Suryaprakash@MusicAcademy On Dec 28th,2025

[rajeshnat]

Suryaprakash@MusicAcademy On Dec 28th,2025
--------------------------------------
Vocal: Suryaprakash
Violin : Delhi Sundarrajan
Mrudangam : Melakaveri Balaji
Ghatam : Manjoor Unnikrishnan
Tambura : Sai Krupa (sishya of Suryaprakash)

Concert Type : Nirvana - Not ticketed concert
Day : Sunday & Duration - 2 hours and 30 mins
Sabha/Hall : Music Academy

01.mAyatheertha (RS, S) - mAyamAlavagowlai - Ponniah Pillai
swaras for 07 mins
02. venkatachalapathE - manipravalam krithi in 3 languages - Karnataka kapi - MD

03. anbu kondennai Andarul (R N S) - Arabi - Dandapani Desigar
06 mins alapana and 02 mins violin return
neraval in the pallavi line for 4 mins
swaras for 2 mins

04. suryamurthE - sowrAshtram - MD
05. bantureeti(S) - hamsanadam - T
swaras for 4 mins
06A. sreekrishnam bhaja manasa (R S T) - Todi - MD
14 mins todi alapana with bedhams to mohanakalyani and bit later to shankarabharanam
swaras for 09 mins
06B. tani for 16 mins

I loved this concert for quite a few reasons . The top pick is RTP in rare ragam SAmanthA and in general being 250th anniversary of NadhajOthi Muttuswami Dikshitar apart from lot of numbers taken from MD , also some creating swaras anchored in MD asampoorna ragams were really well done .

THe sound set up was done with entarO mahanubhavulu before the start, i am wondering if this vidwan has ever sung this pancharatna krithi in a concert that i heard of , not sure or if my memory has faded. All said the start of mAyamalavagowlai ragam was grand the krithi mAyatheertha has a gait of a typical MD krithi one can say MD Parampara TQ brothers did absorb a lot of Guru MD and also had manaseega T style when they created this mAyatheertha krithi. A rare 3 language Sanskrit -telugu- thamizh krithi came out well in Karnataka kapi , this krithi was taken not just to mark the 250 year tribute but also possibly tick a rare krithi to be sung in academy. The submain came out in a flashy flamboyant arabi ragam. Rare Dandapani Desigar came out well with the neraval also in the Pallavi line . Bit reduced swaras but all had to wait till hamsanAdam downpour

SuryamurthE was the dikshitar vara krithi and came out well the contrast of the MD suryamurthE with the downpour of hamsanadam was exceptionally great. After music academy customized hamsanadam with swaras , the concert customized to sangeeta vidwat sabhai. Todi main alapana was distilled with lot of nadaswara pidi and he had few rounds of applause , his voice is getting significantly stronger in lower and mid registers say when compared to 3 to 15 years back for sure. Another masterpiece MD krithi in todi came out well, sri Krishnam bhaja manasa came out more like his second unnoticed paramaguru Semmangudi. Swaras were almost in one go like TRS mama and i thoroughly enjoyed it

[rajeshnat]

07. RTP in SamanthA for 32 mins
10 mins alapana inclusive of violin return for last 2 mins mins
tanam for 04 mins
Pallavi line was Anumanai ninai manamE .. SAmanthA rAjadasanai
Pallavi has a 2 kalai kanda chapu with trimuthi concept popularized by DR BMK tri.

Ragamaligas were taken with creations of Muttuswami Dikshitar .
Ragas chosen were Samantha +Bhoopalam (MD one) + Udayaravichankrika

08. devargal arul seida - mega ragamaliga starting with hamsandam - Suryaprakash
09A. tirumalin sodhari... inba vazhvu - sindhubhairavi + Rakeshri+madhyamavati - ???
09B. karpagamE - madhyamati - pSivan

SAmantA is a raga that is lost to wilderness of time and certainly it is a great resurrection to sing a RTP. Certainly there is a significant shade of shankarabharanam . He kind of sang a very detailed alapana the RTP was not a touch and go like a designer raga RTP of say revati or chandrakowns that say he or TVS generally usually sing . SAmantA anchored and had a near 90 percentile of a nattaikurinji anthastu . The Pallavi he said is a DR BMK creation of trimukhi concept, Trimukhi introduces varied gatibhedas (speed variations) within the kriyas (audible beats) of a TAlam cycle . It was kanda Jathi triputa and appeared quite a difficult one to sing . ALso he sang another two ragas that he said were creations of MD . The second is udayaravichandrika , which i know more as srothaswani . You can map to few popular thamizh songs created by one and only maestro Isaignani Illayaraja for the ragam (Once heard him sing pallavi of srothaswini - it is an extremely haunting raga, not much or rather zero krithis in circulation . ). Also the first ragamaliga was the dikshitar bhoopalam where he sang in two speeds that helps to register the rare ragas better

Then he ended with his ragamaliga creation devargal arul seidha , i am not sure if he sang all the 29 ragas may be he reduced few but it was well received as it is a bit of a riddle . Another nice viruththam came out well with 2 and half hours nearing with karpagame Full Stop

All the 3 accompanists played exceptionally well. MElakaveri balaji has mastered the art of not banging , there is plenty of strokes and a lot of sunaadam touch . HE creates so much of patterns and with lot of sarvalaghu the vocalist -mrudangist are zooming out as a great pair . I have not seen or heard this Manjoor Unnikrishnan, not just fingering but he used a lot of press with his belly to create generally lot of sound that is unique to ghatam. Kerala produces a lot of upapakkavadhyam artists and they are usually featured in academy concerts in season.

Delhi Sundararajan played with lot of focus , he particularly playing say for TVS/TNS came out very handy for this concert . For eg, he kept alapana returns concise to give more air time and did not repeat everything (for eg 2 bedhams from todi to mohanakalyani and shankarabharanam in main was not replayed by the violinist). I also took my middle school kid for this concert along with wife ,this is kids 3rd concert and first full concert that the kid heard. Appears like most of Gen Z kids significantly more lost in Carnatic , let us see how that pans out.

Overall an excellent to outstanding concert for 2 hours and 30 mins.

[rajeshnat]

========For Whatsapp or FaceBook Forward =============================
Suryaprakash@MusicAcademy On Dec 28th,2025
--------------------------------------
Vocal: Suryaprakash
Violin : Delhi Sundarrajan
Mrudangam : Melakaveri Balaji
Ghatam : Manjoor Unnikrishnan
Tambura : Sai Krupa (sishya of Suryaprakash)

Concert Type : Nirvana - Not ticketed concert
Day : Sunday & Duration - 2 hours and 30 mins
Sabha/Hall : Music Academy

GLICSPAWES 2025 "Goto LIve Concert Show PAtronage Without Excuses Series" concert #32 of 33(30 was/is goal) is done.
www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=385438#p385438

[tmmurali]

Thank you for posting this and all your other reviews.

Suryaprakash posted a reel about his RTP on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTDj5z6Eqkh/

My brain may have been primed by reading about sAmanta on guruguha.org just before I saw this reel. In this snippet, it sounds a lot like nAgAnandini.