Varadarajan
Venkatesh
I am sharing my thoughts in a hurry. So please pardon everything:):):)
Narayana gowlai – maguva, varnam, VeeNai Kuppaiyer
Nattai - Jaya jaya jaya jAnakIkAnta, PD, S
dEvagAndhAri - kShitijA ramaNaM cintaye, MD, R
sucharithra – vElum mayilUmE, KI, S
sarasAngi - jaya jaya padmanAbha, ST
sAvEri - durusugA kRpajUci santatamarOga, SS, N@ parama pAvani kRpAvani vinuta padasarOja praNatArttiharu rANi, S
thani
bEgada – Arukkum adangAdha neeli, HMB
RTP – Bhairavi
Thanam in varali, mohanam and abheri
Pallavi in Tisra ekam
Enakkavar sondamadi parandAman gOvindanadi mukundanadi
Sahana - OhO kAlamE, vEdanayakam pillai
Kambhoji - ivan yArO, azhagar kuravanji
Yamuna kalyani – haridasulu, T
Shriranjani – kANa vENdAmO, GKB
Vizhikku thuNai followed by ArumO Aval, mand, kannan iyengar
Kamas – akhila chara chara, thiruvaLar mayilayin PS
Sindhu bhairavi – vipperu vizhavum, thirumangai Azhwar?
This trip to Detroit offered me a chance for an immersion in nostalgia, as reflections on the continuity of my sojourn with CM in this country have been surging anew lately. Habituated to MLV, burrowed to the core by SK’s music and transplanted from the heart of CM with youthful impetuosity, the very first concert I had was of MLV followed by my God, SK’s concert in Detroit…and … and………:):):)
Fast forward a few decades and the dewy eyed wistfulness/wrinkles/sepia toned images of those moments’ unforgiving melt that come with enduring memories aside, here is my take on the concert…
From the start of the opening varnam to the hushed ending of the pasuram, the concert had a thoughtful selection of works, good reciprocity between time tested compositions and the rare ones, a communion of composers of sorts I should say…
A champion of neglected compositions, with Varadarajan and Venkatesh as comrades in arms and with a bracing energy Sanjay started the much-anticipated concert with a rarely heard varnam in narayanagowlai, giving a tantalizing tease of the great musical evening…
And then he dove into “jaya jaya jaya jAnakIkAnta” immortalized by MLV blending his trademark with elements of GNB school in the swarams. Followed by the artfully restrained ‘KShijitA ramaNam” with his understated approach and emphasis more on the composition echoing MD in all the shadings than extended improvisation with Sanjay husbanding his virtuosity carefully by imparting emotional weight to every word.
Then he segued without pause into ‘velUm mayilUme’, embedding the dissonant notes with finesse in this melancholic but gorgeous piece transfixing the audience.
Saveri - Sanjay resolutely contoured saveri with expressive intensity and melodic astuteness while digging the riches beneath followed by Varadarajan’s skillfully charted sense of melody with arresting nuances. As I was keeping my fingers crossed for Shankari shankuru and durusuga, came SS’s opus. The compositionally daring “ Duruduga” took on a powerful narrative quality and he conjured up the composer’s wistful observation by spreading outward in the searching stretch of the phrase at “parama pAvani kRpAvani vinuta padasarOja praNatArttiharu rANi“, making the dramatic text vivid and with Varadarajan’s nimble-fingering and Venkatesh keeping the background pulse alive, they traded phrases as equal partners followed by thani that showcased Venkatesh’s dexterity on his instrument and his rhythmic integrity.
Yarukkum adangada, (not my fav, I feel it has a crude first phrase. thank kALi:) it was a filler) led without pause into the capstone work of the evening – RTP
Bhairavi gushed forth, mining for subtle shadings in letting the melody have its say by pushing his means of expression with a lot of yester year masters’ voices peeking through, as he folded them into his own aesthetics and Varadarajan captured his imagination with precision and fluidity.
Tanam – the 20-minute arresting work teeming with rhythmic bursts trickled in like quite meditation with controlled intensity that was channeled thru the melody as each syllable emanated enigmatically filling in the space in obsessive patterns portraying his penchant for nuance and depth and Varadarajan muscled notes out of the violin with clarity. Then the thanam continued in a heady brew of full-bodied varali, mohanam, and abheri (@Starbucks using their free Wi-Fi:)) offering musical delights…
The scrupulously shaped pallavi came with great malleability (to him:)) and technical agility as he entwined the angsty text ‘Enakkavar sondamadi parandAman gOvindanadi mukundanadi’ echoing the longing in artful details in tisra ekam, adheedha eduppu. Eduppu for enakkavar sondamadi at -2 or at 3/4, parandAman govindanadi at+6, mukundanadi at -6 I think (you can see that I am very poor in explaining. i can show a wee better:)) drawing out it’s bouncy, rhythmic elements as the pliant phrasings pirouetted apart and floated back together woven thru moments of angst in a graceful ebb and flow as Sanjay went on to explore every dynamic revealing his technical prowess with Varadarajan and Venkatesh embracing with gusto the daunting work by picking up on each other’s dynamics and melding beautifully. (I really wish I can listen to this pallavi again as there was a commotion going on abt what to ask for requests behind me and requests being my pet peeve, I was disgusted
)Then he exhumed the TNS master piece, kavi kunjara bharathi’s azhagar kuravanji in kambhoji. I remember listening to Sanjay sing this padam in 2008 at Warren road pillayar kovil, with the temple ambience it had a diff feel then. “Ivan yArO’ came with his vocal artistry steeped in conveying the admiration of the beauty of the lord in procession with an unabashed romantic bent and affecting tenderness making the rendition unsettlingly immediate.
And the concert closed with a wistful rendition of vipperu vizhavum and the audience broke into a clamorous applause…
