Suryaprakash, HN Bhaskar, Vijay Ganesh at Lanham

[Ranganayaki]

Suryaprakash - Vocal
Vijay Ganesh - Mridangam
HN Bhaskar - Violin

1. Varnam: Kathanakuthuhalam - Adi - Mysore Vasudevachar

2. Sloka. Vakrathunda mahakaaya followed by
Tatvamariya tarama - Reetigowla - Adi - Papanasam Sivan

3. Ramanatham Bhajeham - Panthuvarali - Rupakam - Muthuswami Dikshitar
Neraval & swarams @ Kumara Guruguha Mahitam
Kavi brindadi Sannutam

4. Khamas - Brochevarevaru ra - Adi - Mysore Vasudevachar

5. Innamum Sandeha Padalamo - Keeravani - Misra Chapu - Gopalakrishna Bharati

6. Paramapurusha Jagadeeshwara - Vasantha - Adi - Swathi thirunal

7. Nija dasa varada - Kalyani alapana - Adi - Patnam Subramanya Iyer
Neraval at
Bhujagadipa shayana
Bhumija ramana

8. Natakapriya - RTP
Pallavi in Misra triputa, eduppu at arai Edam

Bhava haram shubhakaram
Harasutam shanmukham Bhajeham
Geetha rasikam natakapriyam

Kalpanaswarams in ragas that mostly followed the sahityam: Natakapriya, Bhavapriya, Mohanakalyani, Kharaharapriya, Revathi, Rasikapriya, Natakapriya. This was followed by Tani Avartanam

9. Srikantha yenagishtu dayamado.. Bageshri - Adi - Purandara Dasa

10. Eppo Varuvaro - Jonpuri - Adi - Gopalakrishna Bharati

11. Vrittam in sahana (Nammalvar Pasuram), sumanesa ranjani and Sindhubhairavi, followed by Venkatachala Nilayam

Pasuram:
Agalakillen indraiyum endru
Alarmel Mangai urai Maarbaa
Nigaril Pugazhaay, ulagamoondrudaiyaay
Nigaril Amarar, munikkaNangal virumbum
Tiruvengadatthaane
Pugal ondrilla adiyen
Un Adikkeezh amarnthu pugunthene..

12. Kaliyuga varadan - Brindavana Saranga - Adi - Periasamy Turan

13. Mangalam - pavamaana - Saurashtra - Adi = Thyagaraja, followed by
Vazhiya senthamizh

A very nice (but for the blaring audio) concert that lasted almost four hours. His approach kept the interest up during pre and post tani phases with interesting ragas and the vrittam. I felt interested throughout.. It was a well-thought out mix of various composers and the sub-main was a Patnam Subramanya Iyer piece.

[arasi]

Ranganayaki,

Happy to hear that you could listen to Suryaprakash. A pity that a four hour concert was marred by blaring sound Didn't the audience request for the sound to be reduced? Surya's voice can sound sweet and strong even without a nuisance of a sound system!

A substantial list it surely is. H.N. Bhaskar would have played very well too.

I've heard 'SrikAntha enagishTu daya' only in KanaDA so far. Glad that he included a pAsuram for you

[Ranganayaki]

Thanks, Arasi,
Sorry for the delayed response to your comments, but I started responding a few times and got called away.

Yes HN Bhaskar and Vijay Ganesh both played very well. Precision and clarity in both their playing, I enjoyed certain bowing techniques that I was able to perceive, but am unable to capture in words.. It turned out that he is a shishya of MSG and learning that was an aha moment for me, suddenly being able to place all that in the context of his training.

Vijay Ganesh was very much appreciated by Suryaprakash and the three of them shared great appreciation for each other as well as true camaraderie, seeming to share some private jokes and mischievous laughter.. suddenly they looked like boys . I think they had a lot of fun and their entente goes beyond the professional. I have a mridangist uncle with whom I hope to listen to his tani and if I learn anything I will share.

