10th SKB memorial concerts at Indira Ranganathan Trust: December 31 2023

[kamalamba]

Dear friends

We will have this 10th anniversary concert series (in memory of my father Sri. SK Balasubramanian - Gobilalitha in this group) on 31 December 2023 in the same venue as before: Indira Ranganathan Trust, Sunaadalahari, CP Ramaswami road, Alwarpet, Chennai.

Thanks once again to the entire Sunaadalahari team for their unwavering support for the SKB series.

This year's concerts

1. Vidushi Rakshita Ramesh (Carnatic Veena). Accompanying artistes to be confirmed soon.
2. Vidwan Siddharth Belmannu (Hindustani vocal). Accompanying artistes to be confirmed soon.
3. Vidwan R. Suryaprakash (Carnatic vocal). Sri. MR Gopinath (violin), Sri. Trivandrum Balaji (Mridangam), and Sri. Tripunitura Radhakrishnan (Ghatam).

More details to follow regarding exact timings etc.

Please mark your calendars and attend.

Regards
Mohan (Kamalamba)

[Nick H]

Good to hear from you, Mohan. Nice that your annual remembrance concert is organised and booked already. Looking forward to seeing you there!

(No prospect of seeing you in UK this year, I'm afraid)

[kamalamba]

Hello all

Please find below the concert details, timings, and all accompanying artistes.

DATE 31 December 2023.

10:00 AM to 1230 PM: Vidushi Rakshita Ramesh (Veena) Vidwan BS Prashant (Mridangam), Vidushi Samyukta (Ghatam)

13:45-15:45: Vidwan Siddharth Belmannu (Hindustani vocal). Pandit Vyasmurthy Katti (harmonium) and Vidwan Sagar Bharatraj (Tabla)

16:15-18:45 Vidwan R. Suryaprakash (Carnatic vocal). Sri. MR Gopinath (violin), Sri. Trivandrum Balaji (Mridangam), and Sri. Tripunitura Radhakrishnan (Ghatam).

[thanjavooran]

Wishing this season a grand success as usual.
thanjavooran
08 12 2023

[kamalamba]

The SKB concerts can be viewed live via Sunaadalahari.

https://linktr.ee/sunaadalahari

[Nick H]

Willl join you at lunch time

[kamalamba]

This event happened yesterday and it exceeded my already high expectations.

At any given time we had ~ 50 people, which I think is a great achievement considering all competing events in the epicenter of CM (T. nagar - Alwarpet- Mylapore - Triplicane).

Since it is an event organized by us I will not write any reviews. But folliowng @rajeshnat terminology all three were EXCELLENT TO EXCELLENT concerts.

The ever-fresh, creative, top-ranking, yet unassuming and personable Vid. Suryaprakash gave a Shankarabharanam that is literally ringing in my ears after 15 hours. With Sarojadala being the composition. He did an exceptional RTP in Sumanesa Ranjani with swaraksharams aplenty (TRSesque). Also included a reasonably detailed (ie not as detailed as Shankarabharanam) alapana in Saurashtram followed by the sunday classic Suryamurte. Seeing our own @arasi in the audience he also sang impromptu one of her compositions in Suddha Dhanyasi that was so beautifully rendered. Plus the kapinarayani kriti Sarasa samadana starting with Anupallavi with the MMI-high points embedded in his own version, which is a very tough ask. With him were MR Gopinath, Trivandrum Balaji, and Tripunithura Radhakrishnan, a dream team of accompanists.

I will also given LOUD shout out for the other two concerts. These two artistes are Vidushi Rakshita Ramesh (Veena; a award winnre from MA in 2022) and Vidwan Siddharth Belmannu (Hindustani Vocal).

1. Vidushi Rakshita Ramesh: Incredible sowkyam in her playing and she is creative and also picked a terrific selection of compositions. The stand outs amongst the already high bar set for the entire concert were a. Amba Kamakshi (Bhairavi Swarajati - a composition worth a Nobel Prize in an imaginary Music category....) and b. a thoughtful and deftly handled RTP starting in Keeravani, but ragamalika tanam and swarams all very seamlessly done. I think this artiste is one I will follow closely and I am sure her music will go from strength to strength. I also need to mention BS Prashant and Samyukta Sreeram whose accompaniments were so sensitive and skilful, helping elevate this concert.

2. Vidwan Siddharth Belmannu: What a powerful voice. Ditto: like Rakshita he is on his way to become one of the most exceptional artistes of the next 2-3 decades. As is tradition, being an afternoon concert, he chose Shuddh Sarang, followed by Patdeep. Singing at E pitch and traversing 3 full octaves, it appeared that he could just about do anything with his voice. Following these two mains, he launched into two Dasar padams, especially Jagadodharana was sung in a way I have never heard before (and was almost at touching distance from possibly the best rendition of this kriti I have ever heard done by the great BMK). Finally he sang a Sant Thukaram abhang in Bhairavi (Sindhu Bhairavi) that brought audience to their feet. I need to mention Pandit Vyasmurti Katti possibly the best Harmonium artistes of the country in the current time accompanying Siddharth with such finesse. Also, Sagar Bharathraj, who fits the description that science and art are inseparable, who accompanied very skilfully on Tabla.

It was great to see @NickH

A million thanks are due to the entire Indira Ranganathan Trust (Dr. Shankar, Vidushi Aishwarya Shankar, Mr. Sriram, and Mr. Sudhakar) for their continued support of the SKB event.

