continue with the same form of non intrusion, the parur cut glides like taanam were there at many places and he was very responsive . MAS in many ways is the finest chitappa MS Gopalakrishnan varisu. What can one say about Arjun Ganesh, he knows to drive his angam to give such a lovely mrudu feel , he gets the intent of the musician and sAreeram dymamics and he leads from the front with controlled aggression. Shankar in kanjira played very well and gave adequate support , both were very sweet to end the tani in 10 mins.

Prasanna is a gifted musician who could perhaps show some more spontaneity at the stage that too when say loaded with pyrotechnics that archer Arjun with Stocky Ganesh provider being the mrudu angam artist. Prasanna is very very clinical- everything is prepared at home , his music certainly is clean being slightly bit more eclectical (rajesh is not a musician but if rajesh is a musician he will not sing begada as submain and saveri as main that too with kalyani varnam). He had a 75% kamakoti hall crowd thank god vanimahal did not have a free concert .All said prasanna has deep carnatic intensity which is very engrossing .I absolutely loved his music and this concert that too with a gun team (in increasing order Shankar, MAS and ArjunGanesh) did click for sure.

Overall an excellent concert for 2 hours and 20 minutes.

CRama
Posts: 2939
Joined: 18 Nov 2009, 16:58

Re: Prasanna Venkatraman@SKGS Mini on Sept 23rd,2018

Post by CRama »

It was a brilliant concert by Prasanna Venkatraman and the team. I have heard him you tube. But this is the first live concert I heard of him. The alapana of Natabhairavi was fabulous and I could see the pattern of Musiri in the alapana. I have not heard the alapana of Natabhairavi by Musiri. But I do know his style of alapana. That he has imbibed through his Guru TKG. Such an elaborate alapana of Natabhairavi I have never heard in the recent past and the famous kriti Sree Vallidevasenapathe was rendered so well. One of the rasikas from behind made a ONCE MORE request. It was so captivating. (but Prasanna did not oblige for want of time)
To Rajesh"s request for swaras for Bhogeendrasayinam- Very rarely somebody sings swaram for Bhogeendrasayinam as it is a fast filler and has got Madhyamakalam also, so there is no need for the swaram.

arasi
Posts: 16774
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30

Re: Prasanna Venkatraman@SKGS Mini on Sept 23rd,2018

Post by arasi »

Rajesh,
Years ago at MAF, heard Prasanna sing mukhari rAgA and muripemu as main. You were there too, I think. Cool, Prashant, his dad and others as well. Just loved it. As for naTa bhairavi, Sanjay could have been an inspiration to him too. Two naTabhairavis of Sanjay's that I've heard were outstanding.

sureshvv
Posts: 5523
Joined: 05 Jul 2007, 18:17

Re: Prasanna Venkatraman@SKGS Mini on Sept 23rd,2018

Post by sureshvv »

Yes. Sanjay owns Natabhairavi.

kvchellappa
Posts: 3598
Joined: 04 Aug 2011, 13:54

Re: Prasanna Venkatraman@SKGS Mini on Sept 23rd,2018

Post by kvchellappa »

Sanjay has sung beautiful swarams for Bhogeendrasayinam. It is available in youtube.

HarishankarK
Posts: 2216
Joined: 27 Oct 2007, 11:55

Re: Prasanna Venkatraman@SKGS Mini on Sept 23rd,2018

Post by HarishankarK »

CRama wrote: 24 Sep 2018, 21:29 To Rajesh"s request for swaras for Bhogeendrasayinam- Very rarely somebody sings swaram for Bhogeendrasayinam as it is a fast filler and has got Madhyamakalam also, so there is no need for the swaram.
I can recollect Manda Sudharani sing nice swarams for this song in Podhigai concert- she did an alapanai too if I remember correctly. So did Pantula Rama and Neela Ramgopal (Chentane Sada lovely one). Some other artistes have also sung - most of the times I have heard this song being sung live - it is almost always filler and also ended with a crisp round of swaras.
And nobody decides which song should have kalpanaswarams and which cannot have. It's all up to the artiste and his/her creative abilities. Padavini is also a fast song but nowadays it is also being sung with swaras - in fact the song gets over in 3-4 mins and then fast speed swaras are sung for about 7-10 mins - same for Bantu riti and Sarasa sama dana etc etc. These are even faster songs than Bhogeendrashayinam.

arasi
Posts: 16774
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30

Re: Prasanna Venkatraman@SKGS Mini on Sept 23rd,2018

Post by arasi »

Agreed. The performer's getting into a 'svarA-singing state of mind' can occur from the opener (varNam or a vinAyaka kriti) to a tail end piece of the concert. It's all fine, so long as we don't get an overload of svarAs in one sitting!

sureshvv
Posts: 5523
Joined: 05 Jul 2007, 18:17

Re: Prasanna Venkatraman@SKGS Mini on Sept 23rd,2018

Post by sureshvv »

HarishankarK wrote: 26 Sep 2018, 06:38 These are even faster songs than Bhogeendrashayinam.
Khanda chapu can pose an additional challenge.

Sivaramakrishnan
Posts: 1582
Joined: 02 Jan 2010, 08:29

Re: Prasanna Venkatraman@SKGS Mini on Sept 23rd,2018

Post by Sivaramakrishnan »

sureshvv wrote: 25 Sep 2018, 10:47 Yes. Sanjay owns Natabhairavi.
🤔

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