Accompanied by V V ravi- violin,mridangam - guruvAyoor durai and kanjira -Sundarkumar??. Concert time 10AM - 1 PM, all krithis were dedicated to the same composer.
1. swamin gajamuka (S)- kAnaDA
2. a good introductory speech.
3. arUl seyya venDum vAdi - atAnA
4. kOlamigum chengan?? - sAranga
5. mandara dAra mAdhava sundara rAja (R)- tOdi
6. mOhana mAmayil(R) - hameerkalyAni
7. ivan yArO ariyen sakhiye - kAmbOdhi
8. mOhanavalli ninnAl(padam) - mAnji
9. pArvaye swami varummUn unakkU ??- kedaragowlai
10.kadale enthanai pOlave neeyum - shenjuruTTi
11. malaikura vanji "mazhavan sOlai" - folk song
12. ADi kanrai madi maithu?? - Anandabhairavi
13. kUri thiranAi keladi - bhairavi
14. ambuliyAm itta karam - yadhukula kAmbOdhi
15. vandu seruvAr - sahAnA
16. maruthula azhagar thirukalyAnam?? - mOhanam
17. Big and Fantastic Surprise
18. thirumAl azhaganukku ... jaya mangalam - shuruTTi
19. kuravanji pAdi (mangalam) - madhyamAvati
20. vazhiya senthamizh -
When I started to hear CM roughly 2 decades before, my maternal grandfather used to say ,the best of the concerts that he heard was when he walked from his house to the farthest kutcheri pandal (mAyavaram /kumbakOnam area).Well certainly that same superstition was there when I had to hear Shri TNS on his Sangeetha kalanidhi day, where I had to drive maximum to parrys,very far and away from the nerve centre of CM .
The concert was held in age old tamil sangam at annamalai mandram,the theme was kavi kunjara bharathi's azhagar kuravanji.azhagAr is the presiding deity and kuravAnji is musical drama that contains iyal (literature),isai(music) and nAtakam (drama).
He started with the kunjara kavi's krithi "swamin gajamukha" I missed the first half of the krithi, but heard his fabulous kAnaDA swara prasthAnam. A wonderful introductory speech where he briefly touched upon the tamil language, where he connected pODhigai malai to kAmbar and arungagirinAthar.
Interestingly he said the first krithi that he sang was in sanskrit and he said that the beauty of tamil was enhanced because the language tamil readily accepted all the other languages .He just made a passing reference to kavi kunjara bharathi was also a vaDa kavi (vaDA means north and also sanskrit)
He touched upon the rAgas briefly from atAna(brief voice problem) to sAranga .His tOdi alApanai was impressive ,the rendition of hameerkalyAni was very good with his brilliant alApanai. The kAmbOdhi krithi "ivan yArO" was stretched with me almost assuming it was yadhukula kAmbOdhi.
The second best was his mAnji.He remarked mAnji is known as a rAga without moonjhi (face). He also said many of the present singers sing mAnji as a stretched bhairavi and he said that was wrong.But for me he connected the famous varugalAmO in mAnji .The padam was very long and I can assert that only few musicians can sing that long this padam (very complicated tamil and an extremely overstretched rAgam with long lyrics). Interestingly he made a remark that this padam in mAnji is equivalent for a musician to sing a neraval and swaram and he said Kavi kunjara bharathi was also a swara kavi
The next kedaragowlai,shenjuruTTI?? and folk were nice.The Ananda bhairavi was excellent with he explaining a line "vAnai piDi enru yanai pidikkum???".The tamil wordings was at its best.The loose screwed up translation of mine is "A male elephant thinks the black cloud as his female counterpart's neck, but when the male elephant after grabbing the cloud realizes it is only cloud,it still decides to quench the thirst ".
He touched upon yadhukula kAmbOdhi which I always think it is meant for drama based music .He connected my perspective with the same words.sahAna has to be spaced well to be enjoyed,he did that with the krithi vandu seruvAr .Some time here shri TNS connected that kavikunjara bharathi's songs were the best for its madhyama kAlam rendition.
The thirukalyAnam of azhagar and mOhanavalli (can I say heroine of kuravanji)got over in the mOhanam thirukalyAnam. The item #17 is a big and fantastic surprise. There was a good finish with shuruTTi ,madhyamAvati and vazhiya senthamizh.
Item #17 later,you should also drive as long as me.
