2016 Nov 20 SanjaySubrahmanyan SVaradarajan NevyveliVenkatesh AlalthurRajganesh @ MANMF

Vocal: Vid. Sanjay Subrahmanyan 
Violin: Vid. S Varadarajan 
Mridanga: Vid. Nevyveli Venkatesh 
Khanjari: Vid. Alalthur Rajganesh 

Organiser: M A Narasimhachar Music Foundation
Venue: Our School, Bangalore

01 chAla ninne kEdAra k.aTa Tiger Varadachari

02 tuLasIdaLa mAyAmALavagauLa rUpaka tyAgarAja (S)
Swara @ sarasIruha punnAga

03 srI kumAra nagarAlaya ATANa Adi swati thirunAL (A)

04 abhimAna mennadu galgu bEgaDe Adi patNam subramhaNya iyer(A S)
Swara @ abhimAnam

05 onde manadali bhajisi chArukEshi Adi p.dAsa (A)

06 narasimhuDu kamalAmanOhari Adi mysOre sadAshiva rAo

07 rAga tAna pallavi nAgavalli m.cApu
22 kharaharapriyA janya Aa: S R2 M1 D2 N2 S /  Av: S N2 D2 M1 R2 S
Pallavi line muruga  tirumAl magizhum maruga Shiva kumAra
RagamAlika : shrIranjani ..  hindOLa .. malayamAruta ... HamsAnandi 

08 tumbam nErkayil dEsh bhAratidAsan

09 virtuttum KunDram  (rAgamAlika  kAMbOdhi, kApi, sindhubhairavi)

10 virpperu vizhavum kanjanum mallum sindhubhairavi Adi Tirumangai Azhvar

11 kANa vENDAmO iru kaN shrIranjani rUpakA pApanAsam shivan

12 nI nAma rUpamulaku mangaLa sourAshtra Adi thyAgarAja

With the previous 3 concerts already covering (and uncovering) many popular rAgas in the buildup to the last concert of the season at MANMF, Vid. Sanjay had, I believe come prepared to deliver a stellar concert. I'm sure he and his team desist repeating any tracks, and recent performances across the country and last 4 visits to Bangalore by this team had already addressed the popular ones. Hence, the lookout for surprise was there from the very first moment.

The 3 musketeers (with Guruprasanna) team had already swept over the Bangalore audience a fortnight back; they were back (this time with Alathur Rajganesh) to achieve the same fete once again. The team occupying the stage 10 mins before the scheduled start! Minimum fuss over the sound system, added Bonus minutes (which I believe is far more valuable than the bonus minutes by the current generation telephone operators).

The very first note heard on Vid Sanjay's voice indicated it would kEdAra. A brief outline and he started off with the first fireworks for the day. A grand 2 speed presentation of Tiger Varadachary composition in khaNDA aTa was a treat to the audience. I don’t remember any artist presenting it for Bangalore audience in the last decade.

Even without a brief hum of mAyAmALavagaula, team directly dwelled into tuLasidaLa. Vid. Sanjay and Vid. S Varadarajan explored the rAga through its interesting swara patterns.  While Vid. Sanjay had already presented a fine set of swaras as muktyAi, Vid. Varadarajan added grace to it while he performed his response. Obviously, it evoked a louder applause from audience, Vid. Sanjay expressed his happiness through his trademark smile towards violinist.

aTANA, was taken up for first of the 4 rAga elaborations of the day. A brief one without any clues for the song to follow.  maharAja swAthi thirunAL composition in this rAga was presented (for the first time to Bangalore Audience as far as I can remember) by the team. No embellishments were added to the presentation.

Sub main of the concert was bEgade composition by PSI, which was preceded by a fairly long AlApane. Quite a few tricky sanchArAs were presented during AlApane and swara prastAra.

ChaArukEshi as the main and a Kannada composition by Purandara dAsa (coinciding with Karnataka Rajyotsava celebrations in the state reaching its pinnacle) was a nice choice. Vid. Sanjay had sensed the mood from the organizer / audience who were more from the local vernacular background as compared to other venues / sabhas of the town. No embellishments followed the composition.

pUrvikalyAni composition by rAmnAD srinivasa Iyengar was picked up without any AlApane. The detailed swara prastAra indicated it would turn out like what happened in nAdasurabhi (a tani for a song that did not have an AlApane to precede). Detailed 2 solo rounds and a series of smaller cycles kept the audience in the good grip. The usual exodus during tani paved way for all the while standing audience to find some place for the upcoming musical treat.

Filler composition in kamalamanOhari paved way to the highlight of the day.

An RTP in nAgavalli . . .  which sounds similar to ShrIranjani initially when you hear, but on a longer sample- provides a distinct image of itself that’s devoid of any resemblance to shrIranjani / AbhOgi. The rAga and tAna were in no means smaller to a popular rAga RT. Full 23 minutes was consumed to do justice to the rAga. Every time when Sanjay presented something interesting, Varadarajan improvised it. I believe, Sanjay is the only Vidwan whom I have come across who creates a camaraderie for each of the accompaniments to excel on the stage.

pallavi with an eDupu (1 beat ?) in misra cApu was presented to its selected pure scale. No rAgamAlikas were added during pallavi line elaboration. Sanjay and team stretched the boundaries of anulOmama / vilOmam. The intricate tALa pattern took a couple of rounds of cycling, before landing at the right beat. Sanjay was heard talking to (pepping) himself. The first rAgamAlika swarAs presented a distinct feature from the previously elaborated nAgavalli. Mastery over the rAga was well demonstrated by both Sanjay and Varadarajan.

It was already 3 hours by then ! tunbam nEgayil in dEsh was presented in full fervor.

A detailed rAgamAlika pasuram presenting the childhood antics of Krishna was presented well.

