Sri. Sanjay Subramaniam– Mesmerising and Brilliant

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[arasi]

Thanks,sbgsblr and mAmis thangam and Visalam,whose lists are most helpful in seeing at a glance the weight of a concert which you attended.

I haven't been to a single Unnati concert since I am not in Bengaluru around Gokulashtami. My miss, I always think, when I see all the reviews every year, of this important festival.

Sounds like a solid Sanjay concert to me. That nagumOmu from him would have surprised (?) me and also would have made me wonder, why am I not listening to a refreshing 'something else' from him (Annamalai echoes my thoughts in the other thread about the song To be honest, coming even from the very BMK, I feel a bit deflated when he sings (is made to sing by some fans) that beautiful song. Just as when another beautiful gem, mAmava mAdhava dEva, after becoming a must in old concerts to a point of saturation, started ticking me off.

In tamizh, we have a saying to the effect--even the one who rarely delivers, brought something today. So, what's with the 'good-for-nothing' who brings home the bounty at every turn?

Another surprise for me was that our very active concert goer, spirited Sachi being at Sanjay's concert after sixteen years! After Chennai, Bengaluru is the place where he gives quite a number of concerts. As for me, but for the recordings, I don't even know how Sanjay sounded in those years. In the fourteen years that I have been hearing him (I remember that because it was in the millennium year that I first heard him), I have seen him evolve as a musician in a way that is not seen often with any musician. Discovering more and more in music, and by doing so, discovering himself, is the hall mark of this musician, and that's what appeals to me most about him. His music is a work in progress. It does not settle down in a comfort zone. In my recollection of concerts by many stalwarts of yesteryears, (other better rasikAs, 'period pieces' like myself, will agree perhaps), that but for MMI and AR and a few others, they all had their good days and not so good ones, which is hard to believe for the young ones who worship them, I know

Work in progress is what I call this kind of music because of the work which goes into it, and the way it tries to expand the boundaries of the already boundless dimensions of our music. Others have done that, a few are doing that, and more will follow, so that the flow of CM will not stagnate.

All the same, that nagumOmu would have disappointed me. Then again, I don't know what all insights found place in Sanjay's treatment of this worn-out number!

And the ensemble! Varadu and Arjun Ganesh (I'm discovering him these days) and Gopalakrishnan would have made it an added attraction for me...

[kvchellappa]

Madam,
Only you can write such a riveting review of a concert you have not attended or heard. You are so soaked in Sanjay's music it is heard by you as by mystics. Nice to follow your thoughts.

[arasi]

Chellappa,
Arent't most of us rasikAs capable of 'being' in a concert vicariously? Especially those of us who live outside India and those lovers of music who do not live in big cities?

Music absorbs me, yes, no matter who sings it--you know that of course. Some others may know from reading my commentaries about Cleveland the past years where hundreds of them perform and I get carried away with what I hear from babes to grand masters! No matter if it's a tot singing appealingly or when I listen to the strings of Ravikiran's chitravina!
Knowing me a bit, you also would have gathered that my imagination, wild as it is at times, has all these years reveled in imaginative works Ah, a mystic state! I only resemble the mystics in sharing the quality of being a pithu--paithiyam, pATTup paithiyam (music-crazed), and I am happy living that way, I suppose

And yes, Sanjay's music is not to be dismissed lightly,since future generations of rasikAs will speak of him as we do of MMI, ARI, GNB, MSS, MLV and so on....

[Rsachi]

Arasi,
Here is a gift for you:


You will find my original pic in FB Rasikas group.


I also quote from my other post:

I also want to say that Sanjay exuded a positive creative energy from the time the curtains opened. He didn't pause for more than five seconds between songs. He thoroughly enjoyed singing. He sang a plethora of rare (to my mind) songs with absolute familiarity with the lyrics. All this shows a great mind and a great musical force in him.

One small clarification: between 1986 and 2012, I was very selective whose concerts I attended. I did attend one or two concerts of Sanjay and TMK in that period. I stopped attending concerts almost totally from 2004 till 2012.
Even after 2011, I attend only a few concerts in a year. But I do enjoy them thoroughly!!!

[arasi]

A lovely picture, sachi! What a good hall Unnati has! This is the first picture I see in which anyone has captured a hall full of audience listening to a concert in Unnati and elsewhere too, perhaps.

Rasikas FB is something I am not familiar with. For that matter, FB itself. Thanks to Rasikas.org, I am I trying to catch up with my youngest grandchild on the basics in technology to survive in this world.

