T.N.Seshagopalan @ Sringeri Mutt, Chennai (09 Mar 2007)

ram · Post by **ram** » 10 Mar 2007, 00:57

Venue: Sringeri Jagadguru Pravachana Mandiram, Sringeri Mutt Road, R.A.Puram , Chennai

Date: 09 Mar 2007

Organizer: Raja Annamalaipuram Bhakta Jana Sabha

Vocal: Sri T.N.Seshagopalan

Violin: Sri Shertalai Sivakumar

Mrudangam: Sri Guruvayur Dorai

Khanjira: Sri Neyveli B. Venkatesh

Tambura: Sri Vaidyanathan

List of songs:

1) satguru swAmiki - rItigowLa - Adi - rAmanAtapuram srInivAsa iyengAr (O)

2) telisi rAma - pUrNachandrikA - Adi - thyAgarAja (NS)

3) E panikO - asAvEri - Adi - thyAgarAja

4) evvarE rAmayyA - gAngEyabhUshaNi - Adi - thyAgarAja

5) hechariga - yadukulakAmbOji - kanDa chApu - thyAgarAja (NS)

6) viDamu sEyavE - kharaharapriyA - Adi - thyAgarAja

7) ETi janmamidi - varALi- misra chApu - thyAgarAja

8 ) sArasa sAma dAna - kApinArAyaNi - Adi - thyAgarAja (S)

9) mOkshamu galadA - sAramati - Adi - thyAgarAja (AT)

10) mElukOvayya - bouLi - kanDa chApu - thyAgarAja

11) pAhi kalyANa rAma - kApi - Adi - thyAgarAja

12) srI rAma jaya rAma - madyamAvati - kanDa chApu - thyAgarAja

13) nI nAma rUpa mulaku (mangaLam) - sowrAshTram - Adi - thyAgarAja

14) mangaLam kOsalEndrAya (slOkam) - madyamAvati

(Key: O=raga outline, A=raga alapana, N=neraval, S=kalpana swaram, T=taniavartanam)

I couldn't have probably asked for a better concert upon my return to Chennai to end the seemingly long hiatus. But for the mosquito menace, the concert was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.The fact that the venue was located on the shores of Buckingham Canal meant that mosquitoes were available in large numbers.

The concert started about an hour late at 8 PM due to over-enthusiasm on the part of the speakers on the diaz at a ceremony to felicitate Sri TNS and confer on him the title of "Sangeetha Seva Siromani". TNS started with a neat outline of rItigowLa making me speculate on the aTa tALa varnam. However TNS took up "satguru swAmiki" and only then did it dawn on me that the rest of the concert might have only Saint Thyagaraja's compositions as the sabha was celebrating Sri Thyagara Music Festival.TNS then sang " telisi rAma" with neraval and kalpana swaram at "rAmAyaNa brahmamunaku pEru, AmAnava jananArtulu dIru". Then came the asAvEri kriti "E panikO" which I am hearing for the first time. "evvarE rAmayyA" had TNS and Sri Sivakumar launching into several rounds of cascading patterns in akAram at the line "nAgadhara sura" in the charaNam. Neraval and kalpana swarams in the next kriti "hechariga rA rA" were put at "ninnu jUDavachu bhagini karambu chiluka". TNS sang "ETi janmamidi" in varALi superbly, bringing out the beauty of the raga very well. Kalpana swarams in "sarasa sAma dAna" were put at "hitavu mATalentO bAgA balkitivi". TNS also did an extensive elaboration of portions of this line in a style almost similar to that of a neraval.

To me however, the best of whatever TNS offered in the concert was the sAramati alapana that came next. It was full 15 minutes of pure wizardry. What else can one expect with a genius at work with such a beautiful raga. I think TNS might have sung the alapana for an even longer duration but for the fact that it was getting a bit late and that he had a train to catch at 10.30PM. Sri Shertalai Sivakumar seemed to ask TNS to start the song without the violin alapana as it was getting late to which I heard TNS say: "adhu paravA illa. nInga vAsingO". Sri Sivakumar then played a very short alapana at the end of which TNS launched into "mOkshamu galadA" with the anupallavi line "sAkshAtkAra nI sadbhakti". Though TNS could not sing neraval and kalpana swarams due to the time factor, he did full justice to his rendition of the kriti singing some very beautiful sangatis. Sri Guruvayur Dorai and Sri Neyveli Venkatesh then together played a short taniavartanam with a small chatusra naDai piece followed by some sarvalagu style patterns and a mOra and kOrvai. Despite the fact that it was 9.30PM, TNS still sang three more songs and a mangaLam and mangaLa slOkam.

Source: http://ramsabode.wordpress.com/2007/03/ ... i09032007/

annapoorne · Post by **annapoorne** » 10 Mar 2007, 07:27

Sadguru swamiki in Ritigaula is by Ramanathapuram Srinivasa Iyengar

http://ramsabode.wordpress.com/tag/conc ... ce/page/2/

ram · Post by **ram** » 10 Mar 2007, 08:08

annapoorne,

Some of my sources list it as Sri Thyagaraja's composition. Some list it as Poochi Iyengar's.

The link http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:0Ra ... cd=1&gl=in says it is Poochi Iyengar's. The song also has his mudra.

Lakshman ji/Sri Govindan: Need your help here to identify the actual composer.

Thanks for pointing out my older blog post which says it is Poochi Iyengar's. The song seems to be on Sri Thyagaraja though which seems to point out that it might be Poochi's.

Ram

meena · Post by **meena** » 10 Mar 2007, 08:24

rItigauLa is not listed in TKG book.

it is poochi's:

sadguru svAmiki. rAgA: rItigauLa. Adi tALA.

