PALLAVI DARBAR 2014

[CRama]

Carnatica in association with Sree Parthasarathy Sabha has been organizing this mega event every year which has been eagerly looked forward by discerning music lovers of Chennai which gives an opportunity to listen to exclusive RTPs without the threat of time overrun. Pallavis in intricate talas, lecture demonstrations, quiz all presented with good time management deserves accolades. The event is cnceptualised by S.N.Shashikiran and he and his team deserves wide appreciation for their devotion and commitment towards this art form which is getting marginalised due to shrinkage in concert duration. I am giving below a brief review of the various concerts presented in the darbar.

Day 1 – 3 July
Pallavi Pattimandram
This is not on the lines of Soloman Pappiah’s pattimandram- but it gave an opportunity to understand the salient features of a RTP and the various concepts with a view to give clarity on certain aspects. Shri. PS Narayanaswamy,Suguna Purushothaman and RS.Jayalakshmi were the resourse persons. After this,Shri Palghat Ramprasad briefly told his grandfather Shri Palghat Mani Iyer’s view on RTPs.

Concert 1- Bharat Sundar-M.Rajeev-TVM Balaji.
Bharat Sundar has got abundant potential, nice voice, nice grip over layam and sings freely without constraints. Bharat Sundar took up Thodi for an elaborate presentation. He started from panchamam travelled upto tara stayi madhyamam effortlessly and took a solid 17 minutes for presenting the myriad hues of this majestic ragam. He made sruti bhedam to mohanam, sudhadhanyasi which he displayed in alapana, tanam, neraval as well as swaras. The tanam was also presented elaborately for 18 minutes- equal time for alapana and tanam. The pallavi was the old majestic pallavi handled by many great vidwans of the earlier generation- Nelatha Marulu kontinee- Vanipai chalasadananda- in Adi talam 2 kalai and the trikalam was played with aplomb. The koraippu swaras were very interesting. A Thodi handled well enhances the concert significantly. Bharat scored on this. The accompanists also played very well. A very good show by the team of Bharat Sundar.

Concert 2- Saketharaman-Nagai Sriram-Neyveli Narayanan
Saketharaman is one of the young singers who holds a lot of promise to be a front liner in the near future. Saketharaman started the concert with Paripalayamam in Reethigowla and decorated with a few rounds of kalpana swaras at thamarasayathalochana.

Saketharaman took two ragas- not common for RTPs- Nalinakanthi and Bindumalini for his presentation. His alapana of both the ragams were good. The entire alapana of both the ragams took 15 minutes. His glide between the ragams was effortless. Neverthless I felt that he could have taken a bigger ragam for the pallavi- given the ample time available for elaboration. The RTP he presented last year in Ranjani ragamala was a top class which I still remember. But today, the ragas were not that plaiable for the pallavi. The pallavi he coined was Nalinakanthi namamyaham Bindumalinim kripa karim sada. The pallavi was set in Tisra jathi Ada talam. Poorvangam in Tisra gathi and utharangam in khanda gathi. Afterwards he presented the pallavi in Chatusrajathi dhruva talam- Poorvangam in Tisra nadai and utharangam in khanda nadai. Tanam and neraval executed in both the ragams. The ragamalika swaras were in Neelambari, Nasikabhooshani and Priyadarsini . He did koraippu in Nalinakanthi and Bindumalini alternatively. It was a definitely a feat by Saketharaman- but cannot be said to be a feast for us. Nagai Sriram as usual excelled in his returns. Neyveli Narayanan also played with good understanding.

Day 2 – 4 July
Concert 1- Dr.KN.Ranganatha Sarma-Dr.Hemalatha-Arun Prakash
Dr.Ranganatha Sarma commenced the concert with Thyagarajaya Namasthe in Begada. How I wish somebody take up this ragam for a pallavi. I have not heard RTP in Begada for decades. He took up Keeravani for the pallavi. His alapana was majestic traversing on the key phrases of the ragam with attention to the grammer of the ragam and aesthetics of a good alapana. The alapana took 15 minutes, and thanam took 12 minutes. The pallavi was Kadir vadivela unathu padam thunaye Orarumugane Devadidevane in Khanda triputa thalam in khanda nadai. This pallavi has been sung by Alathur Brothers. The elaborate neraval and the technical aspects including thrikalam, chaturasra tisram and tisram followed by vilomam made the RTP an enjoyable and intellectual exercise. Ragamalika swaras were in Behag, Mohanam And Kapi. Dr. Hemalatha’s violin returns were praiseworthy and Arun Praksh provided excellent support.

