Prince Rama Varma in Naradagana Sabha in Chennai

[wordpecker070]

The venue (the mini-hall of the Narada Gana Sabha in Chennai) was packed even before the concert began. The concert began at 6 sharp without any announcement or speeches The first one was ‘Saraseeruhasana priyae,' a composition of Puliyur Doraiswamy Iyer. Swarams were sung at Sundara vadane vimlae. It was an august audience who came for the concert. None other than TVS, his wife (that was told to me later), GJR Krishnan, T.N. Krishnan’s daughter Viji, young singers Amrutha Murali and K. Gayathri and Rama varma's guru Dr. Balamuralikrishna.
The second song was ‘Jayalakshmi, varalakshmi….’ Annamacharya's composition tuned by Swapnasundari's mother, Sarala Rao.
There is an interesting storyabout Annamacharya, the composer of 'Narayana The Namoh, Namoh.' He was a contemporary of Thygaraja who lived six hundred years ago. His compositions were thought to be lost till they were almost miraculously rediscovered in 1940 and entrusted to Dr. Balamuralikrishna. The first song to be tuned was ‘Narayana The Namoh Namoh’. Surprisingly, the same composition has been rendered for years at the Navaratri Mandapam in Trivandrum by the Mullamoodu Baghavatars. It is the only non-Swathi piece that is sung at the Mandapam. The Mullamoodu Baghavatars sing the Thodayam mangalam at 5.30 p.m. before the beginning of every concert during Navaratri at the Mandapam. Then came Annapoorne and ‘Janani Ninnu Vina. Varadarajan (violin), Pathri Satheesh Kumar (mridangam) and Karthick (ghatam) were superb. Then Rama Varma sang Thygaraja’s Nannu Kanna Thalli in Sindhukanada, also known as Kesari.
As the concert was organized by Charsur, the Prince took the four-note (char sur) Lavangi as main. And with BMK sir’s presence, Lavangi was special indeed. Lavangi has plain bold notes and to illustrate the difference between Lavangi and saveri, the prince sang phrases of it. The thani was excellent. 'Bala Thripura Sundari,' composed by Dr. Balamuralikrishna’s grandfather Prayaga Rangadasa was followed by ‘Jaya Jaya Devi’ in Vallabhi. 'Gopala Gokula Vallabhi' is a Thulasidas bhajan that was tuned by Dr. Balamuralikrishna in Vallabi ragam. When Rama Varma heard this, he requested Balamurali to tune ‘Jaya Jaya Devi’ and that is how this was born. The singer sang Ninayee, a short number and a crackling Kapi Thillana by MDR. And then Mangalam.

[Nick H]

Another great concert from Rama Varma. I think he just gets better --- and, as he is yet quite young, that bodes very great things for the future

[arasi]

Woodpecker,
Thanks for the review. Wish this had happened during my stay in Chennai. It was a song list put together with care--honoring one's guru and ancestor! It would have had a chamber concert feel, given the size of the hall. Rama Varma would have been in his element, given the content of the kacEri and the fact that his guru and other luminaries of the music world were part of his audience.
What an impressive support he had, by way of accompanists!
One correction in your review. AnnamAcArya was not a contemporary of TyagarAjA!

[devi]

Thanks Wordpecker. Here's the Hindu Review of the concert
http://www.hindu.com/fr/2010/03/12/stor ... 980400.htm

[Nick H]

I wonder if Varma minds being called "a neat package"

A nice review. I had just sought out the link to post it here --- to find that devi had beaten me to it by a whole day!