Ramani Narayanan, Ramana Kendram

Ramani Narayanan - Veenai
Thanjavur Kumar - Mrudangam
Pudukkottai Ramachandran - Ghatam

Ramana Kendram
1st November 2007. 6:45 pm

karuNimpa idi - sahAnA - Adi
gajavadanA bEDuvE - kEdAram - Adi - PD
srI sankara guruvaram - nAgasvarAvaLi - rUpakam - MVS (short sketch)
banTurIti - hamsanAdam - Adi - T (RNS)
srI ramaNa sadgurum - kEdAragauLa - rUpakam - maNavAsal rAmasvAmi iyEr (R)
sankari samkuru - sAvEri - tisra Adi - SS (RNS)
yOcanA kamala lOcanA - darbAr - Adi - T
evari mATa vinnAvO - kAmbhOji - Adi - T (RNS)
tani Avarththanam
Om namO bhagavatE - srI ranjani - Adi - maNavAsal rAmasvAmi iyEr (R)
kaliyuga varadan - brindAvana sArangA - Adi
venkaTAcala nilayam - sindhubhairavi - Adi
caraNAgati slOkam for ramaNa
sarva saktiyutAya - mangaLa kriti composed by maNavAsal rAmasvAmi iyEr

It was nice concert on the whole. All the pieces were nicely chosen and presented beautifully. I reached late, as Smt Ramani was wrapping up the kEdAram piece. The nAgasvarAvaLi piece was presented with the usual vigour and punch. The hamsanAdham AlApanai was done beautifully. The kriti was presented with neraval and svarams at 'raama naama manu vara khaDga mivi'. True to the Vedavalli school of music, the vivAdi dhaivatham was also highlighted. The kEdAragauLa AlApanai was nice. The kriti had a nice ciTTai svaram. sAvEri was elaborated with utmost classicm. The kriti was rendered with a nice round of neraval and svarams at 'shyAmakrishNa sOdari shyAmaLE sAdhOdari'. The main kAmbhOji AlApanai and tAnam were done with a lot of interesting phrases interwoven one after another making one sit-up thro' the whole affair. The kriti was rendered very well with elaborate neraval and svarams at 'bhakta parAdhInuDanucu parama'. The post tani pieces were nice as well. Belonging to the kAraikkuDi school of vINai, Smt Ramani made a nice concert with beautiful pieces. Her style of vINai playing with their special fingering techniques was very nice to hear.

The percussion dept was exceptionally handled. Sri Kumar did an amazing job in accompanying for each piece and played with a lot of anticipation. Sri Ramachandran ably assisted Sri Kumar in the whole affair. The tani they shared was nice as well.

bharath

PS: maNavAsal rAmasvAmi iyEr was an ardent devotee of Ramana Maharishi and lived in the ashram for a long time. he was also referred to as caraNAgati rAmasvAmi iyEr. Smt. Ramani is his grand daughter.