Sanjay @ Margazhi Maha Utsav - Indira Nagar Youth Hostel - 12 Dec 2015

[pattamaa]

Sanjay Subramanyan - Vocal
S. Varadarajan - Violin
Neyveli Venkaesh - Mridangam

Ramaswamy sivan compositions - thematic concerts

1. unadu pAdam tunayE - chakravakam - Adi ( S @ unadu pAdam)
2. kandanai nI vandanai seivAi manamE - kuntalavarali - misra tripua
3. arAdhipavanE unnaiyanri - saveri - rupakam ( R, N @ ??)
4. short viruttam in shankarabharanam (first line from charanam of muthukumaraiyae)
muthukumaraiyanE - shankarabharanam - rupakam 2 kalai in six beats
5. evar arindu uraipavarE - vijayashree - adi
6. enna seivEn natEsA - nattakurinji (R, N & S ?, T)
7. Ananda paravasam - brindavana saranga

Sanjay at his best... nice flowing alapanas of saveri and nattakurinji... i am hearing all songs except muthukumaraiyane, for first time... He has put so much of hard work, to present in this fashion... no notes, no bits referred, as he always does...

He didn't sing any of well known compositions like pahimam sri rajarajeshwari, ekkalathilum, or kadaikann veithennai....

as harimau refers, there was some dagu-dagu in saveri during neraval, and couple of slips during nattakurinji alapana and swaram execution.. But, he overcame them like master, and continued.. class is always permanent..

Please do watch in sun tv when it gets telecast...

[pattamaa]

in one of the Q&A to sanjay

Q: Do you believe that singing certain raga will glow the lamp, or stop the lamp, stop rains etc...
A: He said he doesn't believe, and quoted nobel laurate (venkatraman ramakrishnan ??) that without proof and data, nothing can be belived..and sanjay added that he doesn't believe in such theories of ragas can do such wonders.. it is all stories...

I was taken aback... this may be Sanjay's personal opinion, but we have our trinity talking to divine through music... and doing wonders.. aren't these proofs? These are not definitely stories.. We know when dikshitar sang salilam sthambaya sthambaya - rains stopped... he had mantra siddhi, and we don't have that power these days

I know he was frank and honest in his opinion, but it would have been better if this was handled more diplomatically...

[kvchellappa]

I have no problem with his opinion.
But to say that belief is on the basis of fact and proof shows lack of understanding belief. Maugham was more realistic: 'There is no harm in belief provided you are aware that your belief lacks proof.' If something can be proved, it is a matter of knowledge, not belief. I feel the nobel laureate and SK elect erred there.
Proof cannot be in the form of a reported or recorded anecdote.

[arasi]

Pattamma,
Interesting

When rains started threatening Chennai pre-season, Sanjay said in Twitter something to the effect that musicians hopefully don't choose to sing amruthavarshiNi (does it make him a believer then?).

Also, the MMU answer perhaps was meant to say that you can't believe in such things happening in present times?

And, you can expect Sanjay to often bring in his own sense of humor into it all. Subhasree once asked him what his thoughts were in having a union for musicians. He said: do you want us to go out there holding red flags? We are professionals who practice our arts, relying on rasikAs like you who come to hear us. Is there a need for unions in this?

His serious thoughts are often couched in humor, I find...

Chellappa,
I don't have any idea about his beliefs and non-beliefs. As another rasikA said recently somewhere, I don't think he's a non-believer. May be he's someone who is wary of rituals. Then again, I don't know...

[sureshvv]

I know he was frank and honest in his opinion, but it would have been better if this was handled more diplomatically...

Unfortunately there are too many charlatans walking around in society exploiting these superstitions, so diplomacy has to be balanced against the need to raise general awareness of the gullible public.

[Vocalist]

Please do watch in sun tv when it gets telecast...

Sun TV do not appear to be telecasting - must have been a one off.

Vijay TV took it on this year. I'm surprised the producer didn't let us know this year like she did last year.

[pattamaa]

This program is telecast at 6.25am in vijay TV on 30th December (tomorrow) ! do watch...

