Sanjay Subrahmanyan at Wigmore Hall, London.

[sirsub11]

Sanjay Subrahmanyan performed at a very special concert at the historic Wigmore Hall in London on March 9, 2011. Here is an unusual and wonderful review by Bruno Kavanagh, an Englishman who made a special effort to be there. Read all about it through this link :-

http://www.narthaki.com/info/rev12/rev1197.html

[Nick H]

...an Englishman who made a special effort to be there.

Thought this was going to be hyperbole :$ but

I live in New York – but Sanjay Subrahmanyan at the Wigmore was too good to miss. I decided that I was due a trip home (I am originally from London) and bought my tickets on the spot. A few days later I found myself sitting ten rows from the front of the Wigmore, nervously waiting for Subrahmanyan to take the stage.

Wow! Here's me thinking that a concert anywhere else but my select favourite Mylapore halls constitutes a "special effort!"

But the best is yet to come. After mentioning that the Wigmore Hall seats about 500 people,

we owe a special debt of thanks to Neyveli Venkatesh. Why? Because – I have saved the best till last – the concert was entirely unamplified. The stage was utterly bare, and the natural sound of Subrahmanyan's projected voice, Venkatesh's hands caressing the skins of his drum, and Varadarajan's bow on his strings were allowed to meld and soar together without the mediation of any electricity.

Sirsub11, were you there? Anyone from London post their impressions of this concert? What a pity it didn't coincide with one of Arasi's visits to the city!

Hoping to hear more...

[sirsub11]

NickH, if wishes were horses.... No, I was not at the Wigmore but in faraway Bengaluru. I have heard Sanjay in London last year, but that was in humbler surroundings at East Croydon. The noble Wigmore must have been something else. Who knows, the concert may find its way into youtube sometime.

[nri]

The "Oli" concert at Wigmore Hall detoxed Sanjay!

[rshankar]

Nick, Bruno Kavanagh is married to dancer Preeti Vasudevan (hence the post on narthaki, I guess), and has pretty strong views about sound systems in Indian music.

[arasi]

Ravi,
The Nartaki connection makes sense.

Nick,
Guess what. It happens almost every year that I miss Sanjay's London concerts by a week or so. I don't fare any better in the US either. Gone are the days when we would drive to far-off venues to hear good music.
I have not been at Wigmore Hall. It would have been great, taking in Amjed Ali Khan's music as well. The tickets there are reasonably priced, I noticed.

Sirsub,
That humble venue you speak about (and were lucky to be at last year)--that Croydon hall, yielded a very good concert. Thanks to Youtube, you can hear a generous chunk from that performance of Sanjay with Varadarajan and Venkatesh. Oh, and I was also charmed by the little speech by the old mrudangam player

[Nick H]

Nick, Bruno Kavanagh is married to dancer Preeti Vasudevan (hence the post on narthaki, I guess), and has pretty strong views about sound systems in Indian music.

Oh!

Now you come to mention it, I think I just might have read some.

I don't think I've ever been to a Wigmore Hall concert. I've heard very little Western-classical live. I regret having not seen more: whenever I did go it was an amazing experience.

Actually, the same goes for most music: I have not seen a great deal of folk, rock, etc either. This was my history with Indian music; I'd see the London listings, note all the bands/performances/etc that would be good to see, and actually move my backside to a concert hall for the Indian stuff.

[mahavishnu]

Sanjay on going mikeless @ Wigmore Hall.... http://sanjaysub.blogspot.com