On request from the organizers, Sanjay and team presented 2 more compositions in sindhubhairavi and shrIranjani.

The concert drew close with the customary mangaLa song at the end of 3.5 hrs of blissful music.

What a concert it was for all the thrills and frills. There were audience who stood all 3.5 hrs for such soulful music. I can bet they would have been ready for another 3 hrs for such music if it had immediately followed!

This would probably turn out to be my last concert of the year as the season shifts to Chennai. See you next year with more concert reviews. Wish you musical days ahead as a very eventful 2016 enters the last few weeks.

2016 Nov 18 LalgudiSiblings KUJayachandraRao PhanindraBhaskar @ MANMF

Violin Duet: Vid. LalgudiSiblings 
Mridanga: Vid. KUJayachandraRao 
Ghata: Vid. PhanindraBhaskar 

Organiser: M A Narasimhachar Music Foundation
Venue: Our School, Bangalore

01 aruNOdayame varNa bowLi Adi lAlguDi G jayarAman

02 rAga suDhA rasa pAnamu jEsi AndhOLika dhEshAdi thyAgarAja(O S )
Swara@ rAgasudha rasa

03 Ananda naTana prakAsham kEdAra miSra cApu m.dhIkshitar(O S)
Swara @ bAnu kOTI sankAsham

04 sharavaNa bhava ennum shaNmukhapriya Adi pApanAsham shivan (A)

05 sItApate nA manasuna siddhantamani yunnanu khamAs Adi thyAgarAja (O n s)
Nereval @ prEma  juchi nA pai

06 mAyammA eni nI pilachithE Ahiri Adi shyAmA shAsthri (O)

07 manasu karugadEnO sri manini manOhara nI hamsadhwani rUpaka PSI(a S)
Swara @ marachitivo ??

08 kaligi yuntEgadhA kIravANi Adi thyAgarAja

09 rAga tANa pallavi chaturaSra tripuTa khaNDa naDai 1 beat eDupu
Pallavi line: kamala vadane karuNAkari kamala daLa janani
RagamAlika: SahAna, AnandaBhairavi, vasanthabhairavi, janaranjani, VarALi, hamir kalyANi

10 Composition in kApi 

11 pahADi tillAna m.cApu lAlguDi G jayarAman

12 nI nAma rUpamulaku mangaLa sourAshtra Adi thyAgarAja

2016 Nov 17 BangaloreBrothers MatturSrinidhi TumkurBRavishanka PhanindraBhaskara @ MANMF

PC: SK

Vocal: Vid. BangaloreBrothers 
Violin: Vid. MatturSrinidhi 
Mridanga: Vid. TumkurBRavishankar 
Ghata: Vid. PhanindraBhaskara 

Organiser: MA Narasimhachar Music Foundation
Venue: Our School, Banashankari, Bangalore

01 tAmasincu tALajAla varNa asAvEri Adi patnam subhramanya iyer (O)

02 mAmava sadA varade nATakuranji rUpaka swAti thirunAL (S)
Swara @ mAmavasadA varade

03 karuNa jUDu ninnu nammina shrI syAmA sAstri

04 shri venkata girISham AlOkaye surati Adhi m dhIkShithar (A,S)
swara @ alamElu mangA

05 gajavadana sammOdita tODi Adi kumAra EttEndrabhUpati (A, S, T)
swara @ gajavadana

06 AnjanEyam sadA bhAvayAmi shaNkarAbharaNa noTTuswara rUpaka m.dIkshitar

07 raga tAna pallavi kalyANi chaturaSra triputa 2 kaLai 1.5beat eDupu
pallavi Line : kalyANi kanchi kAmAkshi, nI pAdame dikku
swara rAgamAlika : chandrajyOthi, naLinakAnti, janaranjani, saraswati, shivaranjani, shrIranjani, nIlAmbari, sindhubhairavi, 

08 srI hanumAN jai hanumAn dESh TALA COMPOSER ?

09 ellAru mADOdu hoTTegAgi shankarAbharaNa rUpaka kanakadAsa

10 ugAbhOga in Anandabhairavi followed by
  summane baruvudhe mukthi Anandhabhairavi jhampa puranDhara dhAsa

11 mangaLa medley

2016 Nov 05 SanjaySubrahmanyan-SV NV GP @ Nadasurabhi23rdAnnualFestival

Vocal: Vid. SanjaySubrahmanyan

Violin: Vid. SVaradarajan

Mridanga: Vid. Neyveli Venkatesh

Khanjari: Vid. G Guruprasanna

Occasion: Nadasurabhi23rdAnnualFestival 

01 ninnE kOri Ahiri k.aTa T.Panchanda Iyer

02 swAminAtha paripAlayA shumAm nATa Adhi m.dhIkshithar(S)

Swara @ swAminAtha

03 inta kanna Ananda mEmi bilahari rUpaka tyAgarAja (A)

04 Kallu sakkare koLLiro nIvellaru kalyAni aTa p.dAsa (A)

05 kaDaikkaN nOkki kAvadadum EnO karuNAkarane tODi Adi Papanasham Shivan

Nereval @ mayilApuri 

06 dArini telusukoNTi tripura sundhari shuddha sAvEri Adi thyAgarAja (S T)

Swara @ dArini telusukoNTi

07 chEtah sri bAlakrishnam bhajarE dwijAvanthi rUpaka m.dikshithar

08 rAga tAna pallavi shaNmukhapriya tiSra tripuTa khaNDa naDai

TiSra tripuTa khaNDa naDai

Pallavi line: sharavaNabhava ennum tirumandiram sada japi en nAve Om

RagamAlika in SahanA, chalanATa, bAgEshri..

