Sanjay and team needed no warm-up and started with a bang and ended with a bang (a bang, not abhang
). The trio (‘The Men in White’ as someone quipped) were well dressed in white for the ensuing double-century at the ‘Lords’ of Carnatic Music! It was a 4 hour musical bliss for the over 500 packed audience. Artistes: Sanjay Subrahmanyam – Vocal, S. Varadarajan – Violin, Neyveli Venkatesh – Mridangam.
Song List:
1. sarasUda – sAveri varnam – Adi - kOtavAsal venkatarAma Iyer; S
2. sri pArvati paramAdwaitha sive – sri rAgam – Adi – Kunrakudi Krishnaiyer;
3. vENu gAna lOluni – kedAragowLa – rUpakam – Thiagarajar; R, N, S
4. rAve himagiri kumAri – ThOdi Swarajathi – Adi 2 kaLai - syamA sAsthri
5. rAmA nine nammithini – sArangA – Adi – Poochi srinivAsa IyengAr; R, S
6. sri kAmAkshi kaTAkshi – vasanthA – Adi 2 kaLai – Ramasami Pillai; R, N, S, Thani
7. mAmava JagadEswarA – saraswathi manOhari – Adi – swAthi thirunAL; S
8. RTP – shanmukhapriyA – Adi 4 kaLai. The pallavi line was the famous ThiruKuraL ‘kuzhal inidhu yAzh inidhu enbAr thum maKaL mazhalai sol kELAdhAr’
9. kANa vENum laksham kaNgaL SEthA deviyin – surati – misra chApu - AruNAchala Kavi
10. dAsara Nindisa bEda – bAgesri (usually sung in tilang?) – Purandirar; R
11. pAril uyarndha nilam, thanga paCHai sezhiTHa nilam’ – slokam in kEravAni, nAttaikurinji, mOhanam, one more rAgam I missed; followed by subramanya bhArathi song
12. en tAi vAzhgenum mandira nAdamE inbatthai UTTudhammA’ - paTdip
13. mannupughazh kOsalai than – ragamAlikA pAsuram – rUpakam; durgA, lalithA, sArangA, hindOlam, nElambari
14. kalilO hari smaraNamokaTiyE – kApi – Adi – harikEsanallur muThiah bhAgavathar
15. thunbam nErgaiyil yAzh eduTHu Inbam serKa mATAyA’ – desh – Adi - bhArathi dAsan
16. mangalam
Snippets:
- The ‘sri pArvati paramAdwaitha sive’ song in sri rAgam was rendered in a very nice pace, with Venkatesh aiding thru his soft strokes.
- The elaborate kedAragowLa AlApanA that followed, combined pure classicism interwoven with brief classical folksy phrases, Mali-esque. Nice Niraval @ vikasitha pankaja vadanalu followed by kalpanAswaram phrases such as ‘sAnidha pAmagari’ were very enjoyable. Upper sthayi sanchArams were delectable.
- The Thodi Swarajathi rendition was soaked in sahithya-bhAvA and rAga-bhAvA; here Sanjay stayed in the lower octave comfortably, with Varadarajan putting his manthra sthAyi string to full use!
- Sanjay’s sArangA AlApanA had a soft start, becoming fast paced later with lots of umkArams and gumkArams. His staccato phrases during his kalpanAswarams was like a dad enjoying rough-play with his child
- Next Sanjay gave a long, manOdhArmic, and ‘mystic’ vasanthA AlApanA as a prelude to a meaning-laden Tamil song. Virtuoso Varadarajan’s vasanthA rAgam was pure vintage. In the kriti part lyrical phrases such as ‘ekAvasthuvAha engum niraindhAye’, ‘vedhAgama sAsthra nAda swarOpini’ were rendered by Sanjay very touchingly. In the phrase ‘AdhAram enaKu nEEE vEdhapurEswariye’ at which he did niraval, Sanjay held the nEEEE infinitely, displaying his signature breath-control. Some of the swara phrases in kalpanAswaram included ‘madhA madhA magarisA’, ‘samagamadhA samAgarisa’, with the mystic ma and mA notes touching not only the ears and the brain, but also the soul. Sanjay ended the kalpanAswaram session with a complicated & delectable korvai where he challenged himself, his accompanists, and the audience. When he missed a beat, he used a batsman analogy and joked ‘I got beaten twice’. Venkatesh gave a very appropriate thani, his variations of ‘tha ki ta dhindhina dhindhina thom’ will reverberate for a long time.
- After the quick saraswathi manOhari, Sanjay settled into a leisurely and scholarly shanmukhapriyA. The AlApanA was very elaborate in which Sanjay & Varadarajan were would do equal exchanges and then add some! Their long exchanges continued in the thAnam with happy hand-offs and overt overlaps – it was vocal bowing by Sanjay and violin singing by Varadarajan The rAgamAlikA swarams included chalanAttai (jog?), mArubehag, surati.
- Sanjay used the surati to transition to the next song ‘kANa vEnum laksham kaNgaL’; this song was beautifully rendered making us think ‘kEtka vEnum laksham sevigaL’ (need a lakh ears to listen to Sanjay!)
- The rAgamalikA slokams and the associated songs were very soothing and moving.
- Sanjay nicely rounded the concert up with the Desh song by bhArathi dAsan.
Sanjay’s NJ concert was a 4-hour musical feast and extravaganza, a very fitting finale for the nice mini-tour that Sanjay and CMANA had worked out this time. Every song was sung with gusto, with elaboration and depth, only the length of time of a song determining if it was the main, or was a sub-main, or qualified as a filler/thukkadA. Sanjay later also mentioned in passing that he had planned karaharapriyA for his main, but had a last minute re-plan on finding that the same rAgam was used as the main in the preceding concert.
We are glad to have had one more great concert and hope Sanjay will be back next year for more. Safe travel, Sanjay and team!
