TN SeshagOpalan@NGS(karthik fine arts) on Dec 06th,2007

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 07 Dec 2007, 11:44

Accompanied by shri M.Chandrasekaran - violin , shri mannArgudi easwaran -mridangam and anirudh AthrEyA - kanjira

1. ninnu kOri (varnam) (R) - mOhanam - poochi
2. shri mahAganapatE dEhi shivam - malahari - HMB

3A . rAga alApanai of poorvikalyani
3B. slokham "..... karunyA vAlam nidhim" - poorvikalyAni -???
3C. Meenakshi Ne Mudham(R,N,S)- Gamakakriya/POorviKalyani- Dikshitar

4A. enduku dayaraaduraa (R N S T)- tODi - T
4B. tani

5A. viruththam "puLLin vAzh pilAnthittAi" - simm madhyamam - AndAl pAsuram??
+ kaLLa arakkiyAi mOOkOdu - khamAs
+ aLLi Neer veNNai vizhuga - revati
+ thelliyA neeriL ezhunda - basanthbahAr
5B. slOkham "barusE savinniki mannu bhAvanukki " - basathbahAr - meerA bhajan
5C. barusE - basanthbahAr - meerA bhajan

6. thirruppugazh - rAgamAligA - arunagirinAthar
7. pavamAna + "shir venkata nivAsAya " mangalam - rAgamAligA

The concert was delayed for about 35 minutes , the reason was not the usual one. Shri TK Murthy who was slated to play could not make it and hence shri Easwaran played. The delay was understandable and very apt to me as I had to cross the maddening traffic snarls and I was just on time.

Hearing Shri TNS a decade or two before , I have personally got so much out of this mahAvidwan.But then his music was at his peak. But today's Shri TNS does not map to those glorious years most of the time . But as a rasikA if you are patient and just be forebearing on occassional shruthi lapses, fairly recurrent voice problem in almost 1/2 of concert , you get an extraordinary demonstration of vidwath and atleast one fascinating capsule that interests you so much that you forget all the err's that happened.

Shri TNS began with the famous ninnuKOri varnam with a brief alApanai at 07:20 pm, his voice not in a perfect pitch. He showed considerable restraint , partly the restraint was felt more with NGS sabha audio setting, he gave a fine round of swaras in sannuThAnga shri . A fine rendition which was bit leisurely was followed up with HMB's malahari krithi.

Detailed AlApana is what is needed for Shri TNS, more earlier more better .His throat cleared a bit and he gave a very good rendition of poorvikalyANi alApanai. THe krithi meenAkshi memudham was preceded by a good slOkham and he came up with a very good rendition of the krithi.The neraval in mAdhura puriniLaye dipped the concert and was not that good. Swaras were good to very good , with atleast 2 rounds of swaras given by TNS krishna, he was just ok.

The main followed submain immediately with a very good alApanai of tOdi,there was a close to 3 minutes of outstanding alApanai where I felt he almost gave an outstanding demonstration of breath control drawing a round of applause with the crowd . The krithi endukku daya rAdhurA was just good , the neraval was a bit curtailed in "thyagarAja vinuta tAraka charitA",the swaras like alApanai was very good with an excellent middle spread in madhyama kAlam.The tani was very good with great support and nice azhuttham by anirudh.

What followed after the main was that fascinating capsule
Shri TNS started at 08:55 pm the viurththam almost 40% crowd gone before viruththam . The start was I think in simm madhyamam?? which was very good , the kamAs and revati was excellent .What followed revati was an outstanding rendition. The rAgam was basanth bahAr , it was brilliant in all counts with some exciting piDi's in the line vArAy . Particularly it was very satisfying as basanthbahAr is one rAgam that I am hearing after many many years after some immortal renditions of maharAjapuram santhAnam(kanda guhA murugA shanmugA viruththam ). The viruttham transformed into slOkham with the lines barusE sAhanniki in the same basanth bahAr and the popular meera bhajan continued . The meera bhajan was bit sedate with another outstanding "Anandh mangaLa" phrase where he did some what a dhrupad kind of style rendition, a very very fast to and fro return with MC .

The tirrupuggazh followed as a rapid fire rAgamAliga , perhaps he could have shown a bit of restraint , I could catch only a AnandAbhairavi +hamsAnandi + madhyamAvati and shuruTTi. The concert was a close (09:30 pm) with pavamAna and a slOkham shree venkata nivAsAya mangalam which I think had a cocktail of both shree and madhyamAvati in it.

The accompanist shri easwaran and Aniruddh were both very good . MC was good only in parts , there was a lot of scratchy play . Also in the dhrupad tit for tat "Anandh mangALa", I felt shri MC could not match well. Shri MC played very good returns for the rAgamAliga viruththam.

