Rama Ravi, Nada Inbam - DKP day

Rama Ravi - Vocal
Nanditha Ravi - Vocal support
R K Shriram Kumar - Fiddle
K Arun Prakash - Mrudangam

Oct 28th 2018. 6:15 pm

DK Pattammal remembrance concert
Nada Inbam. Raga Sudha Hall

sAmi ninnE - srI – Adi (varNam)
vAraNa mukhavA - hamsadwani - rUpakam - KI
mApAla velasi - asAvEri - Adi - T (S)
ekkAlattilum maravEnE - nAtakuranji - Adi - Ramaswamy Sivan (rAgam sketch)
mInalOchana brOva - danyAsi - chApu - SS (RS)
appa rAma bhakti - pantuvarALi - rUpakam - T (RNS)
kOrivaccitinayya - bilahari -  T
saundararAjam AshrayE - brundAvana sArangA - tisra Ekam - MD
raksha bettarE - bhairavai - Adi - T (RST)
kOpam eTula rAgayuNDunurA - kEdAragauLa - rUpakam
eppaDi pADinarO - karnATaka dEva gAndhari - Adi
kANAmal vINilE - nIlAmbari - Adi
tillAnA - khamAs - Adi - PSI
niraimadi mugamenum - pUrvikalyANi - Arunagirinathar (thiruppugazh)
nI nAma rUpamulaku - saurAshTram - Adi – T

A tribute that couldn’t get any better

Sangeetham is an experience. Music is only a part of this. Though the chaste music and its rendering are of utmost importance and an integral part of the exercise to achieve this experience, it is still incomplete without finesse. It is important that the artists communicate with each other and with the audience who come to seek an experience. The artists’ diction and conviction will drive this experience to its best. What is mentioned below is a poor man’s account of one such experience.

Smt. Rama Ravi remembered one of her gurus Sangeetha Kalanidhi Smt. D K Pattammal, under the auspices of Nada Inbam on 28^th Oct 2018. Smt. Rama began with a few words about her relationship with Smt. Pattammal and mentioned that she was presenting pieces which have a strong connection with her.

The ever auspicious srI rAgam, wherever included in a concert, usually increases the pep. When sang at the start of a concert, it means a lot. A brisk varNam in srI ragam was at its best. Invoking Ganesha’s blessings and asking him to come along as a companion, the hamsadwani number was presented neatly with a sparkling cittai svaram. This writer has always found the Pattammal – asAvEri combination very interesting. Smt. Pattammal’s handling of uruppaDis in this rAgam is usually wonderful. Smt. Rama presented mApAla velasi in a very apt pace and rounded with a round of svarams. The patterns and twists and turns presented were just too good.

Smt. Rama recollected learning the nAtakuranji number ekkalattilum maravEnE, when Sri. T Sankaran gave it to Smt. Pattammal at Tamil Isai Sangam. Smt. Rama also remembered how Smt. Pattammal insisted on singing every sangati twice correctly and mentioned that Smt. Pattammal strongly believed that the practice of sangatis is what leads to perfection, which cannot come from any books or notes. The short AlApanai was only a trailer. The kriti was rendered in a sedate pace. Next up was an elaborate danyAsi, woven phrase-after-phrase showing the nuances and intricases of the rAgam and the kriti was rendered beautifully. There were swarams in both speeds leading up to the anupallavi line ‘gAna vinodini’.

A racy pantuvarALi was next. It was developed and presented in a very neat manner. The kriti was rendered with neraval and svarams at the line ‘lakshmi dEvi valachuna’. It was an elaborate affair showing the details of the rAgam and the composition. A rare bilahari number was rendered next. It’s a song this writer had not even heard off earlier.

A meditative saundararAjam was next. The monagal of brudAvana sArangA just before Smt. Rama started the song was making the audience yearn for more. The main course of the evening was bhairavi. A favorite of this writer. It was just too good and touched many deep feelings on its way. The kriti was rendered with a round of svarams.

Smt. Rama’s music is always special. It always has the right measure of everything. Her presentation of the nuances and the way each gamakka comes out of her throat is something that leaves one astonishing. What a perfection! Her choice of pieces and line-up for a concert is always interesting. She makes it a point to cover as many composers and tALams. She does take up related rAgams at times, but pulls them off with much ease. It was very soothing to hear her sing. Smt. Nanditha provided vocal support to her mother and guru, during the songs. It was as if one person was singing. Such was the merger. And if someone said harmonies are only possible in Western Music, listening to a pair of singers from the Brinda school, singing the same line in different octaves and the practice of alternating the dAtu and mAtu while singing svara sAhitya parts of kritis, will make them think otherwise. This was easily felt when Smt. Nanditha moved to a different octave than her mother and provided much needed support.

Sri R K Shriram Kumar is himself a disciple of Smt. DK Pattammal and her brother Sri DK Jayaraman. His playing on the occasion was as appropriate as it could get. His way of accompaniment usually suits any traditional singer. Hence, it was match made in heaven, for the evening. His handling of rAgams and svarams and accompanying the kritis made it much more exciting. Be it single Avartana svarams or the long passages or the korappu part, it was all done in such a beautiful manner. Sri K Arunprakash was the perfect match in the percussion department, for this team. His playing-for-the-kriti approach is always good. He was too good in embellishing this experience and even the tani Avathanam was in tune with the mood created by the song taken up as the main item.

The portrait of Smt. Pattammal that was placed was speaking many things too. Smt. Pattammal clad in a trademark kattam-potta-podavai, a measured smile. She was looking at the artists on stage and the audience making sure everything was going on the way she wished.

The concluding part of the concert had a kEdaragauLa jAvaLi to start with, followed by the ever famous eppo varuvArO. Neelambari added to the emotive mode. khamAs tillAnA and tiruppugazh lead to the curtains.

Some of the characteristics of Smt. Pattammal’s music are the bhavam and azhutham in music. The nirnayam in singing and the laya strongness. All these are naturally present in Smt. Rama’s music. In a positive linear combination with the gamakka nuances and finesse aspects from the Brinda school, it is indeed a rather wonderful combination that has happened to music.

It will be difficult to find different adjectives for each aspect and each kriti of such a concert. It was an experience difficult to express in words. It was sangeetham at its best. Arguably the best tribute to Smt. Pattammal, by a disciple of hers.