CRama passes away

Remembering musicians of the recent past
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Sivaramakrishnan
Posts: 1582
Joined: 02 Jan 2010, 08:29

CRama passes away

Post by Sivaramakrishnan »

Regret to inform that one of our most active forumites and a great connoisseur of Music C Ramakrishnan (CRama) passed away at a private hospital in Chennai today 29.03.2023 forenoon. He was under treatment at Mehta's hospital, for kidney related ailments.

Funeral rites at his residence in Nachiappan street, Mahalingapuram, Chennai tomorrow (30th)morning. Om Shanti.

He is survived by his wife and son.

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

Re: CRama passes away

Post by Sivaramakrishnan »

CRama
Family Contact ph nos
9444134586
9445070656

Nick H
Posts: 9379
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 02:03

Re: CRama passes away

Post by Nick H »

Oh, so sad to hear that.

Sympathy and condolences to all family and friends.

Pratyaksham Bala
Posts: 4164
Joined: 21 May 2010, 16:57

Re: CRama passes away

Post by Pratyaksham Bala »

Om Shanti.

K Nagarajan
Posts: 138
Joined: 09 Jul 2015, 22:19

Re: CRama passes away

Post by K Nagarajan »

Shocking news.
Om Shanthi.

Sachi_R
Posts: 2174
Joined: 31 Jan 2017, 20:20

Re: CRama passes away

Post by Sachi_R »

Just 2 days ago, Sri Sivaramakrishnan, a close mutual, friend, updated me on Sri Rama's health comdition.

This is most distressing.

I consider Sri CRama to be an exemplar among rasikas. He always went the extra mile to listen to music, share the music, appreciate artistes and write about them. He was truly versatile as well as deep. He devoted all his time and money to serve the cause of music.

The world is poorer when such a splendid man passes away.

I am sure he is continuing his musical journey as well speak in the astral plane.

हरिःॐ तत् सत्

aaaaabbbbb
Posts: 2273
Joined: 31 Jan 2010, 14:19

Re: CRama passes away

Post by aaaaabbbbb »

Sad to know.

May his soul rest in peace.

Condolences to his family.

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

Re: CRama passes away

Post by rajeshnat »

Cremation is around 11 30 to 12 noon(2 hours from now) at kannamapettai , near T Nagar Bus Stand . I just saw now the news. I cannot make it to his home due to long commute from work, those who cannot make it to his home can be at Kannamapettai.

Om shanthi CRama

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

Re: CRama passes away

Post by rajeshnat »

Eulogy to C Ramakrishnan
----------------------
Quite devastated to see him in the crematorium . For the last 2 years or so he had few health issues but he bounced back . Few random thoughts and experiences that i personally cherished

1. He joined rasikas forum in Nov 2009 and his posts were always informative . Particularly most of his posts were in kutcheri reviews . He had his own yardstick - he encouraged all artists of all ages - all the way from Parassala ponnammmal to the latest aishwaryas. He indeed saw the goodness and gift of each artist. HE was patient to listen to every one of them and to the best of my knowledge he encouraged all of them and he had no bias on geography, sex , age etc - but he could not take filmi or dilute sangathis.

2. His love for CM is perhaps grained from the way he grew up. i recollect some post where he said once his
mother took him somewhere in kerala (around trivandrum) to even hear GNB when he was a toddler. He told me once that he didnot recollect the live experience of GNB but he being a toddler vaguely recollect his mother taking him to GNB Concert . That perhaps was may be a thrust for him that came without he realising he started to hear both deep sampradaya carnatic as well as newer trailblazers of all range of musicians in the last 25 plus years for sure. I used to jokingly tell him in few concerts that since he already heard a GNG Live concert this live concert may not be that great CRama.

3. I did realize he was gA gA with many musicians particulalry the intersects that i talked about like TNS,TRS,Semmangudi,MMI ,MDR and he was a storehouse of how each of them approach with their individuality. He once told me that he also learnt from Rudrapatnam RS Ramakanth when he was posted in bangalore.

4. His love in general is for ghana ragas and weighty krithis and for sure RTP ,if musicians excessively wag their tail in thukkadas he would not take that much liking. THere are posts where he has given lot of TRS recordings to the community many Ramanavami and bangalore recordings of say TRS were all his contributions. THere is far more artists possibly other than TRS that i am not aware.

5. Since he grounded in early years in kerala his understanding of the depth of the so called unpopular but very proficient musicians of kerala was very deep. You ask say about a musician like nayyantiikara vasudevan or Vechoor Harihara subramanian he would know that as deep as say a Trichur Ramachandran or TN Seshagopalan. I think at every stage in his life and also along with work transfers he chased great musicians irrespective of the media recommendation.

