concert on 28-12-2006 at bharat kalachar
TNS started hich concert with the Thyagarajakrthi 'yochana' in durbar with a short svara
at the end and it was followed by 'hecchrigagaraaraa' another Thyagarajakrthi in yadukula kambodhi.
Next was hamsanadham and the krthi was bantureethi kolu of Thyagaraja. Hamsanadham was rajahamsanadham and the svara singing was areal jugalbamdhi between father and son.After the thiruppavai pasram of the day 'pullinvi keendaanai' was the real treat in Brindhavanasaaranga., the main raga of the day.
The saranga (Bee) was fluttering from flower to flower, bower to bower in the Brindhavanam buzzing gleefully with cuckoo(saranga) giving out melodious notes which made way for the elephant (saranga) leading the path for the arrival of the simha,(saranga) Soundararaja. (The word saranga means all these). The krti was, as you might have guessed , 'sri soundhararajam' of Dikshithar, for which TNS sang beautiful and elegant (soundharyamAna) svara.
Brovavamma of Shyama sasthri in Manji was the next followed by 'padaravind' in saveri a composition of Kshetrajna. Next was alistener's choice, f requested by Mrs.YGP, the oothukkaducomo position 'vandhuketpaar illaiyo,' a beautiful song in ragamalikai portraying Krishna stealing the hearts by his doings, comprising of simple words but was made rich byt he singing of TNS, This and the ragamalika pasuram.puLLinvai pilaLandhittai' were audio- visuals as usual.
The concert ended with 'ajagiridhar' a bajan and thillana in Dhanasri.
Every item in the programme was a gem as Mrs. YGP said, and TNS was assisted by HKVenkatesh on the violin, Trichur Narendran on Mrdangam and BS Purushottham on Ganjira.
concert on 29-12-2006 at KKNagar.
The concert being arranged by Ramabhaktha janasabha almost all krthis were from Thyagaraja with few exceptions..The first was 'Apparamabhakthi ' in panthuvarali for which TNS sang a short raga and exotic svara.This was followed by 'ninnuneranamminanaura' in devamanohari, a compositoin of Muthiah bhagavathar. the next was 'muddhumomu' of Thyagaraja in suryakantham preceded by raga alapana
'Sarasasamadhana ' in kapinarayani of Thyagaraja was the next which is always 'ka api' (something beyond description) when TNS sings it and the svaraprasthara at 'hithavumartalentho' was exquisite the way he kept on riverting to nishadha everytime emphasising 'nee hithavu maata.' The krthi 'nepokadakunte ' in varali followed this and then came an enchanting mohanam, Krishna also joining in to spread the magic. The krthi was 'nannupalimpa,' for which TNS did neraval in detail at 'karamuna kodhanda' like the drawing up of the kodhanda (Villai edutthu nANetri) and the svara that followed were the saras from the kodhanda, a saramaari.
The tail piece comprised of a verse from Kamban extolling Ramanama in raga desh followed by the si ong ib nthesane raga, 'ramanamme thudhi maname.' The concert ended with a sloka in sindhubhairavi and the bajan of swathithirunal 'ramachandraprabhu.'
31-12-2006-concert at Brahmaganasabha
Rasikacame ti ot his concert full of expectation and they were not disppointed. The reason for this is that TNS was flanked with M.Chandrasekaan and Umayalpuram Sivaraman.
The concert started with 'bajanaseyave' in Kalyani a Thyagarajakrthi ith svara sung at 'vaadhacharcha.' The next was 'sadguruswamiki in anandhabhairavi ,a composition of Poochi ayyangar. The succeeding one, 'aanandhnatamaaduvaar' in poorvikalyania composition of Neelakanta sivan fulfilled the expectations of the rasikas to a great extent. the raga itself was aanandhamaya and the krthi with the accompaniment of UKS was very picturesque. The svara that followed depicted all kinds of nrthya attributed to Lord Siva, such as thandava, lasya, ajaba etc.Aided with the expert exposition of UKS it was really a joy to behold, yes to behold as it was nearly visual.
The krthis that followed were 'ambaneelayathakshi' of Dikshithar in Neelambar,a favourite of the rasikas for which UKS was playing to suit the mood of the song, and 'thappulanniyu' in bouli ,a composition of Mutthiah bhagavathar and 'sonnal oziya manam , a ootthukkadu composition in raga kannada.The next was on a listener's request, the krthi 'vAnchathOnu' in karnaranjani.by Muthiah bhagavathar.
The main raga was Thodi and the krthi was 'Dasarathi.' I give below the excerpt from the review of the concert by Ramakumar, a rasika of TNS regarding this piece with my remarks added in the end.
The tODi alapana was an elaborate affair. It lasted for about 18 minutes and reminded me of a much longer tODi I had heard him sing in Bangalore a few months back (the Bangalore one is probably the best tODi I have heard till now) . Sri TNS did graha bhedam with rishabam as the base to sing mOhanakalyANi and with dhaivatam as base to sing kEdAram. Sri M. Chandrasekaran during his turn in the alapana also did graha bhedam with madhyamam as the base to play Anandabhairavi in kavaDi chindu style. The neraval and kalpana swarams sung for the kriti were fantastic as well. After the last kalpana swaram by Sri TNS ended, Sri UKS requested Sri MC to play kalpana swaram on the violin before the taniavartanam began. Sri MC initially would play a few phrases and allow Sri UKS to play his replies on the mridangam. After hearing him exactly translate whatever he played on the violin on the mridangam with some very good use of gumukis, Sri Chandrasekaran said "aaha ... enakku idha kettunde irukkalaam pola irukku (aaha
" I just feel like simply listening to your mridangam)" to which Sri TNS jokingly remarked "naa rendu per odadhaiyum kettindirukken (and I am listening to you both")-Ramkumar .- Source: http://ram
The svara prasthara in 'Dasarathi' was at 'bodhinchina ' in charanam and TNS sang
'sa dha nee' bhodhinchina, ' sa dha bhodhinchina and 'nee paa dha bhodhinchina to the amusement of the rasikas.
