The concert of the year-TNS-MC-UKS

[sarojaRamanujam]

The concert of the Year

The concert under the auspices of the Semmangudi trust in ragasudha Hall on 29-7-2007 comprising of three sangithakalanidhis, Maduri TNSeshagopalan.M chandhra sekharan and Umayalpuram Sivaraman was really the concert of the Year. The hall was fully packed and some were found even standing. Barring the stage, the whole space was occupied with rasikas. Expecting this, we arrived at the hall early enough to ensure good seats.

The experience of the rasikas that day was something beyond description. The concert began with the composition of kavi kunjara bharathy in kanada, ‘swami gajamukha vibho’ and from the first moment of take off we were flown high above as by a jetplane. When TNS sang the svara for the krthi and we were sailing above the clouds!

Next came Panthuvarali, the raga, as usual with TNS, was exquisite, and there were predictions around as to the krthi but I had a hunch that it would be ‘Siva siva siva enaradha,’ and it proved to be correct! There was a hint of it by the smile that was exchanged between TNS and UKS! The svara was fantastic and proved to be a ball game between the two, TNS and UKS, which was later taken up by MC with UKS.

The nayaki krthi ‘palayamaam .’ by Swathithirunaal followed the panthuvarali piece and the nayaki , as usually is with TNS, was full of grace and beauty. Next, there was a sudden change in the atmosphere and a shower of svaras followed the Bhavapriya krthi, ‘srikanthnee,’ of Thyagaraja at a fast rate and it proved to be doubly delightful as both TNS and TNSKrishna , who gave him vocal support took it up in turns, ably assisted with UKS on the mridangam.

Then came the main raga of the day, Bhairavi. The raga delineation was done with deft strokes and TNS painted with the raga (means colour), leisurely and delicately, square by square and created a mosaic pattern rich and beautiful. While the rasikas indulged in wild guesses on the krthi , TNS, the master of surprises, started ‘kamakshi ambaa,’ of Syamasasthri , and how! The pace was slow with the ocean-like depth and the krthi was laden with rasa. I even noticed one or two surreptiously wiping their eyes! The experience was something which could only be described by the very words of Shyama sasthri as ,’anudhinamu maravakane.’ Neraval svaram was at .shyamakrishna sodhari,’ and that contained all the fireworks of TNS and ably supported by MC and UKS.

The whole concert was as exciting as watching the final day at Wimbledon, singles between TNS and UKS , MC and UKS and doubles by TNS and TNSKrishna on one side and UKS and Sundarkumar who played kanjira, on the other side. The thani by UKS and Sundarkumar was in keeping with the main sprit of the day.

Finally TNS concluded the concert with the rasika’s delight, ‘saayankaale vanaanthe ,’ which was as usual a splashing of colours(ragas), and at the end came the thiruppavai .’vangaakkadal’ in suruti and mangalam.

The concert at Hamsadvani on 27-7-2007

The concert was organized by the Parampara, RukminiArts Academy and Hamsadvani together and took place at the Hamsadvani auditorium. TNS was accompanied by V.V.Ravi on violin, Trichur Narendran on Mridhangam and Purushotthaman on kanjira.

The format of the concert was slightly different from usual with sparsity of svaras . The day being Friday in the month of Adi, all the songs were on Devi as could be expected with TNS. On the whole it was devi upasana rich with devotional fervour.

The concert started with ‘Ojagadhamba,’ in Anandhabairavi with short svara and it was aanandhamaana anandha bhairavi. Next TNS started the raga poorvikalyani which was dealt with deft strokes and proved to be apoorva kalyani, and he surprised the rasikas by the krthi of Ramaswami Sivan, ‘ekkaalatthilum.’ The Sriraga krthi ‘srivaralakshmi’ that followed contained neraval svara and had all the beauty as one would expect from TNS.

The bindumalini raga that followed was real garland of honey-drops, madhubindhumalini. The krthi, n however was not entha muddho as one would expect but it was a new one , ‘anbaaga ennaiyum,’ a beautiful composition of his mother perhaps.

