Sanjay Subrahmanyan at BSU on 08-Nov-2013

[Rajagopalan_V]

Was 'seriously' hoping to see a thread on this. Couldn't locate one and so am opening this thread.

Could get to the hall only half way though the concert. Even then, couldn't get in easily - scores of audience spilling over on the steps at the ground floor of the NGS Hall. So had gone upstairs to the balcony and managed to find myself a seat by 'squatting' on the floor before the front row!

Didn't have my notebook with me and so had scribbled some notes on my cell phone. Writing the below based on that.

Always a pleasure attending Sanjay's concerts. His usual "saravedi", "cracker of a concert" it was, though not accompanied by the 'usual suspects' this time!

Indeed it was a 10,000 wala cracker by Nagai Sriram in the Kamavardani RTP. Thundering applause -- from the full house audience bursting at the seams -- lasting a full 3 minutes for his Tanam in response to Sanjay's acrobatics. Sahana, Darbari Kanada(?) and Khamboji followed.

Preceded by a breezy Bilahari and the kriti "Kamakshi Sri Varalakshmi".

Spirited 'thani' by Arjun Ganesh and Trichy Murali, duly appreciated by Sanjay!

Followed by a Thamizh song (couldn't catch/recall the lyrics clearly) in (if I got them right) Karaharapriya, Saveri, Sindu Bhairavi and a host of other ragas...

Wondering if it is 'another discovery' of a rare Thamizh song brought to light by the indefatigable Sanjay. Anyone providing a link for the song, will be couriered a 2 kg value onion pack by overnight delivery.

Every bit the feel-good and mood-uplifting concert that Sanjay's concerts usually are.

Kudos to the BSU team for the well conceived and well organized harbinger of the Season this event has become of late...

Hoping informed rasikas would pitch in with the complete list of kritis and a detailed review of the concert...

[grsastrigal]

Thanks Sri.Rajagopalan for your review. I have a starting trouble !!!

Sanjay’s concert is always filled with “efforts” and no one can challenge sanjay on his efforts to perform better. He asked the organizers to reduce the light “facing the podium” and filled the rasikas with glittering RTP.

The problem with him, sometimes, is the selection of kritis. Again, opinion differs,. when there are scores of kritis of Thiagaraja, he chose a Malayalam kriti of Swati TirunAl in Anandha bairavn, givng us a feeling of “endhA malyaliO”

He chose another “dAsar padagalu” before his RTP. Both these kritis were not necessary. Wholesomeness comes only in Thyagaraja kriti or equally great SS, PSI etc.,
Having said that, the list goes like this

kanakAngi- Todi-varNam

gAna rasamudan- papanasam sivan-begada- Swaram in “gAna rasamudan.”

Anandha bairavi- rAgam followed by “andholika vAganE jagapratikA” –Swati tirunAl.

Bilahari- rAgam-followed by kamAkshi varalakshmi- a kriti on kAnchi varalakshmi. It is interesting to know that there is a kriti on mahAlakhmi of kanchi where we always heard kritis of kamakshis of kAnchi.

Sriranjani-manayolakAdO gOvindA- swaram in “manayola”

RTP-kAmavaradhini. sahAna. AbhEri, Pallavi- “ShivakAmavardhini, bhavakamamardhani, chitparavathakiyE, Oh, parAshakthi”
Tani

vidhi sakrAdulaku dorakunA iTuvaNTi sannidhi vEduka jUtAmu rArE, Yamuna Kalyani-Thyagarajar

Kanduga madakkariyai- rAga malika-starting with karaharapriya ending with chenchurutti. ThayumAnavar virutham followed by “angai kodumalar” in praise of Trichy thayumAnavar.

Orumaiyudan- paatinathAr- kApi

Mangalam.

Nagai Sriram- has surpassed guru in his performance. (Guruvai minjia shishyan) Even when nAgai muralidharan accompanied Sanjay, it was a normal exchange of sangathis and claps were even.
Nagai Sriram got more attention than Sanjay with his stellar performance. Claps were pouring after every return. He has got a terrific “mind control” and follows each and every phrase of Sanjay, even it is too long. Sanjay also could not stop appreciating NS with his “smile”.