Can't believe it is 10 years, but 10 excellent musical years. And more to come.

Happy New Year all!!!

[kamalamba]

PS: Excuse the typos, grammar......
Written from a tiny device before wearing my usual corrective contact lenses.....

[kamalamba]

PS: Suryaprakash through popular demand sang the Bharatiyar classic "Vellai Thamarai". Once and only once, he used "MaNiyin nAvil" in place of "kiLiyin nAvil". I have heard the same done by the great TVS and went back to check the lyrics after a TVS sir concert (some time in 1995 in Nashville Sri Ganesha temple) and could only find kiLi and no MaNI in the Bharathiyar collections.

The expression on RSP's face said there was something cerebral in there when he mentioned "MaNi" and sure enough it was to remind us of the great MMI (Madurai MaNi Iyer) who continues to OWN this song.

It is a case of better late than never. Getting it >25 years after hearing it.

[rajeshnat]

@kamalamba
My day on Dec 31st started with me going to partha (suryaprakash)and then in the end after 7pm i went to another concert of amrutha venkatesh . After my morning concert i had a chance to meet indru varuvaano Arasi and also i , arasi and cleveland photographer Meenakshi we met for an hour plus . I have never talked in the past with meenakshi other than customary bye wishes post some concert . Her enthusiasm is too good .

I wanted to assist our dear arasi . Lot of time went by and as i went home, few of my NRI cousins were there . I wanted to make it for an hour either veena or sp concert . I am sorry to let you down. My cousins hardly take music , i have become a lonely crusader of CM. I wish the NRI friends and relatives who have no inclination to CM come on some month other than Dec-Jan

If you are hanging around in madras till next weekend we can meet .

By the way in this season , i met very few NRIs like arasi and meenakshi in another concert. Lot of NRI visitors are not moving out of US/Canada/UK / SIngapore/Australia , the margazhi sheen has to return

Sumanesa ranjani as a RTP by Suryaprakash . i vaguely recollect rasikalaya and some bangalore review from jayanth of sumanesaranjani ragam RTP of his . i am yet to hear from him.

Ragas like miyan ki malhar , sooryashri (SKR dwimadhyama), sumanesa ranjani and shrothaswani were sung minimally or not attempted at all , but this vidwan suryaprakash taking and giving a RTP nattaikurinji anthastu is surely pushing the envelop of CM, these ragas are debuted as RTP only by him. If my memory is right when your dad had some 80th or 75th birthday he sang a RTP in maand right (or some other hindustani ragam if my memory failed ), of course maand was sung by few musicians before . It is a fitting tirbute to your appa when sumanesa ranjani is sung as RTP.

[kamalamba]

@rajeshnat

Great to hear from you and your day yesterday. Seems like you had an extremely busy day with a rich diversity of activities.

I will be here in India until January 14 and in Chennai nearly all of the time except January 2 or 3 to January 6.

You are absolutely right!! RSP did maand RTP for my father's sadabhishekam.

"Bramhanda Swaroopa Maruti, Bala Maruti Jaya Jaya"

You have an incredible memory, including about my father's taste.

It will be great to catch up one of the days (7 or 13 or 14).

We can reach out by DM and sort details.

[arasi]

I am back from musical Chennai after a busy and mostly beautiful time there. Exhausted, but am filled with music.

Here I am, once the big mouth at Rasikas who happens to write occasionally now. I am filled with the warmth of the friendship which once filled the threads here as we read all that impressed and awed us as we shared our thoughts.

SKB (GBL, Gobilalitha), his love for both CM and HM, his sense of humor and affability endeared him to us all. And his family--not only are they all rasikAs, but keen musicians in their own right. His wife Lalitha herself has pursued music all her life.
Now, Mohan, his sisters and their mates have been organizing this yearly memorial with such love and meticulous planning--getting the most impressive musicians together ( and these days in one of the most agreeable and in demand venues of the city for a contained audience).

SKB loved both genres of music--and film music as well. He wouldn't have liked being remembered in any other way, and he would have joked about it too, in his gentle way.

I wish I had attended Rakshitha's Veena concert and the next--but there were other places to go to earlier. I could only hear young vidwan Belmannu for a few minutes and was charmed by his singing. Wish I had heard Pt. Katti's harmonium too more. I have heard this veteran several times, over the decades.

What can I say about Surya! I have heard and loved his music for a long time. My husband and I have heard him regularly over many years--listening to him and in interacting with him. Not only did we want him to sing the thematic songs which were the result of a discussion here at Rasikas--about our not having enough songs which express a man's feelings for a woman as we have love songs in CM--padams and jawalis, to express the sentiments of women.

He surprised me by singing from what Neela Ramgopal has sung! An excellent musician I miss a lot, and she matched GBL in her warmth and sense of humor.

Thanks, family of GBL, each and every one of you, for sharing your love for your father with us in music, and as is your wont, feeding us all along!

[Nick H]

perfectly put, Arasi. It was so nice to see you there

[arasi]

In other venues as well, Nick--with Sushee too!

[kamalamba]

Thanks @arasi and @nickH for your messages.

@arasi
Are you in Bangalore or back to the US?

[arasi]

@kamalamba
I guess you haven't seen my message yet. In Karnataka now!

[kamalamba]

@arasi-ji
My apologies. Just saw.
regards
Mohan