Prince Rama Varma - Dedication - 3/13 - Gummana Kareyadire

Every year, one of the most highly anticipated events in the musical calendar of Prince Rama Varma would be the much beloved "Informal Concert" that he gives in January at his home town of Thiruvananthapuram, where he brings to light, a whole lot of wonderful compositions that he may not have sung before; many of which the members of the audience would never have heard before either. I normally title these videos as "Informal Concert." But this year, in 2020, I felt like titling it as "Dedication". This was because Varma ji was extremely unwell on the day of the concert and was on the verge of cancelling it. But when he thought of so many music lovers, not just from other Towns, but even from other Countries, who had come to Thiruvananthapuram for this event, he bravely decided to go ahead and honour his commitment. This was aided by the extraordinary levels of support he got from his Dream Team of Sri S.R.Vinu, Sri B.Harikumar, Dr.S.Karthick and Payyannur Sri Govindaprasad, all of whom played at the unusual pitch of G in which Varma ji had decided to sing! They play so beautifully that nothing sounds unusual, even though they are playing at this extremely unusual pitch! But being the True Masters that each one of them is, the concert turned out to be a grand success and Varma ji managed to bring out several of the "new" songs that he had planned to bring out! Which is why I felt like titling this concert as "Dedication", as a tribute to their dedication to their divine art. In the third song, Sangeeta Pitamaha Sri Purandaradasa takes the word "Cuteness" to another level altogether! Varma ji's crystal clear explanation helps to reach the soul of this precious composition even to the hearts and minds of people like me, who don't speak a single word of Kannada!