Next came ‘brovavamma ‘ in manji, which always has a specific profile (Maanji has a special moonji, to quote TNS) with TNS, and it was followed by a racy ‘jaalanthara’ in valji of Muthiah bhagavathar. This was followed by a saveri piece by Ana ayya ,’varmamaa enmel.’

The main raga of the day was kalyani and the krthi that followed was.’ninnuvina gathi kaana,’ by Subbaraya sasthri. The rags was exquisite and the neraval svara was at ‘nee padha pankaja,’ and TNS gave a rich repast of svaras ending each phrase as ni pa da, in svarakshara pattern and it was fantastic, especially when he made various permutations and combinations ending with ‘ni ni.’

Next was ‘akhilandesvari,’ in dvijavanthi after the thani and TNS sang a sloka ,vandematharam ambikam,’ in ragamalika followed by a viruttham ‘parkadal eenra paavaai,’ in sindhubairavi, presumably a composition of his mother. The sindhubairavi was wonderful and sported with all the possible nuances of the raga which TNS alone could unearth. This was followed by A Bharathi composition ‘thediunnai charanadaindhen,’ in sindhubairavi .

TNS never ceases to surprise his rasikas and this concert was no exception because he chose the Thyagaraja krthi ‘Vinayakuni,’ in madhyamavathi to end his concert and sang the sloka sarvamangalamangalye in madhyamavathi as the mangalam.


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[mahesh_narayan]

I am sure it must have been a mind-blowing concert, but calling it concert of the year seems a little too exaggerated, especially since lots of concerts are yet to come this year, december season included.

[sbala]

I was one of those latecomers (entered at 6.20 for the 6.30 concert) hanging from the windows, till I had to make way for a kid.

[erode14]

oh... jus now i posted my review.... in new topics..

I am sure it must have been a mind-blowing concert, but calling it concert of the year seems a little too exaggerated, especially since lots of concerts are yet to come this year, december season included.

true....

even the same trio may perform great... and break their own records.....

especially, when we review two concerts at the same time in one thread and if we say one is concert of the year, some may read [wrongly] between lines... and feel it otherwise...

[sarojaRamanujam]

Surely the concept of a year varies from person to person!In my calculation the December season is far off and does not come into the picture. And moreover the phrase concert of the year should not be taken literally.It is just a figure of speech.Since I write only about TNS it is not a comment on the concert of anyone else.The expression only means that the concert is the most memorable of all those heard in a year's time. When you take words literally this is the problem.as I said once in this column I can't help being poetic because that is my style. I cannot write a review in a prosaic manner by calling a spade a spade. Reviewing two concerts in the same thread also does not present a problem as the other one was also described in glowing terms and if anyone reads between the lines wrongly that is their prerogative. Such persons will read everything wrongly anyway.The concert was so called partly because of the rare combination of the trio. If the same trio perform even better and break the records I will be the first to feel happy. After all records are meant to be broken.

[bhaktha]

Though I couldn't attend the concert, I can only imagine what a pleasure it must have been witnessing the 3 SKs in action. I guess the the pallavi of the kriti "Swara raga sudharasa " aptly sums it up.
@Smt. Sarojaramanujam
I always lose myself in the beauty of your reviews on TNS, just like the vidwan's music itself.
-bhaktha

[sarojaRamanujam]

Thank you . Such messages from people like you makes it all worhtwhile.

[emyesbee]

Thank you very much for the review. It has been longtime since I heard TNS live in concert. This December I will do that for sure

TNS sining Bhairavi Swarajathi would have been an immortal experience.

[sarojaRamanujam]

Thank you emyesbee. By the way I hope you remember the video file of TNS you promised to upload.

[bala747]

I thought ALL of TNS concerts were "concerts of the year" to TNS fans?

Just kidding folks. I love reading TNS reviews, they're as interesting as his concerts.