Concert 2- Ramakrishnan Mrthy- Dr.Hemalatha-Arun Prakash
RKMurthy is winning over rasikas all over the globe with his sensitive, sowkhyam focussed and vidwath laden concerts. His pallavis in this darbar in earlier years were also appreciated. Today he took up the majestic Sankarabharanam for a detailed sojourn. He utilized the time given to him for full exploration of the various colours of this ragam. The alapana including violin took 15 minutes and thanam took 10 minutes. The pallavi was in Khanda triputa- khanda nadai -4 kalai. The sahithyam of the pallavi was Thyagarajaya namasthe namasthe Sree. The pallavi was subsequently reduced to 2 kalai and one kalai. Ragamalika swaras were rendered in all the Ghana ragams. Customary trikalam was executed with precision. The entire presentation drew continuous aplpause from the reasonably good audience. Dr, Hemalatha responded well to the imagination of RK Murthy. It was Arun Praksh who formatted this pallavi and his support significantly lifted the level of the concert.

[ganeshkant]

CRama,a nice review as usual which more than compensated for my absence as I was away on official tour.But somehow I made it yesterday and listened partially to K.Gayathri's and the other two in full.

K.G took up Shanmukhapriya it seems. It was an avadhana pallavi means the pallavi conforms to two diff.talams put by the artist in both the hands.One was misra jambai - 10 beats.The other was in adi -it could be khanda or mishra nadai.someone pl.clarify.A very diff.fete which she executed with aplomb.Dr.Hemalata and Kallidai Sivakumar gave good support.The ragamalikai during svarams was in arabhi,behag and one more.I didn't take notes.Sorry.

CRama,the gods must have listened to your anguish.Sriranjani NSG took up begadA.gave a brigha laden Alapana and the pallavi was in anga tAlam set by NSG.This, though in Adi,has increasing counts in the poorvangam viz.1,2,3,4 or 5 and the uttarangam regular 2 kalai.she sang vallabha in the same rAgam with a slokam about periyavar of kanchi prior to that. Dr.Narmada and Tri.Balaji gave good support.

Abhishek took up mohanam.The Alapnai in 3 or 4 stages and violin return took 30 mins.tAnam was in rAgamAlikai in todi,bhushavali,shubhapantuvarALi,chandrajyoti,suddha sAvEri,sindu bhairavi.He did an excellent job to a crowded hall.The pallavi was in Adi but had various nadais.He sang svarams in all Ragams mentioned.BUG gave commendable support.Anantha R krishnan played along with the mood of AB.He started @ 7.30 p.m and the tani was given @ 9.10 p.m almost.Appreciate his stamina and enthusiasm.Sometimes I think,why can't he take up little bit lightly and that arises out of a say fatherly concern.

I really appreciate all the artists for their hard work ,not an easy fete otherwise.Kudos to the organizers.

[Nick H]

I had intended to be there on 5th, but my stomach played host to some bacteria

Now I can only look forward to next year.

[thanjavooran]

Shri CRama,
A very good coverage. Many thanx.
With wishes
Thanjavooran
06 07 2014

[CRama]

The final day was a bad miss for me. A bad planning done by meresulted in a heavy loss for me. My computer also give problems. I cannot watch even the webcast. I have to wait.
Avadhana Pallavi I wanted to see. Abhishek- Every year he gives me goosebumps in the Pallavi Darbar.
Thanks Ganeshkant. I am happy that Sriranjni took up Begada. The last Begada RTP I heard was in 2000 n BARC Bombay concert- Thrissur Ramachandran. I paid a huge price at that time and lengthy travel to get a copy of that concert.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Thanks CRama for the fine review.

I watched the webcast of Abhishek's recital.

AR sang in gay abandon, also had absolute control over the presentation. BUG and ARK too excelled in their roles.
The Swarakshara PadaSaroja for the pallavi was simple but effective and he selected ragas that would best fit in for the Aksharas in the ragamalika suite to follow.

Carnatica under the leadership of Shashikiran, the sponsors and of course Parivadini deserve rich accolades for bringing an elite fest to rasikas.

Did anyone present Nayaki in the Darbar?

[vasanthakokilam]

>Did anyone present Nayaki in the Darbar?
good one!

[vasanthakokilam]

Thanks CRama and ganeshkant for the commentary.

It is awesome that parivadini has them on archive. I have a few curiosities as to what the practice regarding arudhi for those thalas with mutliple laghus and I am glad there are a few of those in this series. I will watch them over time.

(The Begada talk brought back memories of this great pallavi : https://soundcloud.com/dabbler126/tr-ma ... ragamalika)

[Sivaramakrishnan]

And Abhishek used a traditional hand bellowed wooden sruti box ('sruti petti') and the drone was soothing.

(As I watched only the webcast, couldn't spot if any electronic counterpart -that needs no operator- was also there on the stage.)

