Sanjay at MA on 29.12.08

grsastrigal · Post by **grsastrigal** » 30 Dec 2008, 12:31

S.Varadarajan-Violin, Neyveli B. Venkatesh- Mridangam
Bangalore B.Rajasekhar- Moharsing.

As per the MA record, he is supposed to sing Ritigowla, Kamboji and Saveri RTP. He took Jonpuri instead of Saveri RTP.

Evare Nee- PSI-VarNam-Sahana

Kanjadalayadakshi- Kamalamanohari- Dikshitar. (S) Bullet-speed rendition and swaram was very good.

AruLvai AngayarkaNNiye- Dharmavati- Dhandapani Desikar (R,N,S). Well rendered ragam and Kriti.

Nannu vidachi- Ritigowla-T

His Ritigowla was pleasing except when he sang like Ramayya RRAAma, KothaNda RRAAma, KalyaNa RRAma. (I thought TMK must have been happy hearing this rendition.)

Rasa vilasa lola-Swati tirunal- Kamboji (R, S) was very soothing and though Kriti was not too appealing as Oh Rangasayee or Aadum deivam, it was rendered very well.

RTP- Jonpuri- "Eppo varuvaro enthan kali teera"

deepsands02 · Post by **deepsands02** » 30 Dec 2008, 12:38

The varnam is a composition of Patnam Subramanya Iyer.

And Nijagadasa is a Jayadeva Ashtapathi.

kartik · Post by **kartik** » 30 Dec 2008, 14:05

when did sanjay sing jayantasena rtp?was it this season?

grsastrigal · Post by **grsastrigal** » 30 Dec 2008, 14:18

He did sing Jayantasena RTP in Pre-season concert in NGS. Review is available in Page 7 of this.

brs · Post by **brs** » 30 Dec 2008, 16:23

i think the RTP in desh was the best of all

annamalai · Post by **annamalai** » 31 Dec 2008, 00:40

gsastrigal,

It was a great concert by Sanjay.

But, is there a reason to bring another artist's name in your review ?

Ulhas Kashalkar will be singing tomorrow at Music Academy. He is a great Hindustani musician. You may not want to miss that.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 31 Dec 2008, 01:17

I heard about TMK as well - I guess GRS was only drawing attention to an interesting sidelight. Especially when many people, including on this forum, seem to arranging themselves into TMK and Sanjay camps, it is heartening to note the mutual respect these professionals have for each other...that makes us look all the more like fools for praising one at the expense of another...

Arudra · Post by **Arudra** » 31 Dec 2008, 08:37

Also heard TMK left the concert in the second song itself!!Vijay's happiness is shrotlived! this is from someone who specifies no one leave a concert in between

grsastrigal · Post by **grsastrigal** » 31 Dec 2008, 09:46

I agree with Vijay.

My comment about TMK (in Ritigowla) is his comment about Thyagaraja and existence of bhakti etc which was discussed in detail somewhere else. Nothing derogatory in my remarks about TMK.

TMK's physical presence is already confirmed by few of our friends above.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 31 Dec 2008, 15:04

The word I got is that he came in for kambhoji and sat till the end. But I was not in the balcony so I can't say for sure.

rajaglan · Post by **rajaglan** » 31 Dec 2008, 16:59

Hi,

Looks like the bangaloreites are not missing important items of this concert.
Rasa vilasa as main, Jonpuri as RTP and finishing with Eppo varuvaro, and Nannu Vidachi are sung in the last year sanjay's concerts in Blore.

annamalai · Post by **annamalai** » 31 Dec 2008, 23:54

grsastrigal, vijay,

All good musicians are also rasikas at heart. For example, for Parasala Ponnammal concert at music academy, many senior vidwans and vidushis were in attendance. So, it is common practice.

For Sanjay's concert, I could recognize atleast a half dozen performing musicians in attendance, and some of them were scrambling for seats. No reference was made about the other musicians who attended. IMHO, TMK attending or not attending is not news worthy. If Lalgudi Jayaraman or TN Krishnan or Kanimozhi had attended the concert, then that is news.

