Review on Amazon.com
I think this was the first recording of south Indian classical singing that came out on LP in the USA. And it's a fantastic recording. Three short songs (kritis) and one long piece, the ragam-tanam-pallavi. The latter is a complicated form, where ragam and tanam are long improvisations (a bit like alap/jod in north India), and pallavi is a structurally complex form of elaboration on melodic lines of a kriti. It also contains a drum solo. Now, this form (RTP) in concert can run up to three hours; the feat on this album was to condense it into half an hour and the way they did it was so succesful it has been a recording norm ever since.
Ramnad Krishnan was a singer from the top level, and the accompaniment is also top-notch. Violin and kanjira playing especially. In some ways, this album is better than many being recorded today, since it features both mridangam and kanjira drums, instead of the current unfortunate trend towards mridangam only.
The three kritis, sweet as they are to the south Indian ear, are probably bitter fodder for beginner foreigners, but, and this is important about this groundbreaking release, the RTP is catchy even in the Western sense, and with its long and fantastic drum solo (remember, mridangam AND kanjira) it will certainly appeal to many, many more listeners than the average recording in the genre. It is also divided into tracks for the various sections, which is rare but absolutely examplary for someone who hasn't even heard an RTP before but wants to understand how it works.
Liner notes are also very good, and extensive enough to convey a little more than basic background information.
1. Kriti: Ninnadanela
2. Kriti: Palincu Kamaksi
3. Kriti: Abhimanamennadu
4. Alapana
5. Tanam
6. Pallavi Theme
7. Pallavi Niraval
8. Svara Kalpana
9. Tani Avartam (Drum Solo)
Music can be sampled on Amazon.com
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