After this was the thani avarthanam by UKS and Sundarkumar which was a real fanfare.
The concert ended with a sloka followed by a bajan "harigunagavatha' and a thillana in Bilahari. The mangalam as usual ended with the sloka 'sriyahkanthaya' about which I reproduce the comment of Ramkumar which was as follows.
". The really delightful part of this slOkam rendition was when Sri TNS held his breath and elaborated the raga srI just using the word "srI" from the beginning of the song. A wonderful concert from Sri TNS once again."-Ramkumar.
The word sri mentioned in the comment is not from the beginning of the sloka but the beginning of the second line, na, 'sri venakatanivasaya mely,..
As UKS said after the concert--"his was truly a great concert of the season--TNS absolutely sparkling."(comment from rasikas.org)
1-1-2007-at Tamizisai sangam
TNS had taken 'Azagarkuravanji ' by kavikunjarabharathy for his thematic progrmme in Tamizisai this year. The first was 'pahigajamukha vibho'in Kanada for which TNS sang delightful svara. After this TNS gave an introduction wherein he mentioned that the Tamil language has become rich by incorporating some of the words from other languages especially sanskrit! TNS alone could do this in Tamizisai sangam ! He further said that even Subramania bharathy has composed lyrics in sanskrit such as "Bhooloka kumari.' He said Tamil is establshed firmly because of the adaptatruion of the words from other languages!
The azagar kuravanji he said, is a mutthamiz kaviyam as it contains isai, iyaal and natakam, that is, music , lyrical beauty and drama. Kuravanji deals with the nayaka-nayaki bhava, the heroine seeing the hero coming in a procession and falling in love with him. The hero of the work is usually a deity such as Lord Siva as in kutralakuravanji or Lord Azagar of Madurai as in this one. The rasa is sringara but of devotional fervour, madhurabhakthi.The heroine is Mohanavalli the amsa of Lakshmi.The sakhi or the friend to whom the heroin appeals and later the kuratthi, denote the guru or acharya who unites the jeevathma with paramathma.TNS said the thiruvarul, grace of God, will come only if one gets guruvarul, the grace of the guru first.
The type of music in this work is that of padham, folk music and classical music. Some of the compositions from the work demonstrated by TNS were 'arutcheyyavendumadi' in atana, 'kolamigum' in saranga and 'mandaradaramaadhavasundararaja' in thodi. the arrival of Mohanavalli to see the processsion of Sundararajan, Azagar, is in Hameerkalyani, TNS sang the raga Hameerkalyani in his own inimitable style making it a 'ameer'(rich) kalyani On seeing him the thought that came to the mind of Mohanavalli expressed in the song 'ivanaaro,' in kambhodhi which contains the whole lakshana of Kambhodhi, he said.
'Mohanavalli' in manji was the next and sung beautifully Manji, said TNS, is not Bharavi sung slowly as some seem to think but Manji has a separate 'moonji', face, and this song has been made popular by him in his concerts .This padam contains all the aspects of raga alapana, neraval and svara, said TNS, and called kavikunjara bharathy a svarakavi.
The next was 'paavaiye swami varum munnaal' in kedaragoula in which the sakhi advises Mohanavalli to be patient till the Lord comes to her of His own accord. TNS said that the grace of the Lord will come only when it would and the devotee has to be patient because He only knows when and how to give His blessing.
Mohanavalli addresses the sea and asks it whether it is also lovesick and the lyric in senchurutti is in folk tune and was pleasant and then the advent of the kuratthi is in begada 'malaikkurvanji vandhaale.' The words describing the malaivaLam, the mountainous regions from whcih the kuratthi hailed were beautiful being tastefully explained by TNS.
The raga was Anadhabairavi as it is usual in all kuravanji kavyas The male tiger is singing lullaby to a calf and the female tiger is giving milk Such is the glory of the hills.The most beautiul part exquisitely explained by TNS were ' vAnaippidi enru yAnai pidikkum,' the male elephant grasps the rain cloud thinking that it is a female elephant and realising its true identity squeezes it and drinks the water. The way he sung it was more picturesque.
Kuratthi extolling her own powers asks Mohanvalli to show her hand and the lyric is in yadhukulakambhodhi and the prediction 'vandhuseruvaar maane ' is in sahana.TNS said that the lakshana of the raga can be seen in this composition.
Then the marriage is sung in Mohanam. Here TNS remarkd that all kalyanams are having only the name of the bride as in sitakalyanam, rukmimikalyanam, meenakshi kalyanam etc with the sole exception of Srinivasa kalyanam But perhaps it is not an exception ,he said , because the word Sri, denoting Lakshmi prefixes the name of the Lord as Srinivasa.
Last but not least came a RTP on kavikunjarabharathi composed by TNS for the occasion in the raga 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, gayaka simhendra utthama singing simhendramadhyama raising it to the status of Simmendrauttama.
The programme ended with mangalam from the kurvanji kavya in surutti and Madhyamavathi and 'Vazia senthamiz' as it is the practice with the cocerts in Tamizisai sangam.