2012 Nov - Pantula Rama Vocal Concert

Vocal – Smt. Pantula Rama, Violin – Sri MSN Murthy, Mridangam – Sri Thanjavoore Murugabhoopathy

Exciting times in South Florida – just finished Navarathri looking forward to Deepavali followed by Presidential elections in which Florida is one of the swing states.  No one can take Florida for granted neither the politicians nor the artists.  They all need to work hard to gain our favor.  Whoever wins the general elections in the next couple days, let hope and pray that the next President will show leadership in bringing the divided country together.  The stalemate between congress and senate needs to end.  They need to steer us away from this menacing economic cliff and move the world towards safety and progress.  Congressmen, Senators and the President – you want our votes to lead us.  Then lead – pure and simple. 

Jayanthi joins me in thanking Mrs.  Bhagi Sahasranaman for her tireless work along with the cultural committee members for the past four years.  Bhagi has done a great job in delivering quality concerts and has served our community well.  Alright, let us go to the concert.

Nice to see a real life couple on stage – Here the husband played the support role for his wife as the main singer.  Just like the government there were three parts to the ensemble on stage.  Though individually talented they did take a little while to come together.  The main piece in Kalyani was magnificent.  I have not heard a thani in Mishra Chapu in a long time.  Let us discuss song by song.

Vallabha Nayaka in Begada/Rupakam – very short but crisp alapana.  Smt Rama captivated the audience with her rich and powerful voice.  She was very comfortable with the ragam gliding through the ups and downs.  She delivered swarams masterfully.

Endaro Mahanubhava in Sri/Adi – I don’t know about the rest of the audience but to me this was a disappointing delivery.  Being one of the Pancharathna krithis everyone knew the song well including many in the audience.  Anticipation is ok but the supporting violinist should not get ahead of the singer.  It seemed like the singer was the supporting artist in many places – not enjoyable.

Mudda Momu in Suriyagantham/Adi (double branched) – many in the audience including me were not familiar with the ragam and we could have used a short version of the Alapana.  When the song started the mood changed a little.  I liked the kalpana swaram part where the violinist could not get ahead of the singer. 

Sangeetha Gnanamu in Dhanyasi – very nice delivery.  Artists were beginning to come together.

Thunai Purindarul in Varamu/Adi – good change of language, I am biased towards Tamil songs.  Very peppy number and she was very comfortable with the song and also the language.  Violin was powerful, niravals were enjoyable and swaras flew nicely.  All in all, a good delivery

Main Piece, Dalli Innu Nera Nammi in Kalyani/Mishra Chapu – paisa vasool.  Alapana was beautifully structured and tastefully decorated with brigas.  Kalyani is a majestic raga.  I think the audience would have enjoyed a longer alapana.  Violin solo alapana was fantastic.  Artist showed a lot of bhavam in delivering the song, swaras were really good.  Thani in Mishra Chapu, my favorite talam, was beautifully done.  The mridangam sounded really soft.  Great job, everybody.

Dharma Shravana in Durga/Adi – excellent delivery

Charanu Charanu in Madhupriya – nice flowy number

Krishna Nee Begana Baro in Yamuna Kalyani/Mishra Chapu – let me add my thanks to whoever requested this song.  Very elegantly executed and captivated the audience.

Thillana in Dhanasri/Adi – enjoyable song, especially the mridangam was simply superb.

I have to admit that I normally tune out during the Mangalam.  But Smt Rama’s Mangalam was brilliant. 

Concert had a rocky start moved to a nice crescendo during the main piece and ended powerfully making us to want more.  Job well done.