Saketharaman@NGS on Dec 21st,2017

[rajeshnat]

Saketharaman@NGS on Dec 21st,2017
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Vocal : Saketharaman
Violin : RK ShriramKumar
Mrudangam : Trichy Sankaran
Kanjira : Bangalore S Purushottaman

Concert Type : Nirvana - No concert to follow
Day/Duration : Thursday/ 2 hours and 15 minutes(7 pm to 9:15 pm)
Concert Type: Ticketed Concert
Hall : NGS Main Hall

1A.slokham - kathir vel - bEgaDa - ???
1B. vA murugA vA - bEgaDa - Spencer VenugOpal
2. mArubalka (RS, N, S) - shreeranjani - T
3 mins neraval dAri nerigi santasilli naTTi

3. eTi janamamiddhi (R) - varAli - T
7 mins alapana and 4 mins violin return

4A. marakatha valli (R N S T) - kAmbOdhi - MD
11 mins alapana and 6 mins violin return
11 mins neraval in marakatha valli manasAsmrAmi
11 mins swaras
4B. tani for 17 mins

5. RTP in KAnadA in kanda jAthi triputa
pallavi was for just 20 mins
pallavi line -- sankaram sarvajanava shankaram santhatam chintayE prasanna
swaras in kAnadA+ neelAmbari + priyadarshini

6A. viruththam - ninnarulAm gathi endru - dhanyAsi +
unnAralukku inidhAna - sahAnA + mann irula vinra vinai - sindhubhairavi + innarulAi - brindavani???
6B. ezhil thirumEni - brindavani - Ambujam krishna

7.smara sundAranguni -pharas - dharmapuri subbarayar
8. thillAna .. thaka dheem ta dheem ... manam kollai konda kannA - madhuvanti - LGJ
9. pavamAna

6 mins neraval in jAtarUpa nibhacEla janmArcitam mamAkhila
swaras for 5 mins

2.ambaramE thaneerE (Raga sketch) - kalyani - Andal tiruppavai
3.manavyalakincharA (S)- nalinakAnthi -T
8 mins swaras

Post Trichur brothers after break with canteen came almost on time to this concert . The biggest pull was to hear the tiger - trichy sankaran . Few years back i remember NGS used to have two seperate ticketed concert for evening I and II . I am not sure if they are having this practice continued for few sporadic concerts , as such for both Trichur brothers and Saketharaman it was a combo ticket . I am assuming NGS went with market condition of competition as buying 2 tickets for two concerts will not augur well with rasikas.

As I entered slightly late saket was swirling a bit with slokham line kathir vEl in bEgada. He continued with spencer venugopAL krithi in begada vA muruga VA . Begada is definitely a nice raga to start it usually clears the throat but it does not happen always . Saket had a bit of voice problem for sure and his recalcitrant voice played traunt with his ideas .

I guess every musician when they have the tiger trichy sankaran sir as an accompaniment, they take few sparkling mega hits , semmangudi and trichy sankaran were perhaps inseperable with their mArubalka and saket took it . Sankaran was rocking and his patterns were superb , i wish he sang bit more neraval using the supremo mrudangam artist but that did not happen. In swaras he made up well and with superb patterns of shree ranjani saket created a good kalaikattufied concert during swaras of shree ranjani.

He moved on next to a heavy varAli alapana . VarAli needs that distinct gAndharam , saket struggled at some point post midpoint of alapana he confused me immensely if the raga that he continued was a pantuvarali or a varali. RKSK came to my rescue and only anchored with distinct pidi of varAli. The krithi eti janmamidhi did not come out well and saket idea did not resonate enough classicism for me.

