Sanjay at Music Academy (23.12.2010)

[bharathi]

Yesterday Sanjay’s concert at the Music Academy was packed with passionate singing of rakthi ragas of Carnatic music, Yathukulakambhoji, Bhairavi and Surutti, so much so that I felt that if there ever was a title “rakthi raga Mani” it should conferred on him. The concert acquired a class of its own as it emphasised on Raga and neraval elaborations and only some cursory swara prasthara. (Sometimes when Kannakku swarams in various nadais are interspersed, in swara prasthara the melodic content gets marred.. So the absence of them greatly elevated the concert; my humble opinion.) The elaborate lovely raga alapanais of Yathukulakambhoji and surutti kept me marvelling at the glorious creativity of Sanjay; many a time showing the listeners new facets of the ragas which hitherto eluded many other artists and therefore us the listeners. On the whole, listening to the concert put me on ‘high’. The Bhairavi was beautifully rendered and this was no surprise, coming from the “MASTER” as he is often referred to in this forum. The song taken up in bhairavi was new and I couldn’t find it in ready reckoners in the web or small books in the hall, maybe someone here can identify it for me. The neraval was also very good and was at “Kapaduda epudu samayamma kamneeya bangaru bomma”. Singing the raga mallika at the pallavi line of the RTP was another refreshing change that I noticed in the concert. The thani was exceptionally good. The raga alapanais of the violinist were also very pleasant.

Accompanists:
Violin S. Varadarajan
Mrudangam:Guruvayoor Durai
Ghatam: Trichy Murali

Here is song list
1. Sariyo nee seyyum thamadam-begada-Adi-Tiger Vardachariar
2. Vinayaka Vigna nasaka-Vegavahini/chakravakam-Dikshithar
3. Ninnu sevinchina janulakuna-YathukulaKambhoji-Chapu-?
4. Appa naan-Poorvikalyani- Ramalinga Adigal
5. Maha-tripura mononmani madhura bhashini-Bhairavi-?author
6. Emani Pogaduthura-Veeravasanthan-tyagaraja
7. RTP: Ragam-Surutti-Pallavi:Surutti-Hameer Kalyani-Sahana-Shamugapriya: Swaram: Surutti “ jAlame seyvadunakku azhaGAgumA vadivela enmEl”-Adi talam
8. viruttam SrthvA guNA: mohanam: Bansi wale: Swathi TiruNAL

[Aravind Govindan]

Two things that impressed me ...
1. The tanam was just woow! I
2. He ended his concert @6.45pm with a mangalam..7.00pm there was another concert:P

[grsastrigal]

I came to know it was an amazing concert. Full crowd yearning to listen to a good concert was pleased.

The entire crowd disappeared when Mandolin Srinivas started his concert. Very very sad that the same crowd got biased.

Those who attended both can throw more on this.

[MV]

It was a great concert and the tanam was 'wooow' but I thought his Jaya TV concert was soooo good-this one wasn't quite that.

[kunthalavarali]

The bhairavi piece is by Pallavi Gopala Iyer while the Yadhukulakambodhi krithi is by Subbaraya Sastri.

[ragam-talam]

Ninnu sevinchina in Y.kambodhi is a Subbaraya Sastri kriti.

[satyabalu]

* He has certainly got over his problem with his voice.I liked the elaborate treatment of Surati.
* He has also chosen simple tala for RTP.
*Varadarajan was at his usual best in melody.

[kmadhu]

Sanjay was very very elaborate with his ragas. and not to forget, guruvayur dorai on the mridangam was amazing. his finishing and his thani were just marvellous. and one can have no displeasures on varadarajan's violin. treat to listen to. he handled sanjay's ragas very well... dissappointing to see the crowd vanish for mandolin srinivas's concert.

the mandolin concert was very very soulful and invigorating. he handled all his songs with ease and enthralled the crowd(my opinion). was lucky to b there tat day after getting tickets that morning, waiting in the queue.

the mandolin concert was packed with action as blr.praveen and selvaganesh and srg.kannan took the concert to new levels. they were SIMPLY FABULOUS!!!

vv.srinivasa rao on the violin did have some tense moments as he had to adjust his shruti then and there...

srirangam kannan was at his usual best with his wierd notes on the morsing and the fast paced notes also.

selvaganesh, as usual was in full form with his power packed notes on the kanjira, reminding one of the long thanis he has played for remember shakti.

blr.praveen was just fabulous with all his power into the concert as the artists left the small audience spellbound.

just cant understand how u.srinivas who draws HUGE crowds worldwide, doesnt have that power @ the home of carnatic music. HE DESERVES BETTER.

was a delight to be at academy on 23rd december 2010;

[karthikbala]

...
just cant understand how u.srinivas who draws HUGE crowds worldwide, doesnt have that power @ the home of carnatic music. HE DESERVES BETTER.
...

Back-to-back concerts are a bad idea. Not only is each one a rushed affair, it is unfair to the performers. I remember one evening in 2000 season, a pair of otherwise popular sisters, sang to a near empty hall, as a lot of people had bought tickets just to attend K.J.Yesudoss's sellout concert which was next.
I have also witnessed other unseemly spectacles, such as a last-minute surge in audience due to seat-seeking rasikas pouring in for the next concert.

I don't see the point of this format, except that it allows the sabha to squeeze in unpopular performers by piggy-backing them onto the crowd-pulling ones. That way, the squeaky wheel gets oiled, yet the whole evening isn't an embarrassing washout for the sabha. If two concerts a day are unavoidable due to scheduling constraints, then at least they should be ticketed separately.

[gardabha_gana]

This was my first primetime concert for my first season. I stood in the line at 5:30 AM (was 10th in the line) to get tickets. What a concert! I have never been disappointed with a Sanjay concert when his voice is cooperative and he plans his concerts very well. YK, PK, Bhairavi and Suruti were fabulous - and Varadajan's responses were as usual very good. Most of the songs were new to me - which indeed was great. I have attended 3 sanjay's concerts in the last 2 months (prev 2 in blr) and he rarely repeats. What a repertoire!

I did attend both concerts - and yes - instrumentalists attract much fewer crowds be it U. Srinivas or E. Gayathri (both of whom I attended). Heard that Lalgudi siblings too had poor attendance. This is indeed sad....