As rasikas, I presume the interest is enjoyment of music ONLY and not gossips or with personalities. We should leave it at that.

Happy new year.
I hope the new year brings more of good music and less of apaswaras / strident postings.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 01 Jan 2009, 00:38

Annamalai, pray why is Lalgudi's (or worse Kanimozhi's!!) attendance news, but TMK's is not...making an observation about a prominent artiste listening to that of another is not my definition of gossip. Someone made similar observations in Parasala Ponnammal's concert so why is this one any different?

annamalai · Post by **annamalai** » 01 Jan 2009, 10:01

Vijay, This is acrimonious debate. Selective glossing over the details would not help. The answer to your prayer is with you. I did not bring up the "alleged" attendance of TMK or others.

I gave an example of many vidwans attending Ponnammal concert, based on my direct observation - not based on hearsay. In contrast, TMK's "probable" attendance; arrival and departure times are observed and analyzed at excruciating detail. There no reference to other vidwans who attended that concert.

IMHO, Lalgudi is a great stalwart musician and I thought the attendance of such a stalwart would be news.

Svaapana · Post by **Svaapana** » 01 Jan 2009, 10:07

grsastrigal, "He took Jonpuri instead of Saveri RTP."

I understand that the other artiste of the evening (Mrs Vijayalakshmi Subramaniam) sang Saveri RTP.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 01 Jan 2009, 15:36

I don't know which acrimonious debate you are referring to Annamalai but it was an innocuous sidelight and I thought your taking exception to it was an over-reaction. Anyway, I do not wish to sidetrack this discussion any further.

SGK_Sangeet_rasika · Post by **SGK_Sangeet_rasika** » 01 Jan 2009, 21:29

Hi all,

I attended the concert from the Nannuvidachi kriti.

An excellent concert.. Sanjay was at his best.

A good kamboji and short and sweet Jonpuri...

TMK came to the balcony during the same nannuvadachi kriti and left after the tani/beginning of RTP. Infact RKSriram kumar was also the balcony.

TMK/RKSriram kumar attending concerts seem to get noticed since they are one of the top (daily) performing artiste in this season and people were surprised to see them during the main slot.

SGK- sangeet rasika

komalangi · Post by **komalangi** » 02 Jan 2009, 11:10

Don't senior musicians come in and sit at the front at the Academy. One could see N. Ramani and AKC do so at Sanjay's concert. Why this secrecy about sitting in the balcony. Was the attendance an inspiration for TMK to sing Eppo Varuvaro at the KGS the following day? I am wondering when we will start seeing hindustani ragas appear in TMK's repertoire.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 02 Jan 2009, 14:32

OK let me try and summarize my thoughts on the concert itself.

I showed up at the Academy counter 9 AM that morning and knew even before I asked, that I was too late. I picked up a ticket for the LCD show but struck a minor windfall later in the day when a friend mentioned that he had a spare pass - that too in the lower tier!

It was, thus, with that self-important air of someone unused to privilege that I greeted the Khanda Ata varnam in Sahana. But before the Pallavi was completed, I was having some second thoughts about the value of my freebie - an equivalent ticket would have cost me Rs. 600. At that point, however, my own valuation would have been a few hundred rupees less. SanjayÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s voice, sandpapered by a couple of dozen concerts and in advanced stages of season-itis, was making a brave attempt to trace the pitch curve of the 28th Mela. The result was, at best, a rough approximation.

By the time he came around with a second helping of VenkatamakhinÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s Number 28, concerns about his voice had receded to the background eclipsed, as they were, by a meandering Dharmavathi and a composition that only served to underscore my opinion that the scaleÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s evolution into a raga is still work in progress.

