Ramakrishnan Murthy | June 2, 2019 | Tustin, CA

[bhasi]

What do you do when, after weeks of anticipation of a concert - during which time you often find yourself having to smother your effervescent expectations for fear of inadvertently jinxing it - the much-awaited event finally comes to pass, and in its very first few seconds so effortlessly quells all your trepidations that it knocks the very wind out of you, and puts you in a kind of stupor of bliss?

What do you do then?

Artists

• Ramakrishnan Murthy - Vocals
• Kamalakiran Vinjamuri - Violin
• Rohan Krishnamurthy - Mridangam

Setlist

1. suma sAyaka - karNATaka kApi (O)
2. shankaram abhirAmi manOharam - manOhari (O)
3. kripa jUchutaku vElarA rAma - chHAyAtarangiNi (O)
4. nee bhajana gAna rasikula - nAyaki (R, S)
5. vazhi maraithirukkuthe - nATTaikkurinji (R, S)
6. devi pAvane sEvE charanE - sAvEri (R, N)
   • N at somabimba madapaha sumukhi
7. entHA cheluvagE - karNATaka dEvagAndhari
8. RTP featuring raga changes in the tAnam:
   • Ragam: nATTai,
   • Tanam: Arabhi/dEvagAndhAri (not sure), Ahiri, neelAmbari
   • Pallavi: khanda nadai tisra jati, triputa pallavi, 2-beat thalam (not sure). "chitsabhaiyil nadamAdum deivamE / kAtharuL karuNai puriyum paranE". Ragams: Karnataka Kapi, Nattai, with anulomam (I think), all the ragams that came before phrase by phrase.
9. (virutham) jAnAti rAmA tava nAma ruchi Misha parakrama charana prabhavam
   followed by sApashyAt kausalyA vishnum - jOnpuri
10. (ragamalika shlokam) kastUri tilakam lalAta phalakE - behAg / sarvange - darbAri kAnada / gOpastri - mAnD / choodAmani - jOnpuri, seguing into dwijAvanti. Followed by taruNI njAn - dwijAvanti
11. Behag thillana (LGJ)
12. pavamAna mangaLam - sourAshTram + mangaLam kosalEndrAya - madhyamavati

Thoughts and ruminations

Anyone who's cared enough to listen to my pontifications on Carnatic music would know that I'm an ardent fan of Ramakrishnan Murthy's (RKM). To me, his singing is almost nonpareil amongst all those male performers who are active in the scene today. I adore his singing with the breathless starry-eyedness that is usually reserved by others for, say, a Sanjay Sub.

Sorry, but I've sat on this review for so long now that the mental fatigue from repeated attempts to coax some words out of my brain has taken its toll. Instead of never posting anything, I submit the songlist above and borrow words from Coleridge to convey a sense of the absolutely inspired and rapturous music that ensued from RKM, Kamalakiran and Rohan that evening:

...
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!

A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight ’twould win me,
That with music loud and long,
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
...

RKM's voice is pliant, supple and endowed with exquisite shareeram, much like (dare I say it!) KVN's and Ramnad Krishnan's. His music is evocative, soaked in feel and rooted in deep classicism. Kamalakiran's playing was amazing - it was as though he wasn't playing at all, what with his astute shadowing of the singing voice - revealing himself only if we chose to look - and his going toe to toe with RKM's flights of fancy which earned him praise from RKM himself ("Kamalakiran played correctly what I sang incorrectly"). Rohan's style of playing strongly evinced the influence of his ongoing tabla training in the thani - I've never heard anything like it. It felt like a tabla piece in parts, and I didn't quite know how to react to it.

And on that evening, he really knocked it out of the park and took the entire 500 or 600-strong auditorium by storm with the power of his music, ably supported by the maverick Kamalakiran and Rohan. For me, one RKM a year is sufficient to keep the doctor at bay!

[CRama]

For me, one RKM a year is sufficient to keep the doctor at bay!

Bhasi, what more compliments are required for the RKM concert. But for that, you have to come to Chennai during the season. You can hear loads of RKM then.

In fact, I was waiting for this review for quite long. Happy with the list. Would love to hear the RTP. Devi Pavane as main song he rendered in Mudhra last year. When he will be invited to sing to Navarathri Mandapam. or at least Kuthiramalika. Waiting to hear him in that ambience.

[arasi]

Bhasi
All the odes of the romantic poets wouldn't have done justice to your ardor! Your Kubla Khan stands alone as you see him in RKM's performance in Tustin. Kamalakiran, another rich source of music from our shores is yet another proof that CM, a great form of art that it is, sees no borders or boundaries in inspiring the musically inclined youngsters everywhere in the world... Rohan is no mean player, trained in both CM and Western mode(a professor at that). Of course, he is carving his own path in his music in today's global music scene, it seems...

[bhasi]

When he will be invited to sing to Navarathri Mandapam. or at least Kuthiramalika. Waiting to hear him in that ambience.

Aaha, what a fantastic experience that would be, if that were to happen!

[bhasi]

@arasi Thank you very much I didn't mean to sound disapproving of Rohan's playing; just that it was something new to my ears. The man is a great player.

[rshankar]

So, this was a born-in-the US concert team! Bhale bhale! Sri RKM is certainly something else... I just hope that he doesn't overstrain his voice - reviewers here and elsewhere have said that they have heard strain at time. I hope he learns/uses techniques to keep his voice protected.