Sanjay - Venugopala Krishnaswamy temple - 11th Sept 2015

[gardabha_gana]

Vid. Sanjay
Vid. Varadarajan
Vid. Neyveli Venkatesh
Vid. Alathur Rajganesh

Venue: Venugopala Krishnaswamy Temple, Malleswaram, Bangalore a.k.a. Krishnan Koil to the localites

1. Varnam - Mukhari(?) - Ata
2. Marachedi Nyayama - Hamsadhwani - Adi (S)
3. Paripalayamam - Reetigowla - Rupakam (R)
4. Budhiradu - Sankarabharanam - M. Chapu (S, R)
5. Kutialalaka Samyuktam (Slokam) followed by
Jaya Jaya Gokula - Raga Malika (Bhairavi, .., Kambodhi,.. Suruti) - Rupakam
6. Sri Raja Gopala - Saveri - Adi (R, N, S, T)
N @ Dheera Agraganya Deena Sharanya
7. Sri Madhava - Behag - Adi
8. Oorile
Aaduguran Yengal Kannan
9. Kakai chiraginile nandala

Awesome concert... Sanjay is a real vidwan as someone whom I respect recently told me. It was in what used to be my backyard and don't know what I enjoyed more - Seeing Venugopala Swamy with Rukmini Thayar and Nambi Narayana or the concert in familiar portals amidst lots of Hebbar Tamil mamis Real down the memory lane for me. Met jayan, badari, pramod and anand from rasikas

[kvchellappa]

A number of youngsters were there as also Amritha Venkatesh and Sanjay's uncle. I thought he might sing pullum silambina kan, but surprised with buddhi radhu. But, the entire list belonged to the occasion (on Krishna or other forms of Vishnu) unlike in Odakatthur mutt.
I am listening to his concerts in youtube daily and have not grown tired of it. He sang ragamalika ending in surutti, I wondered for a moment whether it was going to be a brief affair, but then exploded into saveri enjoying it every inch. Tup, tup or dugu dugu he imprints it with the raga rasa and makes it heavenly. I saw in his fan list several musicians like Aswath Narayaan, Syamala Ramakrishna, etc. His accompanists outside the asthana accompanists are also artists of eminence. The opinion that he is populist is extremely prejudiced.

[hnbhagavan]

Prince Rama Verma himself a renowned musician and amrita Venkatesh attended the concert.The hall was overflowing.

[gardabha_gana]

Populist? That's not an adjective I would associate Sanjay with.

[arvenky]

Is that the same Ata thAla varnam of MukhAri he sang here in Coimbatore on Monday?

[Rsachi]

Anybody cavilling at Sanjay has to have jaundice of the brain and discard almost every good thing in mainstream Carnatic music of the past few decades. Of course there are better voices and prettier faces but like in cricket greatness comes from solidity, predictability and consistent innovation. Sanjay represents many things that are good to great in CM.

[arasi]

The Hamsadhvani kruti is new to me.
There were a few more songs at the end, weren't they? Surely, a dEvara nAmA among them...

[kvchellappa]

Concert at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=11&v=Ux4L4sdG1i0

[hnbhagavan]

How quickly it has been posted?Thank you.

[arasi]

Heard the concert in full. Thanks Prakashraonarayan, and Chellappa for bringing it here.
It wiped away my regret that the past several years the temple's pongal concert which I attended every year gave way to a Gokulashtami concert when I'm not in Bengaluru

This is a shorter than usual concert of Sanjay. No RTP-which would have disappointed me somewhat. Not this time. The SankarAbharaNam (last heard live in NGS one season) and the sAvEri main were enough to make up for it. And Jaya jaya gOkula bAlA too. MukhAri, hamsadhvani...those who favor only classical rAgAs would have been delighted, forgetting the dEsh tail piece (well, featherpiece--kAkkai siRagu--crow's feather) which was there to celebrate bhArathi.

We neraval-mongers were pleased indeed, RNS and the majesty of Sri RAjagOpAla, bAla...

[Lakshman]

maracEdi nyAyamA is by Patnam Subramania Iyer, shrI mAdhava is by Papanasham Shivan, UrilE is by Tondaradipodi Azhvar.

[anandganapathy26]

Jaya Jaya Gokula - Raga Malika (Bhairavi, .., Kambodhi,.. Suruti) - Rupakam - This is a Narayana Theertha Tarangam. The missing ragas are Athana and Kalyani

[arasi]

Yes nArAyaNa tIrthA's, and the mudrA is there too.

[gardabha_gana]

While indeed I am a fan of RTP - especially Sanjay's Tanam - I for one didn't miss an RTP. Temple concerts have their own charm with thematic pieces many a time (such as this one) where songs were mostly on Krishna or a variant of Vishnu (don't know about Budiradhu). I wish there was one more Neraval. Also, some more post main pieces would have been great. The kovil retains its charm - and I enjoyed every moment of the concert especially jaya jaya gokula, budhiradu and Sri Raja gopala. I was wondering if he would go with a Saveri RTP (Saveri Priyan Kaveri Rangan) immortalized by MLV, I have heard him sing that before. Sri Raja gopala is such a gem of a composition as beautiful as the lord at Mannargudi.. can keep hearing it forever....In the recent times, I have enjoyed R Vedavalli's rendition in particular.

[arasi]

G_G,
In a way, go KrishnA all the way, you say, yes, keeping up with the festival's spirit, that too in vENugOpAlaswamy's temple in the heart of the vaishnavite community--but this applies more to a bhajana mode than in a concert, I feel. As for Sanjay, he had sung more of a KrishNA theme concert there than in previous years, if I'm not mistaken.

As for buddhi rAdu, amid all the celebration, a bit of introspection in a gambhIra rAgA was just the right touch, I would think...

[gardabha_gana]

Actually m'am it was not a bhajan like concert at all. In fact none of the songs fell in that category. The neraval and swarms in Saveri, the swarams and Raga transitions in jaya jaya Gokula were very weighty and splendid. The tani was longish. I haven't heard budhiradu in a long long time. I thoroughly enjoyed it. He did sing an rtp the last year iirc. Varadarajan was splendid as usual

[kvchellappa]

Buddhi radhu is on Rama (Without friendship with devotees of Rama, one will not get the right sense).

[arasi]

g_g,
I didn't make myself clear, I see. What I meant was--a continuous praise of Krishna on Krishna Jayanthi is more appropriate for a bhajana. Nowadays when thematic concerts abound, Sanjay doesn't give tailor-made concerts to suit any particular deity of the day, as far as I know.

[kvchellappa]

I have not heard any Sanjay concert where one deity (Vishnu here, with Krishna in the lead) has been chosen fully. (I have now heard on youtube 43 concerts) and several in person.

[pattamaa]

how my wish was fullfilled... just started reading the thread, and was longing for recording... there comes santa with youtube link ! many thanks...

[rshankar]

A light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek digression:

Hebbar Tamil

There's an oxymoron in that phrase, I am sure!

[arasi]

Ravi,

Still, tIVra vaishNavAs--like manDya(m) IyengArs. Our dear Yadugiri's tamizh of course was exempt (as it was bhArathi nourished)

[gardabha_gana]

Hey! Who is making fun of Hebbar Iyengars?

[arasi]

Naturally, dyed-in-the wool (then or thEn) thamizh nATTu hengasu

Seriously, I meant it in a positive sense. 'tIvra' as in 'more steeped in the traditions' which includes happy celebrations, mAnyarE

[rshankar]

Hey! Who is making fun of Hebbar Iyengars?

Not of Hebbar Iyengars at all...only the statement 'Hebbar-Tamizh'!

[arasi]

Ravi fine tuning it