Vocal : Vid. Rama Ravi
Vocal Support : Vid. Nandita Ravi
Violin : Vid. Charulatha Ramanujam
Mridangam : Vid. C Cheluvaraju
Theme : Compositions of Shyama Shastri & his lineage
Venue : Ananya, Malleshwaram, Bangalore. 01-03-2008.
1. Dayaanidhe [Varnam] – Begada – Adi – Shyama Shastri
2. Shri Kaanchinaayike – Asaveri – Roopaka – Annaswamy Shastri [S]
3. Talli ninnu – Kalyani – Mishrachapu – Shyama Shastri [R, S]
4. Meenanayana – Darbar – Roopaka – Subbaraya Shastri [R]
5. Maayamma – Natakuranji – Adi – Shyama Shastri [R]
6. Shri kaamaakshi – Saranga – Adi – Annaswamy Shastri
7. Karunaanidhi ilalo – Todi – Tishranadai Adi – Shyama Shastri [R, N, S, T]
8. Neramora jaarachora [Javali] - Hamsadhvani – Mishrachapu
9. Kuvalayaakshiro [Padam] – Gowlipantu – Mishrachapu – Kshetrajna
10. Naarimani nee [Javali] – Kamach – Adi - Dharmapuri Subbarayar
11. Karunajoodu – Shri – Adi – Shyama Shastri
This was the third concert I’ve heard in 1&1/2 months, based on kritis of Shyama Shastri. One would have expected repetitions, but no – the selection of items was superb! All very pretty kritis, and I had heard none of them earlier!! She presented the kritis of Shyama Shastri, his son Subbaraya Shastri, and grandson Annaswamy Shastri.
She started with the Begada varnam – a special one, since it has Sahitya for Muktaya Swaram, and also, the charanam has an Anubandha and ends in the Pallavi. The kriti in Asaveri was sung in a lively tempo, and included few avartams of brisk swaras. Kalyani was dealt with in quite some detail, with alapana, and swaras in both speeds. Nandita Ravi handled the Darbar Alapana, and sang it well.
The best part of the evening was the main piece in Todi. Every part – alapana, kriti rendition, neraval [at ‘Komalamridubhaashini amba’], and swaras were so scholarly, and so captivating… Charulatha Ramanujam is one of my favourite violinists. As usual, her smooth & effortless bowing, and effective handling of the ragas increased the appeal of the concert enormously. Cheluvaraju was equally smooth and provided great percussion support. But the tani was very short.
The latter part of the concert deviated from the theme, and comprised of 2 padams and a Javali. This was, I think, a tribute to the Dhanammal school she hails from. [Incidentally, I was very impressed to hear during the introduction, that Smt. Rama Ravi has trained in not only Carnatic Music, but also Hindustani music, and Bharatanatyam]. She concluded with a kriti of Shyama Shastri in Sri.
The concert was marked, from the beginning to the end, by absolute ‘sowkhyam’. No rough edges anywhere, from any of the artists. But for such a great concert, the audience response was very poor. The Ananya audi is not big, and it wasn’t even half-full. I don’t think the number of listeners exceeded 25 at any point. It was sad to note the lack of applause which each item richly deserved…
Smt. Rama Ravi at Ananya, 1st March, 2008
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Anusha
- Posts: 124
- Joined: 19 May 2006, 13:50
It was indeed a privilege to attend this concert. Vid. Rama Ravi gave brief details at intervals, helping us to appreciate the compositions better. The darbar kriti with such subtle variations in the pallavi line was rendered so well. There was a beautiful swarakshara in the opening word of the nattaikuranji kriti Mayamma, which had both occurrences of ma falling in place with the swara Ma.
Getting to hear a padam rendered in the Dhanam style was in itself a privilege. Kuvalayaakshiro put me to such a relaxed mood. I wished that it never ended! Charulata Ramanujam's violin accompaniment was very good. Her alapanais were good extensions, Nattaikuranji was very well done.
The next morning at Ananya, Smt. Rama Ravi shared her experiences of learning from different gurus, all being stalwarts and perfectionists. It began with the rendering of Shri mahaaganapathim bhajeham in Atana followed by a shlokam on guru. She demonstrated, emphasised that learning and properly practising the basic lessons -sarali, jantai etc. is essential to proceed further. She further mentioned that only because of her basic grounding, she could pick up the nuances of the different schools that she had learnt from. It was a very interesting one- with her brief illustrations of the teaching styles of MDR, Muktamma, DKJ etc. She concluded with a padam in Varali- Valapudasa which came as a request.