09 sharavaNa bhava ennum shaNmukhapriya Adhi pApanAsham shivan

10 dhAsara nindisa bEDa rAgEshrI Adi p.dAsa

11 UrilEn kANinillEn .. hamsAnandi..short viruttum

kaNNanai kANbadeppo kArmEgha vannanukken mel rAgamALika Adi Subramania Bharati

rAgamAlika in hamsAnandi. nATTakuranji... AbhEri./bhImpalAs. abhOgi

12 nirupamAna sAmini nA behAg rAmanAthapuram Srinivasa Iyengar

13 nI nAma rUpamulaku mangaLa sourAshtra Adhi thyAgarAja

On a cricket field, the arrival of men in whites usually signifies a lack of fireworks; the thrills are more on the sub-cutaneous level, not visible in all its colourful splendour. That thrill is usually reserved for the game in coloured jersey / pyjamas. But looks can be deceptive! Test cricket has produced enough very visibly thrilling encounters to be termed boring (my favourite batting one in Kapil Dev launching Eddie Hemmings for 4 consecutive sixes to score the 24 needed to avoid the follow-on at Lord's in 1990; the bowling equivalent is that absolutely unplayable first over Michael Holding bowled to Geoff Boycott at the Kensington Oval in the third test of the 1980-81 England tour of the Caribbean). But the man who most exemplifies thrills in test cricket is the man who has rewritten the test opener's manual - Viru Sehwag.

The big cricket fan that Sanjay is, he likened the late Madurai Somu to Sehwag when asked to map musicians to cricketers during an audience question round a few years back at the Jaya TV MMU. (For the record, GNB was mapped to Gavaskar & TNS to SRT; he neatly sidestepped mapping anyone to Dhoni :).

Sanjay is himself a worthy map to Sehwag. His concerts are as thrilling and electrifying as a Sehwag innings on song; where Sanjay goes one up is the consistency with which he delivers the thrill!

Launching into an uncustomary Ahiri (which is usually relegated into the tail ender role), Vid. Sanjay presented a mind blowing varNa in khanDa aTa. I believe it was a conscious decision to stick to first speed all through, to ensure the bhAva of the rAga is sustained to its fullest grandeur.

A breathless break, the nATa krithi started at an apt speed. Though the speeds were miles apart, the team splurged the krithi with all possible swara embellishments, continuing into the thrill that was already generated by Ahiri krithi.

The first of the AlApane of bilahari created goose bumps (2nd one of the season), reminding of the grand presentation from the previous concert here. AlApane was longer than the krithi, just presented to its text book format. 

KalyANi ALApane and a purandara dAsa krithi in kannaDa was in a similar fashion. Being a KARNATAKA RAJYOTSAVA month, it was apt that a kannaDa song was presented early in the concert. Being a kannadiga, the composition left wanting for more in terms of the diction of kannaDa words. Few words were dragging in sangati that did not match the permitted boundaries of pronouncing those words.

Once again a breathless break, the team presented kaDaikkaN nOkki with neraval. Till now each composition had only one type of embellishment and not a combination.

dArini teluukonTi, though a junior syllabus composition, was presented with full grandeur. essay of the raga was very melodious. The nereval at pallavi line was presented in clear flow. The elevation of the krithi with kalpanA swara opened up a new face of Vid Sanjay. The range, stability and sharpness of the voice was stretched to showcase his new shot in the arm. It was a welcome change and audience were quick to recognise this improvement and appreciate spontaneously.

Tani flourished from a slow tempo short spells set of 2 avartana into a long spells. The tani too was quite an improvement for the run the mill that you would have got used to from the percussion duo. The korvai played at end was very well framed so as to lead to the start of the portion of the song where tani avartane had begun by the team. 

dwijAvanti krithi of m.dIkshitar though was a filler, was presented in an unhurried leisurely pace.

By this time the scheduled 2 hours of the concert was through. It was quite evident that the concert would have a sure shot pallavi, and with the time available ahead, the rasikAs would have expected a pretty detailed one as the tani too was through by then the treat was in the making

A detailed shaNmukhapriya weaved magic presenting Vid Sanjay's improved strong voice both in range and depth. The prayogAs were good and nicely blended with each other.

Pallavi line was from the popular P.shivan song.. presented in  tiSra tripuTa khaNDa naDai : sharavaNabhava ennum tirumandiram sada japi ennAve Om. With nereval and tiSra and chaturaSra presentation of pallavi, the rAgamAlika in SahanA, chalanATa and bAgEshri came in like a breeze

Yet another breathless break, Vid. Sanjay elaborated the sharavaNa bhava ennum pallavi line into a complete song.

It was already scheduled 3 hours complete by then. The 15 mins of extra time (in the match) produced some brilliant rAgEshri, a short viruttum and rAgamAlika from Subramania Bharati. 

A behag javali preceded the mangalam.

It was indeed a T20 thrill in a test match attire.  The Team delivered a 3.5 hrs concert with ease and grace. While it is lingering on here, I hope the season at Chennai to follow will emulate similar thrills for the Chennai audience too.

