MS gOpAlakrishnan/Dr narmada@NCA on Dec 29th,2007

[rajeshnat]

Accompanied by Tvm Vaidyanathan - mridangam and soundararAjan -KanjirA

Heard after perhaps a decade and a half of gap , was little apprehensive if Shri MSG will play or will he delegate more to his daughter. Certainly he played quite a lot .Wherever shri msg played I could spot his bowing to be so uniform and the nAdham was very pleasing too . Needless to say he played few krithis in a dazzling speed , i guess it is quite an easy accomplishment for this vidwan

1. sArangA varnam
2. mahAganpathim (R ,S) - nAttai - MD

I have heard Shri NSG in his prime days as an accompanist was partially criticized for going a bit more hindustani not staying too much in carnatic zone . I partially found it in his sArangA as the varnam in the end had lot of flashy swaras with a significant touch. Shri MSG anchored a beautiful mahAganapathim , playing at a comfortably high speed .

3. mOsabOku vinavE - gowlipantu - T
4. dunmArgachara (R,S) - ranjani - T
5. teliyalEdu rAmA (S) - dhenukA -T

I would characterize the next 3 was a mmi sandwich with two layers of SSI .There was an outstanding play in gowlipantu , love this rAgam a lot almost head just like how ssi used to sing .Smt narmada played an elaborate ranjani and the swaras had a lot of mmi touches , dhenuka again was very good too again reminding SSI.

6. arunAchala nAtham (R) - sArangA - MD
7. anupama guNaambudi(S) - athAnA - T
8A. tanayuni brOva (R N S T) - bhairavi - T
8B. tani

I was quite sure the next rAgam was hameerkalyAni, but surprisingly sArangA krithi followed and was played very good. AthAnA was brilliant as MSG played it very fast and with lot of control . Shri MSG played the main rAgA bhairavi , it was impeccable and the krithi tanayuni brOva was excellent .The neravals and swaras were alternated by both violinsts and was excellent.

9. kaliyuga varadan(R) - brindAvana SArangA - Tooran
10. ??? - dEsh - ??
11. rAmachandra prabhO (R) - sindhubhairavi - ST
12. jaya jaya bhAratha mAtA - khamAs - Mayuram vishwanAtha sAstri
13. niraimadhi (thirrupuggazh) - hamsAnandi - ArunagirinAthar
14. mangalam- sowrAshtram + madhyamAvati.

All the tukkadAs were outstanding . Smt narmada championing the br sArangA and Shri MSG took up the dEsh . Though dEsh following br sArangA was an avoidable combo , but Shri MSG played it brilliantly a no that I could not recognize. THe last alApanai was bit too long where Shri MSG played some very nice sangathis , followed by ST's rAmachandra prabhO. The last khamAs was excellent , the last hamsAnandi thirruppuggazh was dazzling fast and was outstanding .

The accompanists gave a good to very good support but their tani was below average.Overall an excellent concert , there is a perceptible difference between both violinst ,one of the most prominent attribute to me is Shri MSG is able to traverse between both male and female side of the violin very easily without any loss of continuity of gamakam, whereas Smt narmadA had to some extent an uneven azhuttam . On a side note , Shri MSG was sitting in a chair , I am assuming he may not get as much stability as playing ina cross legged position. But still he managed it very easily, perhaps of his asura sAdhakam in the last 6 decades.

[Sam Swaminathan]

Thank you Rajeshnat for the review. The very fact MSG Sir is back and performing, albeit with some difficulty, makes me very happy. I sincerely hope he gets well quickly and continues to perform for years to come....cheers