Arjun Ganesh in mridangam. He has been elevated to sit even with big artist, I think. Disciple of Poongulam subramanyam he has performed well despite finding it difficult few times to understand Sanjay’s “volleys”. But, definitely he and Trichy murali enthralled the audience with a nice Tani.

To understand kAmavarardhini, it took me some time as I thought it was pantuvarAli first. Only when Pallavi started, I understood, it is kamavardhani.
tArasthaye panchama and tArashthaye madhyamA beween PV and KV. I could not see much of the difference but my knowledge of knowing this difference is very limited.
It was electrifying RTP. Sanjay was in full form. Gave another “memorable” performance.

[Lakshman]

The song with a question mark is vidhi shakrAdulaku dorakunA iTuvaNTi in yamunAkalyANi by TYagaraja. Did he sing it in hamIrkalyANi?

[kunthalavarali]

In the KatapayAdi Melakartha scheme pantuvarali is called kAmavardani (like hanuma thOdi, mEca kalyAni etc) Am I right?

[RaviSri]

Vidhisankara dolagunA ituvanti- amir kalyan- ???. Never heard this before

It must have been 'vidhi sakrAdulaku dorakunA iTuvaNTi sannidhi vEduka jUtAmu rArE, the Yamuna Kalyani composition of Thyagaraja on the street procession of Goddess Dharmasamvardhini of Tiruvaiyyaru.

kamAkshi varalakshmi- a kriti on kAnchi varalakshmi. It is interesting to know that there is a kriti on mahAlakhmi of kanchi where we always heard kritis of kamakshis of kAnchi.

This Mahalakshmi shrine is situated behind the Kamakshi shrine in Kanchipuram. Maha Vishnu comes to Kanchipuram to do tapas. Mahalakshmi, unable to bear the separation comes to Kanchi and upon seeing her He goes into hiding inside a cave (bilam). Mahalakshmi follows him and merges with Him. This is the puranic story of that shrine. Hence in that kriti we have 'kAmakOTi bilaharinuta kamalE....' This shrine is also a Vaishnava divya dEsham. After receiving the kunkuma prasadam at the Kamakshi shrine, one has to visit this bilam shrine and deposit the kunkumam there.

There is no separate temple for Mahalakshmi in Kanchipuram.

[kvchellappa]

Nice details. Thanks.

[grsastrigal]

Ravisri/Lakshman- Thanks for your info. I have corrected

[mahavishnu]

Nagai Sriram- has surpassed guru in his performance. (Guruvai minjia shishyan) Even when nAgai muralidharan accompanied Sanjay, it was a normal exchange of sangathis and claps were even.
Nagai Sriram got more attention than Sanjay with his stellar performance. Claps were pouring after every return. He has got a terrific “mind control” and follows each and every phrase of Sanjay, even it is too long. Sanjay also could not stop appreciating NS with his “smile”.

Yes, I too heard that Nagai Sriram was absolutely superb in this concert!
Thanks for your review, GRSastrigal.

[vs_manjunath]

In the KatapayAdi Melakartha scheme pantuvarali is called kAmavardani (like hanuma thOdi, mEca kalyAni etc) Am I right?

Yes.True it's Kamavardhini.How Pantuvarali came to vogue will be interesting to know.I'm sure Ravi Sri can clarify on this.

[mahavishnu]

Also heard that Nagai Sriram recovered from a string snapping problem with utmost poise and professionalism and presented a very nice bilahari alapanai. Kudos!

I have seen this happen to even the great masters and it takes a lot of guts (no pun intended) to spring back to peak performance level!

[grsastrigal]

mv- you are right. In between, bilahari, one of the strings snapped. Rasikas worried- I also thought, he would take another violin. (I don't know, he has brought or not ?). He corrected in no time and he did not start with usual, sa pA sa. Straight away gone for continued. Claps, claps ..only claps for 15 seconds.
He also have that "killing smile"- don't know whether he is smiling or not... Great guy to watch.

