Sandeep Narayan@Brahma Gana Sabha on July 31st,2012

[rajeshnat]

Sandeep Narayan@Brahma Gana Sabha on July 31st,2012
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Vocal : Sandeep Narayan
Violin : Kamalakiran Vinjamuri
Mrudangam : Umayalapuram Bhairav

Concert duration/Day : 2 hours 20 mins /Tuesday
Concert Type : Nirvana (prime evening concert , no concert to follow)
Sabha/Hall : BGS /Held in Arkay Convention hall, Luz

1. ...???
2. paramapurusha - lalitapanchamam - ST
3. vAnanai mathi soodiya (R N) - keeravani - Appar
10 mins alapana and 6 mins violin return
11 mins neraval in Uranai uNarAr puramunreida Aranai

4. AnandAmrithakarshini (R,S) - amrithavarshini - MD
7 mins alapana and 5 mins violin return
8 mins swaras
5. EdayyA gati - chAlanAttai - KI

I was about 10 to 15 mins late when sandeep wrapped up with Swati's paramapurusha. I would like to know what he sang before (hope sandeep can post ).

A lovely submain alapana in keeravani unfolded . Sandeep has a majestic sareeram and I loved his alapana and the thevaram unfolded with a right proportion of aggression and a bit of contemplative mood that keeravani magically brings in. The neraval was very detailed and he sang with a lot of involvement

The next in amrithavarshini was a welcome drop . I loved his raga rendition and the krithi had a lovely tempo and swara prastanam was magical a lovely to and fro return from charming kamalakiran was aesthetically brilliant with bhairav rocking with more rhythmic patterns.

chalanattai a lovely ragam certainly popularized by his guru sanjay and in general Sandeep sang with his dynamic gusto and was well received by the audience. He sang chalanAttai from anupallavi line mA daya nidhi and was very meditative .

[rajeshnat]

6A. shantamulEkhA (R S T) - shyamA - T
10 mins alapana and 6 mins violin return
14 mins swaras
6B. tani for 10 mins

7. kandanin azhagil bhaktan(Raga sketch) - sindubhairavi - Guru SurujAnandA
8. tunbam nErgayiL - dEsh - bharathidasan
9. thillana - kamAs - Patnam
10. nee nAma roopamulaku

Shyama as a main is good , a raga usually dropped in tukkadas was promoted.sandeep had a nice control and the swara prastharam magic in shyama was brilliant , it is rare to hear a detailed shyama krithis and more rare to hear long pattern of swaras in shyama.

I was thinking by singing in shyama he is making way for a vistaramana pallavi in some gana raga. But he went only with tukkadas . S Kalyanraman popularized kandanin was quite good - a slight drop in quality when compared to what he sang before.The next tukkada tunbam neragayil in desh was bale besh it had the right emotive pidis and touched our hearts.Patnam's thillana just passed and like his music there was only commas no full stop till the mangalam unfolded.

Kamalakiran vinjamuri, the wonderkid played beautifully. His press with the bow had so much azhuttam and blended well with sandeep's voice.There was melody and sweetness through out his play . I particularly liked all his swara returns especially the last pattern in amrithavarshini they were superb.At few places vinjamuri was bit making contact on the violin board he may have to be bit watchful. Certainly a brilliant violin player.

Umayalapuram Bhairav Chandrasekhar (grandson of shri UKS), I remember few years back our rshankar wrote a review of his in NJ/NY. I am assuming he is still learning from the doyen shri UKS mamA , his play had nice sound and azhuttam . For keeravani I could notice his patterns were bit bland but from amrithavarshini there were more noticable variations and he did pep the concert . Tani was nice not disturbing the dictum of shantamu lekha sowkhyamu ledhu pallavi line . He is young may be less than 18 for sure , his face does not have that closeup smile as UKS mamA, infact he had a very stoic face.Nevertheless Bhairav played with a lot of anusaranai (going well with the team).

In 1950's possibly when Palakkad Mani Iyer and his ariyakudi Anna stayed in kumbakonam where many or almost most musicians settled in chennai . In 2012 it looks like we have a new generation of musicians settled/growing up in north america and performing a true sampradaya sangeetham in the heart of mylapore with absolutely no quality slippage. Incidentally during yesterday ,there was this just one concert in chennai. Today this wonderkid kamalakiran is playing for amritha murali , donot miss him at the same hall.

Sandeep has a lot of overlap with sanjay in delivering sangathis but his voice weight is a lovely plus point that keeps me intensely hooked .The team of three with a collective age not more than 60 presented an absolute classical concert .Kudos to their gurus KSK,Sanjay,AK and UKS. Overall an excellent concert for 2 hours and 20 mins.

[rshankar]

Nice review, Rajesh.
Bhairav is 16, and Sri UKS conducted his arangETRam in India...

[sureshvv]

1. He started with "angarakam aasrayaamyaham" in surutti befitting the day of the week.

2. The concert abounded with intensity and earnestness and camaraderie and the burning desire to be "in the moment".

3. I am not sure I would call it "sampradaya sangeetham". It appeared that they were testing the boundaries a bit here and there. Of course unless you define sampradayam that way

[rajeshnat]

3. I am not sure I would call it "sampradaya sangeetham". It appeared that they were testing the boundaries a bit here and there. Of course unless you define sampradayam that way

It was not madi madi sampradaya sangeetham like Smt Vedavalli . His music was so full of intensity that I liked it. Since all three have North American Roots I was making that statement as sampradaya sangeetham to perhaps indicate that they are in right course . Looking back retrospectively after your post certainly it is not that right definition.

I dont intend to create another definition of hacekneyed sampradaya sangeetham just as bhAvam. I stand corrected. Sandeep indeed soared like an eagle and mylapore was such a lovely sampradaya place

[arasi]

He 'soared' like an eagle--rather than act an ostrich (which is reputed to bury its head in the sand). He's deepsand on Rasikas.org...

Way to go (glow?) San'deep'

[PUNARVASU]

Good one arasi! Yes, way to soar high,Deepsand!