2016 Nov 04 MalladiBrothers CharulathaRamanujam TumkurRavishankar BRajashekar @ Nadasurabhi23rdAnnualFestival

Vocal: Vid. MalladiBrothers 

Violin: Vid. CharulathaRamanujam 

Mridanga: Vid. TumkurRavishankar 

Morsing: Vid. BRajashekar 

Occasion: Nadasurabhi23rdAnnualFestival

01 sAmi daya jUDa varNa kEdAragauLa tiruvetriyUr tyAgaraja ( O S )

02 paramEshwara jagadIshwara shankara nATa Adi M.dIkshitar (S)

Swara @ panchanadIshwara 

03 lEkanA ninnu juTTuukonnAru asAvEri Adhi thyAgarAja (A)

04 kAshi vishAlAkshIm bhajEham gamakakriyA cApu m.dIkshitar (A N S)

Nereval@ kAshipura vAsini 

05 Sri kAmAkshi dEvagAndhAri m.cApu Spencer R vENugOpAl

06 chalamElarA mArgahindhOla Adhi thyAgarAja

07 tanayuni brOva bhairavi Adi 2kaLai tyAgarAja( A N S T)

Nereval @ vatsamu veNTa

08 rAga tAna pallavi valaji khaNDa tripuTa 2 kaLai, 2 beat edupu

Pallavi Line: ShivadhyAnam gAnam abhishEjanam .. parama pada  sAdhanam sadA 

RagamAlika in : sriranjani, shankarabharaNa, Rasikapriya 

09 dharma shravaNa vidEtake durgA tiSra naDai p.dAsa

10 navanIta chOra namO namO NavrOj aNNammAchArya

11 sadA enna hridayadalli bEhAg Adi vijaya dAsa

12 maraLi maraLi jaya mangaLam madhyamAvathi aNNamAchAryA

One of the greatest signs of a mature professional is the ability to deliver the desired goal even when they are equipped with their full complement of resources. While youth is typically exemplified by that inability or refusal to accept temporary setbacks in previously available skills, maturity brings with it the willingness to eschew certain aspects of your abilities which are not at the levels you previously enjoyed.

In sporting terms, think of Sachin Tendulkar's 241 at Sydney in 2004, where he batted for 10 odd hours without once attempting the cover drive - one of his greatly productive strokes in the past, but one which had been getting him to trouble more recently. On a more sustained basis, it was also how he reinvented his batting after his tennis elbow surgery.

In Carnatic music history, the late Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar was the accepted benchmark for his ability to deliver consistent quality, irrespective of the state of his voice on any given day. 

In the concert by the Malladi Brothers for Nadasurabhi, it was clear Vidwan Sriram Prasad's voice was not in the best of forms, particularly in the higher register. It was a lesson in planning how he stayed within the limitations of that day without compromising on the experience for the audience; he stayed and revelled in the lower register to phenomenal effect. 

Of course, it helped that he had a partner who was in fine fettle, much like SRT had Very Very Special Laxman for company in that innings of 241! In addition the pitch conditions created by Vid. Charulata Ramanujam and Vid Tumkur B Ravishankar, Vid. B Rajashekar elevated the experience to a different plateau all-together. 

It was almost during the Ramanavami season, I had an opportunity to listen to Brothers at Bangalore, and did not want to miss this opportunity.

With an outline, the team presented a sedate kEdAragaula, with utmost care to present the rAga bhAva. The mandra sthAyi zone resonated with the audience who were nodding to the tune.

nATa presented a tough challenge to the senior sibling. While they presented the swaras, the tennis elbow effect was very evident throughout. The swara patterns did not sound familiar. He was still exploring himself in the limited zone created by an un-cooperative voice. It must have been a though phase, but what I appreciated was they explored their new boundaries. Coming out of the comfort zone deserves a special applause.

asAvEri krithi with more notes floating in the mandra zone, brought back the controls of the concert to the singing siblings. AlApane was crisp and to the point. 

2 fillers occupied the slots before the main came in the form of Bhairavi. Both brothers explored the chasm of Bhairavi to bring out the best rAga bhAva. It was quite a detailed exploration through known passages and few new patterns. Vid. Charulata scaled the AlApane to new heights bringing in her manOdharma and finesse in playing.

manOdharma presented during tanayuni brOva evoked the bhakti rasa resembling what tyAgarAga imagined during his composition. 

Tumkur Ravishankar and B Rajashekar did a fine job of delineating the tani in the same swara patterns as the muktAyi presented. 

Valaji was a surprise choice for RTP. Detailed shared delineation of rAga and tAna evoked many instances of applause from the audience. 

durga, navrOK, bEhAg occupied the post main slots before ending with the customary maraLi maraLi ... 

The concert should be remembered for a long time for 2 reasons. How artists explore beyond their comfort zone and the way team scaled up to the surprises (of manodharma) on stage. Hope they are fit as a fiddle when they embark the ambitious MARGAZHI Season shortly. 

2016 Nov 02 RamakrishnanMurthy CharulataRamanujam NCBharadwaj @ Nadasurabhi23rdAnnualFestival

PC: nadasurabhi

Vocal: Vid. RamakrishnanMurthy 
Violin: Vid. CharulataRamanujam 

Mridanga: Vid. NCBharadwaj

01 shlOka (sadguru gajAsya vANi.. in asAvEri)

02 mApAla velasi ika mAmu brOvaga rada shri rama asAvEri Adi tyAgarAja (O)

03 kaDai kaN vaittennai bEgaDa chApu RaamaswamySivan (N S )

Nereval@ santatam pugazh

04 durmArga carAdamula dora nIvana jAlarA ranjani rUpaka tyAgarAja ( A N S)

Nereval@ dharmAtmaka dhana  dhAnyamu

05 gajavadana sammOdita tODi Adi kumAra EttEndrabhUpati ( A N S T)

Nereval @ vAgvilAsa kArthikEya

06 mAtADa bAradEno mA ramaNanE kamAs m.cApu narahari dAsa

07 Viruttum rAgamALika

mauLau gangA shashAnkau karacharaNa tale shItaLAnga bhujanga vAme

In mAyAmALavagauLa, SahanA, sindhubhairavi, surUTi

and Mangala

"Depth", "weight", "classicism" et al are words that are strewn about casually when a classical artiste is discussed; unfortunately, there is no unambiguous or objective definition of these terms. They are best experienced, rather than expressed. What may be deep to one rasikA may not be so to another; indeed, what seems weighty to me today may not be so with the passage of time.

