Shri. Prince Rama Varma and his accompanying artists, treated the Richmond area rasikas to a bhavam laden, soul filling vocal carnatic concert. His frequent and apt usage of the swaraksharams provided an aural treat to the audience. The prince was very engaging with the audience, providing them with nice anecdotes from his experiences with his Guru Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna. He also extolled the virtues of the lyrics to many of the songs he presented, that helped the audience in appreciating the bhavam of his rendition.
Shri S. Varadarajan provided impeccable support with his soft and crisp handling of the violin and complimenting the vocalist with his deft strokes. Shri Patri Satish Kumar's playing needs special mention here. Apart from his brilliant touches through out the concert, he brought down the house with his thani avarthanam. To quote Prince Rama Varma "We went to see the Niagara falls yesterday. It looked impressive, but it didn't sound as impressive as he did", referring to the thani avarthanam.
The absence of a neraval or ragamalika swaram, viruththam, shlokam etc, was a small void.
The following pieces were presented.
01. ninnu kori - Mohanam Varnam - Ramnad Srinivasa Iyengar
02. siddhi vinayakam -chamaram - Muthuswami Dikshitar
03. manavyala kinchara - Nalinakanthi - Thyagaraja
04. Pavana thanaya - Rasikapriya - Dr. Balamuralikrishna
05. Janani ninnuvina - Reethigowla - Subbaraya Shastri
06. Parama purusham - Lalitha Panchamam - Swathi Thirunal
07. gAngeya vasanadhara - hamir kalyani - Swathi Thirunal (T)
08. yemira rama navalla- Undefined/folk - Badrachala Ramadas
09. naaneke badevanu - Behag - Purandara Dasar.
10. Jalaja bandhuvum - Surutti - Swathi Thirunal
11. Thillana - Kunthalavarali - Dr. Balamuralikrishna
12. bhujaga sayanam - Yadhukulakambodhi - Mangalam
Rasikas in attendance are kindly requested to leave your comments and feedback about this concert. Please click here for the form.