KambOdhi alapana he did start in a madhyamakala route and he did throw with lot of brigas and managed well . For many many many years i used to think that marakatha valli is a typicAL RST and not a neraval filled RNST krithi . I recollect few years back when i posted this in some thread some one told me that KVN use to sing a neraval in marakatha valli . I still dont know where neraval was sung by KVN , but for me this was the first time if my memory is right where i heard a neraval in marakatha valli. Saket sang kAmbodhi in neraval and swaras well only for the first half. When voice does not throw with more power and if the aadhara shadjam is always challenged kutcheri suffers a bit for sure . His second half along with RKSK along with Trichy sankaran just did not have a well regimented rhythmmic cut , raga bhavam was a bit of blur (as in thamizh they say a lot of virissal). Saket moved with the usual kambodhi defining phase ga ma pA ma ga and with that midpoint he could have used more sankaran sir but it did not happen.

RTP was in KAnadA , nice uzhaippu but he did not do justice in all three segments as he constrained himself in a pigeonhole of possibly the organizer telling him you wrap up at 09 15 . The 20 mins RTP was nice in that neelAmbari swararagamaliga , the crouching tiger was just a hidden dragon - sankaran sir was not used at all in RTP.

The viruththam was well sung , lines were nice and he took the designer viruththam ragas like dhanyasi, sahana and sindhubhairavi and I think he went to brindavani (did he go to kapi in between or may be without a hot coffee in the break did i assume the brindavani as kApi). The viruththam was well done and i could spot a lot of patterns and style like a TVS style of singing . He ended with a nice krithi of ambujam krishna . Lalgudi jayaraman emotes the maximum with his thillana in madhuvanti which is a haunting melody, but saketaraman was not blessed with that much by madhuvanti raga devata , melody.

RKSK violin melody and sunaadam picked up well from kambOdhi only, he was heading a bit in the direction of saket slightly caught with law of average. The tiger Trichy sankaran is still on a roll for sure ,he just has so much of right black centered taps and with such dextrous fingers he plays so many patterns and completes so quickly before the singer takes the next sanchara . maruBalka was rocking . Incidentally his first round tani was not at all loud, he played so delicately with so many patterns and he kind of beautifully controlled and directed his nAdham and also BSP nAdham to give more deeper sound of kanjira along with mrudu. Sankaran sir patterns are so copious and I just felt saket could have been atleast given more justice in atleast going for another 15 to 30 mins , the pallavi atleast could have been taken to a more demonstrable one . BSP was mostly watchful and was an obediant upapakkavadyam he played well and more conspicously only during tani.

In this concert saket particularly had shruthi slips particularly in areas where he traverses towards mel sthayi.Also he bit annoyed with his loud tAlam during tani at many places I had to hear the percussionist past his talam facade especially when sankaran sir and BSP played delicately for most time the tani . Saketharaman certainly is working hard in giving more power to his voice and is just not squatting on parama sowkhyam typecast like a decade or half a decade back .

Overall a very good concert for 2 hours and 15 minutes.

[sankark]

varALi and kAmbOdhi seems to have sucked sufficiency and yet it is v good? Puzzled, I am.

[rajeshnat]

varALi and kAmbOdhi seems to have sucked sufficiency and yet it is v good? Puzzled, I am.

sankark
No puzzle you should have heard the taps of Trichy Sankaran especially Marubalka during dharineriki and swaras .Also sankaran sir's first round of tani which was meditative. Every one counts . Certainly the team overall presented well - at times voice may not have had sufficient rest , guess all that is part of season

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

Rajesh: EXCELLENT REVIEW!! You are 100% RIGHT about Trichy Sankaran!!In his(TS) younger days SSI was quite effusive of TS. as well as his Guru PSP--some cynics thought he was overly praising the PSP school indirectly having a "dig" at PMI. But once PMI accompanied him on Marubalka and took it to great heights. he was pacified.(SS used to lament as to Why PMI showed so much enthusiasm for ARI whenever he accompanied him and played very sedately for himself-SSI-till PMI satisfied him with the marubalka playing!! Pardon the digression!!

TS when he gets inspired will rise to the occasion for krithis like Marubalka--TS is THE true Torch-bearer for the Pudukottai Bani in Mridangam.

Enjoying the reviews vicariously!! Keep the coming!!

I do not know whether you saw Lalgudi Viji's concert review by my nephew Bala Shankar in the The Hindu!! Notwithstanding your likes/dislikes towards the Hindu please do not hold it against my nephew!!!