P: sadguru svAmiki sATiyu lEdani santatamu pogaDi smarincavE O manasA
A: sadguNa shrI sArasAkSuni bhajinci sadgati pondina sadbhaktuDau shrI tyAgarAja
C: vasudalO merayu shrI pancanadamuna vara nAdAmcuDai avatarinci
rasamugA gIta shAstra marmamulanu rAjillaga manujulaku bOdhinci
vasudEva tanayuDuagu shrInivAsa vajIruni okka krpaku pAtruDai
yAshamunu nirantaramugA jendina yatIndra parama pAvana shrI tyAgarAja

his mudra:shrInivAsa

ram · Post by **ram** » 10 Mar 2007, 08:27

Thanks Meena. I checked with my brother. He also says it's Poochi Iyengar's.

I have modified the post above.

Thanks annapoorne.

Lakshman · Post by **Lakshman** » 10 Mar 2007, 19:21

It is by Poochi Iyengar. In my Index, somehow, the entry crediting the song to Tyagaraja also crept in because I did not read the fine print preceding the song in Kritimani malai by RRI before adding the entry. My apologies.

sarojram18 · Post by **sarojram18** » 10 Mar 2007, 22:25

The highlights of the concert however were:
1.In Thelisirama the two different meanings of rAmA , a woman and Rama were brought out by the manner of singing
and the svara was racy but beautiful.
2.Besides the AkAra at 'nagadhara' in 'EvvarE Ramayya' in Gangetya bhooshani, mentioned by Ram, the phrase sarievvare
was sung with different expressions of sangathi to bring out the meaning in full.
3.In 'hecchariga gA ra ra,' TNS brought out the full beauty of YadhukulakAmbhodhi through the krthi itself,with all the nuances of the raga without singing the alapana which made the rasikas feel that this is the way Thyagaraja would have sung the krthi originally.
4.The krthi before 'Etijanma' in varaLi was a quick 'vidamu seyave ' in karaharapriya.The varali piece was bhava-laden and made one exclaim 'Etijanmamihti hA' not to listem to such music forever without break!
5.Sarasamadhana has long been appropriated by TNS and stamped with his mudra.The first line 'sAti dheyvamamevvare brovave' was split into 'dheyvam evvare' to bring out the meaning clearly and also in anulpallavi, the line was sung as 'paramasambhava agresarundanutsu' and not as 'gresarundanutsu' as it is sometimes sung.In 'Paluku ravanundu theliya leka poye' TNS displayed the anguish that Thyagaraja would have felt that Ravana did not know that Rama was the supreme purusha.
Hithavu matalentho in the charana showed Rama send message to Ravana with well meaning words, by TNS singing the word hithavu mata with a lot of 'hitha,idhamaai,'
and the next line Sathavu gana ayodhya nicche nantivi, where TNS stressed the word 'nicche
to bring the meaning that Rama offered even ayodhya to him to bring him to senses.
Here this rasika is reminded of the Thyagarajaramayana Harikatha by TNS where he expalned the reason why Thyagaraja said that Rama offered Ayodhya to Ravana. Rama has already promised Lanka rajya to Vibhishana and performed his coronation. But he had Ayodhya with in his power as Bharata would offer it to him as soon as he goes back after fourteen years which was drawing to a close.So he thought that it is safe to offer him Ayodhya and keep his word.Then in singing the word 'ragahathamuchesithivi,' the raga flowed like anything through sangathi and in short the krthi was never heard like this before.
6.Last but the best was Saramathi, which was saravathi, full of essence. It flowed like a pravaha of ganga, sometimes like a bindusaras at others like the cataract and became a torrent later, as ir was 9pm and getting late for his journey, and flooded the hearts of the rasikas.
When he started 'mokshamu galadha ' it left no doubt in the mind of the rasikas that for those who worship the Lord by music the moksha is assured, which was emphasised by TNS by singing 'sadbhakthisangitha jnanaviheenulaku mokshamu galadha.' In 'sAkshathkaranee,' one could feel the sakshshatkara of the nadha brahman. Others may have had high pressure because it was late for him to catch the train but not TNS ! He took his time to give a full fledged concert within the span of one and a half hour.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 10 Mar 2007, 22:47

When any concert is a thematic one,I am assuming TNS learns/practices/externalizes atleast one new krithi or pallavi to rasikas. His ability to continously learn is apparent to me in these 3 new krithis

3) E panikO - asAvEri - Adi - thyAgarAja

6) viDamu sEyavE - kharaharapriyA - Adi - thyAgarAja

11) pAhi kalyANa rAma - kApi - Adi - thyAgarAja

jnaanasoonyam · Post by **jnaanasoonyam** » 10 Mar 2007, 23:20

What exactly is so 'NEW' about E paniko & viDamusEyave? :rolleyes:

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 10 Mar 2007, 23:38

jnaanasoonyam wrote:What exactly is so 'NEW' about E paniko & viDamusEyave? :rolleyes:

I stand corrected , "relatively not often sung in concert" should have been a better phrase rather than 'NEW'

ksrimech · Post by **ksrimech** » 12 Mar 2007, 03:48

Dr SR sang viDamusAyavE (kharaharapriyA) and pAhi kalyAnarAma (kApi) in his days. May be TNS is the only other person to attempt these two.

deepsands02 · Post by **deepsands02** » 13 Mar 2007, 00:19

Was anyone at TNS' BVB concert a few days back? What was the songlist there, or at least the main item? Sorry if this is already in another thread, I couldn't find it. Thanks.

ram · Post by **ram** » 13 Mar 2007, 08:12

Here you go ..... http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=2273

deepsands02 · Post by **deepsands02** » 13 Mar 2007, 10:07

I knew it was somewhere... Thanks Ram.