Category Archives: Kutcheri

Sanjay Subrahmanyan’s Kutcheri at Vani Mahal

Nagai Sriram – Violin
Tanjavur Murugabhoopathy – Mridangam
Perukkavu P L Sudheer – Ghatam

1. Chala (varnam) – Kedaram – Ata
2. Nee Bhakti Bhagyasudha – Sriranjani – Swarams at Nee Bhakti
3. KonDal vaNNanai – Yadukula Kambhoji – Alapana
4. Chintayamaam – Bhairavi – neraval at anga soundarya vijitha vadanam, swarams at Utthunga Kamaneeya Vrusha Turangam
5. Gangeyavasanadhara – Hamir Kalyani – Alapana – swarams at Gangeya – Tani Avartanam
6. Chittam Irangadhadhennaiyya – Sahana
7. Saramati RTP – Kandanai vandanai sei maname thandhaiyaai thaayaai vandharuLum – kaNDa jati tripuTa – Swarams in Neelambari, Reetigowlai, Chalanattai, Sindhubhairavi

The concert started with the not-so-often heard varnam in Kedaram. While the song nee Bhakti Bhagyasudha itself was very beautiful, the kalpana swarams in Sriranjani which started off with a very leisurely pace short swarams and slowly moved on with increasing tempo and ran through multiple cycles complemented the song very well.

A very beautiful, unhurried Yadukula Kambhoji alapana was followed by konDal vaNNanai.

A wholesome rendition of the Panchabhuta kriti, Chintayamaam in Bhairavi with a neraval at anga soundarya brought out the bhava and the beauty that Dikshitar’s kritis have. The icing on the cake was the fast swarams at Utthunga Kamaneeya Vrusha Turangam. What a brilliant rendition this entire piece turned out to be!

With a contrasting feel and all beauty personified was the raaga that followed Bhairavi – Hamir Kalyani. Sanjay was in no hurry and sang a leisurely alapana exploring the raaga in all its beauty. The soothing feel of Hamir Kalyani was fully brought out. The violin too matched the Alapana. Gangeyavasanadhara is a classic song by Sanjay and the kalpana swarams further added on to the beauty of the composition. The swarams ended with several rounds of classic Sanjay-style brigha-filled swarams.

This season Sanjay has been having different percussionists for each concert and each one has been having nice Tani Avartanams in different styles.

The evergreen composition in Sahana, Chittam Irangadhadhennaiyya, was an absolute joy to listen to as always.

Then came the much-awaited part of the Kutcheri – RTP. The mesmerizing Saramati was the chosen raagam. As Sanjay explored the raagam in-depth traversing its notes with an ease and effortlessness that comes with expertise, experience and knowledge, I lost myself in the moving crescendos that this raagam is filled with.

Ask anyone for their list of favourite, happy raagams and you are sure to find Neelambari, Reetigowlai in their list. Completely contrasting to Saramati when it comes to the blissful bhava these raagams evoke, the RTP moved on to blissful mode in swarams in those. Some brilliant swarams changed the blissful mode to a meditative mode in Chalanattai and SindhubSanjay Subrahmanyan at Vani Mahal on 22-12-2017

Nagai Sriram – Violin
Tanjavur Murugabhoopathy – Mridangam
Perukkavu P L Sudheer – Ghatam

1. Chala (varnam) – Kedaram – Ata
2. Nee Bhakti Bhagyasudha – Sriranjani – Swarams at Nee Bhakti
3. KonDal vaNNanai – Yadukula Kambhoji – Alapana
4. Chintayamaam – Bhairavi – neraval at anga soundarya vijitha vadanam, swarams at Utthunga Kamaneeya Vrusha Turangam
5. Gangeyavasanadhara – Hamir Kalyani – Alapana – swarams at Gangeya – Tani Avartanam
6. Chittam Irangadhadhennaiyya – Sahana
7. Saramati RTP – Kandanai vandanai sei maname thandhaiyaai thaayaai vandharuLum – kaNDa jati tripuTa – Swarams in Neelambari, Reetigowlai, Chalanattai, Sindhubhairavi

The concert started with the not-so-often heard varnam in Kedaram. While the song nee Bhakti Bhagyasudha itself was very beautiful, the kalpana swarams in Sriranjani which started off with a very leisurely pace short swarams and slowly moved on with increasing tempo and ran through multiple cycles complemented the song very well.

A very beautiful, unhurried Yadukula Kambhoji alapana was followed by konDal vaNNanai.

A wholesome rendition of the Panchabhuta kriti, Chintayamaam in Bhairavi with a neraval at anga soundarya brought out the bhava and the beauty that Dikshitar’s kritis have. The icing on the cake was the fast swarams at Utthunga Kamaneeya Vrusha Turangam. What a brilliant rendition this entire piece turned out to be!

With a contrasting feel and all beauty personified was the raaga that followed Bhairavi – Hamir Kalyani. Sanjay was in no hurry and sang a leisurely alapana exploring the raaga in all its beauty. The soothing feel of Hamir Kalyani was fully brought out. The violin too matched the Alapana. Gangeyavasanadhara is a classic song by Sanjay and the kalpana swarams further added on to the beauty of the composition. The swarams ended with several rounds of classic Sanjay-style brigha-filled swarams.

This season Sanjay has been having different percussionists for each concert and each one has been having nice Tani Avartanams in different styles.

