Sanjay @ BGS

[venkatraghavan.1955]

Date 15th December 2014
Time 6.00 PM
Venue Sivagami Pethachi Auditorium

Nagai Sriram (Violin)
Nanjil Arul (Mridhangam)
Dr. S Karthick (Ghatam)

1 Sami Ninne, Kedaram, Rupakam, Varnam
2 ? (cant remember), Kalavathi, Adi, Kavikunjarabharathi (S)
3 Ne Pogadagunte, Varali, Kanta Chapu, Thyagaraja (RNS)
4 Sri Kamalambikaya, Bhairavi, Mishra Jampha, Muthuswamy Dikshithar
5 Thillai Chidambarame, Kaapinarayani, Marimuthapillai (RS)
6 Sri Chamundeshwari, Bilahari, Adi, Mysore Vasudeva (RST)
7 Summa Summa, Atana, Adi (R)
8 Telisirama, Poornachandrika, Adi, Thyagaraja
9 RTP Natakapriya in Mishra Rupakam with Ragamalika Kalpanaswarams in Sahana, Amrithavarshini, Darbarikanada flowing into
10 Thillana in Darbarikanada, Mishra Chapu
11 Arumo Aval, Maand, Adi (R)

This concert was a fire cracker from the word go. Sanjay always adds new varnams into the mix and they always serve as a wonderful start. Following this he sang a song which was new to me in tamil in Kalavathi ragam with an interesting round of kalpanaswarams. Varali was chaste and Ne Pogadagunte followed with extensive neraval and kalpanaswarams at Neerajana. He then sang the kamalamba keerthanam in bhairavi that was soaked in bhava. Just the rendering of the song brought a huge round of applause. He then sang a sprightly kaapinarayani with different permutations and combinations followed by a beautiful section of kalpanaswarams in exchange with the violinist who did a great job too. Bilahari ragam was explored to the fullest and the kalpanaswarams followed suit with an explosive thani avarthanam by Nanjil Arul (first time Im hearing him) and the veteran Dr. S Karthick. His interpretations of tamil songs is always fun and joyous to listen to and he did not disappoint. The ragam of Natakapriya and thanam was filled with pregnant phrases that brought out the beauty of the ragam to the fullest. The highlight was the spontaneous ragamalika kalpanaswarams that then led into the thillana. All through the concert, the percussion section maintained the tempo and the team kept everyone at the edge of their seats for 3 hours. Sanjay is Sanjay and never fails to deliver. What a musician.

:namaste:

S Venkatraghavan

[rshankar]

Sri Venkatraghavan, thank you for the review! Do you remember the sAhitya of the pallavi?

Was the song in kalAvati this one? Sounds a bit kuntalavarALi-esque to me when it starts.... This has two sets of lovely ciTTasvarams - in such instances, I find kalpanAsvarams an overdose, but many artists indulge in this double-dose. In any case, it is a composition on the vinAyakar in the mInAkshi temple in madurai, along the banks of the poTRAmarai kuLam.

[venkatraghavan.1955]

Cant remember the lyrics exactly but it was something like this

Penmai Shakthiye Adhu ....???... - Naramanidha (Meaning was Women are power and to understand that is important oh human)
If someone has heard him sing this before please do mention the exact lyrics

Yes that was also the song in Kalavathi. Thank you so much for posting

[arasi]

Sanjay first sang this in an MMU concert where the theme was Bharathis. Kavi kunjara Bharathi, mazhavai Chidambara Bharathi and Suddhananda Bharathi? Correct me if I am wrong...
I had not known that there was a kalAvathi in CM until then. Knew only the HM one (valaji equivalent).

[kunthalavarali]

Arasi,

Yes you are correct. It was in 2010 Jaya TV concerts.

Sanjay sang " ennaDu jUtunO ina kula tilaka" in Kalavathi earlier in Cleveland. BTW I recommend listening to Nagayya singing the same song in his celebrated Thyagayya (there is a separate thread on this movie)

Just to complete venkatraghavan's list: 1. Kedaram varnam is by Tirovattiyur Thyagaiyar, summa summa varuguma - Ganam Krishnayyar, Thillana - Thanjavur S Kalyanaraman and Arumo Aval - Kannan Iyengar.

[HarishankarK]

Sidhdhi Vinayakane - Kalavathi - the one Sanjay sang in DD National programme? This Kalavathi is different from Valaji or HM Kalavathi. Maybe closer to Dikshithar's Kalavathi Kamalasanayuvathi.

[pattamaa]

Pallavi line - "penmaye shaktiyada adhai vanangum perumaye buddhiyada, nara manidha" (Courtesy - Ram)

[kvchellappa]

Lovely lines.

[grsastrigal]

The previous day, when I went to buy ticket for Sanjay, BGS confirmed all the tickets were sold out. Only dias ticket was available for Rs. 100

BGS was charging Rs. 200 for balcony and Rs. 100 dor dais only for Sanjay's concert. For other concerts, it is only Rs. 100 and podium ticket was Rs. 50. It is atrocious on the part of BGS. They can't charge '"as they like" for a specific artist.

They also planned to sell ticket yesterday for 1st Jan 2015 10 AM concert (Sanjay). The price was also same Rs. 200 for balcony ie Rs. 100 for dais.

[rsrini080463]

Excellent Durbari Kanada (mixture of styles of Somu, TKR, MVS and TNS). After Aarumo Aaval, Sanjay sang a behag - Swathi thirunaal krithi (audience requrest) and he sang an Azhwar paasuram as a song in Suruti - before concluding with a duo-mangalam - Bhavamana + Vaazhiya Senthamizh. 3 hours 40 minutes concert. One and only Sanjay can do thhis.

The other highlight is Nanjil Arul's mridangam. Don't know his lineage. It was extra ordinary.

[rshankar]

Beautiful pallavi....
What was the svAti tirunAL kRti? And the pASuram?
The mangalam should be pavamAna...

[sridhar_ranga]

Pallavi line - "penmaye shaktiyada adhai vanangum perumaye buddhiyada, nara manidha" (Courtesy - Ram)

I wasn't at this concert so I don't know how it sounded, but can't help feeling that the final two words (nara manidha) come across as somewhat jarring and tautological.

Could there have been a better choice instead of either nara or manida? May be "nalla manida" or "aDE manida" or "(idai) uNar manida" or "nara _____" ?

[sureshvv]

manida probably chosen for swarakshara advantage

[pattamaa]

Isn't naran and manidan both have same meaning ?

[vasanthakokilam]

On a lighter note, one of the several meanings of 'nara' is 'husband'. So the pallavi line is not a command to just any man

http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?scri ... rection=AU

[ganesh_mourthy]

Hope all singers sing something like this once in a while . Carnatic music is the only domain I think which is spared by mass protesters on the ground of some petty controversy.

Jesudass something recently

[arasi]

nara and manida are tautologous--and are used together for emphasis too, isn't it so?