Vijay Siva's Concert At M A - 18 - 12- 07

saveri · Post by **saveri** » 18 Dec 2007, 23:53

Vijay Siva was " anaayaasam " personified in his entire concert.

He was not strained even for a moment and presented the items with elan and ease, with absolute bhava.

The Kaanada varnam was rendered brilliantly with three kaalams ( first for the pallavi, second for the anupallavi and tisram for the chittaswara), back to a madhyama kalaalam for the charanam. With this breezy start, he proceeded with the rest of the concert easing out the tensions in the minds of the listeners.

Kamboji was great with Tiruvadi Charanam, imaginative swaras and a good dose of neraval. The Virutam, at the start, piped up the song. Chintaye Mahalingamin Paras , i thought was a little fast, but then that also seemed a nice wasy of rendering it, as Vijay took great cae in the diction, without any padha chhedham.

Natabhairavi for the RTP was rendered with all that one can do with the raga, only sometimes i felt he went off raga in one or two places in the alapana and tanam, but came back to the sthana very quickly.

The RTP with its trikaalam and the use of the raga natabhairavi, bahiravi and anadabhairavi was done with balance and elegance, with no over indulgence.

Chandramouli (violin), Manoj Siva and Sundarkumar(kanjira), all kept up brilliantly with the artists mood and presentation and complemented well, adding to the brilliance of the concert.

Vijay was better this time compared to last years MA concert, is my feeling. He has matured more and presents his songs with tranquility and elegance. No show of expertise, or gimmicks, or unnecessary flashiness, but at the same time pleasing to the ears and senses, his is a straight "from the heart rendition.", true to tradition.

Wish more youngsters learn a few things from this artist, who has been a torch bearer for many a youngster in CM today.

grsastrigal · Post by **grsastrigal** » 19 Dec 2007, 10:21

Can you give me the complete list of songs ?

Sankar K · Post by **Sankar K** » 19 Dec 2007, 12:34

I missed the first 20 mins of the concert and reached the venue just as the violinist was concluding his Saranga vinyasa

Emi tova - Saranga - Adi - T (RS)
Brovavamma - Manji - Misra Chapu - SS
Thiruvadi Saranam - Kambhoji - Adi - GKB (RNS)
Chintaye Mahalinga - Paras - Adi - MD
RTP (Paramananda Natabhairaveesa Jagadheesa) - Natabhairavi - Adi?? - Swaras in Natabhairavi, Anandabhairavi & Bhairavi & Tani
Matadabaradeno - Khamas - Misrachapu - Naraharidasa
Muddugare - Kurinji - Adi - Annamacharya
Thannaiyarindhu Inbamura Vennilave - ??
Thiruppugazh

I find the nasal twang of his voice quite appealing

IMO, Vijay's sojourn in the upper reaches of Kambhoji was very good. However I found the song not carrying much of a punch. Guess I am spoilt with Musiri's neraval and was measuring Vijay's up against that. His diction was just great. I could understand the madhyamakala passage of Chintaye Mahalinga without any additional effort on my part.

Overall, I would rate this **** out of *****.

grsastrigal · Post by **grsastrigal** » 19 Dec 2007, 12:47

Thanks. Vijay Siva is like Jesus christ. Never fails. He has become so matured in his concerts. All his performance in Dec is superb, from the reviews I read, here, and couple of them, heard.

peanutbutter · Post by **peanutbutter** » 19 Dec 2007, 13:55

grsastrigal wrote:Vijay Siva is like Jesus christ.

Jesus Christ eh? Sure.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 19 Dec 2007, 14:55

J.C or not, a, super star, he surely is

Enjoyed the concert thoroughly, and Saveri, you said it so well.'Elan and ease and absolute bhAvA".
Savored the paras too. it suits paras to be delivered that way, I feel. The whole concert was a delivery of chaste music rendered masterfully.
I liked the violin, but thought that Sriram Kumar last year at the Academy was all empathy.
Sundarkumar's little passage of a 'surprise delivery' was a pleasant one.
Was it the air conditioning that bothered Manoj Siva? He accompanied his bro very well, but I would have liked him to have smiled a bit more. He seemed occupied.

grsastrigal · Post by **grsastrigal** » 19 Dec 2007, 17:12

pnb-jesus never fails is a famour saying.... we used to tell during our Chartered Accountant exams- "Jesus never fails untill he takes intermediate exam of Chartered Accountant..". Not offending any religion. It is a fun, I used it here.... yes.. arasi's reply echoes my feelings with more weightage.

