Surya Prakash's "Home Concert" in Gainesville, FL on October 13,2018

[Sundara Rajan]

There has been no report/review of Surya's six concerts so far on his current U.S. tour. Hence,in spite of my earlier reticence to review his "home" concert,I hasten to do it now.
Not to miss an opportunity to enjoy a concert of the current "torch bearer" of Maduari Mani Iyer's bANi, I ventured to drive to Gainesville with some concern about the need to drive back in the night. Arriving at the venue a little before the concert started, I had a chance to chat with Surya, who informed me that the sponsors had requested mostly items popularized by MMI.

Surya Prakash - vocal
V.V. Ravi- violin
Trivandrum Balaji- Mridangam
Dr. Karthik- Ghatam

He started the concert at 5:45 p.m. with
1.slokam 'Vakra thunda mahA kAya" on Ganesha followed by
SivathrayamahAgNapathim chinthayEham, nAtta raga, swarna VenkatEsa deekshitar. 14 min.

2. DEva dEva kalayAmidE-mAyAmALaya gowLa- Swathi ThirunaL. Neraval, swaram and violin return at usual "jAtharUpa". 12 min.
His rendering was reminiscent of Semmangudi's style.

3. KalyANi raga Alapana & violin return for 18 min. followed by Pallavi Gopala Iyer's Neethu charNa pankajamulE with neraval & swaram
& violin return at "Om Jagajjanani manonmaNi---"for a total of 16 min.
I do not remember to have heard this composition rendered by MMI in all my dozen+ live concerts of MMI that I attended in the 1950s before I came here or in his recorded concerts later. I may be wrong !

4. KamalAmbA rakshathumAm-Ananda bhairavi- Muthuswami Diksitar. 8 min.

5. ThAyE yasOdhA- thOdhi-OOthakkAdu. No AlApana. neraval and swara at usual 'kAlinil silambhu konja"- all in 10 min.!

6. kAmbhOdhi raga AlApana & violin return for 19 min. followed by kANak kaN kOti vEndum of PapanAsam Sivan with neraval & swaram at expected
"mANikkam vairam----" for 13 min & short Thani Avarthanam for less than 5 min.

7. veLLai thAmarai poovil iruppAL of mahAkavi Subramanya bhArathi in BHimpaLas 6min.

8. "Waltz"- so called "English Note" of HMB

9. eppO varuvArO in Jonepuri, Gopalakrishna BhArathi.- MangaLam in sowrAshtram.

The accompanists ably supported the vocalist, making the concert more enjoyable.

Although the items were repetitive and expected, a live concert has a definite appeal/charm of its own and I very much enjoyed the program .
I would like to thank Prof. Ramakrishna Alladi and other sponsors for arranging this concert and for the sumptuous dinner that followed.

Surya's distant relative here tried to arrange for the program here in Orlando, but our efforts were unsuccessful
for lack of support,it being the KOLU week !