Saketharaman @ San Jose CA (May 2, 2014)

[hatakambari]

Vocal: Shri. Saketharaman
Violin: Smt. Akkarai Subbulakshmi
Mridangam: Shri. Neyveli Narayanan
Venue: CET Hall, San Jose, CA

1. ??
2. ??
3. rAma rAma rAma enirO - vasanthA - Adi - Purandara dAsa
4. AdamOdi galadE - chArukEshi - Adi - ThyAgarAja swAmi (R for 10+7 min, S @mAtalAda)
5. bhOgIndra shAyinam - kuntala varALi - khanda chApu - SwAthi ThirunAL
6. RTP in sankIrNa tripuTa tAla - ranjani, shIranjani, janaranjani, karNaranjani (swarams in sumanEsa ranjani, manOranjani, mishra-shivaranjani)
"ranjani manjubhAshiNi pAvani shrIranjani janani janaranjani pAhimAm karNaranjani"

7. enna tavam seidhanai - kApi - Adi - PApanAsam Sivan
8. mIrAbhAi nAche thO - madhuvanthi- khanda chApu - mIrA bhajan
9. thillAnA - yamunA kalyANi - mishra chApu - Shri Lalgudi JayarAman

Saketharaman gave a well-paced satisfying concert, ably supported by the violinist. I missed the first few, but entered to a brisk vasanthA. (Can one imagine any other kind of vasanthA?) There was an interesting chitta swaram, sung twice, with fast and slower passages interspersed. Saketharaman modulated his voice to good effect.

The artiste then proceeded to rAga chArukEshi, a specialty of his guru Shri Lalgudi Jayaraman. It was elaborate, covering the various facets and phrases of the 26th mELA, but I felt it somehow lacked the soulfulness and evocative-ness. The rendering was typical Lalgudi style. The muththAippu in the swaraprastAra went "M G R S N; G R S N D; ..." instead of starting with the usual G. The violin return for the swaram was 'action-packed', but was still melodious.

After the quick filler, Saketharaman launched the RTP in Ranjani. The violin response was imaginative and sweet. The vocalist proceeded to shrIranjani and then asked the violinist to pick up Janaranjani. The session was quite satisfying, with the give and take among the artistes. Not to mention educational -- I did not know there is a rAga called sumanEsa ranjani ! A Google search shows that it is a janya of shaNmukhapriyA with the scale S G2 M2 P N2 S; S N2 P M2 G2 S.

The concert ended with typical Lalgudi pieces. Saketharaman is quite capable, even if the voice is not entirely pliable. Akkarai Subbulakshmi was impressive, readily matching the artiste. Neyveli Narayanan played a good thani.

[mahavishnu]

Thanks Hatakambari.
He started with LGJ's shanmukhapriya varnam (dEvar munivar tozhum...) and rakshamAm sharaNAgatam in Nattai (Meenakshisutan).

Will write in more detail later.

[rajeshnat]

Not to mention educational -- I did not know there is a rAga called sumanEsa ranjani ! A Google search shows that it is a janya of shaNmukhapriyA with the scale S G2 M2 P N2 S; S N2 P M2 G2 S.

Hatakambari
You are bit new to the forum . Please also read the link http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic. ... ni#p216891 where the third link in the post talks about a lot of sumanesa ranjani. Some people say this and madhukuans are same , some also say it is a prati equivalent of suddha dhanyasi (read all that in the links), but I have to say you are entering into a very emotive raga that will pep you significantly more . I can relate to what you wrote when I first heard vidwan TNS singing this raga in ragamaliga - sumanesa ranjani is indeed haunting.

[Sindhuja]

Also, the third piece before Vasantha was sompaina manasu in Ahiri. And the RTP included sumanesa ranjani, manoranjani, mishra shivaranjani and also glimpses of megharanjani (he ended with all the swaras of the famous ranjani mala!) I also felt that Charukeshi was treated a bit more as a scale than as a raga, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. It was overall a great concert, only wish he dwelled more in the mandara sthayi. His voice seemed to have some trouble in the lower range today. And I think his voice also naturally scales higher notes way more easily and powerfully than lower notes. More tomorrow, hopefully.