Ramana Balachandhran: Ragam Behag

Ramana Balachandhran's concluding piece of his recital at the Mumbai chapter of the FEA-curated CROSSROADS festival was the sublime Swathi Thirunal composition "Saramaina" in Ragam Behag.
Ramana was accompanied by Patri Satish Kumar on mridangam.

[@MoniVHS]

Master Ramana has the Blessings of Sri Ramana Bhaghawan. Blessed with wonderful , devoted Parents. His father is a Carnatic musician and his mother who is also a Carnatic Musician fed him by feeding him with the Divine Milk of Carnatic Music , and more than all this he simply obeyed the parents right from younger days. He can play Mridhangham , and above all understands the meaning of songs, and he is born to play Veena .A Blessed Parents , and a Blessed Son. He is a Role Model to the present younger Generation.

[@MrKanthikumar]

I wholeheartedly agree. Narayanakurup Kanthikumar

[@altclut]

He is musical genius!

[@MrKanthikumar]

The great Ramana Maharishi's name sake is a genius, and so is Patri. When these two get together we have pure music without gimmicks. In the good old days when the great Palghat Mani Iyer was in his in teens he thrilled audiences with his lean mridangam that came naked. Years go by; mridangams appeared on stages far and wide in India with multihued covers made from high quality Tamil Nadu fabric. I a staunch mridangam lover was apprehensive about the type of mridangam Patri is using these days. The metallic spikes on both heads threaten my viewing eyes with their sharp killer armament looks. However, when the sheen of the naked body of Patri's mridagam matches the mostly wooden sheen of Ramana veena's bighead it is a winning visual delight. On this stage in Bandra's studio the blackened background brings out the sheer beauty of the naked mridangam especially when he places it upright as Ramana does his alapanas. Swati Tirunal, a Malayali, penned this utterly beautiful Saramaina in Telugu in Behag that brings tears to to my septuagenarian eyes as I listen in the quiet study of my Manteca, California house. MDR used to sing it to his Manjapra musician heart's content. Saramaina with mishra chapu along with Hindustani Behag by a Malayali vaggeyakara comes alive with Patri's tabla-influenced fingering as Ramana sings along the lovely Telugu(the most musical language in the polyglot India)song's words. Vainikagayakaguruguhan would be so proud of this young Ramana with utter humility expressed in his facial and stage demeanour as he sings along while playing an inimitable instrument with the emanated sounds close to human singing voice! I wish both young men the very best of good health to continue to pursue their careers for years to come. Namaskar ... Narayanakurup Kanthikumar in the village of Manteca, California, USA

[@arjunsubrahmanian7535]

What a beautiful comment! It made me tear up, thank you so much :')

[@MrKanthikumar]

@@arjunsubrahmanian7535Your last name evokes nostalgia. Your reply especially with a very special name ringing with the sounds of the valour of Arjun and Love for the downtrodden emanating from Sri Subrahmanyaswami brought tears to my old eyes too. MDR every time he sang Sri Subrahmanyaya Namaste he took particular care in getting the Sanskrit sound of "HM" sound out of Subrahmanyan. I [ prodded by 70 year old rasika Father] in my home village of Perunnai in Central Travancore used to go for daily early morning darshan of village's Sri Velayudhaswami who is none other than Sri Subrahmanyaswami from age 5 until 18 when I went off to college in Palghat. So the name Subrahmanyan is very close to my heart. When the door opened at the sanctum santorum at 5 am[for the display of the chandanacharchita Devan] with the percussion sounds of the lean volunteer's edakka with a hundred badminton-like balls in multicolours hanging from the body of edakka it was the best way to get ready with a pure mind and heart in that quiet village with appreciation for what ever privilege I had on account of my birth status with keen love for the village poor. I volunteered to tutor the Harijan kids from age 7 on in Maths and English grammar. Civics too came into the scene as some kids challenged me with the governance of the time. Keep on listening to pure music with no selfaggrandizement and gimmicks, Sri Arjun. Namaskar Sri Arjun. Narayanakurup Kanthikumar now living in the village of River Islands , California, USA

[@MrKanthikumar]

Arjun, give me your email address. If you happen to come to US come on over to my house. I play your some rare concerts for you, NKKumar

[@arjunsubrahmanian7535]

@@MrKanthikumar Wow thank you very much for sharing your experiences, Kanthi Sir :) I am also a Malayali. Hopefully Subrahmanya Swami has stayed ever present in your heart and has led you through this samsara! Wishing you moksha in this life itself :) My email is [e-mail]. And thank you very much for your offer, if I come there, I shall contact you :)

[@bhakthasrinivasan6944]

Haunting rendition by Ramana as usual. One can not but get mesmerized by this prodigy. May the Almightly bless him with a long life and health.

