R K Sriram Kumar solo violin concert - Oct 10, 2009 - Edison

Ramaprasad · Post by **Ramaprasad** » 11 Oct 2009, 23:37

R. K. Sriram Kumar (Violin)
K. Arun Prakash (Mridangam)
Guru Prasad (Ghatam)

CMANA concert - October 10, 2009. Venue: Krishna Vrindavan, Edison, NJ.

1. Suma Sayaka Vidhura Mava Madhava_Karnataka Kapi_Tisra/Eka [Pada Varnam].
Swathi Thirunal
2. Vidulaku Mrokkeda_Mayamalavagaula_Adi {N, S]. Thyagaraja
3. Rama Ninne Namminanu_Huseni_Adi [A, S]. Thyagaraja
4. Kamakshi Bangaru_Varali_M/Chapu [A, N, S]. Shyama Sastry
5. Soundara Rajam_Brindavanasaranga_Rupaka. Dikshitar
6. Padavini_Salaga Bhairavi_Adi. Thyagaraja
7. O Ranasayi_Kambodhi_Adi [A, N, S]. Thyagaraja
8. Kharaharapriya - RTP. Ragamalika Tanam - Nattakuranji, Gambiranattai, Kedaram,
Bilahari, Saveri and Suruti.
Pallavi Line: Lalithe vAmAnghE TaruNEndhushEkhara harapriye in Khanda
Jati Triputa Tala (Composed by Sriram Kumar). Ragamalika in the Pallavi - Anandhabhairavi, Lalitha, Desh and
Behag
9. Behag raga from # 8 continued as the Kriti ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‹Å“Kandu DhanyaÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢, a composition of
Surapuradha Anandha Dasaru.
10. Thunga Theera_Yamuna Kalyani_Adi. Kamaleshavihaladasa
11. Varugalamo_Manji_Chapu. Gopalakrishna Bharathi
12. Thirupugazh _Chenchuruti
13. Pavamana

Depending on our receptivity of the moment, good music evokes different feelings in us when we are at a concert. The solo violin concert of Sriram Kumar (a first for NJ) can be termed contemplative, without a doubt. His musical prowess is well known to the Carnatic music scene, as one of the most authentic violin accompanists, and without meaning to offend anyone, the distinct success of many concerts have been, in no small measure, to the accompanying augmentation that Sriram Kumar has always so ably provided. But truth be stated, the accompanist is there to assist the vocalist. As a main solo artist, though, one can expect the flood gates to open and the individual manodharma to gush out. YesterdayÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s evening was an example of this.

The evening and the music that emanated from his playing demonstrated Sriram KumarÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s total identification with the emotion and intellect of the composer, contoured by his own intensely personal spirituality. Muse and manodharma merged to produce music that engulfed the listener.

The Swathi Thirunal pada varnam plucked our attention to the feast waiting for us. The brisk Mayamalavagaula piece was followed by a very pleasingly rendered Huseni kriti of Thyagaraja. Like Thyagaraja, if Sriram Kumar was reposing his faith in Rama for the success of the concert, his plea was heard clearly. And then, the climbing of the musical height began. If the thought went through the rasika that Varali was the raga of the evening, DikshitarÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s Soundararajam was a reminder that this was no ordinary concert. The intensity of Brindavanasaranga and the almost aural rendering on the violin would have been heard by the deity in Nagapattinam. This was a spiritual high for this writer. The Salagabhairavi was just a musical interlude to Khambodhi. Sriram Kumar took full advantage of the scope that this great raga offers to the musician and explored it in detail to weave a great tapestry. When he started on the RTP, it appeared that he could not be stopped. There was a ragamalika in the Tanam phase and one more in the Pallavi section, seamlessly transitioned, and merged into a Behag kriti of Ananda Dasa. It was a mad, but delightful, ride down a music lane.

This rasika thought, while listening through the concert, that for the sake of great music and the appreciative rasikas, Sriram Kumar will continue to play the duel role of a great accompanist and a solo violinist!

