Ravikiran at MITHAS, Boston, March 30th

arvindt · Post by **arvindt** » 31 Mar 2008, 09:21

Chitravina Ravikiran accompanied by Vishal Sapuram (Chitravina)
Akkarai Subbalakshmi (Violin)
Prof. Trichy Sankaran (Mridangam)

Tatvamariya Tarama - Reethi Goula - Papanasam Sivan (AS)
Veena Pustaka Dharinim - Vegavahini - MD
Padmavati Ramanam - Purvi Kalyani - OVK (AS)
Brova Bharama - Bahudari - Thyagaraja
Karubaru Seyu - Mukhari - Thyagaraja (A)
Sudhamayi - Amritavarshini - HMB
Dual Raga RTP - Sankarabharanam and Shanmukhapriya - Adi (ANST)
Muttavaddura - Saveri - Chinnaya (Javali)
Pattakura - Ananda Bhairavi - Sarangapani (Padam)
Thillana (?)
Mangalam (Pavamana)

Wonderful concert with brilliant accompaniment from Sankaran Sir, Akkarai Subbalakshmi and Vishal.
Many masterpieces were rendered -- MD's Veena Pustaka and Thyagaraja's Karubaru, the less heard Oothukkadu
Venkata Kavi kriti in Purvi Kalyani (Ravikiran mentioned this was a composition in praise of Jayadeva,
the great scholar and composer of Geeta Govindam), the Saveri Javali, and the beautiful padam Pattakura
in Ananda Bhairavi which the Dhanammal school (and Brindamma, Ravikiran's guru) is famous for.
The RTP was highly inventive with nice effortless transitions between the two contrasting, stately ragas.
Swaras in Reethi goula and Purvi Kalyani were highly creative, and Mukhari alapana by Ravikiran was
simply out of the world, more so on the chitravina which seems highly suited to such traditional Carnatic
ragas. The Muthiah Bhagavatar composition in Amritavarshini was a nice and short interlude between
the Mukhari and the RTP.

The tani, as one would expect from Sankaran Sir, was incredible and full of energy -- you had to
be there to believe what you were hearing. His accompaniment for pieces was incredible too: on the
one hand, energy and anticipation for the fast Tatvamariya and the OVK piece, and on the other hand,
more subdued and perfectly appropriate for the padam at the end. And brilliant anticipation and play
for the sangatis in Karubaru.

Vishal was good with support and played really nice swaras in accompaniment for some pieces. Akkarai
Subbalakshmi's alapanas were neat and classical, and her responses and tanam in the pallavi were
excellent.

Overall wonderful concert.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 31 Mar 2008, 14:19

Thanks Arvind. Ravikiran-Trichy Sankaran combo should have been fantastic judging from the concert at PS Sr last season...Just wondering about whether there was any particular thought between the chosen Pallavi ragas...wouldn't Bhavapriya have been a more "perfect contrast" if there's any such thing...

psitaram · Post by **psitaram** » 31 Mar 2008, 16:51

I completely agree with Arvind's assesment of the concert. The concert was of high caliber from the get go and I have to mention Sankaran's sir's Thani. It was a perfect foil for Ravikiran's pallavi. It was a very different Thani that Sankaran sir presented which made it even more exciting. It was not very long but it was just perfect!!!

Pravin

Vocalist · Post by **Vocalist** » 31 Mar 2008, 17:38

I expect the Thillana was self-composed. How long did the concert last?

arvindt · Post by **arvindt** » 31 Mar 2008, 18:17

Just wondering about whether there was any particular thought between the chosen Pallavi ragas...wouldn't Bhavapriya have been a more "perfect contrast" if there's any such thing...

The chosen pair allowed for some amazing transitions around the Sa-Ri region
between the two ragas, also the S-R-G-M ascending motifs in the two ragas sort
of matched each other nicely while sounding very nice and this was exploited in
the staircase-like pallavi, which roughly had the swaras (with gamakas):
S-R R-G G-M ... in both the ragas. The transitions were extremely smooth... at times
it was hard to realise when exactly the other raga had begun.

The concert lasted about 3 hours.

rasaali · Post by **rasaali** » 01 Apr 2008, 03:46

vijay wrote:Thanks Arvind. Ravikiran-Trichy Sankaran combo should have been fantastic judging from the concert at PS Sr last season...Just wondering about whether there was any particular thought between the chosen Pallavi ragas...wouldn't Bhavapriya have been a more "perfect contrast" if there's any such thing...

Vijay, this might have been an audience request. On another note, IMHO I am not sure Bhavapriya is an 'optimal' choice (if on exists). With no common notes, one can rest only on Sa or Pa before switching ragas.

In this combo, the common rishabha provided an additional platform landing and for some wonderful interplay b/w the ragas that arvindt describes.

Lastly I have to concur with Pravin that the tani format was indeed a very different one from the more heard Sankaran sir format. His creativity was unbelievable. He took a fairly standard korvai and adapted it on the spot to match the starting point of the pallavi.

Unfortunately, the audience turnout was not too strong compared to past RK concerts here.

Lastly, I think the last piece in Hamsanandi seemed like a Tirupugazh rather than a tillana.