[dhanurasi]

The subject should have been "Nagai Sriram's Concert in BSU". It was indeed a stellar performance.

[arasi]

A dozen years or so back, the same Nagai Sriram, a very young one, playing in the same hall for a junior singer (forget which one) in an afternoon slot (the mini hall had something else going on, so this venue). A handful of listeners were scattered in the front several rows. His playing made me think: this is good stuff (had Johnny Carson said these words, they would have been more powerful!). I even asked the woman sitting next to me in the second row (who was so absorbed in the concert, and I guessed, family): is he your son? (silly me!). She said no, and that she was the singer's mother!

What I also remember is that enigmatic smile which seems to say how inward Nagai S is! Being quietly capable is also a quality he seems to possess (as seen in his playing and in this broken string incident).

Glad to hear that it turned out to be an evening of a stellar performance for him.

Several factors play a part in this: to play to a spilling out crowd in one of the biggest halls, that too in Chennai. To play for a star performer who tickles and challenges your imagination and engages in an animated dialog. On top of it, being encouraged by him. The saying in tamizh, pUvODu SErnda nArum maNakkum fits here (the strand which binds the flowers gains the fragrance).
After all, a pakka(A) vAdyam brings together and highlights the quality of a concert and showcases it even better.

Such things happen when the main artistes are generous in sharing accolades with fellow players. Such kudos for a supporting artiste in some cases may also mean that it's their last concert together

It's good to see performers of Sanjay's kind who are self-assured and are generous, so that they encourage their accompanists and students to grow and gain new heights.

As for the concert itself, another one of my many misses, being so far away

If pre-season concerts are any indication for what is to come during the season, I would like to listen to a few of the unheard (by me) from these forerunners. The pithAmaha being given an earlier place in the concert too!

As for the malayALam song (one of my favored ones), high time all of the southern languages get a chance to be represented in concerts. A maNi pravALam song simply doesn't bring the same feel, at least for me, as when a song is all in one language...

[mahavishnu]

Arasi: Agreed on all counts. Almost every performance of Nagai Sriram that I have seen have been uniformly excellent.
I always find that interesting things happen when Sanjay rotates his accompanists!

This is a high visibility opportunity for Arjun Ganesh as well. I'm glad that he did very well!

[arasi]

Very true, Mahavishnu. Another talented artiste from Karnataka. Have seen him perform over the years--but not in a Sanjay's concert so far.
Not knowing the intricacies of mrudangam playing, all I can I say is this. He can keep up so well and be a speedy Gonzales when playing for fast playing instrumentalists and though the whole effect gets me giddy, it shows his capability!

[rajeshnat]

Several factors play a part in this: to play to a spilling out crowd in one of the biggest halls, that too in Chennai. To play for a star performer who tickles and challenges your imagination and engages in an animated dialog. On top of it, being encouraged by him. The saying in tamizh, pUvODu SErnda nArum maNakkum fits here (the strand which binds the flowers gains the fragrance).

Arasi,
My knowledge of thamizh proverbs is significantly less than a vaggeyyakkara like you. When you bring the above thamizh proverb, does it not generally mean that the nAru just piggybacks the Poo to get the fragrance-that is the colloquial usage that I am familiar . That certainly is not a comparison at all that too for Nagai Sriram . You may need to perhaps clarify it better.

[mahavishnu]

Arasi: perhaps you are thinking of Arjun Kumar from Bengaluru?
Arjun Ganesh is from my old pEttai, West Mambalam (and formerly of Kumbakonam, by way of Poongulam). He played at Sri Nageswaran's house accompanying Injikkudi on Nagaswaram...

Here is a clip of him accompanying Sanjay at the Swati sangeethOtsavam: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQEECH3pdt8

Just saw Rajesh's post. I must confess that I have to agree with him here. Nagai Sriram is just another flower in this metaphor and not just the strand!