Be as it may, RKM has struck me as a musician with a rare sense of refinement and proportion. He harks back to an era long gone; his peers in musical time are not the same as his peers in physical time. Before you jump on me for "equating" him to the late greats like SSI or MMI, I believe his approach to music is closely allied to them; he of course has to produce a greater body of work before he is formally inducted in to that hall of fame. God willing, he will achieve that, for his direction is correct but there is some distance to cover still.

Coming to the concert under discussion, it was another proof point of my hypothesis. His choice of ragas (bar ranjanI) was phrase based, rather than scale based. Even ranjanI was treated with clear phrasing, with there being no ambiguity right from the first bars of the AlApanE - no traces of dharmAvatI or vijayanAgarI.

asAvErI was a request from me, and I was mighty thrilled when he took it up as the first piece. Though the AlApanE was not elaborate, it was a goodish outline and the kriti was rendered neatly, with all three charanas being sung.

kaDaikkaN veittennai ALammA was sung briskly with a nice neraval and swara prasthArA at the charanam.

ranjanI was very reminiscent of the late MMI, who "owned" IMHO both this rAgA and the kriti that followed. Where RKM moved away from that tradition was in the choice of spot for neraval and swaras - he chose dharmAtmaka dhana dhAnyamu, with its swarakshara facility, rather than paluku bOTini sabhalOna. Of particular note was his MDResque attention to pada chheda, when he cleanly split the pallavi as dunmArgacarA adhamulanu; was immediately flooded with thoughts of mAyA-atIta svarUpiNI, sarasIruhA-Asana priyE ambA and koluva-amaragada!

tODI was a surprising choice at this stage, but no complaints! An elaborate alapanE with an equally good response from Charulata was followed by possibly my favourite kriti in the rAgA. My only carp, if any, was that he did not spend enough time on the chitta swara; one of the grandest pieces of composed Carnatic music IMHO. As an aside, I remember Sriram Parasuram mention in a lec dem that his guru (Sri T. Viswanathan) had analysed this chitta swara and concluded that there were as many as 14 different approaches to / treatments of the sAdharana gAndhArA in it!

Solo tani by N C Bharadwaj was powerful and a younger representation of the school he represents. Quite a few thrilling muktyAi which elicited bhale bhale from the other artists on the stage was long enough to evoke an equally thunderous applause from the audience.

A short but sweet jAvali in khamAs followed.

At this point, I was expecting him to launch into an RTP, and my senses were pointing to mAyAmALavagauLA or one of its janyas like sAvErI for elaborate treatment. So my joy knew no bounds when he launched into mAyAmALava gauLA! The joy was short lived though. After the violin response to the outline, he launched into mauLau gangA, and moved on to sahAnA, sindhu bhairavI and suruTi over the course of the slOkA. I was still hoping that he was going to spring a surprise by singing a rAgamAlikA RTP in these 4 rAgAs - using the sloka as a "coat hanger" for the AlApanE (the phrase is not my original - it was used by kalki to describe GNB's approach to rAgamAlikA slOkAs :).

Anyway, it was not to be. After singing the full verse again in surutti, he quietly segued onto mangaLam kOsalEndrAya - and you could have heard a pin drop in the auditorium! it was just about 2 hours into the concert, and folks just refused to believe that the show was over for the day. Even when he turned off the electronic tambUra, no one got up, till finally a few folks stood up to give a standing ovation that the music so richly deserved.

I later got to know that his voice was extremely strained and he was simply unable to continue singing. While his voice did show strain whenever he went higher up the scale, he managed to not let the music be affected. I hope and pray that this was a temporary set back, and not something more abiding. That body of work to take him to the hall of fame awaits!

2016 Nov 01 LalgudiGJRKrishnan LalgudiViji HSSudheendra RanganathaChakravarthy @ Nadasurabhi23rdAnnualFestival

PC: nadasurabhi

Violin Duet: Vid. Lalgudi GJR Krishnan Vid. Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi
Mridanga: Vid. HSSudheendra 
Ghata : Vid. Ranganatha Chakravarthy 

Occasion: Nadasurabhi23rdAnnualFestival
Venue: St Johns (Nurse College) Auditorium

01 amruthavarshini varNa Adi Lalgudi G Jayaraman

02 sharaNu siddi vinAyaka saurAshtra miSra cApu purandhara dhAsa (O)

03 I vasudhA nIvanti dhaivamu shahana Adhi thyAgarAja (A, S)
Swara@ I vasudha

04 kanulu tAkani parkAntala kalyANavasanta rUpaka tyAgarAja (O)

05 nA jIvAdhara nA nOmuphalama bilahari Adi tyAgarAja (O S)
Swara@ nA jivAdhAra

06 pakkAla nilabaDi golicE muccaTa bAga delpa kharaharapriyA tripuTa tyAgarAja (A N S T)
Nereval @ manasUna dalachi

07 RTP shaNmukhapriyA SankIrNa cApu 
Pallavi Line: SharavaNabhava guhane shaNmughane guru parane
I recognised it as Edupu 8 akshara after samam 18 akshara cycle (or 3/9 as verified through artists)
RagamAlika in  BrindAvana sAranga, dEsh , chandrajyOthi , surUTi , bEhAg , 
And reverse order of RagamAlika to wind up

08 bhajan miSra mAND

09 rAma rAma rAma rAma rAmA enniro tilAng thishra Adhi purandara dAsa

10 tillAna miSra shivaranjani LGJ

11 nI nAma rUpamulaku mangaLa sourAshtra Adhi thyAgarAja

Being a long weekend full of festivities, it was a weary date to start the last music season of the year at Bangalore. Rushed back to Bangalore not to miss my favourite duo on stage, who have not been frequenting Bangalore that often. And when they do come, they bring the rains...

