Suryaprakash@rathnagirieeswarar temple (Besant Nagar)on Feb 15th,2020

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

Suryaprakash@rathnagirieeswarar temple (Besant Nagar)on Feb 15th,2020

Post by rajeshnat »

Suryaprakash@rathnagirieeswarar temple (Besant Nagar)on Feb 15th,2020
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Vocal : Suryaprakash
Violin : MA Krishnaswami
Mrudangam : Tiruvarur Bhakthavatsalam
Ghatam : Chandrasekara Sharma

Concert Type : Nirvana - No concert to follow , Free concet
Day/Duration : Saturday / 2 hours and 30 minutes and after pavamana only there was speech
sabha/Hall : Rathnagirieeswarar Temple, Besant Nagar
Occassion : Mahasivarathiri Celebrations

1A. vakrathunda mahAkAya - slokham - nattai
1B. shivathraya mahagaNapathim(CS,S) - nAttai - swarna venkatesha dikshitar
swaras for 4 mins

2. manasulOni - varamu- T
3. andavanE unnai nambinEN (R,N,S) - shanmughapriya - Papanasam sivan
12 mins alapana with 5 mins violin return
neraval for 6 mins in tAndavam aadum kunjitha saranamalarai yEtri
swaras for 6 mins

4. pAhimAm ratnAchala (ragasketch)- mukhari - MD
5. Swarajathi - kandA eNrum nee eNdan sinthaiyiL (R) - reetigowlai - Suryaprakash
3 mins alapana with no violin return followed by swarajathi

6. ramanukku mannan mudi - hinDOlam - AK
7A. kamalAmbAm bhajarE (R S T) - kalyani - MD
14 mins alapana and 7 mins violin return
12 mins swaras
7B. tani for 20 mins

8A. viruththam -kunram eRindadhuvum - miyA ki malhar +
aNrangu amarar - kEdaragowlai +
kalpoDumbil - bhimplas +
mei vida veeran - rAkeshri -thirumurugAtrupadai
8B. NinaikAtha neramillai - rAkeshri - Yazhpaanam Veeramani (popularized by madurai somu)

9. varugalamO - mAnji - GKB
10. thullamadu - thirrupugazh - hamsanandi - AGN
11. nee nama roopamulaku - sowrashtram -T
12. speech and garland - i did not attend

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

Re: Suryaprakash@rathnagirieeswarar temple (Besant Nagar)on Feb 15th,2020

Post by rajeshnat »

The venue Rathnagirieeswarar temple is quite special for atleast 2 reasons .Temple hall has some vibes and also in the month of February there is this festival which caters to 2 weeks of daily music where mylapore and mambalam have retired hurt after their share of Dec-Jan fatigue. Opening up the paper on Saturday morning I saw this in engagement column in THe hindu with names mentioned along. I thought i started on time but went 15 mins late but thank god the concert was just about to start. BU ganesh prasad was the arranged violinist but he was bit indisposed and MA krishnaswami replaced the retired hurt BU Ganesh Prasad.

Few things happened which made this concert very very memorable

#. Bhakthavatsalam volume was not in ultra sound mode . He has the habit in the past to liberally jack up the volume either by himself directly instructing sound engineer or he has atleast one of his sishyas who will do that . NOthing like that happened . That was a , keept it up Shri Bhaktavatsalam.

##. MA krishnaswami at the end of nAttai asked his volume to be reduced which even the temple organizer appreciated at the end

###. Of course that spectactular swarajathi in reetigowlai that showcased vaggeyakkara suryaprakash.

1.The start in nattai was well done . This krithi - shivathraya mahaganapathim of venkatesha dikshitar is wonderful ,I dont know who tuned the cittaswaras (was that KVN) it is just simply wonderful. Nattai cittaswaras and swaras are more of a delight and full toss for the percussion team to set and showcase their talent . Both chandrasekara and bhakthavatsala kept up the promise to their namesake Lord shiva with their lovely rhythm for the next 2 and half hours.


2.manasuloni in varamu is a spectacular number of sadguru. This has an arresting speed and I am assuming only the great GNB brought this to such high degree of polish. Superb varamu with no shade of hindOlam, I missed swaras or even a neraval there but it is ok as detailed shanmughapriya RNS came in next.

3.What a joy to hear shanmughapriya from suryaprakash. Voice has to open and this ganakaladhara patented number - andavanE unnai nambinEn is one of a kind . I feel few ragas that Trinity missed to excel papanasam sivan came in with a bang. Yes there is muthuswami dikshitar song in shanmughapriya siddhi vinayakam but i have not heard a neraval there . THis andavanE unnai nambinEN there is so much of visual imagery that sivan brings . There is that goosebump line "kaDalinum mighu bhayankara" , all of a sudden there is a sudden aural drop of rough and gloomy sea that goes with a visual typecast where words say kadalinum mighu bhayankara - What a phenom was Tamil Thyagaraja -papanAsam sivan. Much before the kadalinum there was a lovely neraval and swaras. THe neraval in "tAndavam aadum kunjitha saranamalarai yEtri" was superb , voice opened and bhakthavatsalam and sharma tapped with superb tAndavum aadum patterns with fire . THe violin return was just for few rounds but almost the whole neraval and swaras was one TRS typecast swallow of the shanmughapriya sea.

