Mridangam: Arun Prakash
Tambura: Sai Sisters (San Diego)
List:
1. Shloka in Thodi followed by Rave Himagiri - Swarajathi - Thodi, Adi, Shyama Shastri
2. Seethamanohara - Ramamanohari, Adi, Thyagaraja - S at seethamanohara
3. Hatakeshwara - Bilahari, Rupakam/ Tishra Ekam, Dikshitar - S at gowripate pashupate
4. Sarasa samadana - Kapi Narayani, Deshadi, Thyagaraja - N at hitavu matalento
5. Chakkani Raja - Kharaharapriya, Adi, Thyagaraja - R, N & S at kantiki
6. Ganamudha panam - Jyothiswaroopini, M. Chapu, Koteeshwara Iyer
7. RTP - Suruttti, Khanda Triputa (eduppu: 2 aksharams from samam), Pallavi by RK Sriramkumar
8. Shloka - Vande Mukundam in Kapi followed by BrindavanadoLagaaduvan yaaru - Kapi, Purandaradasa
9. Sagara Shayana Vibho - Bhageshri, Adi, MD Ramanathan
10. Kumara Gurupara Muruga Sharavana - Thiruppugazh - Ragamalika: Yaman Kalyani (?) Hindolam (??) Dwijavanthi, Sindhubhairavi
11. Thillana - Senjurutti, Adi, Veene Seshanna
12. Mangalam Kosalendraya
I've had very high regard for Ramakrishnan Murthy's (RM) music through the years and I was excited to hear him live for the first time - and more so since he was performing on home turf. And oh, what a remarkable concert. There is this calmness and serenity about him and that translates directly into his music. What composure, what control. He started with an impeccable rendition of the celebrated Thodi swarajathi. Each swara and syllable stood out and shone in his crystal clear, sedate rendition. Seethamanohara was sung at a brisk pace with a quick round of swaras and was an apt second piece - I hadn't heard this song before. (By the way, is the Dikshitar school Ramamanohari the equivalent of Ramapriya in the asampurna mela paddhati?) I hadn't heard the Bilahari krithi that followed either, learnt that it is one of Dikshitar's pancha linga krithis. Beautiful delineation of ragam and a lovely rendition of the krithi as well as kalpana swaras. Sarasa samadana was at a pace that I really enjoyed - unhurried but energetic. Loved the gait of the (sarvalaghu) neraval, and it sounded 'folksy' to me - it was delectable and garnered huge applause.
Kharaharapriya was very traditional fare start to finish, and thoroughly enjoyable. (It was my third Kharaharapriya of the season, and I think the best!) Amidst slow, long-winding phrases would come flashes of some very unassuming durita phrases - his pliable voice and nonchalance made it a pleasure to watch and hear. Neraval and swaram were sung in two speeds, very nicely done. Like Aruna Sairam did, RM also did a koraippu at Ri and alternated between the high and low Ri's. It was a wonderful package overall. The next, Jyothiswaroopini was another song I hadn't heard - this was turning out to be a very educative concert for me. I generally have a fondness for vivadi ragas, and enjoyed this a lot.
The RTP was definitely the pièce de résistance. It was a magnificent Surutti! Not an easy ragam, and he handled it with such èlan. I was particularly wowed by the thanam - each of his thanam segments lasted about two full minutes with hardly any breaks or pauses - no mean task! The pallavi line was "saranga varada maamava sarvada sharanam iti suratitha" - RM announced that it was composed by RK Sriramkumar and requested him to explain the meaning of the line which greatly enhanced our experience of the pallavi. RKSK said that this was inspired from Dikshitar's works where he incorporates the raga name beautifully into the sahithyam. Particularly in Surati, he drew our attention to the line "bhUsura TIkAdIDita bhAvaM" in the composition Sri Vanchanatham. He then explained the pallavi line: he said "saranga" here means elephant and refers to gajEndra. "raTanam" is to yell or cry; "su-raTi" is to do so "nicely". So the line talks of gajEndra crying to Narayana seeking refuge at his feet.
Pallavi was wonderfully done with neraval in two speeds. The ragamalika swaras included Surutti, Saranga, Janaranjani, Dhanyasi, Athana, Bhupalam, Nilambari, Sindhubhairavi. Each time, RM made brilliant use of "sa" as swaraksharam as he came back to the word "saranga". And also, the way he switched from one raga to the next was interesting: he would use the last two or three swaras to transition by highlighting the difference in those swaras between the two ragas. (TMK did the same in San Diego a few years ago, and Jayanthi Kumaresh also does this often - there's a beautiful Sarasangi RTP video on YouTube where you can see this (in mEl kAlam).)
RK Sriramkumar - what can I say about this master? A vidwan in the true sense of the word. He brilliantly accompanied, supported, shadowed, led, encouraged, and inspired Ramakrishnan Murthy throughout. It was heartwarming to see a glimpse of the mentor-mentee relationship between them when RM humbly asked "Sriramkumar anna" to explain the pallavi. Everything was of course brilliant, but Surutti and his replies to the ragamalika swaras (especially Nilambari, Bhupalam, Sindhubhairavi) were particularly masterly and riveting. He is well known to be a true scholar (particularly of Sanskrit) and the pallavi was testimony to this. Arun Prakash, true to his style greatly underplayed. The person who gave the vote of thanks after the concert joked that one will not find any wear on Arun Prakash's mridangam. And he went on to add that in some people's hands, "mridangam vaai irundha azhum", ("if it could, the mridangam would cry") but with Arun Prakash, "mridangam vaai irundha paadum, inikki paadithu." ("Today the mridangam sang.") I initially had mixed feelings about the mridangam accompaniment - in certain parts during swaram and neraval kizh kalam he effectively wasn't playing at all. But then when he'd switch to more loud and dramatic playing when the mEl kalam would start, I must admit I really enjoyed the contrast and it enhanced my listening experience. I'm no layam expert so can't go into specifics much, but the thani was very enjoyable with multiple nadai changes.
It was a packed hall and throughout you could just feel the audience beaming with pride as their "namba paiyyan" was singing - and the speaker after the concert in fact fondly referred to Murthy as "nammAzhvAr" several times. He said it takes a village to make a musician, and this village was incredibly proud of their boy. This was a truly wholesome and fulfilling concert and as I left my heart was so very content - it's not very often that this happens. It went on for three and a half long hours but I realized that only when it was over. It was amazing how simple, traditional music can be so fulfilling. There was absolutely nothing fancy here - the pallavi didn't have a trikalam, why, he didn't even do the customary "backtracking" of the ragas in the ragamalika section. The pallavi did not see mEl kAlam swaras, neither did Hatakeshwara. The Kharaharapriya korvai was nothing complicated at all. Neravals and ragas didn't have anything dramatic, almost no kaNakkus anywhere. But none of this mattered. Sowkhyam was the watchword for this team.
If at all there was something that could be done differently - objectively speaking - may be he could've had a tiny bit more action and drama. But personally, I'm not complaining at all. One other small thing was that his pronunciation of a couple words was off in the Purandaradasa song: he seemed to sing the "yaaru" like the Thamizh "yaaru" rather than the Kannada one where the "u" sound is extended. And multiple times, he split "BrindavanadoLagaaduvanyaaru" ("Who is this, dancing in Brindavan?") as "BrindavanadoLagaaduva nyaaru"
But this was no biggie in the grand scheme of things.Some ten years ago I wouldn't have enjoyed this concert much, what with Thodi, Surutti, Bilahari, Kharaharapriya, and Senjurutti. I believe I'm wiser now.