Neyveli SanthanagOpalan@Vanimahal (ThyAga brahma sabha) on F

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 20 Feb 2007, 20:26

Accompanied by MA Sundareswaran - violin , Neyveli NArayanan -Mridangam and E Msubramaniam - ghatam

All except viruttam and the slokham were sadguru thyagarAja's composition. Need help(Kji,meena) to identify the composer of slokham and viruttam.

1A. Few minutes late just to pick the second phrase of the slokham
"AvAnee surarAjya thyagarAja mangalam ?"- poornachandirka - ??
1B. telisi rAma(S) - poornachandrika
2. rAma nannu brOvarA (N,S)- harikAmbOdhi
neraval in "meppulakai kannatAvu nappu"

3. appa rAma bhakthi (R,N,S) - pantuvarAli
neraval in "lakSmI dEvI valacunA lakshmanuNDu golucunA"
4. marukElarA O raghavA - jayanthashri
5. sujana jeevana (R,NS,S)- kamAs

6. teliyalEru raama - dhenukA
7. mAnamu lEdA tanavADana(R,S,T) - hameerkalyAni
8. sarasa sAma dhAna - kApinArayani

9. hecerika ga - yadukula kaambhOdhi
10. haridaasulu veDalu - yamunA kalyAni
11. puzhuvAi pirakkinum un ponnadi enmanathe (viruttam)- sindhubhairavi - ??
12. vinAyakuni(S) - madhyamAvati
13. pavamAna followed by mangalam KOsalendrAya - sowrAshtram + shuruTTi

Neyveli SanthanagOpalan's (NSG) vilambakAla music is better appreciated in contrast to his contemporaries of today .While few of his contemporaries may edge out significantly in singing a more elaborate R, N or S , but they would miss out on the sowkhyam aspect .

Balancing the two dimensions of sowkhyam and depth is like movies where a blindfolded damsel will be balancing both the pans of a small physical balance.But unlike the blindfolded women which is more in tinsel world , few real carnatic musicians have achieved almost the right balance in the vilamabakAla rendition . Shri MDR, I can vouch he achieved that, where he is mostly at the exact intersection of sowkhyam and depth,almost perfect to the ears and your ever restless mind.

But NSG is not a MDR for me,the balance swings most of the time slightly away(case 1) ,sometimes too much away from the midpoint(case 2) ,and only once it stayed exactly at the midpoint(case 3).

Little more analysis reveals one of the closest reason why that swing happens in case 2 is more to do with NSG taking the celebrated ariyakudi sequence of a submain, main etc which was crafted with the time dimension where NSG prefers omitting the wellset time duration for each. The time conditioning as a rasika,leaves a degree of uncertainity which is sometimes fascinating and at times little too boring. Interestingly most were fascinations.

Few of the fascinations that stayed closed to the midpoint- case 1 :
1. His pristine telisi rAma in poornachandrika with a gentle one avartana swaram beginning in ni sa ri ga ma

2. His jayanthashri is so short but simply stunning with that exact emotion. Shri NGS visualizing depth of thyagarAja's swami's bhakthi when he uttered a long alankAram in the phrases rAmA and raghava.

3. A very distinct manodharmam that revealed both depth and sowkhyam when he ended the famous dhenukA krithi where he pleaded with the short alankAram "teliyalEru rAma" and then continued with a longer alankAram "bhakti mArgamunu".

4. The best of his close to midpoint was his sujana jeevana in khamAs , which is sometimes sidelined in concert(s). His neraval sketch in the lines "sujana jeevana rAmA suguna bhooshana rAmA" was to me brilliant with an excellent swara pattern.

Few boring moments that stayed too much away to the midpoint -case 2

1.I am so accustomed to pantuvarAli , where musicians should get to the tara-sthayi, but NSG was staying more closer to his comfort zone ,which made a pantuvarAli only half satisfying.

2.Hameer a rAgA that can easily expanded as an elaborate (vistAramAna) main was bit too short , that too considering Shri NSG being a sishya of one of the all time greats who has made hameer very memorable (Shri TNS).

3. Why was the viruttam that started with sindhubhairavi suddenly jumped to a madhyamAvati krithi without even a continuation of madhyamAvati in the viruttam.

One super fascination that exactly stayed in the midpoint- case 3
While in the dhenuka and khamAs he visualized rAmabhakthi , but Shri NSG's yadhukula kAmbOdhi he made us visualize rAma bhakthi too. A simply unforgettable rendition that moved most of us in tears , the proof was there in the silence at the end of the song with a longest round of applause.

The accompanists were between good to very good during the renditions.tani was just good.

MaheshS · Post by **MaheshS** » 20 Feb 2007, 21:13

Shri NSG's yadhukula kAmbOdhi he made us visualize rAma bhakthi too. A simply unforgettable rendition that moved most of us in tears , the proof was there was a silence at the end of the song with a longest round of applause.

