Suryaprakash@Pallavi Darbar(Sastri hall) On June 13th,2026

[rajeshnat]

Suryaprakash@Pallavi Darbar(Sastri hall) On June 13th,2026
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Vocal: Suryaprakash
Violin : Saketa pantula ,nephew and disciple of MSN Murthy and Pantula Rama
Mrudangam: Melakaveri Balaji
Kanjira : KV Gopalakrishnan
Tambura : Meenakshi G

Concert Type : Nirvana - Non Ticketed concert
Day : Saturday
Duration - 1 hour and 45 mins with nearly 85 mins Pallavi without tani
Sabha/Hall : Carnatica and Parthasarathy sabha jointly conducting /Sastri Hall
Occasion : Pallai Darbar - Exclusive RTP concerts

01. sahAsra kara maNdithe (S) -vachaspathi - HMB
02. RTP in keeravani for 80 mins with swara ragamaliga

I was kind of not too sure if Saketa Pantula(seeing and hearing him for first tour) was way too junior , but hey, he played very well along with seasoned melakaveri Balaji and KVG to give a memorable Suryaprakash RTP concert . Saketha gurus are respected musical and life partners - Pantula Rama and MSN Murthy . They were also there at the concert to bless and possibly guide Saketha by telepathy.

The first appetizer was a team work in progress as only violin and vocal gelled but the mrudangam did not have the right sharpness the kanjira was heard well but the balance with mrudangam was not there yet . The swaras were short and in sharp sarvalaghu but as a team effect vachaspathi was bit of a let's watch and patience please for me.

02A. ALapana of Keeravani for 20 mins with 5 mins violin return for ROund 1
and then a brief round 2

Keeravani is an extraordinary ragam . THe intrinsic quality is that you can even shout as much as a shanmughapriya/kAmbodhi but due to a touch of intrinsic smoothness in upper reaches there is never a feeling that it can ever go very loud . This observation is raga devata Keeravani . Also Suryaprakash imagination was methodical and distilled . The scope of adding more keeravAni kaarvais was fully utilized throughout by Suryaprakash and this is where there is a different approach of suryaprakash singing alapana than TVS. Also violin return was concise , concise is a good quality , it means violinist creates the space not to act as a spoilt sport for the vocalist to ideate newer unheard pattern . To that extent rasikas get that continued undivided attention when there is right baton handling routine by violinist and vocalist. Saketh was never a spoil sport and during the course of vocal rendition he never intruded.

02B. Taanam without mridangam for 5 mins and with mrudangam return for 9 mins

Taanam taanam taanam it is not a short step it has to be a fairly big giant leap . Suryaprakash did exceptionally well in taanam . After intense taanam exploration without mrudangam , with mrudangam i could hear glimpses of navarathri semmangudi there. Suryaprakash keeping up the brimming aesthetics of keeravani with mrudangam on , was way too special for me.

How long you sing taanam with mrudangam and without long violin return shows what i call the prime vidwat for vocalist or more importantly that ensures RTP is aesthetically a crowning jewel . The approach of atleast alapana and taanam had a touch of Semmangudi (his primary paramaguru though not communicated that well to listening public). His voice texture has a lot of podi sangathis one can also hear the influence of forgotten genius mahA medhai Tanjore S kalyanaraman.

[rajeshnat]

02C. Pallavi and swara ragamaligai for 47 mins

The Pallavi line was
Muruganai guhanai ninai manamE
Thanigai valar Saravana bhavanai

He called the Pallavi as 'Ring of Fire' Pallavi with a jewel in the crown as you see in a total solar eclipse. The beats went from 3,4,5,6,7, 6,5,4 (that is circular with the highest width being 7 or the jewel). The lyrics of each phrase of the pallavi spanned the tala cycle in a seamless fashion irrespective of the change in nadai every beat, without looking like car driving over speedbreakers. In this movement of this circular concept I did not lose any where Keeravani that is the key message i have to state - for sure one of the prime reason is sarvalaghu aesthetics that completely masquerades the laya sommersault.

In swara ragamaliga he moved from Keeravani to hamsanadam to behag to shyamA to sumanesa ranjani to rasikaranjani to hamsanandi and then back to detailed Keeravani and final korvai. Swaras are Suryaprakash's kingdom and one needs to make a special mention to both the percussionist, and also the young violinist who just gave the essence and quickly passed the baton. Did I notice during the start of shyama where for a brief few seconds suryaprakash thought of another raga and changed his mind to shyama as the violinist was playing a different note? All said two ragas sumanesa ranjani and rasikaranjani (especially the latter) I could see there was a significant SKR and a bit of Isaignani Illayaraja apart from the stock SSI or MMI school or any manaseega gurus that he has taken as a reference!

MElakaveri Balaji biggest asset is the way he plays the middle to higher register patterns he brings remarkable controlled high speed and He Does not BANG at all. In tani , i felt atleast the first half of tani was a tad too long, was he getting into a loop to correct some thing he had in mind to play that nuance and hence there was may be few more cycles of retries? KVG was fantastic as he was crisp and to the point. The young Saketha Pantula , i have just googled to find he has roots from North America , best wishes for him to be the next Kamalakiran Vinjamuri. Kudos to the great Vizag musician couple who are giving the best of sampradaya music. Saketha did not show even for a second, what violin can do as an instrument, it was gayaki style.

In short Keeravani and the approach of going with extensive taanam with mrudangam and the copious organic swaras did the most magic.

Overall an excellent concert for 1 hour and 45 mins

[rajeshnat]

Suryaprakash@Pallavi Darbar(Sastri hall) On June 13th,2026
-----------------------------------------------------------
Vocal: Suryaprakash
Violin : Saketa pantula ,nephew and disciple of MSN Murthy and Pantula Rama
Mrudangam: Melakaveri Balaji
Kanjira : KV Gopalakrishnan
Tambura : Meenakshi - disciple of Suryaprakash

Duration - 1 hour and 45 mins with nearly 80 mins Pallavi without tani
Sabha/Hall : Carnatica and Parthasarathy sabha jointly conducting /Sastri Hall
Occasion : Pallai Darbar - Exclusive RTP concerts

GLICSPAWES 2026 "Goto LIve Concert Show PAtronage Without Excuses Series" concert #J of Z(hopefully Z(26) is goal) . J stands for Janaranjani
www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=385964#p385964

[Carnaticworldmusic]

In his keeravaani alapanai - Sri Suryaprakash did a neat grahabhedam to bauli / revagupthi and back to keeravani. Both raagams were very clearly established. Really nicely done !