Musiri Chamber Concert : sunday 22 June 2014
Alwarpet, Chennai
10 a.m. to 12.20 noon
Prince Rama Varma: Veena (traditional instrument)
Accompanists:
Mridangam-B Harikumar
Ghatam-S Karthik
Sruti(Pitch): 2 kattai (D)
1. Ghana (pancha) ragamalika tanam
2. Behag: Smarajanaka-Misra chapu-Swati Tirunal (with kalpana swaras)
3. Mukhari: Enthaninne-Rupaka- Tyagaraja (brief alapana & Swaras)
4. Goulipantu-Terateeyaga-Aadi-Tyagaraja
5. Kuntalavarali-Bhogeendrasaayinam-Khandachapu-Swati
6. Simhendramadhyamam-Rama rama gunaseema-Aadi-Swati (main item of the concert with alapana, tanam, kriti, niraval, swaras and Tani
7. Yadukula kamboji(madhyama sruti) Pahiramachandra raghava-Rupaka-Tyagaraja
8. Yemen kalyani-Krishnanee begane-misra chapu-Vysaraya
9. Neelambari-Kaanthanodu chennu melle-Rupaka-padam- swati
10. (English) Note-Muthiah Bhagavatar
Prince Rama varma in his introductory address dedicated the concert to the memory of Sangita kalanidhi K S Narayanaswami (Centenary year) from whom he had initially learnt the art. KSN’s style was simple but gave the listener lot to ponder upon the nuances. He had a great association with Musiri and their approach to music had many things in common. The Prince announced that the choice of kritis / rasikas’ requests had many of Musiri’s and KSN’s favourites.
The recital was neat and clean without any loud or staccato prayogas in total loyalty to KSN’s style. However to ensure the entertainment aspect the Vainika adopted ‘saval-javab’ sessions with the percussionists during swara prastaras for Smarajanaka and the main kriti. The tanam session for the main kriti was taken up as a ragamalika with sahana, kapi and a couple of other ragas.
The vyavahara-oriented Tani segment was quite lengthy but scored well with the discerning rasikas..
The Sunday morning concert at the ‘ultimate chamber music joint of Chennai’ was simple and soothing. The instrument which he had ‘borrowed’ from a lady musician was a indeed a traditional one with manually operated Biradai-s. The Prince’s ‘bare finger’ meetus (something a fete) added to its pleasant tone. Contact mike was there but rightly amplified. The ‘melakarta’ (the person who did the melam work for the instrument!) for the instrumet was also duly appreciated for his excellent job. The august gathering also proved that Veena is an instrument which is largely adored and patronised by women.
A fine event which indicated that there is still hope and scope for Veena!
Musiri Chamber Concert:Prince Ramavrama Veena
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Sivaramakrishnan
- Posts: 1582
- Joined: 02 Jan 2010, 08:29
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Nick H
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- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 02:03
Re: Musiri Chamber Concert:Prince Ramavrama Veena
Sivaramakrishnan, it was nice to meet with you again. Thank you for reviewing the concert.
It was a full house, and an appreciative one as well. This is the first time I have heard Rama Varma's veena concert for maybe seven or eight years, since he played at a Besant Nagar temple, accompanied by TVG playing mridangam. At the end of the concet he thanked the owner of the veena, and she turned out to be the mother of someone I know! In fact, Rama Varma had sat with my wife and I at the daughter's wedding (with music by Shashank), so, along with it being the first time I have spoken to RV's father for some years, it was a coming together of memories.
It was hard to persuade my biological clock to cooperate, and I am sure I was yawning most rudely, but I that only reflected my owl-like time keeping, and not at all my enjoyment of the music. The tone of the veena was superb, rich and deep, and the playing was excellent. Do you mean to say that he plays with the fingertips, without any pluck? That is the sort of thing that one is close enough to notice in a house concert, but I am afraid that I didn't. There is certainly no lack of strength in his playing: if this can be done with bare fingers, I wonder why people bother with the metal things. Personal choice of tone, I suppose.
The accompaniment from Harikumar and Karthik was spot-on appropriate throughout. Sometimes it is difficult for a mridangist to turn down the pressure/volume to suit a small room, but Harikumar had no problems with that, and always kept behind the veena in volume. They are a regular team, and the more-than-usual co-operation and anticipation between all three showed.
When it came to the thani, the floodgates were opened. One could say that it was a mini tala vadya kutcheri in its own right. I say that a thani should fir within the song of which it is part, so when is it right for it to break out of those bounds? One answer is that it is right when the main artist is so obviously enjoying it. It is right when it is right, and today it was right for RV, and it was right for us.
One notable thing about the thani was the inclusion of Karthik's vocal konnakol. I wish this was heard more often. Not only is it good to the ear, but it is also instructional, in that it shows us what is actually happening in the rhythms. As Karthik put it, it is the DNA of the music.
)
It was a full house, and an appreciative one as well. This is the first time I have heard Rama Varma's veena concert for maybe seven or eight years, since he played at a Besant Nagar temple, accompanied by TVG playing mridangam. At the end of the concet he thanked the owner of the veena, and she turned out to be the mother of someone I know! In fact, Rama Varma had sat with my wife and I at the daughter's wedding (with music by Shashank), so, along with it being the first time I have spoken to RV's father for some years, it was a coming together of memories.
It was hard to persuade my biological clock to cooperate, and I am sure I was yawning most rudely, but I that only reflected my owl-like time keeping, and not at all my enjoyment of the music. The tone of the veena was superb, rich and deep, and the playing was excellent. Do you mean to say that he plays with the fingertips, without any pluck? That is the sort of thing that one is close enough to notice in a house concert, but I am afraid that I didn't. There is certainly no lack of strength in his playing: if this can be done with bare fingers, I wonder why people bother with the metal things. Personal choice of tone, I suppose.
The accompaniment from Harikumar and Karthik was spot-on appropriate throughout. Sometimes it is difficult for a mridangist to turn down the pressure/volume to suit a small room, but Harikumar had no problems with that, and always kept behind the veena in volume. They are a regular team, and the more-than-usual co-operation and anticipation between all three showed.
When it came to the thani, the floodgates were opened. One could say that it was a mini tala vadya kutcheri in its own right. I say that a thani should fir within the song of which it is part, so when is it right for it to break out of those bounds? One answer is that it is right when the main artist is so obviously enjoying it. It is right when it is right, and today it was right for RV, and it was right for us.
One notable thing about the thani was the inclusion of Karthik's vocal konnakol. I wish this was heard more often. Not only is it good to the ear, but it is also instructional, in that it shows us what is actually happening in the rhythms. As Karthik put it, it is the DNA of the music.
The audience was predominately female. I had wondered how Varma managed to draw such a crowd of ladies, from nine to ninety! Perhaps, indeed, it was the veena that did it!The august gathering also proved that Veena is an instrument which is largely adored and patronised by women.
)