[CRama]

VK, Thanks for bringing back TRM Begada pallavi. In fact, this was one of my first acquaintances of the music- no- magic of the genius TRM. I think there is an LP Record. AIR TVM used to broadcast this.
Did you notice, in swara segments, Violinist is playing a different ragam from what TRM plays. When he played Panthuvarali , must be violinst TRukmini, she played Sahana.
Other famous Begada pallavis are of Alathur Bros, Voleti, Kalyanaraman, Ramnad Krishnan, MSS, TRS, TNS.KVN

[ganeshkant]

CRama,in AR's concert,BUG replied with sAmA for S'sAvEri I think.Someone can clarify.NRK & Carnatica Bros.while singing RTP always request the violinist to play diff.rAgams during rAgamAlika sessions be it in Tor P which is a real treat.

[CRama]

In present day concerts, people do such experiments. But those days, it was unheard of and not everybody accepted it. I think it was T Rukminii who started this. Mali, of all the persons, accepted and encouraged that.

[rajeshnat]

In present day concerts, people do such experiments. But those days, it was unheard of and not everybody accepted it. I think it was T Rukminii who started this. Mali, of all the persons, accepted and encouraged that.

So this started with Flute Mali with Possibly T Rukmini. I was thinking it was a thing that started only in the last 5 to 10 years. That was a kind of news to me. When there are say three or four ragas in RTP , I am ok where vocalist is taking one and the other taken up by violinist all for the sake of saving time . I certainly dont like where in ragamaliga one takes a raga another takes another raga , become too much of medlay that I dont enjoy

[rajeshnat]

CRama,in AR's concert,BUG replied with sAmA for S'sAvEri I think.Someone can clarify.

Yes in pallavi neraval BUG gave samA reply to abhishek's sudda saveri .

[vasanthakokilam]

CRama, yes, that TRM pallavi is a huge favorite of mine. My imagery of the unique structure of the pallavi is one of someone climbing a big mountain in four stages and then flow down gently along a waterfall only to repeat the process again taking different paths Both the mountain and water are painted in vivid begada colors.

This version transitions to the ragamalika section too quickly. We need to listen to different versions where they indulge in begada quite a bit more.

I do not want to digress from this thread fawning over this great pallavi, we will pick it up in another thread if there is interest.

On the general point of too many ragas in an RTP, I agree with Rajesh. In addition to loss of focus from the main raga, those sections do not conform to the structure of the pallavi and so it feels less and less like an RTP during those sections. The ragamalika portion of the RTP is quite enjoyable and is a huge hit with the audience, but a limited number of ragas make sense. To me 4 is just about right. I love the aspect that they sing the pallavi line in the same RTP laya structure in each of the new ragas.

[arasi]

I quite agree. If the artiste is in a mood to sing more, it better be a quick cascade of svarAs alone.
To find a balance is the thing.
If a major rAgA is dealt with in detail in R and T, a rAgamAlikA is superfluous.
Still, a rAgamAlikA of a few rAgams appeals to most of us.

[ganeshkant]

I look upon rAmAlika exercises as a respite after hearing a particular rAgam for a time duration which is more than the usual during RTP.But I also agree that too much of it dilutes the structure of RTP.In MA artists sing RTP in 15-20 mts.and most of the times there is no time for rAgamAlika .But not all accompanists are ready to play a diff.rAgam which is quite a challenge.Once Peri srirAmamurthy declined CB's offer and played the same rAgam.His remark was "indha rAgamE nannathanE irukku!".

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Like Tukkadas in a concert, people look for ragamalika in a RTP!

As many have observed, an overdose of ragas in the maalika robes the seriousness of the exercise.

I had a casual talk with a senior rasika in Thanjavur who had come across Vidwans who refused to adorn pallavis with additional ragas. Instead, Ragamaalika sloka was included without fail and greatly enjoyed by the audience.

[ganeshkant]

When pallavis can be rendered in multiple ragams which has happened even in good olden days (S'bharanam,todi,kalyAni,darbar),why rAgamAlika need to be eschewed ? I don't know.As for rendering slokams, once a sanskrit scholar told that rendering slokas with shruti or singing them is a sin. So artists have to choose between blasphemy and sin it seems !

[vasanthakokilam]

So artists have to choose between blasphemy and sin it seems !

I do not know which is the rock and which is the hard place.

Btw, my point is about too many ragas and not whether to have them or not.

Anyway, going beyond the current topic a bit, your quip applies quite widely in our culture and its effect on CM is tremendous.

One of the tough balancing acts we all face is to be aware of the invisible line between when to trust our individual expression and when to go by the accumulated wisdom of our culture. It is like the batsman's off-stump awareness. We need to take proper guard.

[arasi]

So well said, VK...