NSG - Kalarasana - 30 Dec 2011

[bilahari]

Neyveli Santanagopalan - Vocal
Delhi Sunderrajan - Violin
Mannargudi Easwaran - Mrudangam
K.V. Gopalakrishnan - Khanjira

Duration: 3h

Approximate Songlist:

vanajAkSi ninnEkori (varNam) [S @ caraNam] - rItigowLa - khaNDa aTa - Vinai Kuppaiyar
girirAjasuta tanaya (S @ pallavi) - bangaLa - Adi - T
buvinidAsudanE pErasacE (R, N @ padamulEgati, S) - srIranjani - Adi - T
piRavA varam tArum (R, N @ pArvati nEya, S) - latAngi - Adi - PS
mAyamma aninE - Ahiri - Adi - SS
paramAtmuDu (R, S @ pallavi, T) - vAgadISwari - Adi - T

rAgam tAnam pallavi - sAma - khaNDa tripuTa (samam + 1/2 eDuppu)
pallavi: paramESwaram ramESwaram mEswaram ISwaram sadA bhajEham mudAtmagam (?)
vruttam (ulAsa nirAtkula yOga?) followed by nADi tEDi (tiruppugazh) - cUDAmaNi - Adi (tiSra)
manamE muruganai - sindhu bhairavi - Adi - ?
nI nAma rUpamulaku (mangaLam) - sowrASTRam - Adi

NSG delivered a great concert to an unfortunately sparse audience at Kalarasana.

The aTa tALa varNam in rItigowLa is always welcome, and NSG sang it entirely in madhyama kAlam. GirirAja suda featured some rapidfire swaras and was pleasant. The srIranjani was beautiful overall, and I especially liked the elaborate neraval. The swaras featured a few short kaNakku exchanges. The entire latAngi was a highlight of the concert for me, right from NSG's probing alapanai using flat notes effectively (M and even N) to his emotive rendition of PS's kriti to the moving neraval especially in the first speed and the kaNakku-based but aesthetic kalpanaswaras. This was topped by a really touching vilamba kAla rendition of mAyamma, with some gorgeous raga interludes.

Someone in the audience then requested a vivAdi, and I cringed, not being a fan of most of them. Thankfully, NSG said he would pick a "nalla vivAdi" and embarked on a lovely vAgadISwari alapanai, where he would sing passages around the D and N before dipping or ascending ever so gently to the rishabam. It was a gripping presentation. His paramAtmuDu was also gorgeous as he concluded it by going all the way down to the mandra shadjam. The swaras featured many beautiful patterns, and I particularly enjoyed the following set (rough guide from memory): SRS P,,, MGRS - SRS D,,, MGRS - SRS N,,, DPMPGRS - SRS S,,, NDPMGRS. The glides to P, D, N, and S, followed by the gamaka-laden descent offered a great view of the rAgam.

After the tani, NSG sang a brief sketch of sAma (no violin) and then sang a beautiful and elaborate tAnam as well. While the sketch was disappointingly brief, I'm glad he picked a "smaller" ragam like sAma for a shorter exploration, especially since it is easy to extract the bhAvam of sAma in a short time. He said he adapted the pallavi from a MD composition, and the words tapered so beautifully, with ISwaram on the arudhi. There were some ragamaliga swaras starting with bAgESwari.

While NSG's voice did crack occasionally and especially in the upper octave, his shruti was immaculate otherwise and he delivered a fine concert. His music features such a beautiful combination of classicism and creativity.

Delhi Sunderrajan played well, and it was my first time listening to him after hearing so much about him and his unfortunate accident. He played very understandingly and apart from a few nebulous gamakas, his playing was clean. I especially liked how he used rapid finger alternations to produce janTa and brigha patterns. His raga sketches were faithful to NSG's ideas and I especially enjoyed his latAngi and vAgadISwari alapanais. He was well up to the task during neraval and kalpanaswaras too. He used the mandra stAyi effectively throughout the concert.

Mannargudi Easwaran lifted the concert as he always seems to with his nuanced playing for kritis and his understanding support during kalpanaswaras, where his playing inspired NSG. It is always worth noting the clarity of Sri Easwaran's strokes! KVG played beautifully whenever he got a chance, and I thought his returns during the tani were very nice. The tani was short but engaging, and I thought it "suited" paramAtmuDu very well.

The concert was a treat.

[mahavishnu]

thanks, Bilahari for your meticulous review.