As Sowmya mentions, the attendance was very poor on both days. On Sunday morning, there were just(unjust!) about ten in the hall.
Vainika,
Thanks for your post without which I wouldn't have known about this! And, only yesterday I discovered that you were also one of the organizers. Many thanks to Swarasamuha for organizing this.
Getting to hear a padam rendered in the Dhanam style was in itself a privilege. Kuvalayaakshiro put me to such a relaxed mood. I wished that it never ended! Charulata Ramanujam's violin accompaniment was very good. Her alapanais were good extensions, Nattaikuranji was very well done.
The next morning at Ananya, Smt. Rama Ravi shared her experiences of learning from different gurus, all being stalwarts and perfectionists. It began with the rendering of Shri mahaaganapathim bhajeham in Atana followed by a shlokam on guru. She demonstrated, emphasised that learning and properly practising the basic lessons -sarali, jantai etc. is essential to proceed further. She further mentioned that only because of her basic grounding, she could pick up the nuances of the different schools that she had learnt from. It was a very interesting one- with her brief illustrations of the teaching styles of MDR, Muktamma, DKJ etc. She concluded with a padam in Varali- Valapudasa which came as a request.
As Sowmya mentions, the attendance was very poor on both days. On Sunday morning, there were just(unjust!) about ten in the hall.
Vainika,
Thanks for your post without which I wouldn't have known about this! And, only yesterday I discovered that you were also one of the organizers. Many thanks to Swarasamuha for organizing this.
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knandago2001
- Posts: 645
- Joined: 05 Sep 2006, 10:09
"An artist brings something into this world that didn't exist before, and that he does it without destroying something else; A kind of refutation of the conservation of matter that still seems to me its central magic, its core of joy" - John Updike
Link to a profile of Smt. Rama Ravi and her gurus http://www.thehindu.com/fr/2006/08/18/s ... 030300.htm
Link to a profile of Smt. Rama Ravi and her gurus http://www.thehindu.com/fr/2006/08/18/s ... 030300.htm
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Vocalist
- Posts: 1030
- Joined: 19 Feb 2006, 18:53
Could you describe or elaborate what her illustration of DKJ's teaching style was? I'm just a little bit curious.Anusha wrote:It was a very interesting one- with her brief illustrations of the teaching styles of ... DKJ ...
Last edited by Vocalist on 03 Mar 2008, 18:27, edited 1 time in total.
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Anusha
- Posts: 124
- Joined: 19 May 2006, 13:50
Vocalist,
She mentioned that DKJ was a specialist in briga and laya. DKJ while teaching her the krithi Meenalochana, stressed on the ¾ edam singing. This helped her to easily sing at ¼ and ¾ edams. At this point, she sang the first sarali varisai in tishra nadai (i.e. S,, R,, G,, …) at first
and second speeds.
In my earlier post, I somehow missed mentioning about Nandita. She sang very well, was truely very supportive.
Her darbar alapanai, kalpanai swarams in thodi were very good.
She mentioned that DKJ was a specialist in briga and laya. DKJ while teaching her the krithi Meenalochana, stressed on the ¾ edam singing. This helped her to easily sing at ¼ and ¾ edams. At this point, she sang the first sarali varisai in tishra nadai (i.e. S,, R,, G,, …) at first
and second speeds.
In my earlier post, I somehow missed mentioning about Nandita. She sang very well, was truely very supportive.
Her darbar alapanai, kalpanai swarams in thodi were very good.
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sowmya
- Posts: 92
- Joined: 29 Nov 2006, 22:19
Thanks Meena.
Hi Anusha. Very sad to hear that Sunday's concert had lesser audience. Even though I wanted to, I couldn't make it to the morning programme. Seems to have been very informative... Maybe part of the reason for low audience was the lack of publicity. None of the papers carried the info..
Hi Anusha. Very sad to hear that Sunday's concert had lesser audience. Even though I wanted to, I couldn't make it to the morning programme. Seems to have been very informative... Maybe part of the reason for low audience was the lack of publicity. None of the papers carried the info..
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Vocalist
- Posts: 1030
- Joined: 19 Feb 2006, 18:53
Nice.Anusha wrote:Vocalist,
She mentioned that DKJ was a specialist in briga and laya. DKJ while teaching her the krithi Meenalochana, stressed on the ¾ edam singing. This helped her to easily sing at ¼ and ¾ edams. At this point, she sang the first sarali varisai in tishra nadai (i.e. S,, R,, G,, …) at first
and second speeds.
Thanks Anusha.