TN SeshagOpalan@rAja annamalai mandram(parrys) on Jan 1st,20
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rshankar
- Posts: 13754
- Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:26
Rajesh,
That was one performance that I am sure was one of a kind. I do hope the organizers recorded it. I think this would have been like his kamba rAmAyaNam - those concerts were so popular! Thank you for taking the trouble to attend this and review it for us!
Some interesting facts about kuravanjI's - they comprise a genre in bharatanATyam:
1. There are usually 3-4 main characters: A princess (almost always called Mohanavalli), her bossom freind (sakhI), the kura-vanjI (the sooth-saying gypsy, aka SingI). Some productions have the gypsy's husband (SingA or Singan) as the fourth character. The story is always about Mohanavalli falling in love with a local chieftain, or the presiding deity of the local temple - after observing a procession from the balcony of her palace, and pining away in unrequieted love. Her parents, worried about the fact that she seems so withdrawn, and is losing weight (yes - iLaittAL), send her sakhI to determine the cause. Just as Mohanavalli confesses her all-consuming love, an itenerant gypsy arrives and is shown into the royal bedchamber. The gypsy and the sakhI engage in some petty rivalry, but in the end, she ends up telling the princess' fortune - and it is a happy one at that. Encouraged by the predictions, Mohanavalli rewards the gypsy generously, and she goes back to her husband. SO - yes. Mohanavalli is the heroine of the piece. Usually, the songs about Mohanavalli and her sakhi are set to chaste carnatic rAgas, and in dance performances, choreographed to classic bharatanATyam movements. The gypsy's songs are extremely folksy, and the movemnets are sinuous and definitely different from the clean lines of bharatanATyam.
2. Most of the 'heroes' (they never appear in the production) are either the local king, Lord Muruga, or Siva. Kavi Kunjara Bharati's azhagar kuravanjI IIRC is the only kuravanjI dedicated to Lord Vishnu...Many decades ago, Vyjayantimala danced this kuravanjI - and the general feeling was that 'azhagar kuravanjikku azhagUttinAL'!
3. Unlike kuchipuDi, bharatanATyam evolved a solo mArgam - the exception being the kuravanjIs. When Rukmini Devi Arundale sought out group productions, the kuravanjI was one of her earlier tries.
Can't wait for #17...
BTW, Kavi Kunjara Bharati is Koteeshwara Iyer's maternal grandfather/guru.
That was one performance that I am sure was one of a kind. I do hope the organizers recorded it. I think this would have been like his kamba rAmAyaNam - those concerts were so popular! Thank you for taking the trouble to attend this and review it for us!
Some interesting facts about kuravanjI's - they comprise a genre in bharatanATyam:
1. There are usually 3-4 main characters: A princess (almost always called Mohanavalli), her bossom freind (sakhI), the kura-vanjI (the sooth-saying gypsy, aka SingI). Some productions have the gypsy's husband (SingA or Singan) as the fourth character. The story is always about Mohanavalli falling in love with a local chieftain, or the presiding deity of the local temple - after observing a procession from the balcony of her palace, and pining away in unrequieted love. Her parents, worried about the fact that she seems so withdrawn, and is losing weight (yes - iLaittAL), send her sakhI to determine the cause. Just as Mohanavalli confesses her all-consuming love, an itenerant gypsy arrives and is shown into the royal bedchamber. The gypsy and the sakhI engage in some petty rivalry, but in the end, she ends up telling the princess' fortune - and it is a happy one at that. Encouraged by the predictions, Mohanavalli rewards the gypsy generously, and she goes back to her husband. SO - yes. Mohanavalli is the heroine of the piece. Usually, the songs about Mohanavalli and her sakhi are set to chaste carnatic rAgas, and in dance performances, choreographed to classic bharatanATyam movements. The gypsy's songs are extremely folksy, and the movemnets are sinuous and definitely different from the clean lines of bharatanATyam.
2. Most of the 'heroes' (they never appear in the production) are either the local king, Lord Muruga, or Siva. Kavi Kunjara Bharati's azhagar kuravanjI IIRC is the only kuravanjI dedicated to Lord Vishnu...Many decades ago, Vyjayantimala danced this kuravanjI - and the general feeling was that 'azhagar kuravanjikku azhagUttinAL'!
3. Unlike kuchipuDi, bharatanATyam evolved a solo mArgam - the exception being the kuravanjIs. When Rukmini Devi Arundale sought out group productions, the kuravanjI was one of her earlier tries.