6. His writeups very recently ranging from kerala musicians to many sruthi writeups were well researched and he presented with lot of reverance and respect for vidwat of each musician.

7. All the rasikas enabled meets especially the meetup in ravikiran house , so many global meets and concerts that was hosted by Late Nageswaran he was certainly the vice captain for all of us .His speech or vote of thanks was crisp.

8. Certainly all his positive writeups of especially kutcheris did influence each of us and i know for sure every artist deeply respected his crisp writeup and they all had a definite joy in reading CRama review.

9. Atleast 45 to 50 concerts for many days he was so happy to be hearing concerts with me . Many many occassions i was a bit karana kartha for him to stay till nee nama roopa mulaku as i used to drop him near his home. His presence in mudhra is most deep in me right now but be it vanimahal or ragasudha or arkays he was there to encourage any artist and patiently hear and then write. His friend SRK was always there for many of his concerts and it was a joy to see them together.

10 . With he hearing so many concerts of TNS and they knowing each other, i once egged him to hear TNS Krishna that is the only vidwan vidushi that i recommended and egged him to hear for the first time or so. I was quite taken back then that he has not heard TNS krishna despite his so many hears of TNS. The last time i spoke with him was roughly a year back when he wrote the hemavathi biography writeup of Parassala he called me but i could not go. Almost one in 5 or 10 reviews he used to call me and praise me to such heights and some times he also use to recommend me few songs , for eg there is this krithi lakshmanamulu in sudda saveri that i once wrote a review when i heard Abhishek singing , then he tells have you heard TRS off i go i heard TRS singing that rare suddasaveri song.Once I said some instance of a dwi madhyama raga detailed pallavi in suryashri that suryaprakash sang he wanted me to pass me as he wanted to hear that raga. His thirst and my thirst of hearing unknown ragas or krithis was mutual and we exchanged a lot in private terms . 2 years back he sent me a rare semmangudi recording of shree ramachandra in todi telling how great is todi , i sent him a reply stating have your heard the same semmangudi singing a rare mohanam RTP as he at times thinks mohanam is not so carnatically deep as todi, granted yes todi can be detailed more than mohanam , but can we dismiss mohanam is my POV then -these are just tastes. We both agreed some musicians like SSI can flush out raga devata so deep be it todi or mohanam , it hardly matters.

As a parting final note
---------------------
When we lost say rasikas in the age group of say MKR Sir or Nageswaran Sir, deep down there is a bit of reconciliation within me that they are old .But I am not able to fathom the loss of CRama . Today when i talked with his son in the crematorium, he said his appa was just going to turn 68 in few months.

68 is not an age for such a deep rasika who knows way too many nuances in carnatic music to move on. In one of the music academy- spot your raga contest he got 38 out of 40 ragas and he got first prize. He once took a photo of him with illayaraja Sir when he attended a concert in navarathri . I am sharing that as the url as only few deserve that ,for sure CRama is a great connoisseur . i am not sure where other photos of his are are there , there is a chance the links would have expired

https://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopi ... 52#p355752

Crama celebrated the depth of CM and he was profound in learning and experiencing the nuances more and more. When he learnt he usually writes in our forum without any excuses that was always special and way too difficult to get.

All of Crama's posts are in this below link
https://www.rasikas.org/forums/search.p ... 2&sr=posts

Om shanthi shri CRamaKrishnan - CRama

K Nagarajan
Posts: 138
Joined: 09 Jul 2015, 22:19

Re: CRama passes away

Post by K Nagarajan »

Thank you Rajeshnat for sharing your memories with Sri CRama

My introduction with Sri CRama was through music but I remember him for his good nature.

I had gone to his home early in the morning on that day of his cremation but I am not able to believe he is gone. I know he was nor maintaining good health for the last 7 or 8 months after a fall. I talked to his son on that day and he said he recovered from that but he suffered from kidney infection from which he could not recover.

