2014 April 14 Bangalore Shankar and Team @ Seshadripuram

[badari]

Vocal : vid. Bangalore S Shankar
VIolin : Vid Charulata Ramanujam
Mridanga: VId B Praveen
Ghata : Vid. Ranganatha Chakravarthy

01 sAmi daya jUDa varNa kEdAragauLa tiruvetriyUr tyAgaraja (O)

02 shri mahA gaNapathE nAta k chApu mAyUram VishwanATha shAsthry (O, N, S)
nereval @ pAhi shubha kAraNa mAm

03 rAmanAtham BhajEham kAmavardhini rUpaka m.dhIkshitar (A, N, S)
Nereval @ kumAra guruguha

04 shrI vallI dEvasEnApatE naTabhairavi Adhi pApanAsam sivan

05 nAdupai balikEru madhyamAvati khaNDa cApu thyAgarAja (A, N, S)
nereval @ AjAnubAhuyuga

06 sAgara shayana vibhO bhAgEashri Adhi MD rAmanAThan

07 nijadAsa varada kalyANi Adi paTNam subramaNya iyer (A, N, S, T)
nereval @ bhujagAdhipa shayana

08 shlOka shaNmukhapriyA kApi sAvEri (tAmaradasa daLa nayana .. )

09 BhAvayAmi raghurAmam rAgamAlike rUpaka swAthi thirunAL

10 ugAbhOga (dhyAnam kritayugadi ... in sindhubhairavi) followed by
tambUri mITidava bhavAbdhi dATidava sindhubhairavi purandara dhAsa

11 nInAma rUpamulaku mangaLa sourAshtra Adhi thyAgarAja

Neither the audience / artists were diffused by the rains just before the concert. A high energetic 2.5 hrs concert to conclude the rAma navami celebrations at sEshAdripuram. A memorable one indeed.

[arasi]

Badari,
Thanks for the review. I really like his music, but didn't get a chance to hear him recently.
I have heard his being described by a musician as someone who is reminiscent of AriyakkuDi. You have heard Ariyakkudi enough on tape. I have only heard Sankar a couple of times, liked his singing a lot--but not enough to react one way or the other about that statement. If Varsha is reading this, he would know, and I hope he says something on that.

[Purist]

More of Musiri Subramania Iyer than Ariyakudi.

[Rsachi]

I have heard Vid. Shankar a few times. He sings with depth and control and a great sense of proportion. He is melodious without being "sweetly boring". He is Bangalore's best male Carnatic musician.

Looong back, I went to the Meenakshi Temple on Bannerghatta Road. There was a music concert on. It was engaging enough for me to sit through. Impressed with the male singer, I went and thanked him for the beautiful concert and asked his name. He said, "S. Shankar".

[varsha]

I have known S Shankar for over two decades and hosted him thrice in chennai.
While acknowledging that Ariyakudi is in a zone of his own and hence unfair to make comparisons , Shankar comes out always as a paisa vasool artist. Complete in most respects , a bit short on pallavi kind of stuff , very good at kambhoji and natakuranji in particular and has a good spread of mastery over trinity as well as post trinity composers.Affable, easy to approach , he makes an art ,that is innately difficult, look easy. And that is a tribute to his style.

His mysore composers concert at eambalam fpr us was a rocking success. So was the concert for us with Eswaran at the garage of the residence of S Sowmya.And so was the other one with Ramanujacharyulu.

A steady picture of old world charm in a world that is hurtling through. Time to watch Orson Welle's Magnificent Ambersons again