Vijay Siva @ Chettinad School for Jaya TV MMU 10-Dec

[Rajagopalan_V]

N. Vijay Siva (Vocal)
R. Hemalatha (Violin)
J. Vaidyanathan (Mridangam)
B.S. Purushotham (Kanjira)

Theme – 'Endaro Mahanubhavulu'

Vijay Siva evokes an image of a strict but kind-hearted Headmaster in the minds of several of us the Carnatic rasikas. A strict adherent to classicism, someone who doesn’t play to the gallery, eschews gimmicks and puts in his sincere best for every one of his concerts – is how a lot of us look up to him.

Coming from the DKP/DKJ lineage, his patriotic songs and a strong sense of nationalism is also well known.

Yesterday’s concert was no exception. Another quality and sincere effort from him – on a theme that resonates well with his persona and the image we have of him.

Songs/kritis on Gurus and Mahaans from diverse paramparas and schools.

‘Satguru Swamikku’ in crisp Ritigowlai. A brief Todi alapana and the kriti ‘ArunachalapathE’ on Ramana Maharishi.

‘Srishankaracharyam’ in Mohanam on Sri Bharati Tirtha Mahaswami of Sringeri.

A spirited Shankarabharanam alapana. “Up above the world so high” higher octave sancharas giving a glimpse of his saadhagam and vocal prowess.

‘Shankaracharyam’ kriti on Sri. Mahadevendra Saraswathi -- the 67th Shankaracharya of the Kanchi Matha and the one who had anointed the 'Mahaperiyava' Sri. Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi as his successor. (Wikipedia-ya NamasthE!)

Neraval and swarams at ‘Parama gnaana lathaa lavaalam’ – complete adherence to Tyagaraja’s ‘Nabhi Hrud Kanta Rasana’ advice!

‘KaNNinun Siruthaambinaal’ – ragamalika kriti, his recent favorite. Staple in his last few outings.

Kritis on Raghavendra, Purandaradasa and MK Gandhi – ‘Shaantha ahimsaa murthE’ and ‘nirmala hrudaya sthithavaan’. Wrapped up the song with ‘Shaanthi…shaanthi….shaanthi’ permeating all round peace in the packed hall. Ensuing a thunderous applause lasting for more than 2 minutes.

Saint Tyagaraja’s immortal 'Endaro Mahaanubhaavulu'. Sung at an unhurried and relaxed pace impelling several members in the audience to sing along as though they are fellow singers at the Thiruvaiyaru Tyagaraja Utsavam.

The accomplished accompanists team of Hemalatha, Vaidyanathan and Purushothaman lending their spirited support to Vijay. Very good team work at play.

The PPT slides on the big screen beside the stage showed images of Buddha, Mahavira, Jesus Christ (meditating under a tree!), Guru Nanak, Samartha Ramadas, Sivananda, Acharyas from Sringeri and Kanchi pithas, Yogi Ramsuratkumar, Matha Amritanandamayi, Ravishankar, Chinmayananda and a whole host of mahaans and guru paramaparas of Bharathavarsha!

[Rajagopalan_V]

Apologies to all. Had missed out listing the names of the accompanists. Have edited the post now to include their names. Each of them played their part really well in my opinion. Other than Manoj Siva (his younger brother), J Vaidyanathan also accompanies Vijay Siva regularly. Also him being the son of Vijay's guru, guess they share a special bonding

The only nitpick, if you will, is that this is not even a 2 hours concert -- at best an hour and 45 mins -- if you accommodate around 15 minutes for the Q&A section. So, definitely left us wanting more!

Hope the organizers (and the Vidwans/Vidushis) let the concerts here go till 09:00 pm or thereabout rather than wrapping it up on the dot by 08:30 pm.

Elsewhere on the forum, just saw reports about TMK wrapping up his Vani Mahal concert in approx. 1 1/2 hours flat Apparently he was profusely apologetic as he was "not in the mood to sing any further"! Whereas, here at the MMU last week, he was seeking approval from the audience to sing till 09:30 pm

[rshankar]

Sri Vaidyanathan is also Sri Vijay Siva's brother-in-law.

[tiruppugazh]

The PPT slides on the big screen beside the stage showed images of Buddha, Mahavira, Jesus Christ (meditating under a tree!), Guru Nanak, Samartha Ramadas, Sivananda, Acharyas from Sringeri and Kanchi pithas, Yogi Ramsuratkumar, Matha Amritanandamayi, Ravishankar, Chinmayananda and a whole host of mahaans and guru paramaparas of Bharathavarsha!

Needless distraction :ymsigh:

[RaviSri]

‘Shankaracharyam’ kriti on Sri. Mahadevendra Saraswathi -- the 67th Shankaracharya of the Kanchi Matha and the one who had anointed the 'Mahaperiyava' Sri. Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi as his successor. (Wikipedia-ya NamasthE!)

Wrong history. This Mahadevandra Saraswati, praised in the kriti shankarAchAryam was the 65th pontiff and was the periyappA (father's elder cousin) of Chandrasekharendra Saraswati, the Maha Periyaval, the 68th pontiff. The Maha Priyaval had not even seen Mahadevendra Saraswati. None anointed Chandrasekharendra Saraswati. He succeeded his cousin, who was also given dIkSha name of Mahadevendra Saraswati and who ruled the pITamn for only a week, before succumbing to chicken pox. This was in 1907. The earlier Mahadevendra Saraswati had passed away sometime in the 1880s itself. Wikipedia is wrong most of the time when it writes about India and Indians

[MaheshS]

Full list of Acharya's from kamakoti.org

[Rajagopalan_V]

Thanks RaviSri for the correction. Well, it was my mistake in this case. Even the Wikipedia article says that the 67th Shankaracharya passed away within a week of His ascending the Pitha. So, it is very unlikely that He will have a song in praise of Him considering such a short period at the helm. Vijay Siva's PPT did not refer to the 67th acharya. It just gave the name of Sri. Mahadevendra Saraswathi and I looked up Wikipedia and connected the two.

Thanks again for stepping in and setting the records straight. Guess we do not want wrong information recorded here in the annals of rasikas.org! [-x

[RaviSri]

Rajagopalan, Subburama Dikshitar met Sri Mahadevendra Saraswwati at Kumbhakonam. The Swami had with him the lakShaNA grantha of Venkatamakhi, whose descendant the Swami was, as was Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati. SD asked the Swami for the book and the Swami gladly gave it to him. SD, in gratitude sang a varNam in kAshirAmakriya and the Shankarabharanam kriti Shankaracharyam on the Swami. This is the history of this kriti.