TN SeshagOpAlan@PS High School on Apr 13th,2009

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 15 Apr 2009, 21:58

TN SeshagOpAlan@PS High School on Apr 13,2009
--------------------------------------------------
This concert was organized by a shadjam(Carnatic music school I think) and dhavani (audio casette company).The mahaVidwan was supported by TNS krishna , s.varadarAjan -violin, R.ramesh- mridangam and BS purushOtaman - kanjirA

1. vanajAkshirO (varnam)- kalyANi - poochi
2. evarikai (R S)- devamaNohari - T
5 mins alApanai , 2 mins violin return , 5 mins swaram
3. eNTa muDDO eNTa sogasO(R) - bindhumAlini - T

4A. ksheenamai tirugA (R N S T)- mukhAri - T
9 mins alApanai, 5 mins violin, 6 mins neraval and 8 mins swaram
neraval in "vANa nATakAlankAra vEda purANa "
4B. tani for 16 mins

5A. slOkham "shanka chakra gadhA" - mega rAgamAlika spotted few missed many - ?
5B.thillAna "Geet duni ke tak deem " - dhanasri - ST
6. thiruppugzh "yeru mayilEri " - shuruTTi??- AGN
7. pavamAna(mangalam)

I had a choice to attend 3 superseniors .OST@NCA on the same day, but being an inaugral concert the speech took me away from my home base, of course on the same day TVS was singing at chromepet which was out of reach for me.I was expecting a 2 and half hour concert atleast as the start was at 06:30pm , I was there from about 06:15 only to be pounded by a recording of some fusion crap by a lady singer (whom I think I identified but little terrified to quote the name here as I might take this thread to flames), but that ladies music was quite good but supported by asurA thunder drums and my ears must have been punctured followed by a tani (thank god tani had only mridangam).I hope sabha stops putting these kind of recordings before the concert(I am assuming this must be their one cd).

One of the finest musicians in 80's,90's and until mid 2005 is Shri TNS, particularly being mesemerized with his renditions then. But hearing TNS now has its own drawbacks.

- His voice takes a long time to warm up and reach a level of acceptable fidelity. KalyAni varnam had lot of problems but the vidwan sang quite good round of swaras towards the second half .

---The devamaNohari was voice depletion at its best, that too hearing shruthi jauhari's concert a day before his off key shruthi was more evident and I have to forget it soon

+ Rendition of eNta muDDo was nice , his voice settled very well and got a nice bhakthi rasa there.

+- I thought I graduated by hearing enough of both bhairavi and mukhAri, but vidwan TNS did not help me towards making up my mind between the two rAgas during the alApanai.

++ The rendition of ksheenamai was very good , particularly his neraval in a line which I have never heard was very good and well delivered.The swaras were also there but he could have gone more in both neraval and swaras.

- Shri TNS exposes his vidwath quite well by combining many rAgas in slOkham .This had about 10 rAgas atleast unfortunately only shyamA and shankarAbharanam segments were well presented , rest were too much off key and too drifty and was just ok to average.

-- The dip in quality was steep , his thillANa had too much of vocal somersault, especially in the line jhaNana jhaNana ,hope he had had aligned his vocal balti with more aesthetics.

-- Thirruppugazh was surprisingly sung little slowly but there was again another round of vocal somersault there in the lines "vaLLiyai maNam puNara vandha mukam ondrE", he was more like a maths teacher in high school (too much of kanakku)than a white attired vidwan. I think I heard shuruTTi there and not hamsAnandi in that no (though not too sure).

+++++ I particularly liked the real shruthi saviour varadarAjan in the violin

+++ Karaikudi maNi touch play of ramesh was very apt for the songs. BSP was good too, the tani was bit too long.

The vidwan arrived 10 minutes late and the concert started 20 minutes late.I am usually acclimitized to late start of TNS as he adequately compensates by extending the concert , but that also did not happen.Also I wish he had given more chance for his son krishnA to sing .Overall the concert did not have much sustained muse , paradoxically the muse was only there in mukhAri. A mediocre to good concert .

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 16 Apr 2009, 04:56

Rajesh,
'Varadarajan, the Sruti savior' and such expressions are 'truly Rajeshish'!
Yes, you had heard Shruti (!) and to top an HM concert in that department is not an easy task for a CM vocalist--that too for a senior vidvAn.

visaalam · Post by **visaalam** » 16 Apr 2009, 07:46

rajeshnat wrote: - His voice takes a long time to warm up and reach a level of acceptable fidelity.

Not surprising. My advice is to attend any TNS concert 1 hour after start. That is when his voice would have started cooperating and would have started aligining with sruthi.

Perhaps someone can suggest to TNS to come to the venue 1 hour ahead of start time and so some practicing so that when the screen goes up, his voice has settled.

rajeshnat wrote: The vidwan arrived 10 minutes late and the concert started 20 minutes late.

