Suryaprakash@PS High School on Nov 18th,2017

[rajeshnat]

Suryaprakash@PS High School on Nov 18th,2017
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Vocal : Suryaprakash
Violin : V L Kumar
Mrudangam : Srimushnam Raja Rao
Ghatam : Madipakkam Murali
Morsing : RM DeenadAyulu

Concert Type : Nirvana - No concert to follow , Free concet
Day/Duration : Saturday/ 1 hours and 40 minutes exclusive of function
Time : 8:35 to 10:15 pm
Occasion : violinist Govindasamy Naicker Centenary Celebrations

1. seethApathE(N,S) - kamAs- T
neraval in premajoochi nApai for 5 mins
and 5 mins swaras
2. kA guhA shanmugha (R)- kosalam- KI
5 mins alapana and 2 mins return

3A. Koluvai unnAdE (R N S T)- bhairavi - T
13 mins alapana and 6 mins violin return
5 mins neraval in manasu ranjila and 9 mins swaras
3B. tani for 15 mins

4A. viruththam - kunram erindhadhum - KApi + neramillai -rAkeshri - TirumurugAtrupadai
4B. ninaikAtha neramillai - rAkeshri - yazhpaanam veeramani
5.tunbam nergayil - Desh - bharathidasan

The centenary celebrations of Govindasamy Naicker was organized by his grandson Suresh Babu who is also performing violinist.As I entered suresh babu daughters sruthi priya and another younger tiny tot (not sure of her name,apologies)wrapped swara ragasudha as main and closed with tamburi meetidava after a bharathiyar krithi. I was wondering how did TRS popularized number Tamburi meetidava came to this tiny tots .When their guru Salem Gayathrivenkatesan was honoured , i got the answer . BEst wishes to second generation sishya of evergreen TRS, the two kids did sing well.

Post this concert AKC natarajan , seergazhi sivachidambaram and srimushnam raja rao spoke. They had varying degree of experience of interacting with the centenarian violinist govindasamy naicker .Speeches , vote of thanks etc did have a domino effect on the concert.

AKC Natarajan said he is 87 and he has come all the way from trichy and he made a passing mention that I have lost many things commercially and only saraswathi was with me .AKC is still performing , from where does he get the naadam to blow into his clarinet .

WIth the domino effect on , the concert was albeit short . The submain start with seetha pathe was well done , raja rao volume was not high and that itself was enough for me . Rajarao patterns of aggression with a drive in neraval and swaras of creativity was nice . The filler kosalam was nice . Certainly the best was bhairavi main, akc natarajan who stayed till the end congratulated and said "you took me 50 years back Alathuridam kEtta bhairavi". Particularly the neraval in manasu was creative tension at its best with rajarao and suryaprakash almost dominating it was touch and go for all the other accompanist.There is joy when there is no excessive fragmentation in sangathis and sancharas, this koluvai-bhairavi from this school does that magic.

In the tukkadas the last swirl with neramillai keyword and ending in madurai somu popularized ninaikada neramillai in rakeshri was well done . The last desh tunbam nergayil was well rounded and perhaps very apt for the crowd. VL kumar played well , i heard a drop of huseni in his bhairavi alapana return. While madipakkkam murali was partially in action , the morsing artist deenadayulu had a very minimal concert being a short concert .Raja rao play has varied patterns, i liked his play for songs than his tani , his first round of tani was slightly high in my ears with his theermanams.All said he at times almost sings with the artist and he did up the concert.When R sankaranarayanan sishya of rajarao sits with raja rao , one could also get a cue of rajarao embellishments in songs .Concert was reduced due to domino effect *reduced* is always my constant irritant despite an early advertised start.

Overall a very good concert for 1 hour and 40 minutes.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Thanks Rajesh for the notes.

*The 'little' great grand daughters of the Vidwan are talented and bound to make a mark in the carnatic circuit under the tutelage of Gayatri Venkatesan. The name of the tiny tot is ' Neehara'.

* I had to return disappointed without listening to Suryaprakash as the concert hadn't started even by 8.30 pm (I had to get back to far off Chromepet) .The function preceded by the 'pilot concert' took quite some to get over.

*It was heartening to note that the occasion provided a grand get together for the kith and kin and family friends of V Govindasamy Naicker who had turned up in good numbers. The usual 'Mylapore audience' seemed to be thin.

* The several anecdotes about the maestro including his association with almost all titans of the carnatic golden era and his stint with AIR were all interesting.