Sanjay Subrahmanyan@MusicAcademy on Dec 26th,2014

[rajeshnat]

Sanjay Subrahmanyan@MusicAcademy on Dec 26th,2014
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Vocal : Sanjay Subrahmanyan
Violin : S Varadarajan
Mrudangam : Neyveli Venkatesh
Kanjira : S Venkataramanan

Concert Type : Nirvana - no concert to follow
Day/Duration : Friday/ 2 hours and 30 minutes
Concert Type/Crowd : Ticketed concert - ~ 700(80 to 90% full) in first floor ,ground floor no idea
Sabha / Hall : Music Academy /TTK Hall

01.dAri teliyaka - varnam - darbar - Patnam
02. intanuchuva nimpa tharamA - gunDakriya - T

03. samayamiddhE nannu brOva (R,S) - kedaram - patnam
5 mins alapana and 2 mins violin return
swaras for 5 mins

04. shree rAmachandrO (R N S) - shree ranjani - MD
8 mins alapana and 6 mins violin return
neraval of 4 mins
10 mins swaras

05. sArasa dala nayanE murugA - tOdi - mayuram vishwanatha sastri

After Two days in academy with suryaprakash and team ,For me it was another repeat concert where a different team of sanjay and accompanist presented a concert of the same intensity and uniqueness . The start in darbar varnam was not that perfect , the vocal voice was bit high and the shruthi was not that heard well. THe good news was sanjay voice did not get into season related hiccups. The next rare gundakriya krithi was sung at right arresting speed ,I was expecting swaras to get a more kalaikattufied feel but sanjay wrapping quickly did not bode that well with me. gunda kriya was bit too gundu and did not loose its weight it could have gone for a bit of swara jog to lose its weight.

From The kedaram alapana sanjay and team was lovely. Sanjay gave a right kedaram throw with a bit of restraint that always gives that right charm to kedaram . I have personally heard many times this samayamidhE krithi by sanjay and I like this kedaram of sanjay, swaras were indeed good , may be bit more but it was planned well considering the concert duration.

THe main in shree ranjani was advanced with a dikshitar krithi which i first heard from mlv school vidushi.Shree ranjani was sung very well with a lot of podi swaras like nadaswara vidwan and the neraval was in the same pallavi line .He could have sung more nerval pattern but that was not the case . THe shree ranjani krithi was sung very well and I liked his swaras with nadaswara pidi becoming more prominent.

A rare swarakshara todi swarajathi of mayuram vishwanatha sastri was sung very well and I liked this unique rendering of Sanjay with copious swarAksharam. Nice composition that gave a queen todi raga its status that it always deserves.

[rajeshnat]

06. RTP in kalyani for 45 minutes
19 mins alapana (12 vocal alapana and 7 mins violin return)
taanam for 10 mins

mA mayil vaghAnanai anudinam ninai manamE mAL maruganai shanmughanai muruganai guhanai
swaras in kalyani
pallavi and swaras for 15 mins
06B. tani for

07. virperu vizhavum kanjanum - sindhu bhairavi - divya prabhandham

08A. viruthththam - mari ninru ennai mayakkidum - kAmbOdhi +
karuvutra nAl ... kachiyE kambanE - bhimplas +
08B. tiruvalar mayilaiyiL - kamas - papanasam sivan

09. thirruppugazh - jonpuri??? - AGN

10. pavamana

He allocated sufficient time for pallavi despite lack of that detailed neraval before . I do had a feeling that he was heading for a prati pallavi, I was mentally thinking it is not poorvikalyani as previously savitha sang a pallavi in PK. I also knew shanmughapriya will not follow todi. I knew he was heading for melakartha 65.It was kalyAni as a raga it is excellent when the alapana is not expanded that much and precisely sanjay did that in RTP alapana.He showed he belonged to predominant GNB school with kalyani ,the typecast was very much gn sir with lot of interesting brigas . The taaanam was done very well without mrudangam support and he kept up with his intense passsion . The pallavi was TVG creation and he announced that . Both the purvangam and uttarangam was tossed enough to give kalyani its panoromic aura . Trikalam was done and may be there was a slip there too. Swaras were measured with few mmi typecast sangathis that came up with his famous audio casette kamalAmbam bhajare (I am not complaining but complementing)and he did justice to overall pallavi.

The tukkadas were a bit of mixed bag , may be quite heavy thamizh dose . The first was lovely when he started but he suddenly ended with a flat tire with words like kanden kanden thiruvallikeni, perhaps not every divya prabhandam is that great . The viruththam was short and i liked it immensely nice throw of Kambodhi and bimplas?? and with a quick tiruvalar mayilaiyil in kamas it was well done . THe last perumale thirrupugazh ,i think it was in jonpuri and it was another rush which was always true with every musician.

Varadu was superb , he knows when to play and when not to . His azhuttam and melody definitely took the concert up. I am hearing neyveli venkatesh for the third time this season, one with pattabhi in pozhichalur, one with shashank in mambalam and now in academy. He has fastest fingers and that toppi left is indeed giving sanjay the greatest impetus of success . S Venkataraman was minimally playing and their tani was overall very good, the first few minutes where venkatesh played only with left was something that he did few week back in pozhichalur. Personally I could not listen intently the tani as it was two back to back tani after savitha's half concert that i attended.

