T.V.Sankaranarayanan at Toronto, Sep 30th

[Lakshman]

A 3.5 hr concert. Accompanists: Vittal Ramamoorthy on the violin and Tiruchi Sankaran on the mrdangam.

song list:
shuDaroLiyE pOTri -viruttam in rItigauLa follwed by
tatvamariya taramA - rItigauLa -P.Shivan - S
shrI mAtrubhUtam - kannaDa - Dikshitar - A, S
sogasujUDa taramA - kannaDagauLa - S
bhuvanEshvariya - mOhanakalyANi - Muttiah Bhagavatar - A, S
tAyE yashOde - tODi -UttukaDu Venkatakavi - N @ kAlinil silambu
sakala graha bala nInE - aThANA - Purandaradasa
cakkani rAja mArgamu - kharaharapriyA - Tyagaraja - A, N @ kaNTiki sundara, S, tani
kA vA vA - varALi - P.Shivan
RTP kAmbhOji - tillai Ishanai kANa aenna puNNiyam seidEnO in t/tripuTa - svarAs: ranjani, behAg
viruttam on Madurai Mani Iyer - self composition - hamsAnandi
eppO varuvArO - jOnpuri - Gopalakrishna Bharati
english noTTu - Muttiah Bhagavatar
nI nAma rUpamulaku - TyAgarAja
vAzhiya shentamizh - madhyamAvati - Subramania Bharati

[cmlover]

Beautiful song list for the veteran.
3.5 hrs of unalloyed bliss! Lucky guys.....

[mahavishnu]

A truly delightful concert!

Given that this is the centenary year of the legendary Sri Madurai Mani Iyer, Sri TVS spent a fair amount of time reminiscing about his association with his guru and maternal uncle. He also talked about his long friendship with Trichy Sankaran in whose playing he sees his guru Sri Pazhani avl, a stock accompanist for MMI.

TVS’s association with Sankaran-sir goes back to their Vivekananda college days, it is often said that they were the two most educated Carnatic musicians of their generation! And what an amazing team they make!

There was a certain sincerity in Sri TVS’s sentiments, drawing waves of nostalgia from the old-timers. For people like me who have never heard MMI live, this was yet another reminder of what the “golden era” in Carnatic music must have been like.

There are several generations of MMI lovers in my own family. My father has attended his concerts in the Ayiramkal mandapam in Trichy as a student at St. Joseph’s college. He constantly talks about how he sat on the wall of the Kapali temple in the 1940s or on the PS High school grounds in Mylapore. Every time I travel in South India with my family, there is always an anecdote, a reminder of a location where MMI’s concert moved thousands.

There are few in the history of Carnatic music, who have shaped the collective memories and captured the imagination of an entire generation the way MMI did. My aunts learned how to sing (and then teach) Sarasamukhi in gowda malhar by just listening to MMI on the radio. Indeed a simpler and greener period in Carnatic music history.

In more ways than one, Sri TVS was channeling this energy, this ineffable effect that MMI had. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that this history was relived yesterday in Toronto. There were several moments when I was close to tears. Deserving special mention are the bhavam with which he sang “devAdi devan maganE vA” in varali or his sketch of kannadA with the MMI’s endearing phonemes (ui, ai etc) that are probably be best captured by letters of the Scandinavian alphabet with lines running through them.

TVS’s voice has not aged at all. His music and spirit are as youthful as ever, almost with the same crispness that he had when I first heard him as a child in the 1970s with the likes of the great Lalgudi accompanying him on violin. TVS’s song list has also not seen much change in the last four decades. It is true that yesterday too he played the tried and tested pieces that work on the stage for him.

But when TVS sings, this is all I am looking for, the true unadulterated MMI fare that has not seen any change in over four decades (that I know of). Yes, these are all things that have been sung before. But I think preserving this music in its true form is TVS’s greatest contribution to posterity. TVS was more experimental (trying ultra-deadly pallavis in off-beat ragas) in the 70s, but has settled into delivering what he does best. Impeccable sruti and swarastana suddham, unbridled vocal power and a reach that takes him all the way to the upper dhaivatam. I was also relieved that TVS did not sing with supporting vocals, so we got 100% of just his music (as exhausting as it must have been for a man of 67).

Another point worthy of note is TVS’s fluency in singing sarvalaghu swarams. He has the generativity of the deluge of a mighty river, with each swaram predicated perfectly to land on the right edam. In Vittal’s accompaniment one could see MMI’s influence on the great Lalgudi’s own swaram development that has been passed on down the line to another generation. This was true especially in Vittal’s handling of the swarams for Sri Mathrubootham. With Sankaran sir’s beautiful gait playing along, at times the sound reminded me of Lalgudi playing classics in the kannaDA ragam like “intakante kavalena” or “ite bhagyamu”.