I always had imagined that you went to an awful lot of concerts, that's why I was surprised! If you remember, the one place we could have met a couple of years ago was at a concert, where we did not know we both were there!

[Rsachi]

Arasi, true. In fact every time I see a silver haired beauty in the audience I think it could be you

[arasi]

Not all silver yet, but beauty? No
Will meet this time, I hope...

BAck to the concert: shouldn't the pallavi line be bhava kAma mardhini?

[munirao2001]

I attended this concert under review and discussion. It was my first concert attendance at Unnati and Sanjay after a gap of 5/6 years. I listened up to 'Kadambari'-Mohanam. Reading the review ".......'ecstasy', I am just thinking why I did not belong to rasikas with similar feelings. With the experience of concert performance strength, his singing stuck to the standards he has set himself and achieved. Creative flourishes and forays of Sanjay's stamp were there and one can not miss them. I could sense Sanjay's sincerity in bringing out the raaga bhaavam in the 'Sree Kamalambikayam' and extra care on pataantara purity. Did I notice and feel higher achievement and musical maturity after a gap of 5/6 years. No, disappointingly, upto 'Kadambari priyayai'. May be I missed out such insights exhibition shown in the concert part, I did not attend and listen.
Reading the review, I got reminder of SSI's reaction to the thanks giving speech of a Sabha officiando ..."Koncham Osathi pesinalo, Koncham migaiyaagi pesinalo, avvalavu tappillai, talai kaal teriyaame, pichikaramari pesavendaame"

Sound Engineer/System -in-charge, Please do not assume that rasikas are all having serious hearing problem and volume has to be max.levels (after a request to reduce the volume by one of the rasika, from very high levels it was reduced to high levels) and also please understand that aesthetics get severely affected by the high amplification. I wish the reviewer reads my comments and discuss this issue with the concerned for a true and better listening pleasure of the rest of the concerts in this series.

Unnati Team work in the event management is excellent and wish them a great success in maintaining this standards.

munirao2001

[kvchellappa]

Nice review of review. The reviews appear to be sponsored by Unnati. Seeing the superlative comments for every concert, I took it with a pinch of salt. The quote from SSI is regaling. He knew not only to sing, but also speak with a sense of humour.

[Sreeni Rajarao]

May I please get a translation in English for " SSI's reaction to the thanks giving speech of a Sabha officiando ..."Koncham Osathi pesinalo, Koncham migaiyaagi pesinalo, avvalavu tappillai, talai kaal teriyaame, pichikaramari pesavendaame"

Thanks!

[kvchellappa]

"Not much harm if there is a slight exaggeration, but why talk in a way that one goes overboard tearing oneself not being able to make out head or tail," is an approximate translation.

[rshankar]

First of all, I think what we are witnessing is a difference of opinion between the Unnati Mamis and Sri Muni Rao - which brings me to my discomfort with the word 'review' - from a professional (scientific and medical) point of view, when I see the word 'review' I look for an exhaustive survey of the literature, and presentation of statements backed by evidence, and a final interprettaion that is typically bound by just that which can be supported by hard data. This is so different from what passes as a review here...what we do here is more of a personalized vimRSa (vimarisanam) - reflection, or consideration, or deliberation of how we felt after the concert - some 'feel' through the heart, while some others through their intellect, but in either case, it is a sharing of rasAnubhava, so inadequately translated as 'aestheic experience'. So, since this experience by definition is highly individualized*, the same concert may move some to the stratosphere of ecstacy, while leaving others unmoved and entirely earth-bound. What is important to realize is that both expereinces are real, and neither can or should be dismissed/patronized. If I may give an example, Dr. Saroja Ramanujam was one rasika whom a concert by Sri TNS would move to ecstacy and bliss, while many others would just hear the lapses in SRti, and remained unimpressed - while both experiences are real, what was not nice was the inability to tolerate her ideas and views, and categorizing them as 'excessive' or 'unwarranted'.

*: And thank God for that - I would be mortified if my rasAnubhava came from the offerings of the band "One Direction" as my teenager's is!

PS: Sri SSI would have been completely justified in his comments if the praise (that triggered his response) was heaped on him in person....

Let the brickbats begin - I am trying to cultivate a thick skin (as defined by Ellery Queen): three parts rhino hide and one part concrete!!

[arasi]

Ravi,

And I thought you were going to quote Kalki (your favorite) and the one who sang it (your favorite again)!
Was it 'kallum kaniyum gItham' or otherwise?

If you and I are tempted to resort to a cliche: lOkO bhinna ruchi would have been an addition...

