Maharajapuram Ramachandran@vanimahal on Apr04th,2016
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Vocal : Maharajapuram Ramachandran
Violin : MA Sundareswaran
Mrudangam : Srimushnam Raja Rao
Kanjira : Trichy Murali
Concert Type : Nirvana - No concert to follow
Day/Duration : Monday/ 2 hours and 05 minutes concert -06:40 to 08:45 pm
sabha/Hall : Sri Tyaga brahma sabha / Vanimahal
Occassion : Sri Ramanavami Music Festival
01. abhista varadE mahAganapathE (R S) - hamsadhwani -T
2 mins alapana and 8 mins swaras
02. sadAyalla hridaya dhalli vAsamAdo sree hari(N S) - pantuvarali - vijaya dasA (had the vijayavittala mudra??)
neraval in ninna nAnO biduvadulla enna neenO Vida??? sreehari rAmA for 5 mins
8 mins swaras
03. rAmAbhi rAma (R) - darbAr -T
6 mins alapana and 5 mins violin return
04.muddumOmu(S) - sooryakantham - T
4 mins swaras
5A.mohana ramA (R N S T)- mohnanam - T
mohanam alapana for 12 mins
06 mins violin return
neraval in mohana rAmA mukhajita somA for 4 mins
swaras for 6 mins
5B.tani for 17 mins
6.tongrithu tAri?? .... kaliyugam thannil kann kanda deivam - basant bahar - maharajapuram santhanam on Chandrasekara mahaswami
7. nee nAma roopamulaku - sowrashtram - T
Maharajapuram Ramachandran@vanimahal on Apr04th,2016
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rajeshnat
- Posts: 10144
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04
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rajeshnat
- Posts: 10144
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04
Re: Maharajapuram Ramachandran@vanimahal on Apr04th,2016
As a rasika, I guess each of us undergo certain distinct metamorphosis in rasikatvam .This review is organized as three parts ,flashback-1992, review-2016 and flashforward- 2040 .
Flashback-1992:
--------------------
The year was 1992 some time may or june , forgot the month. It was personally most devastating when I was studying in college . An ambassador car was heading home in GST road with maharajapuram santhanam and few more of his family members , somewhere in the area of vikravandi and tindivanam, 130 kms south of madras .The greatest crowd puller and most adorable carnatic musician left all of us as the car had an accident . I did buy all the thamizh and english papers just to deny the reality - but deep down slowly and steadily built a deep emotional feeling in my psyche that CM is gone with the gAthram voice and singing with feeling like Santhanam . When shri santhanam died , with it came a Healthy Skepticism as to whether others will sing atlast half as well as him .They were legitimate for sure then , but looking back it may have been bit (?im)mature- I was sure I was not alone feeling that way , majority of rasikas had the same feeling as me . I guess as a rasika, Healthy Skepticism is what takes each of us to listen ,share, attend and experience the next live concert.
Few years rolled from 1992 to 2002 ,I Heard few of his disciples inclusive of ramachandran , but the overwhelming feeling is they are not there as much as supernova of CM - maharajapuram santhanam.It takes few more decades to slowly negate the doubts and also for the next generation of santhanam(especially ramachandran) to gear up better with sangathis.
That day in 1992 appears only as day before yesterday.
Review of the concert - April 2016 :
---------------------------------------------
The start of maharajapuram ramachandran was with his magical baritoned voice and he started with hamsadhwani. This raga adds always charm and he sang the rare hamsadhwani krithi abhista varadE which I have only heard through a recording of his appa-the supernova . Abhista varadE krithi was sung with gusto and the drive of copious swara kalpana in hamsadhwani made me sit up with more focus.
The next was a rare pantuvarali krithi - the ankita vijaya vittala was there .There is always heavy overlap of semmangudi and maharajapuram schools especially in pantuvarali .I could hear ramachandran starting it well ,the speed was not the usually racy pantuvarali tracks of sarasaksha or siva siva yenarada , but definitely the ounce of muse with power was indeed there in pantuvarali. The racy ball rolling symmetry of swaras in pantuvarAli came bit late but ramachandran handled well with his usual sareeram.
Darbar raga alapana was anchored with quite a few popular krithi phrases and I liked his rendition - strong baritoned voice is only fit for darbar(no pun intended only talking for raga darbar). I am not sure if santhanam has sung muddumomu in sooryakantham (did i miss buying one of the last casette of santhanam), sooryakantham krithi was sung well but I found a bit of distraction with noticable intrusion of MAS and a bit more percussion overdrive strokes from rajarao and Murali there.