The pair of percussionists, with their across the stage musical dialogue, kept the laya foundation well tended. It is a such a pleasure to listen to Arun PrakashÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s mridangam, and one canÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t but be mesmerized my his gentle, but intense, caressing of the instrument to produce a percussion experience that is memorable. His fingers seem to be divorced from the rest of him, because his playing is intense, but his stage demeanor is tranquility personified. Guru Prasad on the ghatam was closely and completely in consonance with Arun Prakash, and his ghatam playing added much to the pleasure of the eveningÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s musical feast. It is regrettable that this was the only concert in NJ.

Ramaprasad

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 11 Oct 2009, 23:52

Such a beautiful review, Ramaprasad. Thank you. Looks like it was a really memorable concert - what a beautiful array of ragas. Sigh - I would inquire about the recording but CMANA has told me before in no uncertain terms that recordings cannot be sold to nonmembers (and boy did I try to get that TNK concert you had reviewed last year!).

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 12 Oct 2009, 00:00

I wish someone shifts varugalAmO to pre-main if not main segment

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 12 Oct 2009, 00:02

Srikant, YES! TMK sang varugalAmo with an elaborate rAgam (tailored to the composition, too, with that beautiful use of G3 and all) with RKSK on the violin in 2007. The raga and composition both have potential for exploration, as TMK and RKSK demonstrated that evening.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 12 Oct 2009, 00:09

BAD, bad miss for me (the timing just wan't right)! Thanks for the review Ramprasad. A performance that wasn't unexpected from Shriram.

The pallavi is very nice constructed (was it one of his?) with the rAga mudra embedded - I think it should be ....vAmAngE taruNEndusEkhara harapriyE....

Ramaprasad · Post by **Ramaprasad** » 12 Oct 2009, 07:03

Hi Rshankar,

Thanks for your input. I have made the necessary corrections. Yes, The Pallavi line was RKSK's own creation.

Ramaprasad

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 12 Oct 2009, 08:01

Ramaprasad,
An excellent review on what seems to have been an excellent concert. I have yet to hear Sriramkumar play solo or sing. He would have sung the pallavi line, of course. I have heard him accompany many vocalists, of all different styles and age and think how well he relates to each one of them and lends them strength in his playing.
Arunprakash is so good at SollAmal Solludal (translates into 'subtle but effective underplaying' in english).
With so many concerts happening in NJ and nearby, you should be sharing more concerts with us by reviewing them! I have always enjoyed reading your reviews when you have written about concerts in PA and Mass too.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 12 Oct 2009, 08:04

sollAmal solludal - I like that!

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 12 Oct 2009, 08:41

Seems to have been a great and grand concert!! Hope he performs few solo concerts this december.

Smt Sowmya also sang same pallavi in Shanmukhananda sabha last month.

-hari

laks1972 · Post by **laks1972** » 12 Oct 2009, 12:53

my observation is that the song list appears tilted towards suddha madyama ragas. Exept varali and a couple of thukkada item, prathi madyamam has taken a back seat. even RTP raga malika has no prati madyamam representation

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 12 Oct 2009, 12:55

Isn't one PM raga the norm in most concerts?

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 12 Oct 2009, 14:21

How many pratimadhyama rAgas can one listen to in one concert? A friend and I were once discussing how impossible it is to have a full-pratimadhyama concert as opposed to a full shuddha madhyama concert.

Similarly, it's difficult to put up with a lot of shuddharishabha ragas in one concert.

suma · Post by **suma** » 12 Oct 2009, 18:16

what is the "mudra" for songs composed by R.K. Sriram Kumar. How does one recognize his compositions?

Normally a concert has 1 and at a max 2 prati madhyama songs and no more than 2.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 12 Oct 2009, 19:59

Shriram composes pallavis (for RTPs) and composes music for other compositions (like the SAradA bhujangam). I am not aware of kritis that he has composed, so the question of a 'mudra' doesn't arise.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 12 Oct 2009, 21:05

While mudrAs make it easy for the listeners to know the composer of a song, not all composers throw in a mudrA. I don't have one, and from day one, I've come across folks who have asked me this question. If the song is good enough, it will be sung by many (in the course of time) and anyway, when it happens, the song becomes theirs, does it not?!

