Palghat Dr. R.Ramprasad on 19th April 2015

Vidwan Palghat Dr. R.Ramprasad          - Vocal

Vidwan T.S.Krishnamurthy                     - Violin

Vidwan Prof. V.Krishna                           - Mridangam

Vidwan M.Gururaj                                    - Morsing

Concert Review:

Palghat Ramprasad started his concert brilliantly with two speed Bhairavi Ata taala varnam. A soulful Purandaradasa kriti followed which included a detailed swara prasthara.He demonstrated in the bginning itself that his strength lies in swara rendition, which he harnessed throughout the concert to the delight of the rasikas.

An elaborate rendition of Begada ragam with the lovely Lokavana chatura with neraval and swaram was captivating. Interestingly he asked the percussionists to present the thani at this stage, which gave the idea that an RTP is on the anvil. The intricate swara patterns for begada, enthused the Prof. Krishna on mridangam and Sri. Gururaj on morsing to present a lively thani avarthanam.

RTP in the ragam Thodi which gives scope for multi dimensional expansion was a pleasure to listen to. Sri.T.S.Krishnamurthy gave superb following, especially given the complex tisra jathi triputa taalam in khanda nadai that was chosen to fit the pallavi line.

Just the four songs including RTP that were rendered till then took 2 hours and 45 minutes. In fifteen minutes the pleasing well selected tail pieces were rendered. Overall the overflowing hall had a thoroughly satisfactory evening.

List of Songs:

1. Viriboni - Varnam - Bhairavi- Ata tala

2. Hari Narayana.... enu manave- Pantuvarali- Purandaradasa

Neraval at Kaamitha phala and Extensive Swaram at Hari Narayana

3. (Main) Lokavana Chatura - Begada - Ragam Neraval Swaram at pallavi line.

4. Thani

5. Ragam Thaanam Pallavi - Thodi- Raave himagiri kumari Kanchi Kamakshi- Tisra triputa talam khanda nadai

Ragamalika swarams in Khamas, Shubhapantuvarali, Nalinakaanti and Jog.

6. Nanda nandana.... bhajamana - Meera Bhajan

7. Bhavayami gopala - Yaman Kalyani

8. Muruga Murua ena nee sol- Hamsanandi- Madurai Somasundaram

9. Neenama- Mangalam

Invitation:

Palghat Dr. Ramprasad, the grandson of the legendary Mridangam player Palghat Mani Iyer, started learning music from a very young age from his father Sri T.R.Rajaram. RamPrasad’s entry into the concert platform was in the year 1988 in Youth Association for Classical Musical popularly known as YACM in Chennai, when he was hardly 8 years old. He won the “Best Artist” of the series. From then on, he has been regularly performing concerts in and out of India

Ramprasad aims at adhering to the traditional classical style with more emphasis on “Neraval” singing, which according to his Grandfather is the test of a true vocalist. In this regard Ramprasad has had the rarest of blessings to get first hand information through his father and his uncle T.R.Rajamani about Sri Mani Iyer’s view on carnatic music and how a concert should be performed.

Legends and senior vidwans such as “Sangeetha Kalanidhi” Sri T.K.Murthy, “Sangeetha Kalanidhi” Late Sri Palghat Raghu, “Sangeetha Kalanidhi” Sri Umayalpuram Sivaraman,“Sangeetha Kalanidhi” Sri Ramabadhran, Sri Trichy Sankaran, Sri T.V.Gopalkrishnan, Sri M.S.Anantharaman, and Sri Sikkil Bhaskaran, to name a few, have accompanied Ramprasad.

Ramprasad is an “A” grade artist in All India Radio (AIR) and performs regularly on all the leading television channels. He teaches music to students in India and abroad, and some of his students are performing artists.

Ramprasad is a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University (School of Public health), and a faculty of economics at the Institute of Financial Management and Research, Chennai. He completed his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Georgia, and then Financial certification from the New York University. He holds a Bachelors’ degree in commerce, a Masters Degree in Economics, in which he was awarded 7 gold medals and holds the record for the highest marks scored.