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.