Sanjay @ RLKM Spring Festival, Bangalore 3 Feb 2014

[badari]

A review of this concert is published at

http://arohanaavarohana.blogspot.in/201 ... yan-s.html

:ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause:

[vs_manjunath]

Sanjay singing Nadaswaram sangathis in Natabhairavi was very enjoyable.
In Kambodhi alapana some sangathis reminded of Madurai Somu.

[arasi]

Badari,
Good to see your detailed review. Having missed a number of the master's concerts during the season, this was a veritable treat. The concert began with the regal entrance of PaTNam's durbAr varNa. We were treated to yet another of the composer's songs later--both were new to me. There! My love for listening to new found old gems certainly gets rewarded in a Sanjay's concert. This grand entrance number made a big impression on me. If I felt happy when I listened to his SaraNAgatha vathsala (by his guru in Kadana kuthUhalam) for the first time years ago and have always found it lilting, yesterday's mega varNa of PaTNam made a grand entry into my heart as numero uno among rare varNAs.

naTabhairavi simply sparkled, in rAga, neraval and svarAs, and in Sanjay's bringing out the beauty of Sivan's song. The exposition gave me the same sense of grandeur which years ago I experienced in his kapAli in Chicago. I've always been partial to Sri valli, have heard Sanjay sing it too, but this was perfection itself. The glory of shaNmukhA's valiance and the liveliness of murugA's personality, of the vEl and mayil were in full play.

That would have been enough for the evening, but the kAmbOdi RTP at that point was a extra treat of many dimensions, its immense depth and width brought out by Sanjay in a fine manner.

Personally, this concert nearly made up for all the concerts of his I have missed this time in India.

Varadu and Venkatesh were their customary selves, adding even more power to Sanjay's singing. While I listen happily to other accomplished accompanists accompanying Sanjay, I have to admit that it's like coming home, listening to V &V as side liners to the master.

The young Gururaj is a fine find, no doubt. A morsing (moharsing, morching) player...(there! I'm playing it too!) player with a lot of phrases I haven't heard before. They speak to you more than some effective, but not so musical expressions. The tani Venkatesh and Gururaj played sounded so good even to my untrained ears.

My only regret is that (at least, where I was sitting, it sounded that way) Varadu's impeccable sweet sound which at first sounded like a bit of a string trouble turned out to be the mOrsing sound. Was it because he played more than one would? I don't know. In concerts where the ghatam and khanjari players take an active part, it isn't a problem.The very sound of the morsing or the sound system the reason? Any ideas, folks?

Badari,
While I am happy to read your review, I'm disappointed that I missed seeing you, gardhaba_gana, Jayan and others (work kept them away, I think).

KVC,
How I wish I had met you! Your playing an active part in the Bharathi thread and your keen
participation in other threads make it even more of a miss.

Good that I could recognize kssr (Raghavan) and stop him on his way out and say hello. Squims spotted me and we chatted for a moment before the concert--a pleasant surprise!

Badari,
cholla cholla van(r)mam EnayyA? by DoraisAmi kavirAyar is the behAg song. Sanjay sang his compositions in Margazhi MahA Utsavam two (?) years ago.

[braindrain]

I'm disappointed that I missed seeing you, gardhaba_gana, Jayan and others (work kept them away, I think).

No Madam, all of us were there. Disappointed, of course, that we did not meet.

[braindrain]

karnatik.com site has two entries for the same varnam. One attributed to Patnam and the other to Poochi...

http://www.karnatik.com/c3440.shtml

http://www.karnatik.com/c3231.shtml

[gardabha_gana]

Arasi m'am didn't know you were there! I thought you skipped your india visit this time. I haven't been to go to many this year - with a 1 yr old at home. Feel bad I couldn't come and say hello to you. Met jayan, badari y'day.
I loved the Natabhairavi, Kambodhi, Hamsadhwani (very different treatment I felt) and of course the varnam. Sanjay always gives a wholesome concert - from start to finish, with such sincerity. I think we are lucky he comes to bangalore often. He sang a Kambodhi RTP at the Samaja couple of years back and as Krishnaprasad sir said, it is different every time. Have become a fan of his Pallandu that he sang in MA this year (thanks to sangeethapriya).
Nice to see the Krishnaprasad sir's speeches. I hope the folks next door take a hint during the ramanavami festival. They also skipped the honoring with bouquets (Arasi m'am remembered you since you did that honor year or two back).

