Review: Ravikiran 12-hour concert
mo...@synflux.com.au
concert in the Southern Australian city of Melbourne. Billed as "Music for
Peace", the concert, which started at 9am and went non-stop till 9pm, was
Ravikiran's own effort to establish peace and harmony in the world.
Marathon concerts are not new to Ravikiran. Previously in India he has
played continuously for 24 hours. For the Melbourne concert, Ravikiran
invited reputed resident Carnatic musicians of Melbourne and Sydney as well
as several Western musicians to participate along-side him.
The artistes who participated with N. Ravikiran (chitraveena) were: VVS
Murari & Sita Raghu (c-violin); R. Thiagarajan (c-flute); The Iyer brothers
(Ramnath and Gopinath) (c-veena); Mohan Ayyar (c-synthesizer); Sridhar Chari,
M. Ravichandhira & Balasri Rasaih (c-mrudangam); Lata Krishnamoorthy,
Jayashree Ramachandran, Rama Rao & Shoba Sekhar (c-vocal); Daniel Richardson
(flute); Scott Dunabin (bass guitar); Elliot Flavia, Grant Jordan & James
Wakeling (guitar); Jerry Kellock (saxophone).
Ravikiran was playing continuosly on the chitraveena and other musicians
would take turns in performing with him or accompanying him on the stage.
The repertoire included many weighty Carnatic items with alapana, neraval and
kalapana swaram. The items in which Western musicians participated were
mainly improvised pieces loosely based on Carnatic ragams.
Ravikiran is well-known as a musical genius and his mastery, skill and class
was clearly evident throughout the marathon. Special credit should go to
Sridhar Chari who provided percussion support for the majority of the
concert. Among the Western musicians, flautist Daniel Richardson was most
impressive, quickly adapting to Carnatic ragams. VVS Murari and R.
Thiagarajan, professional Carnatic musicians from India, were also featured.
The final items beginning with the Sri ragam pancharatna, were rendered by a
large group of Carnatic musicians present.
Dr Mohan Krishnamoorthy, has provided a a list of items that were performed:
Note that some segments are marked as Improvisation. In these, raga-s were
not distictly identifiable. However, I have indicated the predominant raga
chayal that was present. I could be quite off target in this and other
listings too...
1] vatapi ganapatim, hamsadhwani, adi (RS)
2] padavini, salagabhairavi, adi (RS)
3] shobillu saptaswara, jaganmohini, rupakam (S)
4] kripajoochutaku velara, chayatarangini, adi
5] deva deva jagadeesha, poorvi kalyani, adi (RS)
6] palukutache phalamenu, phalamanjari, rupakam
7] yennai nee maravade, amritavarshini, adi (RS)
8] rave himagiri, todi, adi
9] nagumomu, abheri, adi
10] edaya gati, chalanattai, adi (S)
11] sani todi, harikambhoji, adi (R)
12] Imrpovisation, keeravani
13] Scarbarough Fair (Celtic Folk song) (with improvisation)
14] sharade veena vadana, devagandhari, adi
15] deva deva, mayamalavagowlai, rupakam (RNS)
16] bantureeti, hamsanadam, adi (N)
17] ma janaki, kambhoji, adi (RNS)
18] Improvisation, bowli
19] nadaloludai, kalyanavasantam, rupakam (RS)
20] Improvisation, chakravakam, sindhubhairavi, punnagavarali
21] Improvisation, karnaranjani
22] Improvisation, sahana
23] Improvisation, kharaharapriya
24] Improvisation, reetigowlai
25] jagadho dharana, kapi, adi (with improvisation)
26] Improvisation, mand
27] devadi deva, sunadavinodini, adi (with improvisation)
28] terateeyagarada, gowlipantu, adi (S)
29] swara raga suda, shankharabharanam, adi (RS)
30] chalamelara, marga hindolam, adi
31] devi neeye tunai, keeravani, adi (S)
32] venkatachala nilayam, sindhubhairavi, adi
33] enthanerchina, sudha dhanyasi, adi (RS)
34] janani, reetigowlai, mishra chapu
35] devi brova, chintamani, adi
36] sri jalandhara, gambheera nattai, adi (S)
37] janaki jane, kalyani (bhajan)
38] shanthi nilavu vendum, tilang, adi
39] entharo mahanubhavulu, sri, adi
40] amba neelayadakshi, neelambari, adi
41] srinivasa, hamsanandi, adi (N)
42] kamakshi, simhendramadhyamam, rupakam
43] maithreem bhajatha
44] tillana, dhanasri, adi
45] mangalam
-------------------------------------------------
Mohan Ayyar
Sydney, Australia
http://www.synflux.com.au/~mohan
-----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==-----
http://www.dejanews.com/rg_mkgrp.xp Create Your Own Free Member Forum
Ranjani Saigal
: On June 14th 1998, Chitraveena N. Ravikiran performed a marathon 12 hour
: concert in the Southern Australian city of Melbourne. Billed as "Music for
: Peace", the concert, which started at 9am and went non-stop till 9pm, was
: Ravikiran's own effort to establish peace and harmony in the world.
Sounds like a wonderful concert . But I have always wondered, how does a
marathon concert support the cause of peace? (This is not a post to make
fun of anyone or criticize). I am sincerely interested to find out the
motive that a great person like Ravi Kiran has in doing this. There are
other "not so great artists" whose perhaps only claim to fame is
continuous performance for a long period of time. Everyone claims it
helps one cause or another. How does it do this? Listening to Ravi kiran
for a long period of time may be a good thing in itself.
I sincerely would like to know how performing arts can bring peace in the
world. I can imagine how learning it can improve one's soul. But other
means would be interesting to hear as well.
--
Best Wishes
Ranjani Saigal
Hari
Amruthavarshini for bringing rain in Madras :=), my guess is it attracts
attention and hence the cause gets publicised(so does the artist).
Hari