Was welcomed with a short stint of showers post noon, and it had set up the best weather in Bangalore to listen to a captivating concert by the Brother-Sister Duo.

For all the commotion between the artist's homeland state and Karnataka, Amrithavarshini was the apt choice of rAga to ease the tension. Bring rains!!

The varNa was a breezy start after a (fairly long) opening ceremony for the festivities at Nadasurabhi. A brief outline of saurashtra (sounded more like Sri gaNapatIni played in a low tempo) made way for Purandara dAsa composition "sharaNu siddi vinAyaka". If you were to be there in the hall and listened to the concert till now with closed eyes, you would have had just experienced a studio quality stereo recording plugged to the hall speakers..that was the sync between the 2 violins on the stage. There was great camaraderie that was demonstrated, and it was obvious that they grew together with their violins and Father/Guru.

The first of the four AlApane for the day came in form of sahAna (a request) with I vasudha. For all the melody sahAna embodies, the track was a tad fast for their usual style of performance. Seemed like they were rushing as they had already lost 30 mins of the concert due to inaugual program. However, it did not compromise on the melody aspect / the manodharma of long and short burst of swaras.

kanulu tAkani parkAntala - not a frequented track in KalyANa vasantha was a filler. It was a welcome change, than the usual nAdalOluDai.

bilahari outline - rather a long outline was followed by a captivating recapitulation of the old LP record of Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman and his sister (Smt Shrimati Brahmanandam); a magnum opus with a 14 sangati pallavi presentation, rendered with all its purity by the siblings. It created a feeling of butterflies in the stomach as the sangatis unfolded. Short and long burst of swaras that followed the krithi were aptly framed to perfection.

A short AlApane rather for a main song of the concert, kharaharapriya was the pick of the duo, which was crisply embellished. It did not take much time, to guess the track to follow. Pakkala nilabaDi followed with all its grandeur. manOdharma occupied a longer share of the 20 mins presentation.

Tani started with a slow tempo, building to crescendo. The volume levels were apt to bring out the subtle tonalities Vid. HS Sudheendra and Vid. Ranganatha Chakravarthy wanted to demonstrate.

With more time permitted by the organisers, the duo dwelled into a deep and long shaNmukhapriyA rAga and tAna. This (IMHO) was the best part of the whole concert, though the whole concert was top notch. Pallavi in sankIrNa cApu (2 counts on the beat,  2 counts in little finger,  2 counts in ring finger, 3 (1.5*2) counts in middle finger) beat cycle with an eDupu after 8 akshara showcased the expertise and finesse of the team to handle intricate tALa. After a few rounds of sangati of pallavi line, short series of rAgamAlika in BrindAvana sAranga, dEsh, chandrajyOthi, surUTi, bEhAg and a reverse order to wind up brought an end to the memorable RTP.

A bhajan, tilAng composition of p.dAsa, tillAna in miSra shivaranjani occupied the last few minutes of the concert before the curtains came down through conventional mangaLa.

It was a very classical start to what will I'm sure, be a cracker of a festival at nAdasurabhI!

2016 Oct 22 RVedavalli CharulataRamanujam TumkurBRavishankar RanganathaChakravarthy @ SCM / RLKM

Vocal: Vid. RVedavalli 
Vocal Support: Vid. Sumitra Vasudev
Violin: Vid. CharulataRamanujam 
Mridanga: Vid. TumkurBRavishankar 
Ghata: Vid. RanganathaChakravarthy 

Occasion: Suswaralaya College of Music- Annual Day Celebrations
Venue: RLKM

01 shlOka agnAna timirAndhasya in nATa

02 brOva vammA thAmasa mEla mAnji chApu shyAma shAsthri (O)

03 Dhanyudevvado dasharathe Malayamaruta Adi Manambuchavadi Venkatasubbier

04 praNatArthi harAya namastE sAmanta m.dIkshitar

04 kOrina varamosagu rAmapriyA rUpaka patnam subhramanya iyer
(A, N, S) N @ vArijathra Janaka

05 bhuvini dAsuDane perasacE shrIranjani Adi tyAgarAja

06 akshaya linga vibhO svayambhO shankarAbharaNa mCApu m.dhIkshitar
(A, Tanam, N, S, T) 
N @ akshara swarUpa

07 dAsara nindisa bEDa tilAng purandaradAsar

08 manjuLavai shOlai pasuram 
ragamalika in sindubhairavi, sahAna, kApi, shaNmukhapriyA, madhyamAvati (?), sAvEri, surUTi

09 kELenO hari tALenO surUTi Adi p.dAsa

10 tillAna pUrvikalyANi

11 saravana jata sindhu bhairavi

12 swasti prajAbhya and pavamana

2016 Oct 16 SavithaNarasimhan CharulataRamanujam BGanapathyRaman @ RLKM

Vocal: Vid. SavithaNarasimhan 
Violin: Vid. CharulataRamanujam 
Mridanga: Vid. BGanapathyRaman 

Venue: SRLKM, Bangalore


01 karuNimpa varNa shahAnA Adi thiruvottiyUr thyAgayya

02 sarasIruhAkshi.. SlOka in kamala manOhari 
followed by kanjadaLAya tAkSi kAmAkSi kamalamanOhari Adi m.dIkshitar

03 telisi rAma cintanatO nAmamu sEyavE O manasA pUrNacandrikA tyAgarAja (O, S)
Swara @ rAmayanija phala 

04 akilAndEshwari rakshamAm dhwijAvanthi Adi m.dhIkshithar

05 marivEre gathi evarammA Anandhabhairavi chApu shyAmA shAsthri (A, S)
Swara @ marivere 

