Every Hyderabadi rasika will never miss a concert of Sanjay. He is one musician who visits the city often and always the venues are full. And one beautiful change I noticed these days in Hyderabad is, most of the people who would wander outside during the thaniavarthanam have stopped doing that. Everybody is sitting in the hall, and a unison of thaalam is heard across the hall during the thaniavarthanam. I noticed this day before yesterday in Ranjani-Gayatri's concert too. It was a pleasing change. Coming back to the concert, Sri Varadarajan accompanied him on violin, Sri Palghat Mahesh Kumar on the mridangam and Sri Venkata Krishna on Kanjira. Coming to the song list of yesterday
1. Varnam-Balahamasa-Patnam Subramanya Iyer
2. Budhamashrayami-Natakurinji-Dikshitar[S]
3. Vidajaladhura-Janaranjani-Thyagaraja[R,S]
4. Ezhundhaale-Mohanam-Arunachalakavi[R]
5. Amba naadhu-Thodi-Pallavi Gopala Iyer[R,N,S,T]
6. Theril erinaan-Kalyani-Papanasam Sivan
7. Ragam Thanam Pallavi: Kedaragowla
8. Virutham: Uppum Kappuramum- Behag
9. Innamum Oru Sthalam-Behag-Marimuthu Pillai[?]
(Had to leave after this point)
A beautiful Balahamsa opened the concert. The varnam was sung in two speeds. And the krithi "Budhamasrayami" showed up next. I guess, the reason for singing it was yesterday being Wednesday, and Hyderabad rasikas were lucky to get a navagraha krithi in the concert. A short round of swarams followed the krithi.
Something I wonder about Sanjay is the way his voice moves. It moves in every manner possible, creating astonishing vibrations all around the concert hall. His voice bends, dives, jumps, jives, climbs, creeps, flies and flows so freely. No doubt he is a legend. All the beauty was unleashed when he sang the Janaranjani alapana. His voice was at its best. The alapana was amazingly beautiful. He chose the famous "Vidajaladhura". The mridangam was sounding amazing for this composition. The sangathis at "thanuvee panulaku" were very enjoyable. The swarams were sung at a NECK BREAK speed! It was so fast, deadly fast, amazingly fast! There were prayogams like "SP SMP S;MP SPMP RGMR". Such amazing combinations he had in this ragam. A perfect submain piece indeed!
Mohanam Alapana came next. The violin was matching his vocal expertise in every manner. The team was sharing a beautiful rapport which added to the amazing factor of the concert. I was not expecting any common krithi, for from the previous experiences of his concerts, I know that he is full of surprises. He did surprise us again with an uncommon Arunachalakavi krithi. "Ezhundhale Poonkodhai" I am not well versed with Tamil, but I understood that this was about Seetha Devi. That helped me spot the composer. It was a beautiful composition and a beautiful rendition.
Thodi as the main! What can one have better to ask for! From my observation, the raga rippled across the auditorium and echoed in every corner, touched every heart. The grandeur of the raga was majestic. His treatment was perfect for the song. It was very long since a decent Thodi was heard in Hyderabad. The raga in itself is so grand. (Or, I feel so for it being my favorite ragam) The alapana went for around 12 minutes. The violin return was also equally good. At a point, he extended one note so long, that the entire hall broke into loud applause.
Not the regular krithis, but that grand old composition, "Amba naadhu" was brought as a surprise. The song received an extra royal treatment with each word he sang. Such a majestic composition! I am glad he chose that. A detail neraval at "Vaarahi Vaishnavi Sumangali" came next. Each word of this song was so simple, a direct reference to the names of the Goddess, but the bhava and the emotion was spellbound. Thodi is one raga which is not just meant for listening and enjoying but is a raga that can be felt deep deep inside! And Sanjay's Thodi dived deeper. The hall was full of intense vibrations from the circulation of Thodi. While singing the alapana, Sanjay gave 2-3 seconds pause between the time where the violin finishes playing the particular phrase he sung and him choosing the next phrases to sing, even that silence was so profound and enjoyable. Though it was not heard, the music lingered even in the spaces. (I hope I am clear in conveying what I wanted to, I am not understanding how to explain it all
) To be precise, every thing about the Thodi composition including the pauses were grand and enjoyable. After a detail neraval came round of swarams. For a while, the swarams were in normal speed, then in madhyamakaalam and later in extra speed. There were phrases like "SPG;MP MPG;MP" "DD;GMDND;NDPDM" were beautiful during the slower pace. And when the extra speed (or should I call it Sanjay Speed) showed up, "M;dp mdp pMdp" and he kept singing "dpdpdp" phrases repeatedly again and again and wove beautiful patterns around that part. I observed that "DP" was majorly used (i'm not really good with all these technical aspects, so i may not be correct with the terminology. All this is my observation during the concert) After an extra ordinary round of swarams in his extraordinary speed, a superb thaniavarthanam came up. And it was the cherry on the top of this extra ordinary rendition. For me, this entire concert would immediately remind of the extra ordinary Thodi of Sanjay.The filler, "Theril Erinan" was sung in Kalyani before he moved to the grand Kedaragowla Ragam thanam Pallavi. I could not figure out the thaalam. It was a triputa thalam. But I dont know if it was khanda triputa or misra thriputa! Or was it altogether a different thalam? I am not sure. The pallavi was
" Thandavam Adum Thillai Natarajan.
Thajam Thakajam Thjakitajam enru"
The thanam and alapana were totally out of world. The violin played the music in the same manner as the extra ordinariness of Sanjay. A beautiful swarakalpana came up next. The ragamalika swarams were in Mukhari, Begada and Shivaranjani. The rounds were detail and beautiful. After the violin finished shivaranjani and a not-so-long-but-very-loud applause (expecting that the RTP was not over yet), a sudden silence in the hall and the silence ended when Sanjay started "Uppum Karpuramum" in Behag. The beautiful tamil piece followed next.
I had to leave after this point.
It was an out-of-the-world experience and a perfect proof to the statement that Sanjay is a superstar and a superman! The concert was SUPERB! And that Thodi will remain afresh in my memories forever.