The highlight for me for TVS’s Chakkani rAjamArgamu. His open-throated kharapriya alapanai was superb, but the pace of the song in madhyama kalam with TS’s unique nadham, with just perfect use of thoppi and metronome level precision in his sollus raised the song to unprecedented levels.

Sankaran’s nadai when he played for the anupallavi and charanam, in just developing the strident “tha ka tha di, na ka tha di” was superb. At times, TVS was so reminded of MMI-PSP kutcheris that he just paused to hear Sankaran sir’s sarvalaghu.

The other thing that baffles me about TS’s playing is how several decades hence still he remembers all these MMI sangatis and is able to anticipate them. He attributes this to the fact that he must have internalized these primal rhythms as he encoded them into his memory decades ago, something he acknowledged in conversation after the concert.

TVS’s neravals are very unique. They do not follow the general rules of grammar that musicologists insist should underlie every neraval. There is a stream of consciousness to it, a real appreciation of the lyric and a unique emotional presentation that cannot be reproduced by anyone outside that school. MMI has made several compositions his own, just by individualizing the presentation so much that other musicians dared not touch the same pieces for fear of not being able to deliver that specific emotion.

Vittal accompanied very faithfully. His return passages on swarams for the pallavi were especially clever and his violin has a very sweet tone to it when he played swarams in behag. He would be the first to admit how truly fortunate he is to have shared the stage with these two titans.

Overall, the concert was mesmerizing. Oddly, I have heard TVS on numerous occasions in recent years but somehow the effect that he had yesterday was very special. The ambience, high-quality accompaniment and the very attentive and perspicacious audience all contributed to the presentation of his top shelf material.

Anything else I say cannot capture the beauty of what we experienced here last night in Toronto. TVS pairing with TS is not a common occurence. This is something that I wish all of you could have seen {yAm petra inbam peruga ivvaiyagam}.

[nadhasudha]

A truly delightful concert!


TVS’s voice has not aged at all. His music and spirit are as youthful as ever, almost with the same crispness that he had when I first heard him as a child in the 1970s with the likes of the great Lalgudi accompanying him on violin. TVS’s song list has also not seen much change in the last four decades. It is true that yesterday too he played the tried and tested pieces that work on the stage for him.

Mahavishnu,
I felt the same way about his voice. I closed my eyes during the concert and found it hard to believe that the person singing was past his mid sixties!

Very eloquent review. Enjoyed reading it!

[arasi]

Mahavishnu's customary top notch review (on hearing the veteran vidvAn TVS who sang in his beloved uncle's centenary year), gives us a glimpse into such a special occasion.

Years ago, whenTVS gave a concert in NJ of Papanasam Sivan's krutis, someone I know remarked that I missed a great concert. This would have been more so. His gambhIramAna sArIram would have made the celebration of the centenary year of the grand master even more poignant.

[MV]

What a brilliant review Mahavishnu. I felt like I was there, except I wasn't

[rajeshnat]

mahavishnu
As usual crisp and a great review. Shri TVS sings in an "open throated voice" , with TS fireworks and sensitive bowing of Vittal must have been a brilliant team

[rajeshnat]

Mods
Correct the typo of heading T.V.Sanakaranarayanan as T.V.Sankaranarayanan

[perarulalan]

A truly delightful concert!

Dear Mahavishnu sir and Lji,

After a long time, we see some amazing reviews about Shri TVS's concert. Even though the kritis are very frequently heard in Shri TVS's concert, we still feel something new and refreshing in every concert. I am not an expert in CM, however, IMHO Shri MMI school Kambodhi is top class bliss!!! Though, Shri TVS has sung this pallavi in many concerts, his RTP Kambodhi is too good!

LJi and Mahavishnu sirs,
Any pointer on the viruttam that Shri TVS had composed on MMI?

Thanks and Regards
Perarulalan

[Lakshman]

I did try to write down the words but missed a couple. Corrections welcome:

nittiya poruLAi nirmalai niramayamAi sattiya shuDarAi shAnta vaDivAi uttama shIlanAi unnata uruvAi mattana ..... malarAi mAshaTra maNiyAi vazhi shuddhi manam tavarAi susvarattin shikaramAi attanai AnandarAi aDarkaTTil marupeyarAi ittanaikkuraiviDamAi himayam ena nirkkum ungaLai en gurunAthanai nAn aDaiya ettanai pErisai seidEn ennuyir deivamE

[mahavishnu]

You are so meticulous, L-ji.
Thanks all for your kind comments. I am attaching a picture of the concert (pardon the low-res).

[cmlover]

Thanks Ramesh for that scintilating review. Felt like being there.
Certainly TVS/TS pair have immortalized their Gurus MMI/pazhani...