Suryaprakash performed Grihabhedams during the khamas and kalyani alapanas. Though I caught the Grihabhedam on khamas, I could not, for the life of me, tell which ragam it was.. I have trouble switching too fast, even though I have clarity in hearing swaras. When he did it with Kalyani the raga I heard was Mohana.. He appreciated HN Bhaskar and said that you need good violin support to be able to do a grihabheda and that he'd got it from HNB.

Suryaprakash was enjoying his singing, beaming with childlike pleasure when he performed his korvais and landed spot-on, it was rather sweet to watch .

[Ranganayaki]

While listening to the Natakapriya, I enjoyed the expose (also) because I really felt I got two additional ragas.. It was like listening to natakapriya, todi and chakravakam - all three at the same time. MPDNSR of natakapriya sounded like chakravakam and NSRGMP was like todi. For me that constant switch was enjoyable. All melakartas share this type of similarities with other ragas, but this time, it was striking.

Arasi.. Recently I sat a little towards the back for a couple of concerts, so I know that the blaring audio is more tolerable there. I feel more connected in the front..

All, Suryaprakash will be singing in Raleigh on Sunday. Someone offered to give me a link to the webcast. I MAY have their permission to share it here. If I do, I will post it in "Event Announcements".

[kssr]

Interested in the sumanesa ranjani virutham. There does not seem to be many numbers in the raga. Oru naaL iravu; pahal pol nilavu; thanimayile en thaai vandaaL- a song by double action sowkar janaki was the only one closest that I have heard. Really interested. If some one can give some leads ....

[arasi]

Ranganayaki,

That will be great, if you can share some of the Raleigh concert.

The 'blaring effect', I have experienced in one of the season's concerts a few seasons ago, sitting in the second row. Paid a pretty penny for the tickets, Malladi Bros singing, with Tiruchi Sankarn playing. I was keen on listening to this one, but the noise level was higher than in a rock concert even for those of us who are at a stage when our hearing is fading away! There wasn't room for two in the back rows (upstairs could have had a few seats), and we left My father could have been a football player, but did not transfer that gene to me, and that means, to be connected with a concert from where I can see the stage makes us pay the premium for the seats...

kssr,
Sumanesaranjani is something I look forward to listening to also. I wonder. Have you ever had Suryaprakash sing at Nadasurabhi? When he does, you can ask him to sing a whole RTP in that rAgA

[Lakshman]

Here are the songs in sumanesharanjani. I don't know how many of these have audio clips available:
Anjanasuta anjaneya Adi R.K.Padmanabha
Arul amudam taruvai guru raghavendra Adi T.K.Subramanian yes
Brova tamasama Adi Madurai G.S.Mani
Chandana charchita nilakalepara (ap 4) (Harihiha) C/Eka Jayadeva
Ezhu malai mevum ? Sattur Karpakam
Haririha mugdha vadhu nikare vilasini (ap 4) (Chandana) Adi Jayadeva
Kamala vasini ninne nammiti ne (tv) Adi B.M.Sundaram (Guruprupa) yes
Kshanam adhuna narayanam anugatam (ap 23) (Kisalaya) Jayadeva
Ni manam kanindarulvaye Adi K.Ramaraj
Parayo shri valli devasenapati (tv) Adi A.Govindarajan
Parthasarathi tiruvallikkeniyuil Adi Rukmini Ramani
Parvatipate pahimam jagadpate Adi ?
Samana rahita shri rame Bangalore S.Mukund
Santatamum unai Adi Nagpur Srinivasan yes
Tamadam eno amma dayapari Adi Rukmini Ramani
Tillana Adi Madurai T.Krishnan
Tudu shenre ni vana kuyile shedi sholluvayo Rupaka S.Vembu
Varuga varuga venru azhaittene svami varuga Adi Madurai N.Krishnan
Vimala vadana amboruham Bangalore S.Mukund
Yarenu maduvaru K/Chapu Purandaradasa

[arasi]

Lakshman,
Thanks!