4.In years say 2003 to 2010 i used to wonder that this vidwan and for that matter the school of MMI-TVS-RSP have not done justice for mukhari. MMI has sung ksheenamai is what i heard but there is no recording yet that we have found. I have heard very often TVS and Suryaprakash singing saranam ayyapa, kind of touch and go with mukhari. I just love this extraordinary pahimAm ratnachala that too hearing in a lord shiva temple where it sounds even more great . So many big and long phrases in sanskrit which needs great control of your voice and more importantly oxyegen in your lungs. THat line where Dikshitar gives a goosebump flash. THe line is aganda Kaveri was sung with gusto with that phrase aganda . But that only turned out second best, he toook a phrase ratna giri and connected few times to the temple ratna giri, i did not know that there is a ratna giri phrase in this krithi. In future this temple can be associated with this krithi . Just like all musicians usually sing kAna kann Koti vendum in kapali temple let in future all musicians sing pahimam ratnachala which has a "ratna giri" mudra which is very apt for this ratna giri eeswarar besant nagar temple

5. Will post seperately in vidwan and vidushi thread on the reetigowlai swarajati

6. Nice semi fast like filler of ramanukku mannan mudi in hindolam , i would have been happier if he had sung a round of breezy swaras. Fast filler detailed swaras (not touch and go like rest of the schools )is a MMI patent but I did not that today.

7. Kalyani was the main. The alapana had a short tada ri na phases in meditative mode but after few mins the alapana was more like GNB typecast with lot of fast brigas . ALapana was well done and I was thinking in my mind that he will go with needu charana .I asssumed he may not take kamlAmbha as it is another big MD krithi . I recollect somewhere some time that Lalgudi jayaraman used to say kalyani is like biting mango at that right spot. He said you should know where to bite to get that sweet spot of kalyani. Certainly well done kamalAmbam bhajarE . THE swaras were less of sarvalaghu , i would have been bit more happier if bhaktavatsalam played bit more in line with the idea of the singer.

8-10. In the tukkadas i liked the early miyan ki malhar part of kunram eRindadaduvum viruththam and the rakeshri somu popularized krithi was well received . But the icing in the cake was undoubtedely varugalAMo ayyA , especially voice opening karai kadanDen saranam adaindEN , this maanji is a masterpiece closure for any concert.

ThE accompanist MA krishnaswami , I think i am hearing him after 10 years gap. He could have been bit more brisker and appeared bit docile during alapana returns and followup of songs . He did well during swara returns. MAK unlike MAS is more like his appa MS Anantharaman. Tiruvarur bhaktavatsalam kept volume under check , some patterns were really excepytional. His tani was detailed and well received . Personally i was very happy that he did not jack up anytime the volume. Chandrasekara sharma tuned well his ghatam , played concisely and most of the time did a well left when mrudangam was on . The percusssion combo patterns in shanmughapriya were really the best.

IF there is some thing that is very memorable it was swarajati in reetigowlai, andavanE neraval and alapana , definitely the two memorable dikshitar krithis and the last cute varugalaamO .

Suryaprakash as a vaggeyakkara is gaining currency like a GNB, TRS, BMK etc and best wishes to him, this particular swarajathi in reetigowlai will stand in the swarajathi parampara of.

ShyamaSastri (Swarajathi in Bhairavi, Todi and YadukulakAmbodhi)---->>>>>> Mayuram Vishwanatha Sastri and Tanjore Ponniah Pillai (their todi and bhairavi swarajati) ------>>>> Suryaprakash (swarajathi in Reetigowlai)

Overall an excellent concert for 2 hours and 35 mins.

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

Re: Suryaprakash@rathnagirieeswarar temple (Besant Nagar)on Feb 15th,2020

Post by rajeshnat »

rajeshnat wrote: 16 Feb 2020, 17:57 5. Will post seperately in vidwan and vidushi thread on the reetigowlai swarajati
Posted about reetigowlai swarajathi in
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=6899&p=359999#p359999

rshankar
Posts: 13754
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:26

Re: Suryaprakash@rathnagirieeswarar temple (Besant Nagar)on Feb 15th,2020

Post by rshankar »

Rajesh, I’m sure you realized that ratnAcala nAyaka and ratnagirISvara mean the same... the lord (nAyaka/ISvara) of the jewel-encrusted (ratna) mountain (acala/giri) - so a perfect choice for the venue. (SrI MD’s composition is on the Lord of KuLitaalai...)

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

Re: Suryaprakash@rathnagirieeswarar temple (Besant Nagar)on Feb 15th,2020

Post by CRama »

Thanks Rajesh for your erudite review after quite some time. Here is the link for the concert.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfYpN-LQks0

Sundara Rajan
Posts: 1081
Joined: 08 Apr 2007, 08:19

Re: Suryaprakash@rathnagirieeswarar temple (Besant Nagar)on Feb 15th,2020

Post by Sundara Rajan »

I guess that M.D.'s composition is on Rathanagireeswarar , the Lord of so called "Iyer Malai" near KuLithalai.

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