The only thing I missed was the bajji counter - i came in starving from work thinking that I will gobble up them

[badari]

@ Arasi Madam

You had a VIP seat and I had a commoner seat which was very precious considering the crowd. Did manage to meet Sanjay after the concert to thank him for the brilliant team work. Outside I could meet Brain_drain and GG. Will catch up with you one of these days at the same venue.

[arasi]

Badari,
It took many years of waiting for me to get a seat like that! Sponsorship helps...

Hope to see you and others soon. Will come to a concert or two before I leave India.

Other forum members I met were gnaanam aka vidushi Neela Ramgopal and sweet Sappri. Did I catch a glimpse of Sirsub too?

Amrutha Venkatesh (is she also a member?) was very much there.

[badari]

Other than the ones you listed, i could spot vs_manjunath, KSSR too.

[arasi]

And I thought I had Manjunath in the list
KSSR (Raghavan) I had mentioned.

Before this turns into a social diary of RasikAs--thinking back on the concert, I wish Sanjay had sung a longer virutham!

Any comments on the question I had about the morsing?

[kunthalavarali]

Just a comment:

EmandunE muddu bAlAmaNiki is sung usually in Saindhavi ragam (?)

[squims]

I loved the Hamsadhwani. Personally, that was my favourite part of the evening.
I had some issues with the treatment that Natabhairavi got during the swarams, which occasionally sounded too 'gimmicky', but otherwise enjoyed it very much.
I've loved Sanjay's Kamboji aalaapanais earlier, and yesterday was no exception. The whole RTP was really good. Adored the raagamaalika.

P.S. Was very nice to meet you Arasi ma'am!

P.P.S. I missed the bajji counter too G_G!

[harimau]

The young Gururaj is a fine find, no doubt. A morsing (moharsing, morching) player...(

You missed the Malayalam word: mukhashankhu. [-x

[arasi]

Squims,
Yes, that hamsadhvani was a sweet variation from the norm (variation in a classical sense), as if to counterbalance the majestic DurbAr (since hamsadhvani has the same grand quality).

Okay, NaTa bhairavi wasn't 'perfection itself' and was frivolous for a few fleeting minutes. A light-hearted break in the lengthy and involved singing, I suppose

No comments about the morsing yet?
So, whose varNam is it?

[arasi]

Harimau,
I love that name! Thanks for letting me know. However, it does not sound the sound of the instrument as its other names do!

[squims]

The morsing sounded fine to me, as did the violin. But Gayana Samaja's overall sound system quality leaves a lot to be desired.
Weren't there plans for grand renovations of the Samaja? Any idea what happened to that?

[gardabha_gana]

Morsing sounded fine to me too and Varadu was as usual very good. Indeed the hamsadhwani was different as I noted - in a good way.
I did miss a vilamba kala krithi such as the wonderful andolikavahane @ Nadasurabhi by Sanjay couple of months back.
Also, EmandunE didn't sound like mukhari to me - of course i am no expert.

[harimau]

Harimau,
I love that name! Thanks for letting me know.

Transpose the constituent words (shankhu-mukham) and you get the name of the beach in Thiruvananthapuram.

Useless bit of trivia, I know.

[braindrain]

Transpose the constituent words (shankhu-mukham) and you get the name of the beach in Thiruvananthapuram.

Useless bit of trivia, I know.

