Palghat Ramprasad at KGS Dec 29

[CommonMan]

HN Baskar, M Easwaran, Shankar

Rajuvedala thodi -NS
Enneramum - Purrvi Kalyani - NS Thani
Sri...?? - Nalinakanthi
Shanmukapriya RTP - "parvathi nayakane charanam karunakara sambo" thisra trhiputa, kanda nadai...BIlahari, saveri, somemix of gambira natai and thilang???????????
left after this...not sure

Easily the concert of the season for me - infact in the last few seasons. His voice is just awesome - so manly (which is rare these days) and flexible. As comfortable is he in the upper octaves, his base is really base - I was just awestuck....The first minute of the cocnert set the tempo for what was to come....neraval in kaveri dheeramu was like step wise progression "adukku adukkaaa"....all heads in front of me in a packed house were rolling keeping in tempo with PRP; swarams were equally good, though a little lenghthy imo........
P Kalyani ragam was scattered as there were back and forth conversation on the mike system - so it was not complete in a way - violin was outstanding...hearing this song after a 1968 DKP concert....exposition and feeling at its best. Thani was very bright - but it was not the usual easwaran - a bit uncomfortable about something not sure about what......but he was right up to usual self in the RTP.
Shanmuga priya - sheer brilliance - sure hundreds/thousands of hours of practice behind this S.Priya........fast phrases, slow phrases, upper lower - you name it - it was there......so many fast phrases without Sa and Pa in succession - mind boggling (I still remember the devagandhari he sang in 2011 as contrast)......Bhaskar was brilliant in reply, to say the veryleast....tanam wow could not decide whom I wanted to hear more PRP or HNB.....turn after turn the build up....pallavi was spell binding...the team was teriffic throughout especially during RTP......ragamalika was outstanding.....
the whole concert effect reminded of the fulfilment I used to get from old concerts - wish the concert started earlier so that I could hear for longer.....Amazed!!!!!!

[Purist]

Are you referring to T V Ramaprasad by any chance, who has a real base voice ?
(much more baser than Palghat Ramprasad)

[CommonMan]

Dear Purist!
I am only refering to Palghat Ramprasad, who imho, has the most manthra friendly voice in the current circuit. I am not just talking about touching base notes and reverting back - I heard him (often) sustain in mathra Pa Ma and somtimes Ga. In this concert in Shanmuga Priya he developed sangathis and patterns in manthra Pa for a while during the ending.
I cannot talk about the other Ramprasad because havent heard him live - after your post, I gathered info on the other Ramprasad, and from what I heard he did not sing this season or sang very few. He is more into the dance circuit - kindly correct me if I am wrong!!
Anycase, I do not know if this Ramprasad has a baser voice than PRP!

[rajeshnat]

I cannot talk about the other Ramprasad because havent heard him live - after your post, I gathered info on the other Ramprasad, and from what I heard he did not sing this season or sang very few. He is more into the dance circuit - kindly correct me if I am wrong!!

TV Ramprasadh wife only is a dancer by profession and they both run ambalam in besantnagar , an organization promoting music and dance.TV Ramprasadh is very well into only vocal circuit . His guru is shri PSN.

[pvs]

The fast Nalinakanthi number (awesome felicity with vakra swaras) after Purvikalyani went 'Sri Tripura Bhasura...' and had the 'Satchidananda' mudra. Learnt that it was tuned by PRP's father/guru. The only item after the RTP was a bhajan 'Nandnandana' in Jog (?) followed by 'Pavamana sutudu'. How much I wish artistes would render the full kriti! (MDR has, I think)
H.N.Baskar was outstanding on this day and almost ran away with the concert His Shanmugapriya was to be especially cherished. Manargudi Eswaran was his usual restrained, supportive self giving lots of opportunity to the ganjira artist who was good only in patches. Sri Eswaran revealed his self during the thani and was kinda 'out of form' otherwise - no sagging anywhere but no fireworks either. The Purvikalyani and Todi were both excellent along with their neravals (PRP's forte). Especially the PK, though my second of the day after the one at MA by TNS (paramapavana rama), was absorbing all through. Another terrific concert from PRP.

[CommonMan]

Total Confusion

The following link reviews Palghat Ramprasad's KGS concert with the picture of T V Ramprasad and the reference to the latter's name......Pathetic....did the reviewer even come to the concert? Media reviewing plummeting to new lows......poor guy-sang so wonderfully and not even getting the credit rightfully for it....horrible - seriously my heart goes out for him - Palghat Ramprasad, I mean.

http://www.dinathanthiepaper.in/showxml ... &code=6895

Are you referring to T V Ramaprasad by any chance, who has a real base voice ?