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 12 Oct 2009, 21:45

My guess is that RKSK will probably not include his mudra even in varnams, kritis or tillanas he composes later, if any.

mmani · Post by **mmani** » 15 Oct 2009, 06:05

Ramaprasad wrote: It is regrettable that this was the only concert in NJ.

Ramaprasad

For those with time on Saturday the 17th October - he is performing in Stroudsburg, PA (a 55 mile-drive from Bridgewater, NJ) on Deepavali day.
This is at no less a venue than the Sharadha Temple @Sringeri Vidya Bharati Foundation (SVBF).

He is also performing in Fairfax, VA on Oct 25 (www.svlotustemple.org) - for those planning/happening to be around there around the time.

Refer to the updated schedule at http://sankritilaya.blogspot.com

-mani

keerthi · Post by **keerthi** » 15 Oct 2009, 11:21

complaints about pratimadyama rAgas are unwarranted. Looking at the percentage they occupy in the krti corpus of TyAgaraja or MD will tell us what weightage is to be given to them.

RKSK's choice of songs is exemplary. Just like his sense of proportion, and mostly everything about his violin-vadanam.

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 15 Oct 2009, 12:50

laks1972 wrote:my observation is that the song list appears tilted towards suddha madyama ragas. Exept varali and a couple of thukkada item, prathi madyamam has taken a back seat. even RTP raga malika has no prati madyamam representation

BTW, bEhAg admits pratimadhyamA in some sanCArAs.

Of course the song list is tilted towards suddha madhyama rAgAs! They are predominantly the focus of any well-planned concert. Keerthi's point about their weightage in the krithi corpus of T / MD is spot-on.

gn.sn42 · Post by **gn.sn42** » 15 Oct 2009, 16:34

keerthi wrote:complaints about pratimadyama rAgas are unwarranted. Looking at the percentage they occupy in the krti corpus of TyAgaraja or MD will tell us what weightage is to be given to them.

Where can I get this sort of information quickly? Specifically, are there books/web sites that provide such statistical data about these compositions?

manikand28 · Post by **manikand28** » 19 Oct 2009, 21:42

Waiting for RKSK concert at Stanford University on Nov 8 in the bay area

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 20 Oct 2009, 09:06

gn.sn42 wrote:
keerthi wrote:complaints about pratimadyama rAgas are unwarranted. Looking at the percentage they occupy in the krti corpus of TyAgaraja or MD will tell us what weightage is to be given to them.
Where can I get this sort of information quickly? Specifically, are there books/web sites that provide such statistical data about these compositions?

You can check Sri TKG's book of Thyagaraja compositions which has the songs ordered by their parent mELakarta rAgA.

gn.sn42 · Post by **gn.sn42** » 20 Oct 2009, 10:27

prashant, sure, but I was looking for statistical data pre-gathered by the author. In this case, it's a matter of counting, which might be easy enough (though a bit tiresome); but other potentially interesting data (such as how many times has Thyagaraja used a certain word) might need an electronic corpus, consistent spelling, and stemming to gather; data that is a bit less obvious (such as how many compositions are in audava ragas) will need further custom search mechanisms; and data that requires a certain amount of background knowledge will be beyond automation and will be best done by an expert.

However, if a knowledgeable Thyagaraja enthusiast can do this work and publish a large collection of statistical curiosities about the corpus, it will be quite interesting and potentially valuable. I was hoping this has been done already in some fashion.

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 09 Nov 2009, 10:24

arasi wrote: Arunprakash is so good at SollAmal Solludal (translates into 'subtle but effective underplaying' in english).
With so many concerts happening in NJ and nearby, you should be sharing more concerts with us by reviewing them! I have always enjoyed reading your reviews when you have written about concerts in PA and Mass too.

arasi,
your 'sollAmal solludal' was quoted in RKSRK's Stanford Univ.(SPIC MACAY) concert today.
List and my impressions in a separate thread.-:)

ramakriya · Post by **ramakriya** » 09 Nov 2009, 11:26

Punarvasu - Had I known you were there in the audience, we could have said hello to each other

I was there at Cubberley too..

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 09 Nov 2009, 11:59

ramakriya, same here. Realise the need for 'rasikas' badge.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 09 Nov 2009, 12:27

Argh - we really need this badge/ pin in effect STAT!