To appreciate the import of what happened next, one requires a certain background in the unique vocal tradition of Indian classical music. Of diamonds lurking inside ugly, amorphous stones, and shaky vocal foundations supporting imposing raga edifices. The Kambhoji was a celebration of this glorious tradition. Its standard struggled to gain any wind from the acrobatics of SanjayÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s fatigued larynx but he ran and ran - lines and angles, ellipses and eights - and then, with a final, desperate tug, the kite and its bearer were launched into the sky. Mr. Subrahmanyan, who had thus far appeared to be racing towards the ENT clinic down the road, was suddenly transformed into the Sanjay of legend - surveying the ragaÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s magnificent landscape of the raga with his exalted vision and conveying tales from an unseen, distant world, to an audience gasping at every little twist in the narrative until the climax brought them, if only for a moment, to the portals of that rarefied world beyond joy and sorrow"¦

That pass turned out to be priceless in more ways than one.

As usual, apologies for the hyperbole! This is obviously not so much a review as the rambling of an awestruck rasika. There were several things about the concert I did not care so much for, but after that Kambhoji, they pale into insignificance! Needless to say, this one gets my vote for concert of the season

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 02 Jan 2009, 15:10

vijay wrote: To appreciate the import of what happened next, one requires a certain background in the unique vocal tradition of Indian classical music. Of diamonds lurking inside ugly, amorphous stones, and shaky vocal foundations supporting imposing raga edifices. The Kambhoji was a celebration of this glorious tradition. Its standard struggled to gain any wind from the acrobatics of SanjayÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s fatigued larynx but he ran and ran - lines and angles, ellipses and eights - and then, with a final, desperate tug, the kite and its bearer were launched into the sky. Mr. Subrahmanyan, who had thus far appeared to be racing towards the ENT clinic down the road, was suddenly transformed into the Sanjay of legend - surveying the ragaÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s magnificent landscape of the raga with his exalted vision and conveying tales from an unseen, distant world, to an audience gasping at every little twist in the narrative until the climax brought them, if only for a moment, to the portals of that rarefied world beyond joy and sorrow"¦

Besh! Some fine writing there, Vijay...

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 02 Jan 2009, 16:21

Awesome stuff Vijay!

sakthi.balan · Post by **sakthi.balan** » 02 Jan 2009, 16:33

Excellent writeup Vijay!

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 02 Jan 2009, 16:36

Fantastic Vijay

I particularly liked

"and then, with a final, desperate tug, the kite and its bearer were launched into the sky".

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 02 Jan 2009, 17:02

kedharam · Post by **kedharam** » 02 Jan 2009, 17:17

"the kite and its bearer were launched into the sky"

Varnam · Post by **Varnam** » 02 Jan 2009, 17:47

Hi Vijay,

you seem to have stolen the show away from Sanjay for a while with your eloquence, as powerful & brilliantly imaginative as SS's bhani!!!
Cheers

rajaglan · Post by **rajaglan** » 02 Jan 2009, 22:47

Vijay,

Nice writeup. It sounds so great when such an experience is about a good concert.
I am sure you must have felt it during the concert (or kamboji) . Not an after thought.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 02 Jan 2009, 23:39

I never cease to be amazed by the kind words with which my little indulgences are received on this forum. I thank you all - but the credit, if any, is really due to the power of Sanjay's music.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 03 Jan 2009, 05:20

That was an excellent read after an arduous journey back to the States. I too especially enjoyed the kite bearer line. Thanks, Vijay!

kedharam · Post by **kedharam** » 03 Jan 2009, 05:31

"I never cease to be amazed by the kind words with which my little indulgences are received on this forum"

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 03 Jan 2009, 06:20

I second kedharam.
Vijay that was hearfelt(I mean your review and my appreciation).

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 04 Jan 2009, 00:17

Sri TVG has uploaded the AIR program of a part of this concert, so we can all enjoy the Kamboji:
http://sangeethamshare.org/tvg/SEASON_2 ... bramaniam/

shripathi_g · Post by **shripathi_g** » 05 Jan 2009, 02:16

Awesome Review Vijay. Looking forward to listen to that Kamboji

shripathi_g · Post by **shripathi_g** » 05 Jan 2009, 02:23

komalangi wrote:Don't senior musicians come in and sit at the front at the Academy. One could see N. Ramani and AKC do so at Sanjay's concert. Why this secrecy about sitting in the balcony. Was the attendance an inspiration for TMK to sing Eppo Varuvaro at the KGS the following day? I am wondering when we will start seeing hindustani ragas appear in TMK's repertoire.