[arasi]

Sorry, Rajesh and Mahavishnu
Mea culpa twice over

1: Ravages of age Now I know who Arjun 'Ganesh' is, and yes, he sounds very good. And, playing for the 'malayALam' song too!
2: Failed in communicating my thought behind the nAr (of its being the binding force too!). Thus, I did not use it in the popular sense that someone out of no merit of his own, gains credit by being associated with greater people. Agreed, he is also a flower! Now, I'm scratching my head to find the name of the flowers with long stalks (needing no banana fiber nAr for stringing), which we as children kept braiding into strands.

So, not a nAr which only gets enriched by binding flowers together. Thanks for pointing this out.

If Nagai S happens to read this, I think the same enigmatic smile will appear on his face!

[arasi]

Even a better way to put it perhaps is to say, how his playing for Sanjay worked the same way as his uncle Nagai (or Varadu) playing for Sanjay works--elevating the concert a few notches more. On his part, Sriram is getting into that league too , it seems.

Two years ago, Jaya TV's mArgazhi utsavam had an extended program (of thamizhisai). There is a clip of this concert on the youtube. Nagai S played for Sanjay then, playing very well, but it was not something I would rave about. Shows how much better he is now, and how well he anticipates Sanjay's volleys and is ready to respond to them...

[harimau]

Now, I'm scratching my head to find the name of the flowers with long stalks (needing no banana fiber nAr for stringing), which we as children kept braiding into strands.

I hope you are not thinking of thaazhampoo.

I can only think of:

Oyyaarak kondayile thaazahampoovaam
Athan ulle iruukkirathu eerum penaam!

[sirsub11]

Harimau, are those lines by any chance from a bygone era film song called "Pengalai Nambathe,Kangale Pengalai Nambathe ". A Sivaji / TMS classic. Can't remember the film. Educated guess - Thookku Thookki.

[arasi]

Harimau,
Thanks for bringing in the fragrance of thAzhai--though called a pU (flower), it is akin to aloe, and is a leaf. How can one ever forget its name and fragrance! A childhood memory so precious! Add to it the mystery of its being attractive to snakes!

I was thinking of something 'called' Rangoon creeper popularly (the name came to me, though I do not know the botanical name). Dark green leaves, flushed pink pendulous blooms with long and flexible stalks, lending themselves for braiding into a chain! If Pratyaksham Bala, Vkailasam or Rsachi is reading this thread, we would get a picture of it too, pronto!

oyyArak koNDaiyAm thAzhambUVAm, uLLE irukkumAm Irum pEnum is a popular saying.

Sirsub,
We tend to bring in Lounge talk into other threads too, my being guilty often times ThUkku thUkki was a great film with our super hero Sivaji and very good music, but its anti-women content was an irritant for the womenfolk 8-|

[rshankar]

Harimau, are those lines by any chance from a bygone era film song called "Pengalai Nambathe,Kangale Pengalai Nambathe ". A Sivaji / TMS classic. Can't remember the film. Educated guess - Thookku Thookki.

Yes...Not a very complimentary song I'm afraid....

[arasi]

Ravi,
And all those women in the scene not reacting at all! Extras could only 'act' as told, and not react at all was why, I suppose /:)

What a contrast to Bharathi's songs! Still, when you heard it in the context of the movie, it fared better, TMS singing and Sivaji emoting. Just as a clip...

[rshankar]

Ravi,
And all those women in the scene not reacting at all! Extras could only 'act' as told, and not react at all was why, I suppose /:)

What a contrast to Bharathi's songs! Still, when you heard it in the context of the movie, it fared better, TMS singing and Sivaji emoting. Just as a clip...

I agree totally - this song makes sense only within the context of the storyline...

[sureshvv]

Much prefer thaazhayaam poo mudinju
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOKiUFO3eRU

[arasi]

Thank you, Suresh!
A classy oldie with all the charm of song and sight. I had forgotten Sivaji riding the buffalo in that scene!

Good lyrics too, ending in S.D.Burman's tum mOre bandhurE tune!

Oh, staying with the topic (ha!), the thAzhai (always scissor cut at angles) decorates Saroja Devi's koNDai (knotted hair do)...