ASHOK RAMANI - A PERFORMANCE WITH GREAT DIFFICULTY
Ashok Ramani, the grandson of Papanasam Sivan, performed at Sri Thyaga
Brahma Gana Sabha on the 29th
December 2000. The accompanists were H N Bhaskar (violin), Mannargudi Easwaran
(mridangam) and T V Vasan (ghatam). He started the concert with
Dikshitar's popular kriti 'Vatapi Ganapatim', in Hamsadhwani with a few
rounds of kalpanaswaras at the charanam. In the very first item one could
detect his difficulty in singing.
Everyone was waiting for some improvement in his voice in the next item.
However it wasn't too apparent when he rendered Tyagaraja's 'Rama bhakti'
in the raga Suddhabangala. Then he rendered a raga alapana in Pantuvarali, followed by Papanasam Sivan's
'Niraval Iyambalagumo'. The phrases between Dhaivata and Shadjam were very carefully rendered or
mostly avoided to hide his difficulty in singing those swarasthanas. It is to be mentioned that he
however did
not have much problems in singing the lower or higher octaves.
'Telisirama Chintanato', the Tyagaraja kriti in raga Poornachandrika was the next
item. 'Unnitapuruvam', a viruttam in raga Sriranjani followed by the Papanasam
Sivan kriti, 'Kaanavendamo', set to Adi tala, Tisra gati was rendered. In spite of his non-cooperative
voice, one could see his raga gnana both in his viruttam and the kriti. Kalyani was
chosen as the sub-main raga. He rendered 'Nidhi Chala Sukhama', a very
popular kriti of Tyagaraja in Misra Chapu tala. One could easily perceive his difficulty in rendering
the kriti and things did not improve when he rendered the kalpanaswaras at 'Mamata
Bandhana'. It was pathetic to see such a senior artiste with sound knowledge, unable to produce the phrases
that he wanted to.
The next was 'Srivalli Devasenapate', in the 20th melakarta raga Natabhairavi. The main raga
of the concert was Bhairavi. It wasn't too good a choice after Natabhairavi. He gave an elaborate raga alapana. The violinist tried his best to bring
charm to the concert and the Bhairavi he played was good. When Ashok sang
Tanam, the sruti wasn't aligned in many of the phrases and consequently, the melody was
also totally missing. The
ragamalika tanam comprised the ghana raga panchaka of Nata, Gowla, Arabhi, Varali and
Sriragam. The Pallavi, 'Tamarasadala netri tyagarajuni mitri' was set to
Adi tala. Mannargudi Easwaran and T V Vasan, played their role very well, especially in
the Tani avartanam.
'Enna tavam seydanai', in the raga Kapi, a popular composition of Papanasam Sivan was one
of the post-main items. He then rendered a viruttam, 'Aadum mayilaai
uruvedutu', in
Sindhubhairavai and continued it in Madhyamavati. He concluded the concert with 'Karpagame
Kannparai' in Madhyamavati,
again a composition of his grandfather, Papanasam Sivan.
AUDIENCE VIEWS:
V Venkatraman: Though technically perfect, his music should be more appealing and the choice should include
more Tamil songs.
Girija Balakrishnan: Ashok Ramani used to sing very well. But I think his voice is not all right today. In spite of it, he has tried his best to make the concert successful. I never miss his concerts in
this Sabha. He is a very good singer.
T Kalyani and K Premalatha: Ashok Ramani's concert was good. But there was some change in his
voice. We are not able to guess what it is. The accompanists were also very good.
The violinist exhibited his talents in a very wonderful way. The small audience is also quite
puzzling as the halls are usually full for his concerts. Only the rasikas should
extend their full support and give patronage to such artistes. This is our humble request to the rasikas.
A front row fan: The concert of Ashok Ramani and his team at TBGS today has been simply
wonderful, especially the memorable Ragam Tanam Pallavi. Only
a few people were lucky to attend the concert.