What a mohanam alapana , their school gets it with style . HIs alapana especially in few mandara -madhyama sthayi touches was just for 12 mins(other musicians will take atleast 20 minutes to sing this 12 minute sangathis of ramachandran- intensity at its best). Ramachandran like his tAtha vishwanatha iyer gave absolutely zero gap with violin and to me it is a joy not to hear frequent longer violin interlude. Ramachandran sang beautifully the mohanam defining krithi - mohana ramA,the neraval was in mohana rama mukhajitha soma .Personally I like the neraval in the line dhara manujaavathaara mahima vini, as the later line gives an extra thrust especially when voice opens out in avathara and mahimA whereas the pallavi line mohana rama adds an intrinsic neraval constraint. ramachandran did not sing the swaras that well , in koraippu the voice just went with a distinct dose of entropy, his ideas of mohanam could not freewheel from his nAbhi in his swaras- mohanam swaras had a chinese quality drop.
He ended with a nice tillana , here i misssed his appa as the emote quotient of ramachandran was not as high as santhanam. The concert was rama navami celebrations but the hall was chandrasekara mahaswami hall , hence the last basant bahar thillana of santhanam on mahaswami came and went with a slight breeze .
The violinist MAS play was wonderful especially in swara returns- he is a sharp shooter there.In mohanam alapana he had a minimal share of foreign adulterated china bazaar sangathis and also in mudduMomu the intrusion during songs was aurally very noticable. THe intellect of srimushnam raja rao was wonderful , especially in tani where his ability to control volume with a plethora of strokes . The skinny trichy murali was competing in controlled aggression with raja rao and I liked it .
Can anything be better in this concert
---------------------------------------
1. He had the 4th biggest hall of chennai and the concert was evening nirvana . He could have shown like his appa where he dwells mandatorily on an extensive slokham/viruththam/ugabhooga, but he missed that . I just dont know what is the point in asking sabha seceratary at the end of mohanam main whether can I end with just one more number? I wish I was the sabha patron - I would have said yes end with ragamaliga detailed viruththam /slokham and the one more krithi followup, and then go with thillana.
2. Volume was slightly on the high side - despite me choosing a place in vanimahal where the volume is felt most optimum. This hall needs a slight overhaul with respect to uniformity of sound . I think ramachandran consistently keeps electronic tambura . Many years before I have seen one sishya strumming(not sure if it was ornamental ??). For his baritoned voice with such high power, he keeps the electronic shruthi high. I am assuming there is a bit of over aggression by fellow artists to match up his slightly higher volume of shruthi and voice. Srimushnam and Murali could have rotated and played less strokes in parallel. I found especially in hamsadhwani, pantuvarali the last long violin swara return with percussion was high on decibel-atleast one of that could have been cut.
Having said all of this bringing a bit of Healthy Skepticism again in 2016. The truth is ramachandran is singing with far more intensity than his supernova appa santhanam , may be he makes a few structural blunder in rushing the tukkadas that too not singing a elaborate viruththam/slokham/ugabhooga. But at quite a few points , with his sAreeram , my legs are even feeling the throw from his nAbhi.
Flashforward-2040:
------------------
Taking the Healthy Skepticism bit more futuristically. I am not sure about vishwanatha iyer , but both santhanam and ramachandran have never sung a bhairavi submain or main in any of the concerts. IIRC There is a recording of amba kamakshi of santhanam , but it may had its life only in recording studio and there is a small filler of upacharamulanu . If a musician does not even take up Bhairavi which is a big 5 raga either as submain or main in even one of their live concert, are they really greatest of greatest carnatic musicians. The healthy skepticism has arrived , perhaps I will take another 24 years to firm up my mind ?
Overall a very good to excellent concert for 2 hours and 05 minutes.
Flashback-1992:
--------------------
The year was 1992 some time may or june , forgot the month. It was personally most devastating when I was studying in college . An ambassador car was heading home in GST road with maharajapuram santhanam and few more of his family members , somewhere in the area of vikravandi and tindivanam, 130 kms south of madras .The greatest crowd puller and most adorable carnatic musician left all of us as the car had an accident . I did buy all the thamizh and english papers just to deny the reality - but deep down slowly and steadily built a deep emotional feeling in my psyche that CM is gone with the gAthram voice and singing with feeling like Santhanam . When shri santhanam died , with it came a Healthy Skepticism as to whether others will sing atlast half as well as him .They were legitimate for sure then , but looking back it may have been bit (?im)mature- I was sure I was not alone feeling that way , majority of rasikas had the same feeling as me . I guess as a rasika, Healthy Skepticism is what takes each of us to listen ,share, attend and experience the next live concert.
Few years rolled from 1992 to 2002 ,I Heard few of his disciples inclusive of ramachandran , but the overwhelming feeling is they are not there as much as supernova of CM - maharajapuram santhanam.It takes few more decades to slowly negate the doubts and also for the next generation of santhanam(especially ramachandran) to gear up better with sangathis.
That day in 1992 appears only as day before yesterday.
Review of the concert - April 2016 :
---------------------------------------------
The start of maharajapuram ramachandran was with his magical baritoned voice and he started with hamsadhwani. This raga adds always charm and he sang the rare hamsadhwani krithi abhista varadE which I have only heard through a recording of his appa-the supernova . Abhista varadE krithi was sung with gusto and the drive of copious swara kalpana in hamsadhwani made me sit up with more focus.