He was quite active at 67 and the sudden end is unfortunate.
Last edited by K Nagarajan on 01 Apr 2023, 09:02, edited 1 time in total.

mahavishnu
Posts: 3341
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 21:56

Re: CRama passes away

Post by mahavishnu »

So sorry to hear this! Deeply saddened. My sincere condolences.

uday_shankar
Posts: 1467
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:37

Re: CRama passes away

Post by uday_shankar »

Deeply saddened to hear about this. He was a great Rasika and connoisseur. Om Shanti 🙏🏾. Deepest condolences to family and friends.

vasanthakokilam
Posts: 10956
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 00:01

Re: CRama passes away

Post by vasanthakokilam »

Very saddened and shocked to hear the news. Condolences to his family, friends and the Rasikas here. Om Shanti.

vasanthakokilam
Posts: 10956
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 00:01

Re: CRama passes away

Post by vasanthakokilam »

rajeshnat wrote: 30 Mar 2023, 23:36 Eulogy to C Ramakrishnan
----------------------
Quite devastated to see him in the crematorium . For the last 2 years or so he had few health issues but he bounced back . Few random thoughts and experiences that i personally cherished

Om shanthi shri CRamaKrishnan - CRama
Thanks Rajesh for the write up.

RSR
Posts: 3427
Joined: 11 Oct 2015, 23:31

Re: CRama passes away

Post by RSR »

in continuation of my post on CRAMA
at https://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopi ... 34#p379034
--
He helped me a lot by patiently sharing mp3 files of Naarayaneeyam dasakas along with information about the raagam of each dasakam , tuned by S.V.Venkataraman, and rendered by Trissur Ramachandrean.
(100 raagams !).
please scroll down the page- to see the raagam information he provided , .
https://guruvaayoorkshethram.blogspot.c ... isoor.html
That resulted in the website

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

Re: CRama passes away

Post by arasi »

My sentiments of sympathy to CRama's family, especially to his sweet wife who lost her husband at a young age.
Yes, CM world has lost a great rasika and a discerning critic. He adds to the losses we already have borne recently of Dr. Pasupathy and a great vidushi/rasika Neela Ramgopal.

CRama, with all that he could offer to the CM community with his knowledge and rasikatva was snatched away so early.
Rasikas.org has lost one of its fine reviewers whose deep understanding and appreciation of our music educated us. His detailed description about his listening experience were lessons for many of us who knew much less about CM. I cannot reconcile to the fact that though he seems to have had serious health issues, he should have gone at such a young age.
Once again, my condolences to the family of someone who made our musical exchanges at the forum more meaningful and educative.
Om ShAnti...

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

Re: CRama passes away

Post by arasi »

Rajesh,
Thanks for your detailed posts. We appreciate you for all that you write about, care about, and above all, your communicating your thoughts to us pronto.

Sivaramakrishnan and other friends of CRama, my thoughts are with you...

cienu
Posts: 2387
Joined: 04 Feb 2010, 11:40

Re: CRama passes away

Post by cienu »

It is difficult to believe that C Rama is no more. He spoke to me a few months back when he was unwell and I had wished him God Speed for a quick recovery. Unfortunately that was not to be and he has now moved on to become one with the elements. C Rama was a deeply passionate about Carnatic Music and a rasika of high taste. He reviewed so many concerts with missionary zeal and his reviews were so precise & his style of writing had the resemblance of a river flowing in a majestic and graceful manner. Never once was his review hurtful to the Artists involved and criticism whenever made was couched within highly constructive suggestions for further improvement and in such a way that none was offended. He was particularly fond of my Grandmother's music and had a huge collection of rare concert recordings which he generously shared. He wrote about "Musicians of Kerala" as part of a series in "Sruti" magazine which was something ever reader looked forward to. Whenever there was any doubt he would unhesitatingly call me and clarify his doubts. Even recently when he wrote about mridangam vidwan Mavelikkra Krishnan Kutty Nair he had requested for some clarifications and also some pictures which I promptly shared. He and our own forumite Sri Sivaramakrishnan were close friends and on many occasions used to attend concerts in tandem. On one particular occasion C Rama had attended a concert at Raga Sudha Hall of my daughter and when the concert was over I offered to drop him at his Mahalongpuram house and he readily agreed. My mother Radha was also in the car and C Rama discussed with her so many rare concerts of MSS at Malakkara (close to Chengannur) , Bhavani (close to Erode) and some other places. He was truly an encyclopedia of Music. As many of you may be aware C Rama had a problem with his eyesight and in his later years would avoid reviewing evening concerts. From a personal standpoint C Rama's passing away is a huge loss to me. He was a friend, advisor and well wisher all rolled into one . I shall miss his presence deeply. Heartfelt condolences to all his family members and may his Atman find eternal repose 🙏

Ranganayaki
Posts: 1760
Joined: 02 Jan 2011, 06:23

Re: CRama passes away

Post by Ranganayaki »

I’m so sorry to learn this. Belatedly, my condolences to all !🙏🏻

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