Sanjay at Hamsadhwani - 11/2/2007

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 13 Feb 2007, 16:45

Nagai Muralitrharan â€“ Voilin
Thanjavur Ramdas â€“ Mrudangam
AS Shankar â€“ Ghatam

Sanjay Subrahmanyan has been a highly rated artist for some time but, until recently, not someone you could count on to get you to the last leaf in your ticket book. That changed sometime between last season, which saw decent, but not overflowing, turnouts for his concerts, and the recently concluded one, in which he was accorded the sort of receptions that are normally reserved for the denizens of tinsel-dom. Hamsadhwani Ramachandran has evidently wised up to the artistâ€™s newly-found mass appeal, for he not only featured Sanjay after a long (and pregnant) pause but also made sure to squeeze in as many chairs as could be plonked on the Adayar Youth Hostelâ€™s lawns . 100 bucks, it was, then, for the privilege of playing host to swarming squadrons of mosquitoes while being forced into a series of contorted yogic postures to compensate for the awkward angle. To compound the humiliation, the heavens spat out a mocking refrain of intermittent drizzles.

The open air environment did not exactly play to Sanjayâ€™s vocal strength, muffling his thunderous roar and prompting a frustrated request to ramp up the volumeâ€¦but it did served to underline the fact that the artistâ€™s abilities go well beyond mere demonstrations of lung power. The concert, founded on the solid pillars of Asaveri, Sankarabharanam, Abhogi, Hameer and Dhenuka, featured the following main items:

Era Napai â€“ Thodi Varnam - Adi
Ne Nendu Vedukudura â€“ Karnataka Behag â€“ Adi - Thyagaraja
Sree Kanchi Nayike - Asaveri â€“ Adi â€“ Annaswami Sastri (R)
Akshaya Linga Vibho â€“ Sankarabharanam â€“ Misra Chapu â€“ Dikshitar (RNS)
Sree Lakshmi Varaham â€“ Abhogi â€“ Adi â€“ Deekshitar (R)
Gangeya â€“ Hameer â€“ Adi â€“ Swathi Thirunal (RNST)
RTP â€“ Dhenuka â€“ Tisra Triputa

Sanjay ought to have considered insuring his Sankarabharanam, were it not in so constant a state of evolution, as to militate against the definition of â€œa thingâ€

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 13 Feb 2007, 19:37

Vijay,
It is fun reading your reviews, no matter who the performer is

The maguDi in that dhEnukA must have been playing in Sanjay's head (as it did in ours), traveling back to Chennai . So, you heard part 2! Same with sankarAbharaNam, I guess.The rAgAs which followed were different, of course.
A naive question: When he started, I thougt it was sindhu bhairavi, then I knew it was dhenuka. I hummed it and realized dA and ni makes it distinct from the former. Is that why it is so called? da ni kA? You see why I can't write reviews, can't you?

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 13 Feb 2007, 20:37

I can't remember the time I heard a Magudi - but it must have been the Dhenuka phrase he sang yeterday!

As for Sindhu Bhairavi v Dhenuka, the former is technically a derivative of Natakapriya so the Nishadam should bring out the difference but I am not sure it is so simple - IIRC Sindhu Bhairavi comes with a heavy baggage of bhashanga swaras - not too familiar with the technicalities of the raga so I will leave it for experts to comment!

I don't see why you shouldn't write reviews at all Arasi - you most certainly should contribute

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 13 Feb 2007, 20:42

Vijay, I do, by tagging on to others! Did you not stay for the tukkaDAs?
maguDi mannan--mAli!
By the way, are hari kambhOji and karnAtak behAg one and the same? nEnendu vetukudurA was an old favorite. Didn't Nagaiah sing it in the film TyAgaiyyA, old timers?

jayaram · Post by **jayaram** » 14 Feb 2007, 05:59

Karnataka behag has a vakra swara combination, otherwise pretty much the same as Harikambodhi.
Somewhat akin to Devamrutavarshini - Kharaharapriya duo, I think.

Jigyaasa · Post by **Jigyaasa** » 14 Feb 2007, 15:43

So if karnatak behag were to be given extensive treatment in a concert(as THE main item), considering the time span, it would be literally indistinguishable from HarikAmbODhi...? Or is it also sung in HarikAmbOdhi? I heard nEnendu as the main in a Yesudas concert(one where he sang Kanta chUdumi in LatAngI)... That's why I have this doubt...

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 14 Feb 2007, 15:53

I have only heard the song in hari kAmbhOji--and The Spiritual Heritage of TyAgarAja lists it as such.

ramakriya · Post by **ramakriya** » 14 Feb 2007, 22:58

vijay wrote:As for Sindhu Bhairavi v Dhenuka, the former is technically a derivative of Natakapriya so the Nishadam should bring out the difference but I am not sure it is so simple - IIRC Sindhu Bhairavi comes with a heavy baggage of bhashanga swaras - not too familiar with the technicalities of the raga so I will leave it for experts to comment!

