A vibrant concert

Harini Raghavan
In mid May, when it was still burning hot with no signs of rain, there was something that made people get over the gloom and rejoice. It was the vibrant concert of Vidwan Maharajapuram S. Ramachandran.
The concert was arranged by Nadasurabhi on 15th May, at the Indian Heritage Academy hall in Koramangala. For over three and a half hours, there was a down pour of ragas and swaras by Vidwan Ramachandran.  Hailing from the Maharajapuram family, he stuck to the tradition and classicism throughout, following the pattern /‘bani’ set by his father and grand father.  His virtuosity was reflected in the swaras that followed each one of the compositions he presented. There was brilliance in the sahitya places he chose to attach the swaras, like for eg: for ‘Pranamamyaham’, it was at ‘siddhivinayakam, pranamamyaham’, at an unexpected ‘eduppu’! His elaboration of ragas ‘Malayamarutham’ and ‘Bhairavi’ were of a high standard.
The RTP in ‘Brindavanasaranga’ was crisp and adorned with ragamalika swaras in all pleasing ragas to go with the main raga.  His inclusion of several popular kannada devaranamas at the appropriate places delighted his many fans. There were also a number of requests from the audience which he did not ignore.
His full throated presentation was appealing and well appreciated. The hall was full to the brim from the beginning till the end! Everyone was glued to the seat anticipating the next super song! The artists themselves expressed happiness about the audience and their response to every song.
The accompanying artistes, Vid. C N Chandrasekhar on violin, Vid. C Cheluvaraju on mridangam and Vidwan Vyasa Vittala in khanjira are all highly accomplished, senior artists.  They had perfect understanding with the main artist and provided excellent support throughout.  This added to the success of the concert.