The lockdown during India's Fight against Corona Virus, yields yet another little gem from Prince Rama Varma's self isolation time!
Long before the internet and YouTube came about, I've had the privilege of spending hours together with Varma ji and the extended Alaps and Swaram sessions that he used to come up with, were tuly mind blowing, though he controls himself a bit and organizes himself during public concerts.
Varma ji once told me that he had read somewhere, this telling statement about Character versus Personality : A river that is flooded and has burst it's banks might have Tremendous Personality, but not much Character! At least three of Varma ji's four revered Gurus followed this principle of measure and self discipline and Varma ji usually follows this himself during his live concerts.
Here Varma ji comes up with a tiny little Gem of a Yamuna Kalyani on the veena; tiny compared to his usual home renditions that go on for twenty minutes or more. I love to listen to the sound of Varma ji's un amplified, pure, acoustic Veena than the terrible, bass guitar type sounds that one generally gets to listen to these days.
I also admire the fact that though Varma ji does extensive sessions of Manodharmam in Yamuna Kalyani, he never mixes that in when he sings Kalyani, which he describes as "Pure Vegetarian, No oinion or Garlic Kalyani."
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