Neyveli Santhanagopalan at SIFA San Jose, May 17, 2009

manikand28 · Post by **manikand28** » 18 May 2009, 10:09

Wonderful concert. I will leave to someone more learned to have song list and review in depth.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 19 May 2009, 09:37

Waiting for others to chime in. Ramprasad and others...

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 20 May 2009, 01:46

Any updates?

vAchaspati · Post by **vAchaspati** » 20 May 2009, 10:33

I am not qualified enough to review concerts, but I could not stand it after the first couple of pieces.

appu · Post by **appu** » 20 May 2009, 11:38

Vachaspati, That was harsh. Was it his voice, which has been consistently pulling him down or was it just that the ambience was terrible. What is it that made the concert so terrible.

srinivasrgvn · Post by **srinivasrgvn** » 20 May 2009, 11:45

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 20 May 2009, 12:28

appu & srinivasrgvn,

Did you not notice that this was vAchaspati's first post after becoming a member. While it is possible that he may be a genuine rasika, (albeit a bit harsh) , it is also possible that he falls under the "DNFTT " category. So let us wait and watch

Purist · Post by **Purist** » 20 May 2009, 14:20

Vachaspati has just stated his experience (he could not stand it after couple of pieces).

srinivasrgvn : Where is personal attack here ?.

Vachaspati has chosen not to elaborate, I dont know why. If somebody hasn't liked
the concert-well it is just an opinion surely not a personal attack. Why do we have to train guns or categorise them for a single line observation?. Surely 'much ado about nothing'

srinivasrgvn · Post by **srinivasrgvn** » 20 May 2009, 14:46

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 20 May 2009, 21:59

While in discussions we do get carried away sometimes with our views, we also show special interest and encouragement to fellow-rasikAs and their performances. In Vidyaarthi's case, he need not pay any attention to the tone of comments which he sees here, since his vidvat is not going to be abraded by any of this! I am sure there were rasikAs who appreciated his music wherever he sang in the US. We should also remember that we have 'the silent majority' on the forum who are not voluble like the rest of us. I am certain that among them there were many who enjoyed his concerts as Manikand did and are waiting for someone to write and say that they were happy to hear him too...

Ramaprasad · Post by **Ramaprasad** » 20 May 2009, 23:44

Arasi,

Sorry, I can't help here. I live on the east coast. But we are looking forward to Neyveli's kutcheri on May 30 here.

Ramaprasad

manikand28 · Post by **manikand28** » 21 May 2009, 01:06

This was my first concert in a long time, could not attend due to various reasons. I did not write down song lists, except for few signature raagams, I cannot identify them, so not trying on that front

But I can say Neyveli;s concert was packed in ground floor, we sat in balcony as my daughter is 6 years old. Lot of students in crowds, so Neyvel obliged to theor requests after 2 or 3 songs. He told I am too tired after long travels, why dont you ask for requests. When audience started giving chits, he told - appadiye sollugolen, chit thantha cheat pannuvev. Just tell me songs, if you give me chit I will cheat. He told another incident - He told I have written many songs, and once when TNS saw that on a tour, THS told Neyveli - enda enakku sollave illaye, Hey why did not you tell me about this and TNS sang two songs from collection. He was jovial, calm, very devotional. Frankly I did not know how 3 hours passed by. I felt overall it was very gripping and my daughter also enjoyed as well. I mainly go to enjoy and it does indeed have a calming and soothing effect.

hari2810 · Post by **hari2810** » 21 May 2009, 02:40

OK, let me first say that I am a regular reader of this forum, but don't write because I am still learning this great art; got interested in this whole carnatic music thing only 3-4 years back. I can only identify a few ragams now.

I usually attend most of the concerts by SIFA, San Jose.

I was at this concert only for an hour and half after which my daughter said she is not feeling well and so we left when the main (or RTP) started.

