Date: 7th Dec 2019 / 18:00 Hrs
Venue: Meenakshi College
Team: Ramakrishnan Murthy, Vittal Rangan (Violin),
Vijay Natesan (Mridangam), Aniruddh (Ghatam)
Having my faith restored with the sound engineers of Meenakshi college,
I proceeded to the concert of Ramakrishnan Murthy. The added incentive was my
friends Vijay Natesan and the ever-bubbly Aniruddh Athreya.
The student announcer came again. It was different student every day. I
thought the students were better prepared today. She started off well and went
into “non-sense”, I mean literally. Instead of Ramakrishnan Murthy learning the
musical nuances, he seems to have learnt non-senses from his Guru. We couldn’t
have asked for a more auspicious welcome. There was, once again, a general
laughter amongst the artists who didn’t seem to mind this. Not that they had
any choice! All of them were dressed in black – some pure and some shaded. I
was to discover the meaning later!
Ramakrishnan Murthy is a fabulous singer and a rising superstar. He
started with a Kanada varnam of Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar’s “Nera nammiti.” The
ever-green Sriranjani “Broche vara vare” was to follow next. Then, he took up
Anandabhairavi. Oh, my God! The kriti, chosen, was Syama Sastry’s “O Jagadamaba”,
a majestic composition where Sastry beseeches Kamashi to protect him and
extolls her as the universal mother. The accompanists too joined the encore and
gave a lovely rendition. It is this harmony that elevates a kriti!
Gopalakrishna Bharati’s “Thillai Chidambaram endru our” was chosen next.
Niraval was at “Saba nathan thiru thaalai.” Was this Poorvikalyani?
Three masterpieces adorned the concert. It was a Saturday and the artists
chose black. No wonder “Divakara Tanujam” reverberated in the hall beautifully.
The famous Chalanattai “Ethayya Gati” of Koteeswara Iyer struck a chord with
the audience instantly. What a rendition from Murthy! My only grouse is that
Rangan missed out a chance to explore this ragam in some more detail. The
Devagandhari alapanaa was outstanding with the kriti “Koluvai unmade Kothandapani.”
Sapashya Kousalaya, in Jonpuri, came. A peppy kriti indeed. Invokes
Madurai Mani’s Eppo varuvaro. He sang a few virtuams and “Radha mukha kamala
madhura rasikam” before winding up the concert well past 20:45 Hrs.
A beautiful concert indeed. Murthy has sealed his spot this season. Vijay
and Aniruddh gave a run for money with their superb support. One cannot but recall the ever smiling Aniruddh as a fantastic team player.
Ambience: *
Vocalist: ***
Accompanying artists: ***
Raga of the Concert: Anandabhairavi
Overall: ***
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