Neyveli Santhanagopalan - MA - 22 Dec 2011

[bilahari]

Neyveli R. Santhanagopalan - Vocal
Vittal Ramamurthy - Violin
Neyveli Venkatesh - Mrudangam
Trichy Murali - Ghatam

Duration: 2.5 h

Approximate Songlist:

01. tAmasincu (varNam) [S @ caraNam] - asAvEri - Adi - PSI
02. birAna brOva idE [R, N @ nIpAda pankajamu, S] - kalyANi - Adi (tiSra) - Thanangampadi Pancanaada Aiyyar
03. nADupai balikEru [N @ AjAnu bAhu, S] - madhyamAvati - khaNDa cApu - T
04. srI rAmam [R, S @ pallavi, T] - nArAyaNagowLa - Adi - MD
05. rAgam tAnam pallavi - kAnaDa - khaNDa tripuTa (eDuppu: samam + 0.5)
pallavi: mAm ava sadA janani mahiSAsura sUdani amba

06. saramaina - bEhAg - rUpakam - ST
07. kaNmaNiyE sollaDi - kApi - Adi - Mazhavai Chidambara Bharati
08. ni ri ni ri (tillAna) - pUrvi - rUpakam - T. Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar


NSG's concert oozed sowkhyam and dignity from start to finish.

After a rare asAvEri varNam with brisk swaras, NSG immediately launched into an elaborate kalyANi alapanai, which was classical but with unusual twists. I particularly enjoyed the N-ending phrases he sang. I was happy to hear birAna brOva idE, a personal favourite, and the subsequent neraval and swaras were both developed beautifully. The poruttam for the kalpanaswaras was noteworthy, and I particularly liked the gamakas given to the phrase RSR, - DPD, - RSR,. What I love about NSG's concerts is that he delves into serious manOdharma right from the start of the concert, which immediately draws rasikas into the concert.

NSG kept up the pace with nADupai, which featured a comprehensive neraval in two speeds. While I always enjoy NSG's emotive and meditative neraval singing, I equally loved his mEl kAla swaraprastArams this morning. In particular, he sings second speed swaras in tAnam style and without elongated notes, which gives his kalpanaswaras an attractive urgency and also highlights the beauty of daTTu patterns.

The concert continued with an elaborate nArAyaNagowLa alapanai. It was an absolute treat to hear this rare but immensely beautiful raga elaborated, and NSG's careful alapanai also demonstrated the difficulty of elaborating NG. A few elongated rishabams and it sounds like kEdAragowla; if the nishAdam is oscillated, it sounds like suruTTi. NSG made it a point to highlight the RGR and NDN phrases that characterise nArAyaNagowLa, and I also liked his RM,,GR piDis initially. NSG sang the ragam really beautifully, emphasising the N with beautiful jArus, and combining his gamaka-centered essay with brigha passages sung in tAnam style (he did announce that it was a ghana panchaka rAga of yore). MD's srI rAmam was then sung and elaborate swaras rendered to the pallavi. The kalpanaswaras had a lot of beautiful sarvalaghu and featured nice variations of patterns found in the aTa tALa varNam. All in all, the nArAyaNagowLa was a thoroughly satisfying presentation.

And the concert just kept getting better! NSG took up kAnaDa for RTP and sang a brisk and concise raga alapanai, which contrasted nicely with the more leisurely treatments of kalyANi and nArAyaNagowLa earlier, and as usual, NSG's tAnam was impressive. He went up and down the octaves at a faster clip, introduced rhythmic variation in the patterns, and maintained great fidelity to the rAga bhAvam throughout. The pallavi was beautiful and the neraval was enjoyable too (trikAlam was done too), but the swaras soon took a ragamaliga turn with hamIrkalyANi and yamunAkalyANi and perhaps a couple of others.

Of the tukkadas, I enjoyed kaNmaNiyE sollaDi very much.

Vittal Ramamurthy was quite good on the violin. He gave very understanding support throughout, played appropriate returns, and just lingered in the background for the most part. His kalyANi and nArAyaNagowLa sketches were short and not particularly insightful, but I enjoyed his sweet kAnaDa.

Neyveli Venkatesh was surprisingly sensitive on the mrudangam, embellishing kritis with soft strokes, and accompanying very beautifully for neraval and kalpanaswaras too. His anticipation was excellent and he knew when to just merge into the backdrop playing sarvalaghu and when to actively complement NSG's kaNakku patterns. NSG complimented him throughout the concert and he was definitely a major factor in the concert's success. Trichy Murali was quite competent on the ghaTam, but it was really Neyveli Venkatesh's day. They both played a short and sedate tani for srI rAmam that I enjoyed.

Amidst all the fanfare about in vitro raga alapanais and abhangists masquerading as padam/javalists, it is worthwhile for us to remember that musicians like NSG still exist who bring us pristine and moving classical music without false pretenses and without any fuss and glitz.

[squims]

Haven't seen many reports of NSG sir's concerts this season. Thanks for the very detailed review bilahari!
I still remember the narayanagowlai he sang in Bangalore a few days back at nadasurabhi. It's a lovely raagam which only sounds even more beautiful when he sings it.

NSG's concert oozed sowkhyam and dignity from start to finish.

I guess that would sum up every concert of his!

[rajeshnat]

bilahari
Great review , would love to hear the rtp of ngs in kAnadA

[rshankar]

Bilahari, are you sure of the lyrics for the pallavi?..to describe the dEvi as mahishAsura sundari seems really odd. I wonder if it wasn't mahishAsura sUdani....

[bilahari]

Sorry, you're right, Ravi.

[nri]

T's srI rAmam was then sung and elaborate swaras rendered to the pallavi

srI rAmam - nArAyaNa gowLA is a MD kriti.

[bilahari]

Oops, thanks for the correction, nri.

[srinivasrgvn]

What to say, about this fantastic presentation? NSG rocks!!
He is one of the very few who still preserve and present good CM. The madhyamavathi was first class. Seriously loved it.
People were bowled over, with his amazing narayanagowlai. What an obscure raga(in the sense, not explored by many), but how he sang it!! It was an expert rendition.
The RTP was excellent. I felt, for the first time in this season, I was hearing a very good RTP, after a line of bad RTPs from various artists. Really glad that people like NSG are not reducing the RTP to a 'thalaiezhuthe' exercise, which many artists do these days.

[mridhangam]

"Amidst all the fanfare about in vitro raga alapanais and abhangists masquerading as padam/javalists, it is worthwhile for us to remember that musicians like NSG still exist who bring us pristine and moving classical music without false pretenses and without any fuss and glitz."

Bilahari

I simply loved this line ....


MJB

[arasi]

Likewise...

[carnatricks]

have heard his daughter sing this pallavi. i think it is mamava sadha and not mam ava sadha. probably a take on sri.swathi thirunal's composition mamavasada janani mahishasure soodhani amba structured into a pallavi. was the pallavi in chatushra nadai?

[rshankar]

mAm = me
ava = protect
sadA = always,
So, mAm ava sadA as split by bilahari is not incorrect.