A submain, main and viruththam+ slOkham + bhajan almost like mini submain in succession, does any musician have that daring confidence as of today, perhaps only shri TNS can do that?Overall for the viruththam+ slOkham and meerA bhajan which stretched from 08:55 pm to 09:25pm this concert was worth the gold.Overall a very good concert with an outstanding basant bahAr.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 07 Dec 2007, 17:37

Rajesh,
3b must have been:
udyat bhAnu sahasra koti sadriSam keyUrahArojjvalAm
bimboshThIm smita danta pankti rucirAm pItAmbarAlankritAm |
vishNu brahma surEndra sevitapadAm tatva svarUpAm SivAm
mInAkSIm praNatOsmi santatam aham kAruNya vArAnnidhim ||

from Adi Sankara's mInAkshi pancaratnam

and

3c would be mInAkshI mE mudam dEhi

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 07 Dec 2007, 18:29

Rajesh,
puLLin vAi kINDAnaip pollA arakkanai is from ANDAL's tiruppAvai.
barsE badariyAn sAvan ki

Sathej · Post by **Sathej** » 08 Dec 2007, 10:37

A nice encapsulation of the concert. Yes, I too thought the Thodi Alapanai and the post-main Virutham were wonderful. Well, as Rajesh says, if one is patient, you get such moments of brilliance in TNS concerts, no doubt.
Sathej

vijaykrish · Post by **vijaykrish** » 08 Dec 2007, 12:31

arasi wrote:Rajesh,
puLLin vAi kINDAnaip pollA arakkanai is from ANDAL's tiruppAvai.
barsE badariyAn sAvan ki

The pAsuram which Sri.TNS sang was
puLLin vAi piLantittAnai is from periyAzhvAr tirumozhi

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 08 Dec 2007, 12:46

vijaykrish wrote:
arasi wrote:Rajesh,
puLLin vAi kINDAnaip pollA arakkanai is from ANDAL's tiruppAvai.
barsE badariyAn sAvan ki
The pAsuram which Sri.TNS sang was
puLLin vAi piLantiAnai is from periyAzhvAr tirumozhi

vijaykrish,
Tx for all (ravi,arasi and you). Just out of curiosity are the rAgas that I have marked in viurththam right. By any chance was hamsAnandi also sung between revati and basantbahAr . Can I say puLLin vAi piLantiAnai is from periyAzhvAr tirumozhi, part of nAlayiram divyaprabandham . All the pAsurams, tirruppAvai and divyaprabandham are just too confusing , there is no stickiness in my head(ksrimech can answer too...).

vijaykrish · Post by **vijaykrish** » 08 Dec 2007, 13:41

periyAzhwAr tirumozhi and tiruppAvai is part of nalAyira divyaprabandam.

I don't think he sang hamsAnandi between revati and basantbahAr.

sarojaRamanujam · Post by **sarojaRamanujam** » 08 Dec 2007, 15:55

PuuLLin vai piLandhittai and not pulLLinvai keendaanai .TTHe first was from Periazvar and the latter from thiruppavai of Andal
TNS sang only the first. I will give my review later if the members wish so as it is not so much as a review but recapture of my own experience as the ardent rasika of TNS.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 08 Dec 2007, 19:17

Saroja,
Your write ups on the concerts of TNS are like dessert to a great meal. There are many of us who enjoy reading your posts. Hope you will write several of your essays during the season.

kartik · Post by **kartik** » 09 Dec 2007, 18:37

Interesting to notice Basant Bahar as a choice for Barse Badariya Savan Ki.Not sure I have seen too much rain in spring.
Ranjani-Gayathri render the same excellently in megh malhar,which perhaps is a natural choice for the lyrica.

sarojaRamanujam · Post by **sarojaRamanujam** » 10 Dec 2007, 13:37

Thank you Arasi. Here is my review.

Review of the concert of TNS on 6-12-2007 at karthik fine arts

Ustad Seshagopalan

TNS started the concert with varnam in mohanam, followed by the krthi mahaganapathe in malahari by Muthiah bhagavathar. Then came the poorvikalyani aalaapana and the krthi Meenaakshi me mudham of Dikshithar. This raga is called gamakakriya in Dikshithar school and it was just that, a gamakakriya., as rendered by TNS, which portrayed the goddess Meenakshi as rajamaathangi. The krithi, as usual, was delectable. TNS Krishna joined in swara singing adding few more flashes of colour.

The thodi that followed needs no description coming from the emperor of ragas with thodi as his capital, and the krthi was endhuku dayaradhu and not kaarthikeya as some might have expected! Thodi alapana was breathtaking in all sense of the term! The svraprasthaara was excellent as could have expectd from TNS and Mannargudi Eesvaran on mrdhangam and Aniruddha Athreya on kanjira gave a good poshanam to the music. The thani that followed was also very good.

The seasoned rasikas who expect a rich repast from TNS never leave before the end as the ice cream is usually served in the end! So it was! The pasuram â€˜puLLinai vai pilandhittai,â€

gobilalitha · Post by **gobilalitha** » 10 Dec 2007, 14:56

wonderful review. even though i was not lucky enough tobe present physically, I can gauge what pleasure the listeners would have derived by the kutcheri of the maestro(NUMBERONE) damn ananda vikatan gobilalitha

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 10 Dec 2007, 18:03

I will just 'ignore' negative reviews if I were you:)

Ragjay · Post by **Ragjay** » 11 Dec 2007, 21:14

I think that a review which mentions that a concert was not up to the mark is also to be taken in stride. Any artist however great he may be has his off day and if it is so and reported then u cannot brush aside the review., merely because the singer is a great artist. The comment is with reference to the performance of that day and that is all.It in no way demeans the greatness of the artist. It is also to be noted after all that a review is what is perceived and experienced at a personal level by the reviewer.The reviewer must also base his review on the performance and not make any personal comment about the artist.