[rshankar]

Arasi -

Was it 'kallum kaniyum gItham' or otherwise?

True - for some it will be 'kallum kaniyum', for others, the same might be 'kaniyum kallAgum' I suppose!!

It is very interesting you mention Smt. MSS - for, as I was posting the meaning of the caraNam for 'enna solli azhaittAl', I had the song "yAnai anRu AdimUlamE yenRu OlamiDavum ODi vandanaiyO? InargaL sabhaiyil draupadi kadara mAnam kAttanaiyO?", from mIrA ringing in my ears

[Rsachi]

Sri Munirao,
The sound engineering issue came up again y'day for Abhishek. It took nearly 45 minutes and three songs till the sound stuff settled down.
I was the one who sought shelter from the sound blast in SS concert as I had not carried my iBose ear plugs. I went and sat at the farthest corner from speakers, asked the sound engineer supervisor influencer (Unnati's management does have a keen hierarchy) to save my tympanum. He turned it from 95+ dB to 85+ dB and got my thanks.
The last in the food chain, viz., the monitor speaker, has not been attended to I believe. Hence all the sound management becomes a mess.
My amazement is that the lots of Maamas and Maamis sit stoically and clap regularly despite this sound blast. They don't complain. Why? We must thank the loud Tamil serials they hear all the time. They don't flinch because they have been constantly conditioning themselves to the sound blast (which is comparable to the English short pitched ball that's bothering weaklings like me and the current Indian cricket team).

Your views on the music are unarguable. In aesthetics everyone has his own response, and nobody can argue about it. That is the cornerstone of rasikatva.

[munirao2001]

rshankar
The posting here is not review but report. Review goes into technicalities and other standard structure of critical appreciation. When one goes public with one's own experience based on set belief(s), the expression and communication has to be based on the realistic experience in common and not specific and exaggeration. Knowing Sanjay Subramaniam well, he would not appreciate such report and would have felt the way SSI expressed it.

SSI’s this comment was at Thyagaraja Vidwath Samajam. His body language for postponing the thanks giving speech and permit him to continue the concert was not noticed and thanks giving speech of very long duration, affecting the creative mood, was irritating which lead to his blunt advice. Rasikas, including me were in complete agreement with SSI.
"Short, a higher praise or exaggeration in talk is not that much wrong, talk is unwelcome if it leads to indeterminate in confusion".

[rshankar]

In aesthetics everyone has his own response, and nobody can argue about it. That is the cornerstone of rasikatva.

And there is no one right measure of appreciation/praise etc...

[rshankar]

The posting here is not review but report.

I agree - and I am NOT contesting your views or the validity of your views. All I am saying is that everyone has a right to their views. I understand that interrupting a concert for a 'thank you' is an infraction in a class of its own - but it should not be compared to a posting of a very individual appreciation that happens post-concert.

[munirao2001]

rshankar Sir
I do not question the individual opinion and expression, held in private. Communicating in public, one has to be correct and true. For your ready reference, I am quoting the extract of the report " wanting to sit in deep meditation, shake their head vigorously in appreciation, sit still and watch awestruck, just close their eyes and be lost in another world and some times cry too. To day one felt like doing all these and this surely must be what is to experience 'ecstasy'. If links are made available for this concert and part up to 'Sree Kamalaambikaayaam', listen to find veracity in my report. Also check with RSachi, who has also attended this concert. Further the report states "it was available for all those present". I reported that it was not available to me.
munirao2001

Rsachi Sir,
How did we miss each other ? I was very near the entry gate waiting for more than 30 minutes or so.
munirao2001

[rshankar]

rshankar Sir

Let me quote the late Sri Chitti Babu "Since I have not been part of the Queen's birthday honors list, you don't have to call me 'Sir'"! Please call me Ravi or Shankar!!

I do not question the individual opinion and expression, held in private.

But that is the whole point I have been trying to make - anyone can/should be allowed to state their opinions in public, given that they are the individual's experience...No one should be required to take a poll before writing a report on a forum such as this, to indicate that they are capturing everyone's POV. At any given concert, there will be a bell-shaped curve for the distribution of people's responses, and therefore, it becomes our responsibilty as a consumer of such reviews to read between the lines and separate the chaff from the grain.

Communicating in public, one has to be correct and true

As long as the poster is correct and true to their individual feelings, it should be perfectly fine. And certainly this is not a court of law, where one has to promise to 'tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth', especially since we all know that this is not a mathematical problem with just one 'truth'.