Came in when he was singing Sri Mahaganapathi (gaula). So probably first or the second song.
Next was a song that I could not identify -- I thought it sounded like Mukhari or Huseni or something like that. But I could be wrong.
Then the sub main, was Mohanam. Can't remember the lyrics well now.

At this point the chits started coming in and that's when he commented about chits and cheating (what manikand28 wrote). That was funny. (I don't quite understand Tamil, but this I could understand).

Then he sang one of his songs. I mentally noted down the first few words ("nin paada bhajaname") of this. Didn't sound like the few ragams that I know.

I believe he started on a Kalyani main (or likely an RTP) after that. Again not 100% sure if it was Kalyani. I need to listen to a few minutes before I can say for sure, but I left within the first couple of minutes of this.

Not sure if this has been helpful; but thought I will share as there has not been any song listing in this thead

His voice definitely was not cooperating at high pitch and he looked very tired as well.

-Hari

Update: They also had trouble with the violin feedback. Don't think they resolved it. I haven't seen anyone complain about this before in that theater, so it must have been a new problem.

vAchaspati · Post by **vAchaspati** » 21 May 2009, 06:04

I am extremely sorry if I sounded harsh and I certainly did not mean it to be a personal attack. Since I started vocal lessons 8 months ago, I have realized effort it takes to perfect the art and I have great respect for anybody who gets on the concert platform.
Like Hari2810, I have been a regular reader of this forum, but this is the first time I am trying to share my experience.

The concert started with a shlokam and sri mahagaNapatim in Gowla; I don't recollect the other two that I listened to.
Here are my observations:
1. Sri Santhanagoplan's voice was not cooperating in the higher octaves.
2. Kalpana swara patterns were repetitive.
3. He waited for a particular point in the tala to start the successive rounds of swaras. This is something I have not come across in my concert experience.
4. The violinist's responses were not forthcoming and when he did play, his bowing was often harsh making it sound unpleasant. I was quite nervous whenever he played

5. In my opinion the nereval was good for a nama saMkIrtana type of concert.
6. I was keeping the tala during neraval and when he launched into kalpana swara, his tala did not coincide with mine. I thought I had slowed down, but the person next to me and the lady in front were also perplexed. It's possible that all three of us made a mistake keeping count....I leave it to the laya experts to correct me if I am wrong.
7. Sri Murugabhoopati on the Mridangam was good.

I left after he announced that he was tired from travelling and that he would sing kalyANi as the main piece.
I have been attending concerts organized by SIFA for the last 5 years and this was the first time that I walked out of one. It was probably because of the high expectations I had of Sri Santhanagoplan.

It is not unusual for musicians to have a bad day; but this concert unfortunately felt like a student's debut concert. Again this is only my personal opinion.

srinivasrgvn · Post by **srinivasrgvn** » 21 May 2009, 08:07

vAchaspati, This is more clear and understandable. Now, we can be assured that you are a genuine rasika. We respect your opinions. But, in the near future, please tell us clearly so that we can participate in the discussion smoothly. You/anybody else may be genuine but there are some others in this forum who register only for causing trouble. So, I was afraid that it might be one of them. I am sorry if I had hurt your feelings in any way. But, my gentle reminder to you is that please tell us thoroughly before posting negative comments. Hope you enjoy participating in this forum! Best Wishes! =)

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 21 May 2009, 08:43

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 21 May 2009, 10:12

hari2810 wrote: Then he sang one of his songs. I mentally noted down the first few words ("nin paada bhajaname") of this. Didn't sound like the few ragams that I know.

This song is 'nin pAda bhajanamE Ezhai en jIvAdhAramE gaNapatiyE' in malayamArutam, adi tALa. A beautiful piece.

vAchaspati · Post by **vAchaspati** » 21 May 2009, 11:47

coolkarni, srinivasrgvn et al thank you for welcoming me to the forum. I'll be relocating to the Phoenix area in July, so Smt. Sowmya's concert will the last SIFA concert I'll be attending. However, I'll continue to learn from the forum and try to contribute!