Not the first time! When I was hanging around NSG [note: not a student, I'm too thick, just went for his company] we went to see Semmangudi. NSG had performed the day before in the Music Academy [with ??? and UKS IIRC] and Semmangudi was in the audience.

At SSI's house after the usual welcome and getting his blessings, he was about to say something when VVS came! He was to accompany SSI in a concert a few weeks after that and wanted a chat. SSI turned to VVS and said

"Ni Santhanathukku vasichirukaya? Enakku Santhanamna romba pidikum, nanna kacham kattindu, kudimi venchudu, romba sowkyamana sangeetham. Nethi oru Hecharigaga padinan paaru, appadiye ukandhuten, kanula thanni vandhadhu. Romba nalla sangeetham da Santhanam, appadiye padanum, kalam maripochunu ni maradha".

Rough translation.

"Have you played for Santhanam? I like him very much, wearing a panchakacham, with a tuft very pleasing music. You should have heard his Hecharigaga yesterday, I was stunned and had tears in my eyes. Very good music Santhanam, should sing like this, don't change your music beacuse times are changing".

OK tha translation doesn't work out .. but I hope you get the gist!

I'm suprsised about his short Hameer Kalyani, he can produce song beautiful sangathis. I've heard him sing it at home elaborately while explaning the details and beauty of the raga and pidi's for me and a friend called Mohan.

bala747 · Post by **bala747** » 21 Feb 2007, 07:11

I loved his slow speed swara renditions. His Hecharika ga can be compared to any of the great renditions of Yadukula Kambhoji. HE sang a concert here in 1999/2000 with a stunning array of chowka kala songs:

Merusamana, Meenakshi memudham, Marivere gathi, Hecherika ga rara with a short alapana and fantastic neraval (Easily my favourite piece of the night), Swararagasudha and finally an RTP in Kaapi. He managed a beautiful Hindolam with Ramanukku mannan in there as well.

Went for 4 hours plus. Despite having a voice that was not at its optimal best.

arunsri · Post by **arunsri** » 21 Feb 2007, 15:10

Few boring moments that stayed too much away to the midpoint -case 2

1.I am so accustomed to pantuvarAli , where musicians should get to the tara-sthayi, but NSG was staying more closer to his comfort zone ,which made a pantuvarAli only half satisfying.

---------------

Not defending NSG or finding fault with you,

Just to clarify, pantuvarALi or kAmavardhani is a raga which should be sung carefully, The range is limited from madnhra sthAyi nishAdam to tAra shaDjam, with an occasional sweep encompassing 'pmgrs' kind of phrases in the tAra sthAyi. Linger on tAra sthAyi gAndhAra is a no - no, as there is a great danger of slipping into a more famous pUrvikalyANi, same is tru for sancharas below mandhra sthAtyi nishAdam.

This is theory

Unfortunately, man practising musicians do not adhere to this, swaras and alapanas keep tAra sthAyi gAndhAra as a launching pad on many occasions during alapanas and swaras. Nothing wrong to the ears, since it is still very my the scale of kAmavardhani.

I have a feeling that NSG adhered to this aspect while singing.

ramakriya · Post by **ramakriya** » 21 Feb 2007, 22:41

arunsri wrote:Just to clarify, pantuvarALi or kAmavardhani is a raga which should be sung carefully, The range is limited from madnhra sthAyi nishAdam to tAra shaDjam, with an occasional sweep encompassing 'pmgrs' kind of phrases in the tAra sthAyi.

This is theory

I thought the rAga was limited to tAra gAndhAra - Isn't that correct ?

-Ramakriya

bala747 · Post by **bala747** » 22 Feb 2007, 18:11

USually Panthuvarali is best sung in the middle octave with a few brief essays in the higher octave, usually upto Ga with a couple of lines to Pa, but it's not considered a very good idea to remain there too long.

But one must again be careful when making that conclusion a blanket statement because after all it is a melakartha krithi, and thus theoretically it is amenable to many combinations in all three octaves. I think it's better to say that generally, panthuvarali is limited to Thara stayi gandhara, although if a musician can get away with elaborate renditions in the higher octave, more power to him. I remember SSI's fantastic rendition of Sarasaksha with an elaborate nevaral starting at the Thara gandhara. The alapana IIRC went to the dhaivatha. But then again, that was SSI.

Anyway, a beautiful explanation for the krithi, heccarika ga ra ra.

http://thyagaraja.sulekha.com/blog/post ... avam-6.htm

rajumds · Post by **rajumds** » 22 Feb 2007, 20:41

bala747 wrote:Anyway, a beautiful explanation for the krithi, heccarika ga ra ra.

http://thyagaraja.sulekha.com/blog/post ... avam-6.htm

The author is our vgvindan