[arasi]

Pattamma,
Thanks for letting us know.
Watched/heard the truncated version (less than an hour). Transmission was bad, and hard of hearing ears didn't help. Cabel man says Chennai channels have troubel in airing

Still, savored the sAvEri, SankarAbharaNam, brindAvana sArangA. Ananda paravaSam will gain popularity.

Waiting for the Youtube version where the sound will be normal.
Listening this way is like being in a concert hall where all those around you are chattering

Heard from a friend that yesterday's Tamizhisai concert was a winner. Any reviews? RishabhapriyA main.

Oh, saw you at the end of the concert being interviewed, Pattamma!

[bilahari]

Watched most of this on TV today and really enjoyed both the music and Sanjay's witty and humorous responses to the questions. I didn't find anything remotely offensive about his answer to the mystic charms of ragas, and thought it was a pretty ridiculous question to ask in the first place actually!

In other questions, Sanjay pointed out the importance of being thoroughly professional as a musician and making sure to prepare for a concert and not having to resort to notes. He also talked about criticism he received from his guru, once being asked after a concert, 'enna, innikku uDambu sariyA illaiyA?''(Were you ill today?), which he thought was about the worst thing one's guru can say! In another fruitless attempt to please his guru via the latter's penchant for singing really rare and unusual phrases, Sanjay once sang a highly unconventional madhyamAvati alapanai for his guru, only for his guru to respond, 'why didn't you sing even a single traditional phrase?'

It's a pity that most of the manOdharma is deleted in these telecasts. I enjoyed the shankarAbharaNam piece especially - nice to see Sanjay singing with his usual verve and imagination.

[arasi]

Are you in India, Bilahari?

I agree. nambikkai is faith. In this context, it's not that. The question was, "do you have faith in miracles?". and he says, "No.I don't believe in them"--that is, in miracles. He didn't say "I don't believe in God". He may not believe in miracles or rituals. Does it make him a non-believer? I think not.

Anyhow, if music is also upAsanA (worship), we can't take him to be an atheist! His devotion for it is self-evident.

[kvchellappa]

His music makes us believe. What it does for him is up to him.

[arasi]

It enables him to earn his livelihood

Seriously, if he weren't 'devoted' to his music, we wouldn't be moved by it.

[Vocalist]

Waiting for the Youtube version where the sound will be normal.

Unless Maximum Media release it for free, I'm afraid you might be waiting for too long.

[varsha]

His music makes us believe. What it does for him is up to him.

http://dappledthings.org/90/g-k-chester ... agination/

[kvchellappa]

The sages do not answer a query immediately. They answer by some happening or example at the psychological moment.
Thank you Varsha for the article which I have shared.
Much of what I call by religion, faith, spirituality is in our imagination. Imagination fires life as thinking beings.
Ravikiran gives this definition of AnmIkam in Sun TV interview:
Q: They say that music and AnmIkam go hand-in-hand?
A: Any job done well has AnmIkam in it.

[sureshvv]

Check out http://www.ragamalikatv.com

[kvchellappa]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1gCO17-dDM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf2G2kP-YPY

[Sundara Rajan]

I am with Sanjay on this. I am a devout Hindu Advaitin who believes in ONE Brahman worshiped as Gods in many forms. I am also a scientist who doesn't believe in present/recent day charlatans who "materialize" rings, chains watches etc. from their private storage chambers !

I do not personally care for religious rituals either.

Several miracles attributed to earlier saintly persons are more "beliefs" than verified "facts". Even if it were true, they were persons who may have had mystic powers due their "total and absolute" surrender unto the Lord. Can we find such persons in the present ? I very much doubt it.

[pattamaa]

Agree with comments that present day so called miracles are fake. As I wrote earlier above, there are people even today who attain mantra siddhi, and they CAN perform miracles, but they aren't doing for cheap publicity, cause etc. They remain silent and keep quite away from public. Science can't prove these. May be a separate topic under general discussion on whether such powers can be obtained with carnatic music,