AIR comes up with the right tune

Flute maestro N. Ramani, who passed away recently, was given a sort of rebirth as his earlier recording was retrieved from the archives and broadcast by AIR.

October 22, 2015 08:44 pm | Updated 08:44 pm IST

N. Ramani.

N. Ramani.

All India Radio, in a special edition of national programme of music recently, broadcast the select recordings of flute maestro late N. Ramani, who passed away earlier this month. He was 82. The delightful recording for about an hour and half was retrieved from the archives of AIR and was a tribute to the acclaimed flutist. The timely and thoughtful gesture of AIR in broadcasting the recording is laudable.

Born in 1934 in Tiruvarur, Tamil Nadu, ‘Flute Ramani’, as he was popularly known, learnt the art of music from his grandfather, Aazhiyur Narayanaswami Iyer, from a tender age of five. Later on, he became a disciple of his maternal uncle and eminent flautist T.R. Mahalingam (popularly known as ‘Flute Mali’). His first concert was at the age of eight.

He was honoured with a number of awards and titles including the prestigious Sangita Kalanidhi of the Madras Music Academy. Ramani also started the ‘Ramani Academy of Flute’ where he trained a number of students.

Ramani’s opening piece in the recording was a pleasant rendering of an ata tala varnam in the raga Kanada. He then took up an emotive composition of Shyama Sastri, ‘Tarunameedamma’ in raga Gowlipantu with brief kalpanaswaras. The next three songs namely, Muthuswami Dikshidar’s ‘Tyagaraja yogavaibhavam’ and ‘Mamava meenakshi’ in raga Varali and Tyagaraja’s ‘Evarimata’ in raga Khambhoji were rendered in a detailed manner. The aesthetic manner in which Ramani handled the improvisation techniques (raga alapana, neraval and kalpanaswaras) were treat to the listeners.

V .V. Subramaniam on the violin, late Palghat Raghu on the mridangam and late V. Nagarajan on the Kanjira provided excellent support in this recording. The recording is certainly going to remain in the memory of listeners for a long time.

Elsewhere, at the auditorium of the Delhi Tamil Sangam, the Chennai-based veteran vocalist T.V. Sankaranarayanan regaled the music lovers this past weekend with resonating and vibrant renditions of Tamil kritis. The Sangam too deserves credit for organising this concert which will also remain etched in the memories of music lovers for a long time. However, unseating of the artistes in between for a photo shoot and for the honouring ceremony could have been avoided.

Sankaranarayanan took up three compositions, namely, ‘Venkataramana’ in raga Latangi, ‘Maa Ramanan’ in raga Hindolam and ‘Kandan endra payaril’ in raga Kambhoji for detailed renditions. Music lovers seem to enjoy every bit of each of the scintillating raga alapanas.

Earlier, Sankaranarayanan’s thoughtful choice of Papanasam Sivan’s ‘Devi neeye tunai’ in raga Keeravani and rendering it in an emotive manner at a time when Navaratri festival is being celebrated in full swing in the Capital, did go very well with the music lovers. ‘Yar ummaipol’ in raga Attana and ‘Sevikka vendum’ in raga Andholika had telling effects in the auditorium.

Hyderabad-based Mangalampalli Surya Deepthi provided excellent support on the violin. His takes of Latangi, Hindolam and Kambhoji were delightful.

Delhi’s K.N. Padmanabhan on the mridangam rose to the occasion. The understanding support as well the tani avartanam in adi tala were enjoyable.

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