Sanjay Subrahmanyan at Bharat Kalachar on 27/12/07

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 27 Dec 2007, 23:02

Vocal: Sanjay Subrahmanyan
Violin: Mysore Nagaraj
Mrudangam:K. Arunprakash
Kanjira: K.V. Gopalakrishnan

Songlist:

01. VanajAkshi (Ata tala) - KalyAni
02. ParAkala Saraswathy - NAttaikurinji (S)
03. Bhuvini Dasudane PerAsa Che - Sriranjani (R,N,S)
Neraval line:"Padamule Gati Thyagaraja nuta"
04. Adum DeivamE ArulvAi - KAmbOji (R,N,S,T)
Neraval line: "Thanjam EnavuDaiyaDaintha Thirupadham, Thirupprapanjam..."
05. Ragam Thanam Pallavi - ShubhapanthuvarAli (Khanda Triputa)
Pallavi: "Ambikai JagadambikaiyOdu VarALidhO, ShrutiyOdu Layamudan"
Ragam: 10 min, Thanam: 12-14 min, Pallavi: 10 min.
06a. JanAthirAman JanAthigowthhama- MAnd
06b. Ramanai BhajithAl - MAnd
07. Engum Nirandhirukkum Yen Deivam
08. PavamAna - SowrAshtram

A very good concert and team effort. Several rare krithis were rendered in common ragas. Sanjay's raga alapanais were energetic and included several fast passages, but interespersed with pauses and slower passages, he could bring out the beauty of the ragas. His Kamboji was unique and very enjoyable. He kept all his neravals short, to about five minutes apiece, but it was solid stuff, except the Kamboji neraval, which was mostly in vilamba kalam and really beautiful, but he abruptly ended the neraval where he could have explored it longer. The Shubhapanthuvarali ragam was sung concisely, bringing out all its beauty in about ten minutes, but the thanam that ensued was really top-class, even brilliant at times. His thanam was comprehensive, covering three octaves, and he seemed to feed off Mysore Nagaraj's brilliant replies, and they conspired to produce statement after statement of sheer brilliance, especially when Nagaraj played thanam with flat notes, and Sanjay immediately caught the bait and took it to greater heights. He also suddenly shifted to Punnagavarali, and sang a part of the Magudi as thanam, to the audience's enjoyment. The pallavi was very crisp. Ramanai Bhajithai was a request, and it was rendered nicely.

K. Arunprakash's accompaniment was sparse but elegant, and was very synthetic with Sanjay's singing. From what little I heard of K.V.G, he was competent. The thani was short but interesting.

Mysore Nagaraj accompanied very well, and his aggressive playing also "gelled" well with Sanjay's vigour. There may have been one to many gimmicks and virtuoso phrases in his alapanais (he really likes traversing the octaves quickly). In the Sriranjani alapanai, his use of gamaka-laden Sa-Pa-Sa phrases (a la MSG) was appropriate and evocative, but when they were used ad nauseum thereafter, they started to grate on my nerves. His bowing wasn't that smooth today, but I think he generally depends on his lightning quick and precise fingering more than his bowing.

I think the Sanjay-Nagaraj-Arunprakash team works well together, with the aggression of the former two, and the bare elegance of the latter.

karthit · Post by **karthit** » 27 Dec 2007, 23:18

I thought Bhuvinidasudane was in Sriranjani, unless it's a different krithi that ure talkin about !!
Arunprakash is like David Gower. The display of brilliance is very different, more soft and subtle.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 27 Dec 2007, 23:32

Karthit, I'm almost positive this was rendered in Kh'priya.

kalgada78 · Post by **kalgada78** » 27 Dec 2007, 23:41

03. PuvinidhAsudane PErasachE (?)- KharaharapriyA (R,N,S)
Neraval line: "PathamulakEsi ThyAgarAjanutha..."

Bhuvini Dasudane PerAsa Che is in Sriranjani.

The nereval line should be : "Padamule Gati Thyagaraja nuta"

Sarma

vvmri · Post by **vvmri** » 28 Dec 2007, 00:50

I agree to the previous comment about the sriranjani piece and to the pallavi line.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 28 Dec 2007, 09:35

OK, thank you for the correction. Don't know how I missed the Sriranjani.

Jigyaasa · Post by **Jigyaasa** » 28 Dec 2007, 12:17

Who's composition is parAkEla saraswatI?
edited...
Just found out it's Tirupati Narayanaswami's... Get to hear very few of his compositions... ikanaina nA in pushpalatikA is a beautiful piece I've heard rendered by Sri DKJ n paripAlinchumani in Shuddha sAvEri is also really sweet...