The next was a rare pantuvarali krithi - the ankita vijaya vittala was there .There is always heavy overlap of semmangudi and maharajapuram schools especially in pantuvarali .I could hear ramachandran starting it well ,the speed was not the usually racy pantuvarali tracks of sarasaksha or siva siva yenarada , but definitely the ounce of muse with power was indeed there in pantuvarali. The racy ball rolling symmetry of swaras in pantuvarAli came bit late but ramachandran handled well with his usual sareeram.
Darbar raga alapana was anchored with quite a few popular krithi phrases and I liked his rendition - strong baritoned voice is only fit for darbar(no pun intended only talking for raga darbar). I am not sure if santhanam has sung muddumomu in sooryakantham (did i miss buying one of the last casette of santhanam), sooryakantham krithi was sung well but I found a bit of distraction with noticable intrusion of MAS and a bit more percussion overdrive strokes from rajarao and Murali there.
What a mohanam alapana , their school gets it with style . HIs alapana especially in few mandara -madhyama sthayi touches was just for 12 mins(other musicians will take atleast 20 minutes to sing this 12 minute sangathis of ramachandran- intensity at its best). Ramachandran like his tAtha vishwanatha iyer gave absolutely zero gap with violin and to me it is a joy not to hear frequent longer violin interlude. Ramachandran sang beautifully the mohanam defining krithi - mohana ramA,the neraval was in mohana rama mukhajitha soma .Personally I like the neraval in the line dhara manujaavathaara mahima vini, as the later line gives an extra thrust especially when voice opens out in avathara and mahimA whereas the pallavi line mohana rama adds an intrinsic neraval constraint. ramachandran did not sing the swaras that well , in koraippu the voice just went with a distinct dose of entropy, his ideas of mohanam could not freewheel from his nAbhi in his swaras- mohanam swaras had a chinese quality drop.
He ended with a nice tillana , here i misssed his appa as the emote quotient of ramachandran was not as high as santhanam. The concert was rama navami celebrations but the hall was chandrasekara mahaswami hall , hence the last basant bahar thillana of santhanam on mahaswami came and went with a slight breeze .
The violinist MAS play was wonderful especially in swara returns- he is a sharp shooter there.In mohanam alapana he had a minimal share of foreign adulterated china bazaar sangathis and also in mudduMomu the intrusion during songs was aurally very noticable. THe intellect of srimushnam raja rao was wonderful , especially in tani where his ability to control volume with a plethora of strokes . The skinny trichy murali was competing in controlled aggression with raja rao and I liked it .
Can anything be better in this concert
---------------------------------------
1. He had the 4th biggest hall of chennai and the concert was evening nirvana . He could have shown like his appa where he dwells mandatorily on an extensive slokham/viruththam/ugabhooga, but he missed that . I just dont know what is the point in asking sabha seceratary at the end of mohanam main whether can I end with just one more number? I wish I was the sabha patron - I would have said yes end with ragamaliga detailed viruththam /slokham and the one more krithi followup, and then go with thillana.
2. Volume was slightly on the high side - despite me choosing a place in vanimahal where the volume is felt most optimum. This hall needs a slight overhaul with respect to uniformity of sound . I think ramachandran consistently keeps electronic tambura . Many years before I have seen one sishya strumming(not sure if it was ornamental ??). For his baritoned voice with such high power, he keeps the electronic shruthi high. I am assuming there is a bit of over aggression by fellow artists to match up his slightly higher volume of shruthi and voice. Srimushnam and Murali could have rotated and played less strokes in parallel. I found especially in hamsadhwani, pantuvarali the last long violin swara return with percussion was high on decibel-atleast one of that could have been cut.
Having said all of this bringing a bit of Healthy Skepticism again in 2016. The truth is ramachandran is singing with far more intensity than his supernova appa santhanam , may be he makes a few structural blunder in rushing the tukkadas that too not singing a elaborate viruththam/slokham/ugabhooga. But at quite a few points , with his sAreeram , my legs are even feeling the throw from his nAbhi.
Flashforward-2040:
------------------
Taking the Healthy Skepticism bit more futuristically. I am not sure about vishwanatha iyer , but both santhanam and ramachandran have never sung a bhairavi submain or main in any of the concerts. IIRC There is a recording of amba kamakshi of santhanam , but it may had its life only in recording studio and there is a small filler of upacharamulanu . If a musician does not even take up Bhairavi which is a big 5 raga either as submain or main in even one of their live concert, are they really greatest of greatest carnatic musicians. The healthy skepticism has arrived , perhaps I will take another 24 years to firm up my mind ?
Overall a very good to excellent concert for 2 hours and 05 minutes.
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Lakshman
- Posts: 14213
- Joined: 10 Feb 2010, 18:52
Re: Maharajapuram Ramachandran@vanimahal on Apr04th,2016
# 2 song is sadA enna hrdayadalli.