Can't wait for #17...
BTW, Kavi Kunjara Bharati is Koteeshwara Iyer's maternal grandfather/guru.
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sarojram18
- Posts: 31
- Joined: 27 Dec 2006, 23:17
The item no 17 was a RTP by TNS composed on kavikunjara bharathi in Simmendramadhyama with words 'varakavi, svarakavi,kunjarakavi, kuraivillaadha veera kavi.' He said he composed the pallavi in simhendramadhyama because kavi Kunjara bharathi was not only a kunjara but also a simha and that too a king among the simhas, simhendra. TNS proved that he too is a simhendra, not madhyama but utthama, simhendra utthama singing simhendramadhyama raising it to the status of simhendrautthama.
I will send my review of the same later as I am doing them date wise and I am still in 28th DEC. and there are three more concerts to cover. As Thiruppambaram Shanmukhavadivel said on the award function that to talk about TNS it will take one whole day, to write about his concerts takes longer and he has got his sangithakalanidhi and has gone about his other work but I am still struggling to finish the reviews of his concerts!
I will send my review of the same later as I am doing them date wise and I am still in 28th DEC. and there are three more concerts to cover. As Thiruppambaram Shanmukhavadivel said on the award function that to talk about TNS it will take one whole day, to write about his concerts takes longer and he has got his sangithakalanidhi and has gone about his other work but I am still struggling to finish the reviews of his concerts!
Last edited by sarojram18 on 05 Jan 2007, 10:23, edited 1 time in total.
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rajeshnat
- Posts: 10121
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04
SarOja
You have already added the explanation of RTP.Thanks .Are you sure about the lyrics of pallavi. Still let me paste the contents that I already typed.
17.Big and Fantastic Surprise
The time was close to 12:25 . I just had a feeling that this concert was very good , perhaps only to appreciate the vidwat of Shri TNS. I am also not a big fan of excess tamil lyrics in CM , as I seek usually more musical content preferably with telugu . Shri TNS sang a full throated 10 minute long alApanai in simmhendra madhyamam .I thought he will sing one of the most famous krithi of kunjara bharathi's grandson kOteeshwara Iyer "unnaiyallAl vErE gati enakkundO". nOpe!! A medium to high speed tAnam in simmhendra madhyamam followed and was excellent close to 8 minutes .Shri TNS connected all the bolded dots of my first post and sang a brilliant pallavi for 15 minutes . The pallavi line was vara kavi swara kavi kunjara kavi kurailillAdha thamizh kavi
Shri TNS could have wrapped the concert without RTP and need not have tried a new pallavi line.He had a long day to follow.He may have attended the concert of his son TNSK @ 2PM in the afternoon . Also He was awarded Sangeetha kalanidhi on Jan 1st 2007.
Instead shri TNS still wants to put 100 % , learn newer krithis each day despite reaching a status of mahAvidwat.An inspirational musician on New Years Day of 2007.
You have already added the explanation of RTP.Thanks .Are you sure about the lyrics of pallavi. Still let me paste the contents that I already typed.
17.Big and Fantastic Surprise
The time was close to 12:25 . I just had a feeling that this concert was very good , perhaps only to appreciate the vidwat of Shri TNS. I am also not a big fan of excess tamil lyrics in CM , as I seek usually more musical content preferably with telugu . Shri TNS sang a full throated 10 minute long alApanai in simmhendra madhyamam .I thought he will sing one of the most famous krithi of kunjara bharathi's grandson kOteeshwara Iyer "unnaiyallAl vErE gati enakkundO". nOpe!! A medium to high speed tAnam in simmhendra madhyamam followed and was excellent close to 8 minutes .Shri TNS connected all the bolded dots of my first post and sang a brilliant pallavi for 15 minutes . The pallavi line was vara kavi swara kavi kunjara kavi kurailillAdha thamizh kavi
Shri TNS could have wrapped the concert without RTP and need not have tried a new pallavi line.He had a long day to follow.He may have attended the concert of his son TNSK @ 2PM in the afternoon . Also He was awarded Sangeetha kalanidhi on Jan 1st 2007.
Instead shri TNS still wants to put 100 % , learn newer krithis each day despite reaching a status of mahAvidwat.An inspirational musician on New Years Day of 2007.
Last edited by rajeshnat on 05 Jan 2007, 15:46, edited 1 time in total.