06 sItamma mAyamma varAmuDU mA tanDri  rUpaka tyAgarAja (S)
Swara @ sitamma mAyamma 

07 Sarasija Bhava jAye kalyANi Adi (tishra gati) oothukAdu venkata kavi (A S)
Swara @ Sarasija Bhava jAye 

08 yArO ivar yArO bhairavi Adi aruNAchala kavi (A, N, S, T)
Nereval and Swara @ chandra bimba mukha

09 nImATalE mAyamura sAmi balkaga pUrvikalyANi jAvali

10 sriyah kAntAya. .. Sindhubhairavi 
followed by venkatAchala nilayam sinDhubhairavi Adi purandara dAsa

11 viruttum (main to apne nArAyan ki ..)
paga GhungurU re mishra pIlu mIra bhajan

12 bhAvayAmi gOpAlabAlam yamunakalyANi khanda chApu aNNamAchArya

13 nI nAma rUpamulaku mangaLa sourAshtra Adi thyAgarAja

2016 Oct 05 Sowmya CharulataRamanujam HSSudheendra @ KanchiMutt / Navaratri

Vocal: Vid. Sowmya S
Violin: Vid. CharulataRamanujam 
Mridanga: Vid. HSSudheendra 

Venue : KanchiMutt
Occasion: Navaratri / 82nd avatara mahotsava of Kanchi Seer

01 nAda tanumanisham chittaranjani Adhi thyAgarAja

02 kanjadaLAya tAkSi kAmAkSi kamalamanOhari Adi m.dIkshitar (N, S)
nereval @ rAka shashivadane

03 O jagadambA Anandabhairavi Adi shyAmA sAstri (A, S)
Swara @ O Jagadamba

04 aruLa vEnDum tAye angayarkkanni nIye sAramati rUpaka Dandapani Deshikar

05 KalAvati kamalAsana yuvati KalAvati Adi m.dIkshitar 

06  bhuvanEshwariyA mOhanakalyANi Adhi muththayya bhAgavathar (A)

07 suDhA mADhurya bhAshaNa sinDhurAmakriya Adhi thyAgarAja

08 ambA kAmAkshi bhairavi swarajathi miSra cApu shyAma shAstri (A, S, T)

09 himagiri tanayE shuddhadhanyAsi muthaiah bAgavatar

10 ninnaiyE rathi enRu nAdanAmakriya mahAkavi subhramanya bhrati

11 nI nAma rUpamulaku mangaLa sourAshtra Adhi thyAgarAja

2016 Oct 01 AbhishekRaghuram VPRamamurthy TVBhaktavatsalam BSPurushottam @ KanchiMutt Navaratri Celebrations

Vocal: Vid. AbhishekRaghuram 
Violin: Vid. VPRamamurthy 
Mridanga: Vid. TVBhaktavatsalam 
Khanjari: Vid. BSPurushottam KanchiMutt EDI


01 valachi navarAgamAlika Adi paTNam subramaNya Iyer

02 dEvadEva kalayAmi mAyAmALavagauLa SwAtithirunAL (S)
swara @ jAtaruPa nibhachEla

03 yOchanA kamalA lOchanA dharbAr Adhi tyAgarAja (S)
swara @ sEshana nijabhakata (madhamakALa sAhitya

04 shrI kAntimatim shankara yuvatim hEmavati m dikshitar (O, S, T)
swara @ srI kAntimAtim

05 shrI kAmakOti pItashithE sAvEri Adhi MysUru sadhAshiva rAo (A, N, S)
nereval @ kadmaba vana nilaye

06 kAtyAyani mahAvAhe kalA vijayE miSra pahAD TALA COMPOSER

07 mAyammA eni nI pilachithE Ahiri Adhi shyAmA shAsthri

08 tappu nODade bandeya nannaya tande tillAng COMPOSER

09 elara nidaya sahAna tALA COMPOSER

10 niri niri gama garisA thillAna pUrvi rUpaka T thirugokarnam vaidhynadhaiyer

11 nI nAma rUpamulaku mangaLa sourAshtra Adhi thyAgarAja

2016 Aug 28 SanjaySubrahmanyan S Varadarajan Neyveli Venkatesh Alathur Rajganesh @ SVT Malleshwaram

Vocal: Vid. Sanjay Subrahmanyan  

Violin: Vid. S Varadarajan 

Mridanga: Vid. Neyveli Venkatesh 

Khanjari: Vid. Alathur Rajganesh 

Venue: Sri Venugopalakrishna Swamy Temple,  Malleshwaram

Occasion: Gokulashtami Celebrations

01 sAmi ninnE nammina nApai varNa kAmavardhini Adi ShatkAla narasayya

02 ini oru kaNam shrIranjani rUpakA pApanAsam sivan (S ) 
Swara @ ini oru kannam and Yadukula tilaka

03 kaNDEn kaNDEn swAmiya bEDikoNDe kannaDa chApu p.dAsa (A, S) 
Swara @ kanDe

04 sOundara rAjam AshrayE brundhAvana sAranga rUpaka m.dhIkshithar

05 vErevvare nIvEgati surUTi Adi tyAgarAja (A)

06 tatvamerugataramA garuDadhwani rUpaka thyAgarAja (S)

07 bAla gOpAla bhairavi Adi m.dIkshithar (A, N, S, T)
Nereval @ vainika gAyaka 

08 karpUram nArumO khmAs aNDAL nAciyAr tirumozhi

09 viruttum (UrilEn kaaNi yillai)
rAgamAlika in kAmbOdhi, kApi, bEhAg, karnAtaka dEvagAndhAri 

10 bridAvanam iduvO uyar karnATaka dEvagAndhAri ?  shuddAnanda bhArati

11 nijagAdasa  sindhu bhairavi Adi Jayadeva Astapadi (24th Poem)

12 engum niraindhAyai kurinji pApanAsham shivan

13 nI nAma rUpamulaku mangaLa sourAshtra Adhi thyAgarAja

The overcast day bore the best weather for a concert (or for the lazy bums - a cup of chai and hot bajji/ Bonda). I chose the former, to witness the master in his new avatar. I believe the music has also reached that level of popularity.