Again not unusual. And I am sure he would not have apologised to the audience for the late start.

saptaratna · Post by **saptaratna** » 16 Apr 2009, 12:48

Unlike in the past, before this net review business, every concert would not be reviewed. An overall collective judgement would prevail. many good also would go unnoticed. Do we now have a slight bane on hand in terms of technology ?

One day would be good, maybe the other may not. It has and does happen with all artists.

With net groups like this , every concert gets reviewed. Does this not some way lead to disservice to the artist and skewing the rasikas opinions as well?

Then we see scary bloodbath between rasikas !!!!

Maybe as a practice, should we not review some artists or all that we heard of an artist, for a while and then get back after sometime? ?

( I am already nervous , shivering with fright ......!!! Wearing a shield and armour !!! ) This is just one of my OPEN THOUGHTS pertaining to reviews.

priyaram78 · Post by **priyaram78** » 16 Apr 2009, 13:23

"Then we see scary bloodbath between rasikas !!!!"

yes. thats really scary. we may be rasika of a particular artiste but
we should respect and see the good in all other artistes too.

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 16 Apr 2009, 14:09

saptaratna wrote:Unlike in the past, before this net review business, every concert would not be reviewed. An overall collective judgement would prevail. many good also would go unnoticed. Do we now have a slight bane on hand in terms of technology ?

The world has shrunk due to technology.

I feel it is wonderful that most concerts are being reviewed and artists too are aware of the quantum leap in the number of reviews (particularly e reviews).

The rasikas too who go to a TNS concert do so fully aware that the TNS of today is not the same of the TNS of 80s& 90s . Maybe they go to see flashes of brilliance which evoke past memories.

Wiith regard to "bloodbath" amongst Rasikas, I think you should not worry. Inspite of the one off slanging matches that exist on the forum , by and large the camaraderie that exists amongst rasikas is cordial and sometimes excellent.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 16 Apr 2009, 20:33

Well said, comrade!

saptaratna · Post by **saptaratna** » 17 Apr 2009, 09:24

Ahoy sailor , Titanic is fast approaching the iceberg .....!!!

The inevitable is happening.

Cienu, ---- what say you now ?

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 17 Apr 2009, 09:30

There is a review from SVK in the hindu too about this concert. He has mentioned about mukhari and bindumAlini more which is in line with my review.
http://www.hindu.com/fr/2009/04/17/stor ... 290400.htm

vganesh · Post by **vganesh** » 17 Apr 2009, 09:56

Saptaratna and priyaram78 :p CPI & CPM and forward bloc all have different views but they are one Hence Thy shall not fear

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 17 Apr 2009, 11:33

saptaratna wrote:Ahoy sailor , Titanic is fast approaching the iceberg .....!!!

The inevitable is happening.

Cienu, ---- what say you now ?

You should not worry, ennisophilia and a few others whom I do not wish to name come under the category of "DNFTT".

Go through the history of ennisophilia posts and you will understand.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 17 Apr 2009, 12:52

This is all very funny!

enissophilia wrote: I suggest that you dont attend TNS concert.

I attended one once.

visaalam · Post by **visaalam** » 18 Apr 2009, 08:01

cienu wrote:[
The rasikas too who go to a TNS concert do so fully aware that the TNS of today is not the same of the TNS of 80s& 90s . Maybe they go to see flashes of brilliance which evoke past memories.

True, with age advancing, you cant expect the same quality. However nothing stops from extending the basic courtesies such , starting the concert on time and apologising for any delay in starts.

vganesh · Post by **vganesh** » 18 Apr 2009, 10:49

Visaalam Sir/Madam

,
You are right. But we don't to have expect a perfection from everybody always. Current generation artists are very good in managing such things. Even on day before yesterday Sri.TNK chided his mridangist ( Mr.KVPrasad) at Ragasudha hall concert for some reason. We cannt make that as an issue. Olden days beating school children was accepted. Can you do that now? There are ample examples. We have to worry if there is an issue in his music ... otherwise Marapom .. Mannippom (Forgive & forget)

enissophilia · Post by **enissophilia** » 18 Apr 2009, 14:01

nick H wrote:This is all very funny!

enissophilia wrote: I suggest that you dont attend TNS concert.
I attended one once.

You are blessed you have attended atleast once.

-E-

gobilalitha · Post by **gobilalitha** » 18 Apr 2009, 15:33

Arriving late for a kutcheri by the musician may be due to traffic jams , traffic being stopped for the conveyance of vips and so on. But the musician may apologise, explaining the circumstances. . gobilalitha

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 18 Apr 2009, 22:50

visaalam wrote:
cienu wrote:[
The rasikas too who go to a TNS concert do so fully aware that the TNS of today is not the same of the TNS of 80s& 90s . Maybe they go to see flashes of brilliance which evoke past memories.
True, with age advancing, you cant expect the same quality. However nothing stops from extending the basic courtesies such , starting the concert on time and apologising for any delay in starts.

I agree with your contention.