N Ramani – Flute

The earliest memory of his music is from a Vinyl he released in the 60’s (broadcast on AIR of course) which included ‘dArini’ in suddha sAvEri and  ‘evarimATa’ in kAmbhoji; the impression that left behind is permanently etched in my memory to this day. In fact, when he played at Pittsburgh around 10-15 years ago, I had requested him to play ‘dArini’ and he did 🙂

He is perhaps the most prolific performers in the 20th century around the world and not only was a permanent presence at the Cleveland Aradhana, he was a big supporter and promoter of the event in multiple ways. His rendering of ‘chetulara’ in bhairavi at the start of the Aradhana was something I have heard numerous times and of course concerts at Cleveland.

Here are some concerts, some of which are from my good friend Ajit Ranganathan, a student of Ramani who used to live in Pittsburgh till about 5-6 years ago. He used to talk about the phenomenal memory that Ramani had in terms of remembering what he had played many decades ago, including the accompaniments, the compositions rendered etc !!

with M S Gopalakrishnan & Palghat Raghu – Mar 18, 1972

  • varNam – kadanakuthoohalam
  • mahAgaNapatim – nATA
  • endaro mahAnubhAvulu – sri
  • nirvati suka – ravichandrikA
  • nagumOmu – AbhEri
  • bhajarE bhaja mAnasa – kannaDA
  • mOkshamu galaDa – sAramati
  • RTP – tODi
  • various

with M S Gopalakrishnan, U K Sivaraman & V Nagarajan

  • varNam – bEgaDA
  • vara vallabha – hamsadwani
  • sri sankara guruvaram – nAgaswarAvaLi
  • gurulEka eTuvanTi – gowrimanOhari
  • manasulOni – hindOLam
  • mariverE – Anandabhairavi
  • enduku – kalyANi
  • speech
  • various

with M S Gopalakrishnan & U K Sivaraman

  • varNam – AbhOgi
  • sri ragukula – hamsadwani
  • rAma bakthi – suddhabangaLA
  • parAku nI kElarA – kiraNAvaLi
  • evarani – dEvAmrutavarshiNi
  • banTureeti – hamsanAdam
  • rAma neeyeDa – karaharapriyA
  • manavyAla – naLinakAnti
  • evarimATa – kAmbhOji
  • various

with M S Gopalakrishnan & U K Sivaraman

  • varNam – bhairavi
  • vara vallabha – hamsadwani
  • enta muddO – bindumAlini
  • O rangasAyee – kAmbhOji
  • muddumOmu – sooryakAntam
  • RTP- ranjani
  • various

with MS Gopalakrishnan – Ragasudha – 15 Aug, 1980

  • varNam – valaji
  • gurulEka – gowrimanOhari
  • sujana jeevana – kamAs
  • ksheera sAgara – dEvagAndhAri
  • meenalOchana – dhanyAsi
  • ??? – yadukulakAmbhOji
  • RTP – shanmukapriyA
  • various

with M S Gopalakrishnan & T V Bhaktavatsalam

  • varNam – sahAnA – Adi
  • sri mahAgaNapatim – gowLa
  • sri sankara guruvaram – nAgaswarAvaLi
  • sAmaja varagamana – hindOLam
  • nadOpAsana – bEgaDA
  • RTP – shanmukapriyA
  • mAnasa sanchararE – sAmA – incomplete

with M S Gopalakrishnan

  • varNam – AbhOgi
  • praNamAmyaham – gowLa
  • endarO mahAnubhAvulu – sri
  • sAmaja vara gamana – hindOLaM
  • bAgAyanayyA – chandrajyOti
  • rAmakatA – madyAmavati
  • nAdalOluDai – kalyANavasantam
  • RTP – kalyANi
  • srinivAsa – hamsAnandi
  • various

with Lalgudi Jayaraman & U K Sivaraman – Krishna Gana Sabha

  • varNam – bhairavi
  • vAtApi gaNapatim – hamsadwani
  • tera teeyaka rAdA – gowLipantu
  • ninnujoochi – saurAshtram
  • brOchEvArevarurA – kamAs
  • sObillu – jaganmOhini
  • rAmA neeyaDa – karaharapriyA
  • gAnamoorti – gAnamoorti
  • RTP – kAmbhOji
  • various

with Sikkil Bhaskaran & U K Sivaraman

  • varNam – kalyANi
  • endarO – sri
  • AnandAmrutakarshiNi – amrutavarshiNi
  • janani – reetigowLa
  • nenaruncinAnu – mALavi
  • evarimATa – kAmbhOji
  • mOkshamu galdA – sAramati
  • bAgAyanayya – chandrajyOti
  • various
  • varNam – bEgaDA
  • neranammiti nIvE gati – chakravAgam
  • brOva samayamidE – gowrimanOhari
  • ninnu vinAga mari – poorvikalyANi
  • nannupAlimpa – mOhanam
  • akilAnDEswari – dwijAvanti
  • RTP – bhairavi
  • various

at Ragapriya

  • varNam – bhairavi
  • sri mahAgaNapatim – gowLa
  • smaraNE suka – janaranjani
  • janani – reetigowLa
  • sObillu – jaganmOhini
  • evarimATa – kAmbhOji
  • RTP – shanmukapriyA
  • various

tODi Alapana possibly from a RTP

N Ramani & Lalgudi Jayaraman with Tiruchi Sankaran & Ramnad Ragavan – New York

This is an excellent concert and was the final concert of Ramani and Lalgudi when they toured the US in the early 80’s. Until this specific concert, they would individually perform for 45-60 minutes each and then play together for about another 45 minutes. I have heard the recordings of a couple of such concerts – somehow they left a sense of being inadequate and not really satisfying.

  • varNam – garuDadwani
  • vAtApi gaNapatim – hamsadwani
  • duDukugala – gowLa
  • mAmavasadha – nATTaikurunji
  • marivErE – Anandabhairavi
  • vara nArada – vijayasri
  • chakkani rAja – karaharapriyA
  • karpagame – madyamAvati
  • RTP – simhEndramadyamam

N Ramani, Lalgudi Jayaraman & R Venkatraman with U K Sivaraman & T H Vinayakaram

  • varNam – sahAnA
  • vAtApi gaNapatim – hamsadwani
  • manasu nilpa – AbhOgi
  • kAmAkshi – bhairavi
  • enduku peddalavalE – sankarAbaraNam
  • bantureetikolu – hamsanAdam
  • uyyAlavayyA – neelAmbari
  • RTP – tODi
  • various

N Ramani & U Srinivas

  • varNam – AbhOgi
  • sri mahAgaNapti – gowLa
  • dinamani vamsa – harikAmbhOji
  • sAmaja vara gamana – hindOLam
  • brOvabArama – bahudAri (incomplete)
  • RTP – kalyANi
  • nArAyaNA – suddhadhanyAsi