Back in 2003, I saw TMK attending OST's concert at the MA with his family. OST sang a mind blowing Kedaragowla and a sublime Chakkani Raja that day. I attended TMK's concert at the MFAC the same evening and he started off his concert with Chakkani Raja!

jananee · Post by **jananee** » 06 Jan 2009, 20:15

Lovely write up Vijay..Pity I did not get to hear that Kambhoji!

harimau · Post by **harimau** » 06 Jan 2009, 20:37

vijay wrote:OK let me try and summarize my thoughts on the concert itself. .....

By the time he came around with a second helping of VenkatamakhinÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s Number 28, concerns about his voice had receded to the background eclipsed, as they were, by a meandering Dharmavathi and a composition that only served to underscore my opinion that the scaleÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s evolution into a raga is still work in progress.

Maybe Sanjay's evolution into a good Carnatic musician is a work in progress rather than Dharmavathi's evolution from a scale to a raga.

Everytime I listen to Sanjay trying to sing Dharmavathi, I have to rack my brains to determine which raga he is singing, though I have no problem with it when anybody else is singing it.

In fact, I thoroughly enjoyed Sikkil Gurucharan's RTP in Dharmavathi at the Music Academy.

Maybe Sanjay can help me with Dharmavathi. Next time he wants to sing an RTP in Dharmavathi, here is the pallavi line for him:

"Vatta vatta Pottukkari (arudhi), Ottakattha Kattikko, Gettiyaka Ottikko".

The original song is in Dharmavathi and I can't forget that. He can mangle the raga all he wants and I will still get it... unless of course he decides to do the RTP in Abhishek-ki-Nilambari and uses this as the pallavi line.

Aaaaargggh!

saptaratna · Post by **saptaratna** » 07 Jan 2009, 12:28

Have to agree with Sri Hari on the Dharmavathi factor .

For a long time, did I hear Gowri Manohari ? Then did I hear someother allied raga of Dharmavati? Towards the end I knew I heard Dharmavati.

Same with Jonpuri, ( Darbari..... no, then what , Kapi..... no, yes it was Jonpuri finally ).

I had one other experience of the same thing two years back in another concert of his, Kedaragowla ( Yadhukula Kamboji..........? finally Kedaragowla).

Sanjay , still is one of my favourites and the MA concert was really an invigorating experience. But still .............?

sakthi.balan · Post by **sakthi.balan** » 07 Jan 2009, 12:58

Thanks bilahari for the link.....I need to hear this Kambojhi

These days I am more attracted to Sanjay's music than anyone else.......!

rajaglan · Post by **rajaglan** » 07 Jan 2009, 22:30

I have heard this song before. But this rendition (Raasa vilasa , Kamboji) is very superior. He took the raga and the krithi to a very new level.
Thanks for the uploading.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 08 Jan 2009, 00:10

Vijay,
Reading your lyrical piece on the concert brought back the poignant moments of watching Chariots of Fire to me.The concert must have been a memorable one. The one I missed (sold out in the morning). To add to my disappointment, a gathering I was at that evening had a few people who exclaimed: why didn't you tell me? You could have used my ticket! But I did get to hear Anil Srinivasan and Viji (on the violin) play together which I enjoyed...

kartik · Post by **kartik** » 08 Jan 2009, 06:20

harimau wrote: Maybe Sanjay's evolution into a good Carnatic musician is a work in progress rather than Dharmavathi's evolution from a scale to a raga.