Watch Carnatica Brothers singing an RTP. Shashikiran announces that the rAgA is also called madhukauns. No wonder,we hear strains of madhuvanthi in it...

I just googled the rAgA name and chanced upon it.

I then heard a beautiful violin response. Nagai Murali, I guessed--with MAE--at Cleveland! I had missed a chunk of their concert and this was it--their RTP!

[arasi]

Sorry, duplicate post

Mods,
There was a Delete button which I used a few times recently and thought it was great to have--when I inadvertently posted the same post twice. I don't see that facility anymore.

[kssr]

Sri.Lakshman. Thanks a lot. You have now given me work to do. As we can see from the sumanesa ranjani list, except for Jayadeva, others are contemporary composers who themselves may be singing them and hence not popular. I requested a senior vidwan with the widest repertiore known to me to sing in the ragam. He said that he does not know any composition in that ragam! In one concert, I heard MS Sheela sing a composition in that ragam and she mentioned that it was tuned by Anoor AK Sharma (Shivu). Incidentally I am told that sumanesaranjani, madhukauns and madhuvanti are very close but each microscopically different from the others.

Oru naaL iravu is a real sumanesaranjani. It is available on youtube. Listen to it. Really moving.

[Ranganayaki]

I'm sorry, I don't have a link to share for Sunday's concert by Suryaprakash as I do not have permission to share.

I remembered that there was some ambiguity in the name and as it turned out, Sumanesaranjani is listed in the table of Janya Ragas as SUMANASA Ranjani (the raga that delights the good mind/heart??) That makes sense to me, while "sumanesa" does not, so I will use the spelling that is listed.

Yes, Sumanasa Ranjani sounded a little like Madhuvanti to me, but not all the time.

I looked it up. I knew that Madhuvanti was a janya of Dharmavati.. Sumanasaranjani is shown as a janya of Shanmukhapriya. Dharmavati's poorvanga is the same as Shanmukhapriya's (the two ragas are in the same chakra - S R2 G2 M2) but the uttaraanga is very different, similar to Kalyani. P D2 N3 S. Shanmukhapriya: P D1 N2 S.

Madhuvanti is an Audava-Sampoorna raga (S G M P N S - S N D P M G R S), but Sumanasa Ranjani is an audava raga (audava-audava) - S G M P N S - S N P M G S.

I listened to Oru naal iravu and it certainly is Sumanesa Ranjani.

I just enjoyed this Madhuvanti by Hariprasad Chaurasia and the difference between the two ragas is stark..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kpn3nRNQ3c

Someone commented to me privately that it seemed that I had "graduated" to identifying Sumanasa Ranjani, and I told them that I had not, because Sumanasa Ranjani was the one raga that was announced, but now I think I am very clear. Nothing like explaining something to others to really learn and assimilate something.

Laxman, thank you so much, Sir, for that list.. I wish they were all available to listen to.. I haven't had the time to look for all of them yet.

KSSR, it was not simply a Sumanasa Ranjani vrittam. It was sung in Sahana, SR, Sindhubhairavi.

Arasi, the edit button is available, but, as I understand, only as long as no one has replied. Once someone has replied, you can only edit it, as you probably did.

[arasi]

Is Madhukauns a forgotten name for the rAgA because it was perhaps referred to as sumanEsaranjani mostly?

In your Chaurasia clip of madhuvanthi, it is mentioned that the rAgA was borrowed from CM. Wonder from which one...

[Ranganayaki]

Arasi,
I do listen to Hindustani music, a few artists and I am very open to recommendations, though I listen through carnatic ears.. I don't know anything about Madhukauns.. been busy and haven't had the time to look that up..

I just checked the write-up to the video - it says that the raga has been "borrowed into" carnatic music. I think they mean that CM has assimilated this Hindustani raga..