Delhi SundarrAjan@NCA on Oct 02,2006

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 06 Oct 2006, 14:24

Accompanied by Vittal Ramamurthy - violin , ThiruvArur Bhakthavatsalam - Mridangam and Ghatam - Vaikkom Gopalakrishnan

Nungambakkam Cultural Academy (NCA) with the patronage of Shri Nalli Kuppusamy had inaugrated a school of fine arts to continously teach music , arts ,drama and dance?? . Incidentally the KarnatAka Sangha school in T Nagar(sabha of NCA) gave a classroom for the school .The popular violinist Delhi SundarrAjan took a plunge and gave his first maiden vocal concert.

1. vAthapi ganapathim(R,S) - nAttai - MD (7:08 -7:30pm)
2. teradiyaka - gowlipantu - T (7:30 to 7:35pm)
3. mahAlakshmi jaganmAtha - Shankharabharanam - pApanAsam Sivan (7:35 to 7:38pm)
4. appa rAma Bhakthi (R, N ,S)- pantuvarAli - T (7:38 to 8:08pm)
11 minutes of rAga alApananai, 5 minutes of violin alApanai ,3 minutes of neraval and 9 minutes of swaram
5.nenarunchinaanu - maaLavi - T (8:08 to 8:12 pm)
6. kaddanuvAriki (R, N ,S)- tOdi - T (8:12 to 8:45pm)
9 minutes of rAga alApananai, 6 minutes of violin alApanai ,6 minutes of neraval and 8 minutes of swaram
7. tani - 8:45 to 9:02pm
8. bheethu gaye bhajanu binAre (hindi bhajan)- sivaranjani - ???
9. theruvil varAnO(padam) - kamAs - muthuthandavar
10. yeru mayilyeri - bhAgeshri - thirupugazh
11. pavamana - 9:20pm

Always nice to hear a maiden performance concert , that too considering he is an established violin artist. He started with a mangalamAna vAthapi , nice alApanai and a good built up of swaram , however towards the last 2 minutes the nAttai did not reach the right crescendo . To some extent all the performers were going at a speed with sruthi being a casualty.Also the voice of the singer was not the best.

A very good rendition of gowlipantu and an average rendition of shankArabharanam(felt this rAga and this krithi did not need such a early drop) followed. His elaborate alApanai in pantuvarAli cleared his voice and indicated to me that his voice range was certainly there .What sundarrAjan could not achieve in nAttai ,he achieved the right crescendo in pantuvarAli . certainly the best piece to me.

Whenever anyone sings mAlavi , I remember Smt gAyathri venkat on a MLV day commenting that mAlavi is a very difficult rAgam to sing and there is a big chance to tresspass into other rAgas . To that extent I did notice a clean mAlavi by delhi sundarrAjan.

Certainly nice to hear a tOdi . What a great rAga to evaluate anyone in a maiden concert . His rAga alApanai upto neraval was good , left with a feeling that the swarams were very average.The bhajan in shivaranjani was fantastic and the khamAs padam was the same. A surprise bhAgeshwari for this popular thirupugazh was a treat to hear.

The concert sucess is certainly due to shri vittal's superior bowing technique . Nice nAdham , good proportion and usage of both male and female sides of violin was a big plus. Bhakthavatsalam was quite good. His aggression was nice in tani , but in the tukkadas especially in the kamAs was sheer overbanging. Vaikkom gave a good support.

On a side note for the record, Delhi sundarrAjan and I have a common cousin. I knew that for a long time and he knew only after I told him. I asked him "how come you are coming to vocal , with you as a violinst did you have enough continuity to be a vocalist". Delhi SundarrAjan said "I attribute all that to my guru JanakirAman in delhi . He used to first teach me sAhityam , then ask me to sing the sahityam perfectly and the meaning, then only allow me to touch the bow and learn violin. ". The importance of sahityam by a performer gives us a musician's perspective to all the rasikas in rasikas.org.

Overall a good concert , never appeared as though he is singing for the first time.

rmdeer2000 · Post by **rmdeer2000** » 06 Oct 2006, 20:39

vatapi ganapathim is in hamsadvani...

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 06 Oct 2006, 21:20

Tx rmdeer2000, after so many postings making a silly mistake in vAthapi

R_Ramesh · Post by **R_Ramesh** » 06 Oct 2006, 21:59

Actually, DPS has given vocal concerts in LA in June 2005, and in Raleigh, NC in July 2006. I have attended the Raleigh concert, and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Some clips of his vocal renditions can be found at http://www.soundclick.com/delhisunderrajan

Ramesh.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 06 Oct 2006, 22:39

Actually, DPS has given vocal concerts in LA in June 2005, and in Raleigh, NC in July 2006

Interesting , I did not know that all. Also Doordarshan natarajan when giving a short speech before the concert said that Lalgudi G Jayaraman gave a vocal concert in North America where delhi sundarrAjan has played the violin. Has LGJ given a vocal concert in his home base chennai.

Also shri natarajan said that nadAswara jAmbhavAn TN Rajarathinam has given a vocal concert recorded in AIR trichy .

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 07 Oct 2006, 07:41

Rajeshnat,
yAnaikkum aDi sarukkum (Even the majestic elephant some time or other would skid). You were thinking of Hamsadhwani and typed NATai (we seniors have more of those moments:)). I appreciate your song list done phonetically (most of it). Makes it easier to read. Easy for those who do not know the language to get a new song correctly in the first place.
Is bIt gayE din bhajan binArE by Tulsi dAs or SurdAs? I wonder...

abitakucalamba · Post by **abitakucalamba** » 07 Oct 2006, 10:43

it is by kabir das i think

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 07 Oct 2006, 14:09

The hindi bhajan is kabir das . The simhavAhini nenaruncarA nAApaini krithi was sung instead of the mAlavi nenaruncinaanu . I may (not would)have posted wrongly, apologies . That also means my ignorance of simhavAhini is exposed.Both these info are given in yesterday's hindu review by parimala gurumurthy ,which I read it today.

http://www.hindu.com/fr/2006/10/06/stor ... 420800.htm

Interestingly I compare the HINDU review to every review that anyone posts here . There are incidentally lot of objective errors in the hindu too. This concert of Delhi sundarrAjan they have said it is 3 hours, surely it is not.

On another day when I reviewed Aruna sairam's concert in SKGS , the violinist was HN Bhaskar .THey put a big photo of the performers and the same reviewers said the violinist was MA Sundareswaran. How can one mistake HNB for MAS that too with photo?

It just gives me a feeling they are not staying long enough to hear the whole concert? Interestingly Lot of copy and paste patterns in the reviews.If you take subjectivity , that is another ball game , better to say each have their opinions.

Note:
THE HINDU is now completely available online since last 2 weeks. FYI. So those who don't have the hardcopy can directly see the CM reviews online. The CM reviews are categorized as per cities , so you can glimpse other cities too, even if you have one hardcopy..
http://www.thehindu.com/fr/index.htm

kumaran.nadesan · Post by **kumaran.nadesan** » 07 Oct 2006, 14:10

I doubt this was his maiden concert as I've heard him in a kutcheri before. You can download some carnatic vocal mp3s of his from http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemus ... dID=480746.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 07 Oct 2006, 21:39

Rajeshnat,
Unfortunately, not all music critics on the newspapers have been that particular about the details. Sometimes, the absence of a printed program leads them to 'guess' the name of the accompanying artistes. If they looked up the engagement column, the information there can be misleading sometimes. As you say, not staying through the concert is another factor.
You do it out of enthusiasm. As you are sincere and are detail minded, we at the forum benefit. We also see the exact duration of each piece, as on a cd...