The concert had its few not good things

# Little excess thamizh dose towards the end possibly cutting one krithi would have been better and that time could have gone for extra emote of viruththam

# Sanjay could have gone bit more in presenting a grander neraval considering that he only sang an advanced main neraval , there was no submain neraval.

Overall it was an excellent concert for 2 and half hours .

[Vocalist]

The next rare gundakriya krithi was sung at right arresting speed ,I was expecting swaras to get a more kalaikattufied feel but sanjay wrapping quickly did not bode that well with me. gunda kriya was bit too gundu and did not loose its weight it could have gone for a bit of swara jog to lose its weight.

[KNV1955]

Entire team in traditional attire. Conventional Ariyakudi concert structure. You can hear glimpses of GNB; Madurai Somu; MMI in his concert. Punches in Air; Shoots arrows what not. There is something for everyone.

[gardabha_gana]

Talam for the palace? Looks like a boxing day concert

[Madras Talkies]

sanjay gave his best .. Who wouldn't love it? It was a great concert

[arasi]

Kumudam's write up on Sanjay and on the concert is an interesting read...

[gardabha_gana]

Arasi m'am what does it say - can you please paraphrase

[arasi]

gardbha_gana,
Hope to see you at Gayana Samaja sometime early Feb. If the sankarAnthi festival is on, and the smell of bajjis frying pervades the air, I can spot you there, I'm hoping

Here's the translation of the Kumudam magazine write up:

Sanjay certainly has reached a super star status. A battalion of rasikAs storm his concerts. He also has a fan club.

The colorful magic he wrought (varNa jAlam) started with the Sri rAga varNam. PaTNam's samayamidE nannu brOva brought in momentum.

Sriranjani is a captivating rAgA. Sanjay stretched the limits of his imagination, sweetly singing it, and in a refreshing way. MD's kriti in the rAgA, 'rAmachandrO rakshathumAm' made one revel in rAma bhakthi. MD is a genius who is at times compared to Bach. Sanjay enabled us to savor the beauty of this song.

RasikAs eagerly look forward to Sanjay's singing in tamizh. He chooses songs which are meaningful, have uplifting themes for humanity, and spell out national fervor. You can see the unmistakable Sanjay stamp on them.

In the rAga mAlikA, he sang sindhu bhairavi, AbhEri etc, and delivered them with full impact and took us on a pilgrimage of Siva sthalA-s. his music is not just for the ears. It's for the heart and the mind too.

So, to Sanjay, a royal salute...

[rshankar]

And, to Arasi, a queenly one (salute, I mean) for the translation!

[Jigyaasa]

Here's the translation of the Kumudam magazine write up:

...The colorful magic he wrought (varNa jAlam) started with the Sri rAga varNam.

01.dAri teliyaka - varnam - darbar - Patnam

wonder which one it was...

[arasi]

Jigyaasa,
I didn't write it. I only translated what was written in Kumudam. It was the durbAr varNam as Rajesh said.I should have added that.

[gardabha_gana]

Thanks m'am! I will be at the Samaja - Sanjay and Ravikiran for sure!

[Rajagopalan_V]

I was doubly joyed when Kumudam had echoed my own thoughts in calling him a 'Superstar'. The below is my write-up which appeared in Dianamani.com last week. Actually had sent it to them a couple of days after the Academy concert but got published only on 07 January.

http://www.dinamani.com/margazhi-isai-t ... 608192.ece



Sorry, the write-up is in Thamizh and am not sure that I will attempt translating it. Seeking pardon from those who can't read Thamizh.

Thanks!

[Lakshman]

The above link does not work. But this one does.

http://www.dinamani.com/margazhi-isai-t ... 608192.ece

[Rajagopalan_V]

Thanks Lakshman. Appreciate!

Yes, the link I had given needs to be copied in entirety and pasted on the browser for it to work. For some reason, it takes only the first part of the URL when we click on it.

[sureshvv]

Very well written article. Thank you.

[arasi]

Rajagopaln_V,
Your tamizh is as appealing as the concerts you write about. Just as a good set of pakka vAdyams add to the quality of a concert.

'pAril uyarnda nilam' virutham and 'en thAi vAzhgenum mandira nAdamE' as Sanjay sang them in an earlier MMU and a few subsequent concerts is still green in my memory. What a heart warming combination of verses too! Brought to us an echo of the 'bhArath mAthA ki Jai!" chants of our growing up years which gave us goose bumps...

[tanapp]

For an artist who has dug deep to get some beautiful Tamizh compositions out to the rasikas, the Tamizh review by Rajagopalan_V is such a great tribute. It was so nice to read a Tamizh prose, after such a long long time.

Thanks much to Rajagopalan_V for the review.

[Rajagopalan_V]

sureshvv, arasi and tanapp -- thank you all for your kind words. As the title of my write-up says, it's more of a 'diary entry' and not a review. Though I have been attending concerts and listening to Carnatic Music for several years, I haven't gained enough 'technical expertise' yet to critically review concerts. Therefore, it feels 'doubly good' to receive compliments from veteran, informed rasikas like you all. Pranaams and thanks to all.