Neyveli Santhanagopalan at IFAS on 27/12/07

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 27 Dec 2007, 23:28

Vocal: Neyveli Santhanagopalan
Violin: Charulatha Ramanujam
Mrudangam: K.V. Prasad
Kanjira: N. Amrit

Songlist:

01. Sami Ninne (varnam) - Sri
02. Rama Neepai - Kedaram (S)
03. Thunaippurindarull - Varamu (Sketch, N, S)
04. Dorakuna - Bilahari (R, N, S, T)
Neraval line: "RAma Bramhathanayudau"
05. Sketch Thanam Pallavi (STP) - Keeravani (Khanda Triputa)
Thanam in Keeravani, Arabhi, and Varali.
Swaras in Keeravani, Hamsanandhi, Ahiri, and Kadhanakuthookalam.
Pallavi: ""kanaka sabEsan darisanamE kandAl kali theerumE" "
06. Muruganin Maru Peyar - Behag
07. Thiruppugazh - Madhyamavathi
08. Pavamana - Sowrashtram

NSG was half an hour late due to traffic and the concert only lasted 1.75 hours or so. He had trouble reaching notes in the higher octave, but sang well with this limitation. His sketch of Varamu was nice, and very distinct from Hindolam (I actually didn't know there was a difference between the two until this concert), and the entire piece was well rendered. Bilahari ragam was very imaginative, and left me wondering at times if it was indeed Bilahari, and his swaras using flat-notes were even more creative. The neraval was nicely done, bringing out all the beauty of the raga. Keeravani thanam was really good, but arabhi and varali were only dealt in passing, and were lacklustre. Swaras in Ahiri were good, and Kadanakuthookalam was a rare one. When the man giving the speech started singing Muruganin Marupeyar, mangling it badly, NSG quickly took over, thank God. The less said about the Keeravani sketch the better.

I have often wondered why expansive, profound ragas are taken for super-mini RTP's. I would rather the artiste render thanam in the main piece itself (before the krithi), than give short shrift to major ragas in RTP's. Of course, a rare raga can be taken up for short pallavis (although the artiste may not be prepared for it), but in this case, given the raga was sung for about 3 minutes (without violin reply), no raga, big or small, would have satisfied.

K.V. Prasad accompanied very well, but I was especially impressed by the level of clarity N. Amrit brings to the kanjira. Sometimes, I thought it was the mrudangam playing and not the kanjira- such was his skill. The thani was expectedly super-mini as well, but enjoyable.

Charulatha Ramanujam continues to astound me with her bowing. Her thanam playing today was nothing short of brilliant, and NSG was incredibly appreciative. She has good shruti alignment, and clean gamaka techniques. Easily the best violinist I've heard so far, and the others have been very good!

All in all, an innovative Bilahari made this concert worth listening to, and in some measure counterbalanced the STP.

GP123 · Post by **GP123** » 27 Dec 2007, 23:42

Neraval line: "RAma BrOvathanayudO..." is incorrect
Neraval Line was "RAma Bramhathanayudau"

It was Ahiri,not Manji

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 28 Dec 2007, 09:33

GP123, thank you for the corrections.

sindhu · Post by **sindhu** » 28 Dec 2007, 11:49

I think, the pallavi words shd hv been : 'Unnai kanakasabhayil...' (as per me, this suits better).

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 28 Dec 2007, 12:04

I was there in the concert. To me the best segment of the concert was the tAnam . tAnam usually they say is to be sung in madhyama kAlam , NSG was outstanding there ,grounding firmly in madhyama kAlam for 10 minutes, peronally I liked it more as he is one great keeravAni singer too.The swaras in Ahiri (not mAnji)was emotive and tAnam in other rAgas was too much dealt in passing, especially the varAli was so lacklustre . The pallavi line was "kanaka sabEsan darisanamE kandAl kali theerumE" Also equally impressive was the swaras in kedAram or rather the entire rendition of rAmA neepai , nsg's voice has a sublimest pitch to deliver kedAram.. His varamu neraval was again very beautifully delivered.

IMHO ,Shri NSG can take more effort to reach higher octaves , to me he appears not to try . The bilahari rAga alApanai to me was quite weak in bringing the rightful expression ,the neraval was also just average.However I liked his quick short burst of fast swaras in bilahari at the end.

The violinist was excellent especially her tAnam return and her bilahari rAga alApanai azhuttham which appeared more perfect when compared to the vocalist rendition. KV prasAd gave a good support , to me personally Amrith played little too loud and must have exercised little restraint particularly in the context of NSG being vocalist.Tani was average.

The IFA secy SrinivAsan robbed everything in the concert and talked non stop for 10 minutes , touching upon how varamu entered the film in 1950's , how he enjoyed NSG in jaya tv and his love for behAg(last year it was kApi) as tukkadA in singing few phrases of GKB's irakkam varAmal in behAg which was ironical and then neyveli giving a lot of sanity with swami surajAnanda's behAg.

I was particularly happy as the concert started late by 30 minutes as it suited my late coming and proximity to my house .But IFA has to do something to stop this srinivasan's mega pallavi "KApi kudithu behak (beku) piditha srinivasan kAli theerrumO"

Jigyaasa · Post by **Jigyaasa** » 28 Dec 2007, 12:11

rajeshnat wrote:The IFA secy SrinivAsan robbed everything in the concert and talked non stop for 10 minutes , touching upon how varamu entered the film in 1950's , how he enjoyed NSG in jaya tv and his love for behAg(last year it was kApi) as tukkadA in singing few phrases of GKB's irakkam varAmal in behAg which was ironical and then neyveli giving a lot of sanity with swami surajAnanda's behAg.

I was particularly happy as the concert started late by 30 minutes as it suited my late coming and proximity to my house .But IFA has to do something to stop this srinivasan's mega pallavi "KApi kudithu behak (beku) piditha srinivasan kAli theerrumO"

I'd been to IFAS for the Malladi Brothers concert. I was dreading any such unwarranted interruptions having been forewarned by a friend who told me how he'd eaten into Sri OST's concert time, effectively making it a 1.5 hr concert... Thankfully, the tani by Sri UKS began only around 6.30 and subsequently TukDAs were to be rendered. So it was a full-fledged 2 hr concert... The Brothers apparently wanted to sing another piece but he'd have none of it... The moment he took to the podium, I left... Read some unsavoury(euphemistic) remarks about this phenomenon in KutcheriBuzz too...

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 28 Dec 2007, 13:58

Rajeshnat, I thought the Bilahari had a lot of Sh'baranam touches, and I quite liked it (the violinist did give a more chaste interpretation). His Kedaram was good, but I thought his flourishes at the end (as VK would call it) were lacking in azuthham. I'm used to rambling speeches, and tuned out the IFAS secy until he started croaking the Behag. Your pallavi line makes sense grammatically- thank you. I'm not very good at catching the exact words when people are singing.