Ramnad Krishnan | Kamala & Laxman Wedding Concert, 1954 | 108th Birth Anniversary Tribute

On the occasion of the 108th birth anniversary of Ramnad Krishnan (1918–1973), we are honoured to share a historic and rare recording – a wedding concert from 1954, the earliest concert recording currently available of the maestro. This memorable occasion was the marriage of the celebrated dancer Kumari Kamala with the famous cartoonist RK Laxman. The concert was specially arranged as Kumari Kamala was a devoted student of Ramnad Krishnan, making this performance both a personal and musical milestone. This year also marks the 250th birth anniversary of Muthuswamy Dikshitar, and this concert fittingly pays homage to the great composer, featuring his timeless creations.

The Music of Ramnad Krishnan:
Ramnad Krishnan’s music occupies a cherished space in the golden era of Carnatic music. Known for his weighty raga based music, it perfectly blended precision with a deep emotional charge. His renditions of rakti ragas like Sahana, Kalyani and Kambhoji remain models of subtlety and depth, where every phrase unfolds with meditative beauty. His voice carried an almost veena-like tonal clarity, and his approach to manodharma combined classicism with originality. Even within the bustling environment of a wedding stage, his music here glows with the same serene majesty that defined his artistry.

Vocal: Ramnad Krishnan
Violin: Thiruparkadal Veeraraghavan (incorrectly tagged in the video)
Mridangam: Palghat R Raghu

00:00:00 - Abhogi - Evari Bodhana (Varnam) - Adi - Patnam Subramania Iyer
00:03:57 - Purnachandrika - Ne Jesina - Adi - Patnam Subramania Iyer
00:11:31 - Pantuvarali/Kasiramakriya - Alapana
00:18:17 - Pantuvarali/Kasiramakriya - Ramanatham Bhajeham - Rupakam - Muthuswamy Dikshitar (Disputed)
00:27:57 - Arabhi - Alapana
00:35:30 - Arabhi - Nada Sudha Rasambilanu - Rupakam - Tyagaraja
00:41:31 - Anandabhairavi - Alapana
00:47:38 - Anandabhairavi - Marivere Gathi - Misra Chapu - Shyama Sastri
00:58:52 - Kalyani - Alapana
01:10:08 - Kalyani - Kamalambam Bhajare - Adi (2 Kalai) - Muthuswamy Dikshitar
01:24:43 - Tani Avarthanam - Adi (2 Kalai)
01:33:15 - Malavi - Alapana
01:35:45 - Malavi - Nenarunchinanu - Adi - Tyagarajar
01:42:23 - Kharaharapriya - Alapana
01:51:08 - Kharaharapriya - Pakkala Nilabadi - Misra Chapu - Tyagaraja
02:02:51 - Khamas - Idadhu Padam Thooki - Adi - Papanasam Sivan

Note: This performance has been painstakingly restored from a heavily damaged spool, riddled with fungus and deterioration. While the recording quality carries background noise typical of a wedding setting, the archival significance and the musical essence make this a precious document of Carnatic music history. We have undertaken sound editing to enhance the listening experience, while retaining the raw authenticity of the source.

#RamnadKrishnan #108thBirthAnniversary #CarnaticMusic #RareRecording #Concert #MuthuswamyDikshitar250 #IndianClassicalMusic #MusicArchives

Through this initiative we aim to archive concerts by various artists and bring to our viewers the experience of listening to complete concerts. These concerts are carefully chosen from Vaak's archives and cleaned up for the best listening experience.

The purpose of this upload is to assist the students and the lifelong learners of India in their pursuit of an education so that they may better their status and their opportunities and to secure for themselves and for others justice, social, economic and political. This has been posted for non-commercial purposes and facilitates fair dealing usage of academic and research materials for private use including research, for criticism and review of the work or of other works and reproduction by teachers and students in the course of instruction. Many of these materials are either unavailable or inaccessible in libraries in India, especially in some of the poorer states and this collection seeks to fill a major gap that exists in access to knowledge.


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