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 19 Dec 2007, 20:50

Here's the pallavi:

'paramAnanda naTa bhairavISA, jagadISA'

adi [2], eDUppu 2 aksharams after samam.

A - 3; nan - 2; da - 1; na - 1; Ta - 1; bhai - 3; ra - 1.5; vI - 1.5; SA [arudi] - 7
ja - 1; ga - 1; dI - 3; shA - 3; pa - 1; ra - 2

peanutbutter · Post by **peanutbutter** » 20 Dec 2007, 00:48

So, Jesus never fails, and Vijay Siva is like Jesus... OK, Sure.

Anyway... What are some equivalent analogies for his peers... ie Unnikrishnan, Sanjay, TMK, etc?

Vocalist · Post by **Vocalist** » 20 Dec 2007, 07:30

Vijay Siva has almost all that is needed to be an ideal artist. He's held onto the DKP/DKJ style very well, even in the way he chooses what to sing in a concert. His manodharmam is good, and singing-wise, unlike some, he does not find the need to shout (with no sense of pitch or bhaavaa). Personality-wise, he isn't arrogant either. It really is quite remarkable that he has come to the stage where he receives almost no criticism (other than on the squeaky nature of his voice) because of how well he performs (always), and how humble he is as an artist. I think he is an artist that truely deserves more recognition than he currently receives. Anyone disagree?

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 20 Dec 2007, 10:07

What I really enjoyed about this concert was the beautiful planning and sense of proportion. Sri Vijay Siva took up two difficult rAgAs for elaboration - sArangA and naTabhairavi both exist in the shadow of more popular cousins, and singing these rAgAs is a challenge. Sri Siva sang just enough that the individuality of these rAgAs was brought out while avoiding traces of allied rAgAs. It was beautifully done.

Another aspect which I liked was the strikingly different presentation of the niraval - while the niraval line in tiruvaDi sharaNam usually soars in the upper octave, Sri Vijay Siva took up most of the niraval exercise in the lower reaches - singing mandra sthAyi niraval is a tough challenge, that too in kAmbhOji where the upper reaches have such a compelling majesty and magnetism.

I felt Sreesundarkumar was also very restrained - at one point [in the kAmbhOji piece I think], he let loose a Harishankar-style flurry, fingers rippling blazingly on the khanjira. All the other artistes on the stage [including Vijay Siva's student and the cute little pAvADai-dAvaNi girl, both playing the tampura] turned their gazes to him as one, with big smiles on their faces. It was a lovely little moment which arasi has also commented upon.

The concert started exactly at 4:15 and at 6:45 Sri Vijay was singing 'gObrAhmaNEbhyascha shubham astu nityam' - we can set our clocks by his planning!

grsastrigal · Post by **grsastrigal** » 20 Dec 2007, 14:19

pnb has the answer from the above two. The others, when live up to my expectation, will be named.

sbala · Post by **sbala** » 20 Dec 2007, 14:39

prashant wrote:Another aspect which I liked was the strikingly different presentation of the niraval - while the niraval line in tiruvaDi sharaNam usually soars in the upper octave, Sri Vijay Siva took up most of the niraval exercise in the lower reaches - singing mandra sthAyi niraval is a tough challenge, that too in kAmbhOji where the upper reaches have such a compelling majesty and magnetism.

Prashanth - I met Uday after the concert and told him the neraval wasn't very catchy as I've been conditioned to hearing the tara sthayi phrases. But, "different" is probably the right description for the neraval.

peanutbutter · Post by **peanutbutter** » 20 Dec 2007, 23:42

grsastrigal wrote:The others, when live up to my expectation, will be named.

All the best. Take care.

Vocalist · Post by **Vocalist** » 23 Dec 2007, 16:35

sbala wrote:I've been conditioned to hearing the tara sthayi phrases. But, "different" is probably the right description for the neraval.

Interesting. I too feel something is missing without the phrases in the upper octaves being rendered (for Kambhoji). But, that's purely personal preference.