A small correction /addition.. It is actually 'mukhar shankh'

[badari]

venkatesha mudra clearly appears in the varna. Its none other than PSI !!

[arasi]

Thanks Badari.
Was it the speaker then in my vicinity which did that to me?

Gardabha _gana,
EmandunE was in kApi, and, didn't the RTP have another rAgA?

Braindrain,
Coming from a Keralite!

Harimau,
The name and my being there as a child comes back to me. Forget short time memory

[Lakshman]

Emandune was originally composed in saindhavi (close to kApi).

[harimau]

A small correction /addition.. It is actually 'mukhar shankh'

Seen it spelt as mukharshankhu as well as mukhashankhu.

For the latter spelling, here is a news report in The Hindu (http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp ... 995782.ece):

"On May 10, the Sangeetharchana will be by Kadri Gopalnath (saxophone), K. Kanyakumari (violin), Harikumar (mridangom), Rajendran Nakad (tabala), and Raja Sekhar (mukhashankhu)".

Mukha shankh is the result when one attempts to anglicise the spelling when writing in Roman letters. Much as Mutthoottu (മുത്തൂറ്റ്) became Muthoot, when that moneylending company expanded to areas outside Kerala.

[vs_manjunath]

The Hamsadwhani Varnam was unique that it had sahithyam embedded to swarams.
The other two adi thalam varnams in Hamsadwani, paga vAri & jalajaaksha the former is by PSI, who is the composer of the latter jalajAksha varnam ?

[Lakshman]

jalajAkSa is by PSI's guru Kottavasal Venkatarama Iyer.

[vs_manjunath]

Thanks.

[kssr]

This concert is a landmark concert. With the brilliant start of varnam followed by Pallandu, there was a sag with guntakriya (mainly as it was unknown and we have the bad habit of searching for the raga all the time). Sree VaLLi devasenapathe was excellent. Crystal clear Tamil pronounciations in the virutham that followed , as usual, impressed me most.

The kambodhi alapana is the highlight of the day without doubt. It was vintage stuff. A friend sitting across the hall messgaed " Thanjavur- kaveri karai kambodhi". I agree. 90% of it was pure classical rendering of the good old masters. Extremely enjoyable. There were a couple of the modern barking sound usages - but definitely not many.

Ramakrishnaru manege, I have heard only Amrutha Venkatesh sing earlier (in fact thrice!!). There was the characteristic sanjay slap on the word Kaamadenu. Nice presentation.

Did meet arasi briefly at the gate. Interestingly due to ( or in spite of) her long experience in rasikas she has made the topic of rasikas meet in the concert a central topic, names, addresses, relationships, positions in the hall, etc., A facebook kind of interaction instead of a rasikas one.

[arasi]

kssr,
You are right. My being an old (for sure) bandicoot here means I know more rasikAs than you do. On top of it, Bengaluru has a lot of them and the only time we 'socialize' for a moment at least is at concerts. This was one of them where far too many of us were there, and we also did not get to say hello to several of them.

As for you, I have seen you a couple of times at Nada Surabhi hall, and recently your photograph in one of the threads. I saw you walk in and recognized you. So, it was easy for me to greet you as you walked out!

Yes, we tend to get carried away at times, but honestly, when we go to a concert with friends or family, on the way back and at home we do speak about those whom we met, didn't see, and so on. Post-concert is not always solely kutcheri talk!

Yes, that kAmbOdi was class, kAvERi thIram or tAmra varNik karai. After donkey's years, I heard 'intanutsu' on Sanjay's blog (on youtube) from his KGS concert in December. I am glad I heard it live too.

[kssr]

Indeed it was nice talking to you. I am also your admirer after reading your translation of Bharathiar story. Your compositions sung by Sumithra were also appealing.

[arasi]

Thanks! Sumitra Nitin has done a great job in both her CDs. The inimitable Neela Ramgopal has also voiced some of my compositions on another CD with panache.