[thathwamasi]

Dear Commonman

I couldn't help but busrt out into laughter. But when I saw that the reviewer was Harikesanallur Venkataraman, I got a bit nostaligic. Let me narrate a personal experience. (just to relate to the mishap here. )

In 1998, I played at the thirupandhuruthi Narayana theerthar's aradhanai. This reviewer was there to review the event. Once I got on to the stage, and about to start, there was some commotion as some people came with the urchavar surrounded by Thavil and Nadaswaram. So, I informed the organisers that I will start once they finish. So, after a 20 minute wait on stage, I played my concert.

The next day this man in his review has written this - (I am merely translating as I am unable to recall the exact lines) - "Young flautist Ganesh was about to play when a some people came in with thavil and nadaswaram. So he didn't know what to do. At that time, the boy's father asked the organisers to stop the thavil-nagaswaram so that his son could continue playing. The organisers responded "amam. Unga paiyyan periya thillana mohanambal shanmuga sundaram. Ellam ibdiye vaasicha podhum" (your son is not thillana mohanambal shanmuga sundaram. Let him play now. ). The dad's face lost its glow. The boy played well despite these distractions".

My dad and I were understandably furious as none of these actually happened. When we ran into him a few months later, my dad asked him why did he write so. His response was "ibdi ellam ezhudina dhan sir famous aaga mudiyum(you will be famous only if we write like this.). "

So, I am not surprised with what I saw in the dinathanthi review.

Regards
T

[rajeshnat]

Harikesanallur venkataraman is the dinamani reviewer. I recollect few links that our harimau forwarded in the last one year or so.

Common Man
I think this mistaken identity is indeed a blessing in disguise , for another year .All of us thru the grapevine are going to talk about how palakkad ramprasad sang even though the review was put for TV ramprasadh. This is going to go more viral - possibly there is even an (un?)intentional slip to gather more eyes and ears to palakkad ramaprasad. The reviewer could have added bit more case of mistaken identity , saying TV Ramaprasadh is the grand son of palakkad raghu. Grand son of palakkad raghu will indeed add exponentially more eyes and ears to the grand son of Palakkad mani iyer.

Thatvamasi
When you say the flute artist Ganesh is that Ganesh Athreya whose review was put a month or two back???

[thathwamasi]

Haha @rajeshnat. I enjoyed your idea of the mistaken identity being a blessing in disguise. Similar to how Krish Srikkanth once went to Bombay based on a fake telegram claiming he has been selected to the national side. It was an embarrasment to the selectors. Later, they selected him for the next tour.

And yes, the experience in Tirupandhuruthi was my personal experience in my flute concert. My official name is Ganesh Athreyaa.

Regards
T

[thathwamasi]

In today's dhinathanthi, there is a retraction with Ramaprasad's photo.

http://www.dinathanthiepaper.in/showxml ... &code=9067

Despite this, I am not happy. First of all, there is no apology. It merely states this is Ramaprasad and the yesterday's photo was not his. There is no mention that in yesterday's review, T V Ramaprasadh's name was mentioned so many times.

But anyway, I am also relieved in one way. Thankfully the retraction comment was pasted under the right photo and not under Bhavya Balasubramaniam's photo. That would be another case of cruel mistaken identity.

Regards
T

[rajeshnat]

In today's dhinathanthi, there is a retraction with Ramaprasad's photo.

http://www.dinathanthiepaper.in/showxml ... &code=9067

Despite this, I am not happy. First of all, there is no apology. It merely states this is Ramaprasad and the yesterday's photo was not his. There is no mention that in yesterday's review, T V Ramaprasadh's name was mentioned so many times.

Thathwamasi,
You are taking it too far , they have acknowledged the mistake . Infact when these mistakes are made , there will be just a four liner in text where two lines will be apology and error regretted and the other two lines will state it is palakkad ramaprasad . They have done more than that put up a photo of him and also said yesterdays review was his. This has taken more space.Apology is implicit. kudos to harikesanallur venkataraman and dinamani team.

[thathwamasi]

@Rajeshnat

Thanks for your comments. Yes! You are right. I think this is a classic case of half glass full-empty scenario and I guess I focussed on the emptiness.

Agree with you.

Regards
T

[CommonMan]

[/quote]
Thathwamasi,
Infact when these mistakes are made , there will be just a four liner in text where two lines will be apology and error regretted and the other two lines will state it is palakkad ramaprasad . They have done more than that put up a photo of him and also said yesterdays review was his. .... kudos to harikesanallur venkataraman and dinamani team.[/quote]
Yeah .. perhaps they thought since PRP has lived in the US he knows a few tricks to sue them for the mistake; and hence the elaborate admission. Nice points T and Rajeshnat.