The virutham would have been from Arunagirinadhar's kandhar anubhoothi. Beautiful lines.

ullAsa nirAgula yOga vidhach
challAba vinOdhanum nee yalaiyO
ellAm aRa ennai izhandha nalam
sollAi murugA surabhU pathiyE.

[rshankar]

Bilahari, thanks for the review...
And, IIRC, this lovely latAngi masterpiece of Sri PS was also first featured in a movie (had to say that, in response to 'raised eyebrows' for singing dInakaruNAkaranE as a tukkaDA by Smt. Varalakshmi Anandakumar)

[bilahari]

Mahavishnu, thanks a lot for Arunagirinadar's verse. Beautiful indeed.

Ravi, weren't even some of GKB's compositions like varugalAmO aiyyA first featured in films? Or I may be mistaken.

[mahavishnu]

Actually, so many of Papanasam Sivan's songs were first featured in films. (including some of the songs that he wrote for Nandanar in GKB style like kANa vEndamo). DKP, MSS et al have been singing them from the 1930s in regular concerts. So, I am raising my eyebrows to any raised eyebrows.

There is a very good DKJ concert (I would post it here but it is a commercial release) where he talks about the differences in the influence of film on classical music in the 1930s and at the time of the recording (late 80s/early 90s). Here is a link: http://www.charsur.com/charsur/index.ph ... ts_id=1229

It has some gems such as thAyE ezhaipAl dayai seivayE, vadanamE chandrabimbamO, manamE kanamum etc; all Sivan's film songs.

[rshankar]

Mahavishnu, that concert of Sri DKJ's is a gem...and pardon this digression:
There is one more where Sri DKJ talks about an interaction he had with Sri PS when the latter was in the throes of composing what was later to be 'vadanamE candrabimbamO'...apparently, Sri PS had initially composed it as 'mugamadu candrabimbamO' and when Sri DKJ pointed out that the first word could be misconstrued (in a religious sense), the genius that he was, Sri PS immediately changed it to vadanamE...

[mahavishnu]

Ravi, thanks for the information on that song. I did not know that. Interesting indeed!

The story that DKJ used to describe how he (and his peers) used to sing vanadamE chandrabimbamO at young ladies of his times is hilarious. In this album, Smt DKP is in the audience and Sri DKJ talks about how nervous this was making him!

DKJ was a raconteur par excellence. There is an excellent album (also released by Charsur) in the Ksetra series (TiruvArUr) where he talks about the breakfast specials at his college cantina (taking old idlis and spicing it up with new things) and how his music is similar to that. In a strange way he uses that to draw an analogy between the kamalAmbA navAvarNAms and their interpretation by contemporary musicians.

Both these albums are a "must have" for all the DKJ fans out there.

The special relationship that Sri Papanasam Sivan shared with DKP is worth mentioning. DKP's efforts in bringing songs like parAtpara (vAchaspati) and parAmukham EnayyA (k.priya) are the reason why PS's compositions are being sung in the concert platform on par with the trinity & other great vaggeyakkaras.

[pvs]

Very enjoyable, the last few posts. Sri Sivan easily straddled the movie and classic world with his compositions. I remember listening to DKJ saying in the said concert that MKT wouldn't sing if Sivan was not the lyricist! (One line from Haridas (?) comes to mind. 'adiga thanmayil therndhaval vanji...raagathil sirandadhu naatta kurinji...'!
Also one of the most famous Tamil compositions in the concert platform right from GNB's times is Sivan's Maa Ramanan. It is the 'title credits song' in 1938's Seva Sadanam with MSS. It has been the main or sub main in umpteen concerts!

[rajeshnat]

Review of the concert --> Neyveli Santhanagopalan's manodharma aspect, particularly in niraval and swaras, came to the fore.

http://www.thehindu.com/arts/music/article2789913.ece

[barrakooka]

Mahavishnu, that concert of Sri DKJ's is a gem...and pardon this digression:
There is one more where Sri DKJ talks about an interaction he had with Sri PS when the latter was in the throes of composing what was later to be 'vadanamE candrabimbamO'...apparently, Sri PS had initially composed it as 'mugamadu candrabimbamO' and when Sri DKJ pointed out that the first word could be misconstrued (in a religious sense), the genius that he was, Sri PS immediately changed it to vadanamE...

Sorry for a little more digression. DKJ goes on to mention that PS's lyrics for love song was very good but these days (in DKJ's days) the lyrics are pretty bad like 'Pogathe vadi penne vasam ulla roja poove'. And nowadays (today), enough said.