L.A.concert of Ram Moorthy on Nov 6 2010

[veeyens3]

`
Los Angelinos were treated to a wonderful vocal concert by Sri RamkrihnaMoorthy, a senior in University of California, Irvine, by Sri RamakrishnanLakshmanan on the violin and by Sri Vinod Seetharaman on theMrudangam. who ,I believe are from New Jersey area (I was not inside theauditorium when the artists were introduced. This is another Desi concert, anatural corrolary to the popular house concert concept, introduced in
Southern California three decades back, by late sri Kasuba Sreenivas, ahumanist, Ghandhian and a Carnatic musicRasika, all rolled into one.andwho passed away recently. Couple of words about him are warrented. Asimple man in pure white Khadar “Jibba” a white Khadar Dohthi, worn in“Thattu Chittu” fashion like a Tamilian, instead of pseudo panchakacham
fashion like Kannadigas or Andhras, he was dedicated to offer a platformfor the talented off springs of the expatriates to show case their skills invarious disciplines in friends homes in front of relatives and well wishers,thus nurturing them to greater heights. In accordance with the importantmanagement doctrine, once he delegates authority and responsibility to the
budding artists and their hosts, to work out the logistics, he would neverinterfere but on embark on planning the next concert. in true missionaryzeal. For personal reasons he was away from the scene for the past fewyears but fortunately his place was taken by another a flautist in his own
rights and a faculty member of the business school of local University who continues the goodwork started by Late Sri Kasuba Sreenivas. May his soul rest in peace.

Now coming to the concert proper, I entered the auditorium a little late andmissed the initial Varnam. Adding to my misfortune, the normally ever readyball point pen decided to go on strike and I had no means of keeping written
records but have to rely on my poor memory with data evaporating at analarming rate. . What I can recall is as follows

Tulasi alamu Mayamalava Gowla
Meenakshi Me Poorvi Kalyani
Upacharamu Bairavi to borrow an acronym introduced by a young reviewer A,N.S,T also jocularly called “Peria Upacharam”
This was the main piece. Young Ram did full justice to
this, ably assisted by the accompanying artists
Nenarunchinanu Malavi
Intakannanadam Bilahri
A grand R.T.P with elaborate Shubhapantuvarali treatment not
normally associated with such a young vocalist and an equally welldeveloped ragamalika string . It was fantastic ,breath taking. Youhave to hear it to appreciate it fully as it is beyond my ability todescribe.
A behag Devarnama, Ragamalika Thevaram culminating in EppoVaruvaro in Jaunpuri Finally Thillana and Mangalam

A simple test to the rate the performance is the ratio between
the number of vacant spots in the parking lot at he beginig of the
concert to the number of vacant spots at he end of the concert. In thiscase, that number was less indicating more listeners arrived after theconcert started on learning about the high standard of the artists.
Probably I cannot pay a better tribute. On the whole it was a concert worth going miles to attend. May Sri Rama bless the artists

[srikant1987]

You haven't said anything about how the accompanists did!

I've heard both the Ramakrishnans, they're both very good. Never got to hear them together though! Haven't heard Vinod Seetharaman either. Could you just name some ragas were dealt with in the rAgamAlika of the RTP? I was earlier asking for the manodharma done for other songs too, but that would be difficult to figure out from memory -- in fact this is what got me started on writing lists! But I would like to know about the bilahari piece -- did it have any manodharma at all, or was it a second filler, like the mALavi? (That's a pretty versatile song, I must say! rUpakacApu songs usually are!)

worn in“Thattu Chittu” fashion like a Tamilian, instead of pseudo panchakacham
fashion like Kannadigas or Andhras,

Somehow I see more bitterness in this than I think this merits. Why "pseudo"? Besides, this thattu chittu is more common among Kannadigas than your comment would make it seem.

[veeyens3]

Ref #2 I would like to draw your attention to a tamil saying,which if rendered in English will mean, whichever part of a Vinayaka idol made of Jaggery, it will be as tasty as the other. On the same analogy, the whole concert was very good with the accompanying artists contributing their part Although as the kid next door, I had the privilege and pleasure to listen to the vocalist, I had not heard sri Lalkshman or Sri Seetharaman earlier. I could recall exqisite Desh, Kamas and Kapi in the Ragamalika string which received extensive treatment by all the artists. I would like to repeat, the concert was worth driving miles to listen to

[Sreeni Rajarao]

[quote="veeyens3"]`
pure white Khadar “Jibba” a white Khadar Dohthi, worn in“Thattu Chittu” fashion like a Tamilian, instead of pseudo panchakacham
fashion like Kannadigas or Andhras, .......

What is Thattu Chittu?

[VK RAMAN]

instead of pseudo panchakacham fashion like Kannadigas or Andhras -

Undesired expression.

[rshankar]

What is Thattu Chittu?

I would like to know as well! tATTo ciTTO, vESTis (and strapless evening gowns), IMO are a bit like the government..

[Lakshman]

Vinod Seetharaman is from Detroit area.

[1920veeyens]

By "Thattu Chittu" I mean the dhoti is wrapped around tucking the top two corners inside the waist leaving the bottom two corners loose. i used pseudo to describe the practice of tucking three corners leaving the right bottom corner free as against the traditional way of tucking all the four corner in a regular pancha kacham.The words were used to describe the various modes of wearing a dhothi and nothing else If anybody is hurt, I tender my apologies as I do not want to hurt anybodies feeling in this friendly forum

[bilahari]

"my poor memory with data evaporating at analarming rate" - I love your sense of humour, Veeyens!

[rajeshnat]

Veeyens
I liked your enthusiasm to post reviews, looks like LA and SanDiego is "the place" for concerts in US. If I am not asking too much , it would be lovely if you can take a picture along with the artists and upload in one of your next concerts .The artists and all of us are blessed to see a photograph . For your age of 90 , you must be a rasika who must have heard all the way from chitoor subramaniam pillai to ramakrishnamurthy. Let the ball pen run out of ink as every post you are recollecting and fighting loss of memory.