This is a bit tough on Sanjay-he is one of the better vocalists today in the current generation.One good thing is that Sanjay is an honest man-I have seen 2 evidences of this-he has mentioned about Dwijavanti in his blog that he had struggled with it in the past and was quite happy to get it right in his recent tour in the US.The other instance was I read a review recently when he admiited on the mike that there had been a slip on his part.I think honesty needs to respected and constructive feedback can help,as Saveri pointed out.

It is also good to see people explaining why they got confused with Sanjay's Dharmavathi/Kedaragowla-too many chaayas of Gowrimanohari/Yadukulakambodi,which can prove to be valuable feedback for the artist.
Having said that,in one of the concerts of TKRangachari in the alapana of Vagadeeswari,he lands on R3 very late into the alapana,establishing the raga only then.(this was nearly after 3-4 minutes had gone by and it sounded like Harikambodi till then).Did Sanjay also touch upon M2 late?Just a question....

DhwaniB · Post by **DhwaniB** » 08 Jan 2009, 08:51

Extremely well written and a very fair assessment - well done Vijay. I was there too and i must say you put all my thoughts into words...

sakthi.balan · Post by **sakthi.balan** » 08 Jan 2009, 09:04

kartik wrote:.
Having said that,in one of the concerts of TKRangachari in the alapana of Vagadeeswari,he lands on R3 very late into the alapana,establishing the raga only then.(this was nearly after 3-4 minutes had gone by and it sounded like Harikambodi till then).Did Sanjay also touch upon M2 late?Just a question....

Yes I do remember this one......I was actually hearing this one with my friend and we were enjoying for 4 min and suddenly there came a ri3 out of nowhere that made us feel like Oh Man! It was just an extraordinary stuff.....

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 08 Jan 2009, 12:43

I had no doubts about the identity of the raga myself (but then I had the souvenir songlist with me!). I have a bit of a problem with the raga. Only TNS' RTP available commercially has satisfied me so far (Hyd Bros at NGS last year provided an interesting sketch but there was no melodic identity that emerged).

I am not sure when M2 was hit but I am sure it was fairly early on...Jananee, Arasi, Dhwani, Punarvasu and Sripathi - thanks for your kind words

komalangi · Post by **komalangi** » 08 Jan 2009, 20:18

Have the rasikas on this forum ever considered that the problem is with them in evolving to the point that they can identify dharmavathi or is it a stupid point for consideration? How dare I question the intellect, wisdom, and knowledge of rasikas on this forum? I have been listening to music for the last 40 odd years and it is refreshing to hear Sanjay elaborate alapanas attempting to cover the various facets and dimensions of any raga, dharmavati being no exception. I was at the MA concert and heard a beautiful dharmavati. On the side, while I am fan of TKR, the approach to the vagadeeswari rendition as mentioned is unacceptable to me. He'd rather sing harikamboji for that matter. Maybe TKR had a challenge with singing vivadhis and therefore avoided attempting the same. Every raga, including vivadhis, has its own swaroopa. Why would you not expose that swaroopa as early as you can in its delineation?

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 08 Jan 2009, 21:33

Komalangi I doubt whether any of the forum regulars would have trouble identifying ragas like Dharmavathi. The problem is that there is no melodic identity that emerges - no raga swaroopa as you put it...every artiste seems to have his/her own version. This, at any rate, is my opinion.

Hyd Brothers for example essayed a completely different version last year highlighting the Madhyamam and the Nishadam (I have subsequently learnt that they use this technique for a lot of ragas involving M2 and N3!)

BTW, my comments on Sanjay's Dharmavati were partly motivated by my desire to set up a contrast - they need not be taken too seriously. But you would agree that his voice was not exactly co-operative and until he cut loose with the Kambhoji, the concert was going the "Decent but nothing exceptional" way

kartik · Post by **kartik** » 09 Jan 2009, 18:54

komalangi wrote:Every raga, including vivadhis, has its own swaroopa. Why would you not expose that swaroopa as early as you can in its delineation?

Agree 100%.That is the reason why I love MLV's alapanas,the one thats stands out is the Jayamanohari alapana,superb stuff.