Pantula Rama, NGS 10-12-06

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 10 Dec 2006, 13:39

One has heard much "about" Pantula Rama on CM fora without actually hearing her...actually there was this radio recording floating around sometime back but poor recording and an inept violinist proved too much of a distraction. No such problems at NGS - Ms. Pantula Rama had a top-notch team assisting her (J vaidyanathan on Mrudangam, MSN Murhty on the Violin, Anirudh on Kanjira with a brief time-keeping support from Ravikiran who sat through most of the main piece!).

CM rasikas tend to have strong raga preferences but I think all of us agree that when the artist is good enough, these cease to matter. Ms. Rama is clearly one such - every item glittered with an abundance of depth and inquisitiveness. The highlight for me were the astounding swaras in Devamanohari (Yarukkudan Theriyum) - her seemingly endless imaginative flights contemptuously dismissive of the raga's pitfalls.

A close second was Parithanamicchitte, Patnam's little gem in Bilahari, whose sweeping sangathees revealed a voice as fluid as the imagination. There was something for trivia-seekers as well...alas, the challenge proved too great for me - it was a Thyagaraja Krithi that went "Manasa Manasa" - the uttaranga was handled almost exaclty like Gowrimanohari but there were some varjas at the bottom of the scale that I could not plug. There were no swaras, making the task even more difficult. Observations welcome.

Lalitha (Hiranmayim) and Purvi Kalyani (Parama Pavana Rama) were the candidates for elaboration and both contained very satisfying alaapanas with Murhty provided a stunning response to Rama's Lalitha. He seemed struggle just a little in the swara exercise though. A taanam was featured before the Purvi kalyani krithi prehaps as a nod to the the great chitra-vainika who had just walked in.

Vaidyanathan and Anirudh provided a solid rhtyhmic base for Ms. Rama - young Anirudh's performance in particular seems to be growing by leaps and bounds - as somebody noted in another thread, things are indeed looking up for the Kanjira! Tisram dominated the latter part of the tani and was also slipped into the last part of the single avarta korvai (I was to hear a version of the same korvai for a 1-kalai adi taalam piece later that day!)

The hall was relatively full and I am sure many a Mylapore maven would have gone back with an considerably altered opinion on the hierarchy of female vocalists. It is my great misfortune that I haven't heard Ms. Pantula Rama until now and I would exhort fellow-rasikas to jump at the first opporutnity to listen to an artiste who is easily among the best carnatic musicians around today.

Vijay

vijkrish · Post by **vijkrish** » 10 Dec 2006, 13:48

After hearing a lot about her, it was my turn to hear her for the first time. A gifted singer with amazing voice! Swarams in devamanohari were great. So if you get a chance to hear her, dont miss it! However she sang song in raga Durvangi (gam ganapate - mysore jAyarAmachandra wodeyar), which sounded like sAma to me.

ramanathan · Post by **ramanathan** » 10 Dec 2006, 15:17

vijay wrote:it was a Thyagaraja Krithi that went "Manasa Manasa" - the uttaranga was handled almost exaclty like Gowrimanohari but there were some varjas at the bottom of the scale that I could not plug. There were no swaras, making the task even more difficult. Observations welcome.

manasA mana sAmarthya - vardhani - rUpakam - tyAgaraja

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 10 Dec 2006, 16:19

I would exhort fellow-rasikas to jump at the first opporutnity to listen to an artiste

And for those who are still not convinced enough to make alterations to plans

http://www.rogepost.com/n/8233127330
http://www.rogepost.com/n/7697630908

a clip with swaras in hamsadhwani and another -parvathi ninnune in kalgada

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 11 Dec 2006, 11:53

Thanks Ramanathan - turns out I was fairly close! Kulkarniji thanks for the links!

Vijay

rasam · Post by **rasam** » 11 Dec 2006, 12:09

[her seemingly endless imaginative flights contemptuously dismissive of the raga's pitfalls.]

Huh? The only contempt here is your contemptuous dismissal of devamanohari's depth and beauty. IMO, its a raga with great scope which is sadly neglected these days (except for Sanjay). Listen to GNB's RTP (floating around somewhere) or MLV's countless renditions of Nikelana or Evaraikai with alapana and swarams.

sindhu · Post by **sindhu** » 11 Dec 2006, 13:06

Some two years back, I heard excellent DevamanOhari alApana followed by kriti 'aarukkutAn teriyum' by a male singer at Mahati Arts Academy, Sai baba Hall. It was really superb and still rings in my ears. I am unable to find him last two seasons.

sb

sindhu · Post by **sindhu** » 11 Dec 2006, 13:18

This 'aarukkkutAn teriym' by Dr.S.Ramanathan has been the best so far. He used to give real swaroopa of the raag.

sb

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 11 Dec 2006, 13:36

the most effortless devamanohari i heard was by ranjini gayathri at rani seethai hall in 2005.it was absolutely scintillating.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 11 Dec 2006, 15:02

Rasam, I love music too much to be contemptuous or dismissive of anything associated with it - least of all Devamanohari, which, as you observe, is a very beautiful raga. My apologies if my post gave an impression to the contrary

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 11 Dec 2006, 15:35

I wish more artistes would sing Dikshitar's 'bhArati maddhiSaNA' in dEvamanOhari. Such an effortless flow in that krithi... 'kAruNya sudhA lahari, kanCaja dEvamanOhari' - pure bliss!

vsarmaiitm · Post by **vsarmaiitm** » 11 Dec 2006, 22:00

Is Mrs. Pantula Rama singing in any other sabha this season ? If so pl. give the details

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 11 Dec 2006, 23:06

Hi vsarmaiitm (can't help wondering whether vsarmaiitm stands for vijay sarma - if so, welcome to the club!). Reading off a few from the schedule I have with me -

22nd Dec 4:30 PM Kapali Hall
31st Dec 2:30 PM Academy

Sadly that seems to be all...

Hope you can make it to some of her concerts

Cheers,

Vijay

mahesh_narayan · Post by **mahesh_narayan** » 11 Dec 2006, 23:39

Prashant,
I remember having seen the devamanohari kriti in a TMK song list sometime ago and wanting to have a listen. Is this kriti in any of his/others commercial recordings?. One other kriti that my dad talks about (which I haven't heard being sung yet either) is Gaurishaya Namaste in Arabhi.

I recently listened to a devamanohari by Madurai Somu somewhere on sangeethapriya.org. I don't like his style as I feel it is a little rough, but he came out with some brilliant sancharas of the raga in the alapana. The old masters had some kind of special insight into ragas it seems !!!

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 12 Dec 2006, 07:20

Mahesh: I have heard this krithi sung by the Rudrapatnam Brothers. It should be available from CMANA since the concert I reference was conducted there. It is part of their 'Apurva' series and the accompanists are RKSK and Bombay Balaji. I think it's commercially available from CMANA, which is why I refrain from posting it here.

gaurISAya is a nice krithi and used to be a staple of our music groups in Chembur in the '90s. Maybe it's time for a revival...