Ramakrishnan Murthy packs enough surprises
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Ramakrishnan Murthy’s concert was different, yet beautiful
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Ramakrishna Murthy performing at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s annual music festival in Chennai | Photo Credit:
K V Srinivasan
Ramakrishnan Murthy’s concert was different, yet beautiful
Ramakrishnan Murthy did not allow any room for the audience to wonder which raga would be taken as the central piece of his concert — that was clear to everyone quite early on. When the opening phrases of raga Sri escaped his lips, the only question was about the composition.
The vocalist opened the (well-attended) concert with the first verse of the Aandal pasuram, ‘Marghazhi thingal,’ in Nattai. The pasuram followed a brief but beautiful alapana, which foretold the unfolding of a lovely concert. The line ‘Narayanane Namakke’ was selected for niraval, which was a detailed affair, but just as the audience was looking for a treat of swaras, the singer jumped into the second pasuram, ‘Vayyathu Vazhveerghal’, in Gowlai and chose the words ‘Mayittu Ezhudhom’ to land the swaras. Niraval in Nattai, swaras in Gowlai! The only slight exception one could take was his not singing swaras in the slower gait — which would have seen Gowlai in full blossom.