papanAsam Ashok ramani@MA(Mini) on June 03rd,2007

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 06 Jun 2007, 16:44

Conducted by sarvani sangeetha sabha .The accompanists were RK ShrirAm Kumar - violin and mannArgudi easwaran - mrudangam

1. Late missed the varnam??
2. saraseeruhaasana(?,S) - naaTTai - puliyUr duraisAmi Iyer
3. Tyagarajaya namaste namaste(R) - BegadA - MD
4. shri valli devasEnapatE(R,S) - natabhairavi - papanAsam sivan

5. nidhichala sukhamaa (R N S T) - kalyAni - ThyagarAja
neraval in "mamata bandhana yuta narastuti sukhamA"
6A. "viruththam"thOdukkum kadavul pazhampAdal - kharaharapriya + amrithavarshini + sindubhairavi + kamAs? + hindOlam?
6B. tillanA "dheem dheem tirana udana ... sivakama valli" -hindOlam - rukmini ramani
7. pavamAna (mangalam) - sowrAshtram - ThyagarAja

A 2 hour concert where I had to miss the first varnam had a very nice start as I entered with the vocalist starting with the brilliant nAttai piece in the pallavi.Swarams were handled very well with nice shruti suddhamAna return by RKSK and excellent percussion support. The last viruththam was quite good especially in the amrithavarshini and kharaharapriyA . but however the kamAs? and hindOlam? were just too short .The last tillanA in hindOlam appeared to be a brilliant composition by Smt rukmini (daughter of sivan and mother of the vocalist ramani).The hindOlam tillAna was rendered quite good by ramani.I just wish to hear more and more compositions of Smt rukmini , perhaps she could have been born 100 years before to be heard more in concerts.

In between the nAttai and the kharaharapriya, the concert was too sagging and lacklustre. The begadA alApanai did have a fairly good manOdharmam but ramani's voice appeared not that supportive. The famous composition of shri valli did not have much voice weight in delivery, with the precedance of me hearing the rAga alApanai of natabhairavi as a vasanthabhairavi to start with ,that also got into sAramati in the mid section(perhaps more because of my familiarity in natabhairavi is less than ramani's rendition ).The kalyAni main was again not that great .His alApanai appeared quite disjoint and the neraval was not upto the mark.Swarams were just ok only towards the second half. IMHO, 3 consecutive rAga alApanais in a 2 hr concert did not gel well to me in aesthetic sense.

RKSk played excellently in the returns of nAttai and the alApanai of begadA .His kalyAni was just good. Shri easwaran played excellently for songs ,his tani was good . But when ramani sang just 2 rounds of neraval in kalyAni main, he adjusting the mridangam and having a timeout was something that he could have avoided (perfection need not take precedence for continuity,that too considering neraval).

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 06 Jun 2007, 18:55

Rajesh, good to hear about Ahsok Ramani after a long time. IMO, a brilliant artiste who has suffered from voice problems. How did hos voice hold up overall?

sbala · Post by **sbala** » 07 Jun 2007, 10:39

The first varnam was the Ata thala varnam in Reethigowla. Ashok Ramani did have problems with his voice. His swara korvais had some nice patterns which kept the violinist and the percussionist on their toes. In a strange way, I find voice problems add a new dimension to listening. You tend to focus more on the intent rather the actual output thereby taking your listening skills to a higher plane. I don't know if others have had similar experiences.

On a slightly different topic, aren't there any good voice treatment centres available in the city? Maybe, the docs can pitch in.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 07 Jun 2007, 10:49

I understand Ashok Ramani has undergone some kind of treatment sometime back.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 07 Jun 2007, 11:24

sbala,
Voice problems does add new dimensions for appreciating carnatic music , especially when you listen to jAmbhavAn's like maharAjapuram VishwanAtha Iyer. But the voice problems has to be compensated with either super extraordinary breath control and/or manOdharmam. I do know lot of musicians go to few ENT specialists especially atleast during the kutcheri season for voice treatment(that is more for curing excess strain).

vijay,
Ashok certainly has got vidwat , I recollect four to five years before somewhere in mylapore he sang a dayavillayA dayAlO in kharaharapriya(sivan's composition) as a main ,that was very good with his voice in fine form, but certainly needs improvment as of today.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 07 Jun 2007, 15:50

Kharaharapriya seems to be his forte - I have an HMV tape with a superb Rama Nee Yeda (which, purists would argue, is in Dileepakam)

ashok ramani · Post by **ashok ramani** » 29 Oct 2007, 08:12

Hello All,
The following link is my radio concert recorded on 1st OCt and broadcast on 19th Oct.

http://www.sangeethapriya.org/~tvg/

regards
ashok ramani