Music runs in the veins of Ashok Ramani. He is the grandson of Papanasam Sivan and son of Dr. Rukmini Ramani, an eminent musician. For his concert, he had the privilege of being accompanied by top-ranking vidwans Mysore M. Manjunath (violin), Srimushnam Raja Rao (mridangam) and K.V. Gopalakrishnan (ganjira).
He rendered the rarely heard ‘En Manam Oosalada Vidalama’ of his grandfather in a lovely Simhendra Madhyamam. It is on Sri Rajarajeswari, the deity at Nanganallur. In the alapana segment, he succeeded in bringing out the different hues of the raga, while Manjunath elicited its quintessence. Niraval and swaras were at ‘Tholloorkalil.’
Ashok Ramani took up Sankarabharanam as the main piece. He presented an expansive elucidation. Manjunath created a few charming phrases of the raga.
Tyagaraja’s ‘Swara Raga Sudha’ was the chosen kriti and he selected ‘Mooladhara’ for swaraprasthara.
In the thani, Raja Rao displayed his technical skill, originality and intelligence. His immaculate sruti sense and meetu-chapu suddham needed a special mention. K.V. Gopalakrishnan joined him to create a masterly thani, one of the best that I had the occasion to listen to in recent times.
Raja Rao has a rare technique of enriching each kriti, which he displayed.
Ashok Ramani commenced his concert with ‘Jaya Janaki’ in Nattai, followed by Papanasam Sivan’s ‘Ini Oru Kanam’ (Rupakam) in Sriranjani, after a detailed, charming alapana. Swaraprasthara was at the pallavi itself. Here again, Manjunath produced a few exquisite phrases. Tyagaraja’s ‘Manavyalaginchara’ was a neat presentation.
He wound up his concert with Gopalakrishna Bharathi’s ‘Irakkam Varamal’ (Behag) and ‘Karunai Deivame’ (Sindhu Bhairavi).