Disclaimer: I am not an expert

However

sindhu bhairavi as a janya of nATakapriya has only existed in books, but not in practice

It is as practical as the amRtavarShiNi under jhALavarALi!

The commanAlity between sindhu bhairavi and dhEnuka is its plain (kampa vihIna) gAndhAra. Unlike other mELa rAgas from the 2nd chakra, dhEnuka is characterized by a flat gAndhAra.

yes, sindhubhairavi comes with heavy baggage of bhAshAnga swaras ( in fact, all the 12 notes can appear) ; However, it is possible to bring out the rAgachAye without using any of the anyasvaras.

-Ramakriya

ramakriya · Post by **ramakriya** » 14 Feb 2007, 23:01

jayaram wrote:Karnataka behag has a vakra swara combination, otherwise pretty much the same as Harikambodhi.
Somewhat akin to Devamrutavarshini - Kharaharapriya duo, I think.

nEnendu vedakudurA has been listed under both karnATaka bEhAg and harikAmbhOdi in various manuscripts I believe. And that's the cause for the confusion.

I have heard this kriti a few times, where the vakra sancharas were shown prominently, particularly in swara prastAra to make it distinguishable from harikAmbOdhi.

It's fate is same as dilIpaka and dEvAmRtavarShiNi, as jayaram has pointed out already.

-Ramakriya

ramakriya · Post by **ramakriya** » 14 Feb 2007, 23:29

ramakriya wrote:The commanAlity between sindhu bhairavi and dhEnuka is its plain (kampa vihIna)

-Ramakriya

Thanks to using transliteration schemes,

, one would start using it for English as well!

-Ramakriya

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 14 Feb 2007, 23:39

I have had the same problem for long now ramakriya.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 15 Feb 2007, 00:45

Another member to your club, Ramakriya and DRS!

jayaram · Post by **jayaram** » 15 Feb 2007, 03:39

This is hilarious! cOmmaNAlity indeed.

This brings up another question: do we have any CM kritis in English? Arun may need to cater for this in his transliteration scheme then!

jayaRAm

Lakshman · Post by **Lakshman** » 15 Feb 2007, 04:45

We do have a maNipravALa jAvaLi:

O my lovely (jAvaLi). rAgA: kharaharapriyA. Adi tALA.

P: O my lovely lalanA ElanE pommaNTi
A: EmOya nIyuNTi kAminI ninnu
C1: kaugalimpu vELa kAnta nI vATinati kapaTa mATalani kanukoNTini
2: iTUvaNTi step-is it fit to take sit a while here let me convince you
3: evaraivattanu donâ€™t be angry shivarAmuni padamu bADu

Suji Ram · Post by **Suji Ram** » 15 Feb 2007, 04:56

http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=552&p=3

A discussion on "O my lovely"

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 15 Feb 2007, 10:24

wow!!! i would love to hear that jAvaLi. who composed it?

meena · Post by **meena** » 15 Feb 2007, 10:43

Lji

the composer is it chandrasekhara sastry or karur shivaramiah?

MaheshS · Post by **MaheshS** » 15 Feb 2007, 15:29

jayaram wrote:This is hilarious! cOmmaNAlity indeed.

This brings up another question: do we have any CM kritis in English? Arun may need to cater for this in his transliteration scheme then!

jayaRAm

Sigali Sivachidambaram has written one called Lord Muruga, London Muruga [or similar words], Sirkali Govindarajan peformed it when he toured London years ago. I may have the MP3 somewhere. I'll see if I can dish it out.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 15 Feb 2007, 23:02

At some point, one of my songs contained the words pon sOlai vanam. I wondered about it. More came, over a period--again, with the same words! Then I understood. They were about venkatEsa or vishNu. Pennsylvanum (pon sOlai vanam) Penn's woods! Pittsburgh temple, one of the earliest temples to be built in the US!

thanjavur · Post by **thanjavur** » 10 May 2007, 03:26

Another review of the same concert (thanks Lakshman for the link)

http://ramsabode.wordpress.com/2007/02/ ... mment-2981

Sathej Feb 12th, 2007 at 6:24 pm

Hello,

A good,detailed review!I went to Shri Sanjay Subramaniamâ€™s(SS) kutcheri at Hamsadhwani with
Shri.Nagai Muralidharan on the violin and Shri Thanjavur Kumar on the Mridhangam. There was a
Ghatam too(sadly,I donâ€™t remember his name). Starting off with the Thodi Varna Era Napai,SS went
on to sing the melodious Nen Endu Vethgudura in Karnataka Behag. Then followed an Asaveri Krithi
of Thyagaraja. Dikshitharâ€™s Akshayalinga in Sankarabharanam was next. The main piece was Gaangeya
in Hamirkalyani. Then.SS went on to sing a rare composition Manasu Radha by GNB in Samakadambari.
At this point,I had to leave.It was a good kutcheri.The violinist played a good Hamirkalyani.The percussion
was supportive.

Sathej