Notwithstanding the possible troublesome ride through the Sunday market at Malleshwaram that leads to the venue (Being the last weekend before another pair of festivals next weekend) expected to be entertained by the not so KARNAtick jam on the road. The ride offered a different experience.

Being at the venue earlier than standard lead up time, provided ample opportunity to catch up with a few online friends who share similar music taste.

While the stage was still being setup by the mic-man, was in for a pleasant shock to see simple amplifiers and nothing else that lead the cables to the mics. Wondered if this would be sufficient to create ambience for a great evening. That was complimented by down to earth Vid. Sanjay who as usual, did a couple of seconds of throat check before starting off the flood for the evening.

I had the prime spot to witness the happenings of the evening, 10 ft across the stage right in front of him (as the picture indicates my perspective)

Raising directly to the tAra sthyAyi, the pantuvarALi varNa brought in the first whiff of what was in the store (like the oggaraNe at home) for the rest of the evening.

Making way for a shudda- madhayama krithi, the ini oru kaNNam krithi in shrIranjani kept me in tangential thinking mode as I was prActicing AbhOgi earlier during the day.  The occasion being KRISHNA JANMASHTAMI, the krithi aligned to the divine mood of the day. The interesting swara patterns switching between ini oru kaNNam and Yadukula tilaka made the presentation much more attractive.

kannaDa AlApane followed by a kannaDa song "kaNDEn kaNDEn swAmiya bEDikoNDe" amongst the large populace of Tamil audience was a nice choice. Who else is a better choice than sangIta pitAmaha to praise Krishna.

Soundara rAjam in the sedate pace (I don’t think Sanjay can sing slower than this !) restored the energy levels of the artists as well as the audience. Would have loved AlApane in brindAvana sAranga, but you cannot ask for more when the best was next in store.

Whenever I drive to a concert, I'm in a dilemma on placing a request for a specific song. Today too I experienced the same (surUTi and bhairavi were on my mind). As a second thought, just pulled back myself allowing the master to present his choice than we pushing and distorting his list for the day.

First notes of surUTi made me appreciate my 6th sense. Déjà vu. The best zone of the concert began unfolding as both the artists started improvising the rAga. As it went past 15 mins, started getting clues of a possible RTP for the evening. Devoid of popular songs praising lord Vishnu, Vid. Sanjay's choice for the day was "verevvare nIvegati" praising the other form of Vishnu. Was thoroughly disappointed when the presentation ended without any nereval / swara embellishments! It would have been interesting to see what was the best spot for a nereval. (I could not find another rendition of this composition in my library !). After my recent learning on presentation of dEsAdi tAla, this was the first live experience of seeing one, without any disturbance between me and the artist.

tatvameruga tarama with detailed swara prastAra provided yet another opportunity to Vid. Varadaraj to prove his "BEING SHADOW" capabilities, when the last set of swaras were almost 2 minutes long, which I believe he replicated note-to-note !! God Bless these artists with great health and energy to keep the audience on their toes. Agree with a fellow rasika, on the whole composition being "sung in a carnival spirit" 

Bhairavi notes poured out the suspense for the evening. Expected an RTP / bAla gOpAla. The detailed AlApane was methodical and classy. The heaviness of the rAga was leisurely traversed wide and deep, more paving way into a krithi than an RTP. bAla gOpAla and his all musical antiquities were delineated in various sangatis, with nereval taken up at vainika gAyaka. A very interesting choice, deviating from the popular spot in the earlier part of the krithi. The swaras too occupied a greater part of manodharma. The swara patterns ending with " ma pa da" was well replicated and refined by Vid. S Varadaraj.

Tani started with a brisk "arudhi". The second round was very elaborate with khaNDa naDe which extended to khanda triSra. Which was a risky attempt but well managed at last. The korapu was in triSra naDe. Tani Avarthane was finally concluded in a beautifully modified mohra and a muktAya in triSra.

20 mins of tail included karpUram nArumo, viruttum in bEhAg, nijadAsa, engum niraindhyAyai - some of Sanjay's favourites for Bangalore audience. While he declined to honour the organizer’s request of RTP, good justice was done in viruttum and sindhubhairavi AlApane that preceded nijagA dAsa. Each of the compositions praising the lord of the occasion.

Sanjay's eye for detail and his musical sensibilities were both on display in the charanam of brindAvanam iduvO. His differentiated use of "ka" and "ga" in the word "kAnam" to denote the Brinda"Vanam" and then as "gAnam" for the Lord's music - veNu gAnam to be specific - was really noteworthy

Vid. Neyveli Venkatesh adhered to a soft (sowkya) style of accompaniment all through. Varna was followed almost perfectly. Being a regular accompaniment, this is an added advantage. All others krithis were followed without disturbing the main artist's mood and imagination. The same continued in the main piece as well. Accompaniment to the swarAs was really appreciable.  The accompaniment to the nAma-sankIrthana was very soothing and well-balanced with melkAla naDais. Mukthayas to all songs were simple and accurate.

AlApanes themselves occupying more than 55 mins in a 3 hr concert itself is an indication of justice done to each rAga chosen for the day. In a marathon 14 years of continuous appearance at the temple for "gITa sEVA" Sanjay has never repeated a song on this stage - an indication of growing repertoire with Guru and Almighty blessings. 

A memorable evening with Sanjay once again. Can’t wait till November when we get to listen to him twice !