[@MrKanthikumar]

Mridangam along with Manavi is out of the world/ The duo are made for each other. Swatji Thirunal would be blessing them. I love these youngsters. May Saraswathi Devi be with them every single second. From a chilly California tiny town of River Islands Narayanakurup Kanthikumar

[@ektapilgrim9584]

What a feast for the ears and heart. I am completely intoxicated with all these pieces by both Ramana Balachandran and PatriSatish sir. Takes us to such a deep and beautiful meditative state. 🙏🙏🙏

[@gayathriramdas4342]

Ramana !!! It was so meditative to hear you sing and play the Veena. We have been meeting annually during Anna's discourses in Chennai.Please convey my appreciation to your parents too !!! Hope to keep listening to you more often. All The Very Best to You in The New Year 2021

[@luigiluigi1652]

Ramana Bala Chandra is at the highest level of this divine art

[@vishnushanbhogue7882]

usually carnatic artists play very lighter forms / jaavali in this raga, bt here Mr.RB gave justice to this raga so that Hindustani music lovers can also enjoy this one FINE

[@alurureavthi5078]

Very amazing playing meiss pathri mahaarti Satish Kumar sir 🙏🙏🙏👌👌👌🌹🌹🌹

[@jvsuryanarayana]

Bound to reach the very top!

[@rama9391307374]

Found a great musician on KZbin

[@chandramoulirajagopalan1844]

Marvellous gamakas with minimal meettu ..wonder how he manages pain on his left hand middle and index pressing fingers

[@GokulNathXYZ]

Captivating. Grabbed my attention from the first note.

[@pineappleink]

Lol found you in the comments.

[@mukeshkumarkothari2830]

Wow played Touched heart

[@shampalibanerjee889]

So beautiful

[@jyotisampat3246]

Ramana is vilayat khan of south. Behag is most popular in north. Of course south has garden variety of Behag and interpolareted tala's.so. is mukut of Indian music

[@sangeethajayakumar5987]

No words to express 🙏🙏🙏

[@ramsundaram4615]

தமிழர்களுக்கு இவரால் பெருமை. வாழ்க பல்லாண்டு.ஊனை உருக்குமிசை

[@guppi277]

What a percussion ...! 👌

[@jayashreeajit4579]

Awesome ❤❤ Arunachala siva Arunachala

[@vijaykakde2111]

Wow ! Wonderful !

[@karthikv1906]

Wonderful pl play without pickup it will be Divine

[@nikhilraj6535]

U are awesome

[@gemindia]

Magnificent

[@bhavanibaskaran4656]

Brilliant performance

[@anushikabalasubramaniyam2509]

Excellent❤️

[@shailikhanna1044]

Fantastic

[@veenapadmachakravarthy8583]

🙏🙏

[@ravibhushankulkarni5398]

Brilliant

[@anamikas6438]

❤❤❤🙏🙏🙏

[@ambottithamburanmanavendra314]

🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@UlisesRockerHR]

What instrument is that???

[@curiositykillstime]

It's a Veena.

[@UlisesRockerHR]

@@curiositykillstime thanks!! I love it

[@rajeshvr5805]

🌹

[@prasadrahanesitar]

Wa bhai👌🏻

[@positivityclassicalmusic6680]

👌

[@SonalDiwanjiMusicInstitute]

Good

[@muralikrishnagadepalli4454]

👍👌👏👏👏💐

[@ramalingamph9458]

Very good

[@randomperson9791]

♥️

[@areascoda2912]

Everyone should learn to play veena or raaga guitar

[@das27852]

Ramana Balachandran, please keep your lips closed and stick to the strings and your fingers...

[@pjags1]

For the main composition his singing comprised a cumulative 35 seconds out of 7 mins and 50 seconds.

[@ladybridgeniyabridge]

why would you ever be so rude?

[@rajeshsapiens6680]

Its just to let the audience know the lyrics. I think its helpful and break the monotony.

[@srikasip]

If you can’t say anything kind or informative to readers , please refrain from commenting. A friendly note of advice: if, after a performance like this, you can find nothing kind to say, you ought to reflect. Sustain on veena, in general, is difficult because of the tradeoffs in instrument design between sound depth and brightness given historical context. That he can create this kind of fluidity that mimics voice so well is really impressive on this particular instrument.

[@hiteshkandarpa8269]

dude, whats wrong with you