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 28 Dec 2007, 13:45

ParAkAla Saraswathi is a nice composition. I love MSS's Ikanaina rendition.

Jigyaasa · Post by **Jigyaasa** » 28 Dec 2007, 15:01

I just heard a sample of parAkEla saraswati at http://www.emusic.com/album/Sanjay-Subr ... 09192.html. All these kritis seem to have an endearing sprightly gait despite the entreating nature of the lyric...

bhaktha · Post by **bhaktha** » 28 Dec 2007, 15:06

I think paripAlimchu in Suddhasaveri is a composition of Thiruvishanganallur Venkatrama Iyer....
-bhaktha

Jigyaasa · Post by **Jigyaasa** » 28 Dec 2007, 15:14

Yeah... Sorry for the misinformation... It is indeed a kriti of Thiruvisainallur Venkatrama Iyer

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 28 Dec 2007, 15:43

'vinarAda nA manavi' in chakravAham [khaNDa CApu] is another very nice tirupati nArAyaNasvAmi composition - Smt. DKP has sung this.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 28 Dec 2007, 19:17

With a dance performance coming after the late afternoon concert, Bharat Kalachar concerts do not offer enough time for an elaborate pallavi . A few years ago, Sanjay sparred with M.A. Sundaresan with a ganamurthy pallavi. It was Nagaraj this time.
For all his abilities, Nagaraj underplayed, I used to think. After starting to play duets with his brother Dr. Manjunath, I notice that he plays faster (Manjunath takes off) and plays emphatically as well. Yesterday, I thought that he was all energy and the not -so-lengthy RTP caught fire and as Bilahari said, the tAnam had special touches.
Yes, Arun Prakash is elegant and sparse. As Kartikt says, Arun Prakash is soft and subtle too.

Jigyaasa · Post by **Jigyaasa** » 28 Dec 2007, 21:38

"VarALikO", what does this mean?

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 28 Dec 2007, 22:17

Jigyaasa, I wish I knew!

venkatpv · Post by **venkatpv** » 28 Dec 2007, 22:20

its not VarALikO... it is varALidhO... you can split it as varAL idhO... there's the raga mudra in it... was it shubha pantuvarali?? i have heard sanjay sing this pallavi in varali...

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 28 Dec 2007, 22:25

Venkatpv, this makes sense. Thank you. It was Sh'panthuvarali I think. But don't take my word for it.

venkatpv · Post by **venkatpv** » 28 Dec 2007, 22:42

thankfully, there's no rule that says one should be able to distinguish between dhenuka and dhuni bhinna shadjam before writing reviews on this forum!

(tongue-not-in-cheek!)

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 28 Dec 2007, 23:05

Ouch!

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 28 Dec 2007, 23:07

venkatpv wrote:thankfully, there's no rule that says one should be able to distinguish between dhenuka and dhuni bhinna shadjam before writing reviews on this forum!

(tongue-not-in-cheek!)

what about pUrvikalyANi and gamakakriyA???

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 28 Dec 2007, 23:10

Maybe the forum veterans should write an exam for potential reviewers, and only those who pass can write reviews, but in order to protect against idling, a yearly renewal exam should be held.

venkatpv · Post by **venkatpv** » 28 Dec 2007, 23:35

bilahari,
the comment was not aimed at you... i intended to convey that even "expert" reviewers cannot distinguish between dhenuka and dhuni bhinna shadjam...

bharath,
one example is enough for sarcasm

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 29 Dec 2007, 00:32

I prefer not to use the term review at all...experience sharing packed with as much factual information as possible. Since it is also open to scrutiny, everything's fair - much more so than newspaper reviews which tend to be one-sided affairs as far as responsibility is concerned...no need for exams thankfully - I don't have a great record for clearing them..

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 29 Dec 2007, 08:29

Venkatpv, I knew what you were getting at. Vijay, "experience sharing" is indeed a better fit for what we're doing. Of course newspaper reviews are one-sided, and sometimes confusing and erroneous as well. In one of his reviews in Hindu yesterday, V Subrahmaniam seemed to suggest that an alapanai was sung in Adi tala. Just a funny anecdote.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 29 Dec 2007, 08:31

Wasn't it TNS who sang the jagadambikai pallavi line in varALi before Sanjay?
varAL is a corrupt or colloquial form of varugiRAL (she is coming). To bring in the rAgA name, varAL is used here...

pritsubramanian · Post by **pritsubramanian** » 03 Jan 2008, 11:10

Hi - A new member to this. Just to confirm Sanjay did sing this RTP in Shubha Pantuvarali this time. He has sung it several times in Varali earlier.