The evergreen composition in Sahana, Chittam Irangadhadhennaiyya, was an absolute joy to listen to as always.

Then came the much-awaited part of the Kutcheri – RTP. The mesmerizing Saramati was the chosen raagam. As Sanjay explored the raagam in-depth traversing its notes with an ease and effortlessness that comes with expertise, experience and knowledge, I lost myself in the moving crescendos that this raagam is filled with.

Ask anyone for their list of favourite, happy raagams and you are sure to find Neelambari, Reetigowlai in their list. Completely contrasting to Saramati when it comes to the blissful bhava these raagams evoke, the RTP moved on to blissful mode in swarams in those. Some brilliant swarams in Chalanattai and Sindhubhairavi changed the blissful mode to meditative and brought the RTP to a close.

I left the concert during Sindhubhairavi swarams with the Saramati still echoing in my mind.

As always, sitting back and listening to Sanjay effortlessly create masterpieces out of everything he sings turned out to be such an enriching and fulfilling experience!

Going Gaga over Sanjay’s Brahma Gana Sabha Kutcheri!

If you were to ask me for one venue where you shouldn’t miss Sanjay Subrahmanyan’s concert during the December Season, my instant reply would be ‘Brahma Gana Sabha kutcheri happening at Sivagami Pethachi Auditorium’. Sanjay’s Brahma Gana Sabha kutcheris have always been one of his best kutcheris of the Season with it being filled with several elaborate raaga expositions aided by the lengthy duration of the concert. It has always been for at least 3 hours 15 minutes duration. Yesterday’s went on for 3 hours 30 minutes! And what a memorable musical experience did it turn out to be!

About a decade or so back, I remember how Sanjay’s voice used to have slight problems during the first couple of songs of the concert and then went on to improve as the concert proceeded, finally delivering such a great performance that you would soon have forgotten about those voice issues. Cut back to 2009 or so when Sanjay’s voice didn’t have those voice problems anymore. The results of his hard work and training has since then only reflected in his performances becoming better and better with each day.
Continue reading

Concerts – Part 6 (The last part)

T.M.Krishna’s concerts
I went to 9 concerts of T.M.Krishna in the past one and a half months. I initially thought if I should even write about some of them since it’s already very late and many of you must have read about these concerts. But I am finding time to write it only now (Am not that busy and all but blame it on my laziness). Anyway, this is going to be a long post. Read it if you have the patience.
In TMK’s website, in his profile it is written, “His renditions of vilamba kalam (slow tempo) compositions are soaked with bhakthi (devotion) and bhava (emotion) are a treat to every listener.” In almost all the concerts he proved it. I just love it whenever he sings a slow song with bhava.
On 16th December, at Asthika Samajam, TMK started the concert 15 minutes late since it took him a long time to tune the Tamburas. Many got impatient. In fact a person sitting behind me said loudly, ‘Paadu pa’ (Not sure if TMK heard it). But, when he started singing, the audience was in for a treat. Starting off with Tanavaari Tanamuleda in Begada, he then sang Nagumomu in Abheri and Mokshamu Galada in Saramathi for nearly 40 minutes each with Maakelara in Ravichandrika raaga in between the two songs. I am sure not even a single person would be there who wasn’t moved by TMK’s singing on that day. Well, I got so moved by the concert that I couldn’t stop myself from going to his concert the very next day even though I wanted to go to Sanjay’s concert. The next concert was at Bharat Kalachar. There he sang Janakipate in Karaharapriya as the main piece. In this concert, the ones that I loved were the Mukhari and Karaharapriya alapana, Swarams in Manavyala in Nalinakanti raaga and Tillana in Poornachandrika.
The next concert that I went to was at Music Academy. After reading the review of this concert at Hindu, I actually feel happy that I don’t have in depth knowledge of Carnatic Music. It was written that he didn’t sing Todi alapana in the usual way it is sung and also he sang Anandeshwara in Ananda Bhairavi a bit too slow and there was an exodus of audience after he started singing both these. But, I thoroughly enjoyed both. But more than these two, I liked the RTP in Saraswathi, Brocheva in Khamas and Adineepai in Yamun Kalyani even more.
At Dakshinamoorthy Auditorium on the 29th December, TMK sang O Rangasayee in Kambhoji as the main piece. It was superb. But the highlight of this concert was Enna Thavam in Kapi that he sang in a very slow pace soaked with Bhava. This one is the best rendition of Enna Thavam that I have heard.
The next one happens to be the last concert that I went to in 2006 on the 31st at Jaigopal Garodia School (Rasika Fine Arts). It was just a 2-hour concert. There was a very good selection of songs in this concert: Ekkalatthilum in Nattakurunji, Padavini in Karaharapriya, Nannupalimpa in Mohanam (the main piece), Vishweshwar Darshan in Sindhu Bhairavi, Karapooram Naarumo in Khamas and Sri Ramachandra in Yamun Kalyani.
The first concert of TMK that I went to in 2007 was on 5th January at Vidya Bharati (Sri Bhairavi Gana Sabha). In this concert too another superb Mukhari alapana followed by the Tyagaraja krithi Ksheenamai with neraval and swarams at the line Etijesina Jagannathudu Shriramuna. The raaga chosen for elaboration in this concert was my favourite Sahana! The song was the Tyagaraja kriti, Giripai. M.A.Sundaresan played the violin for this concert. Sometimes, it was difficult to say whether it was Sundaresan’s violin or TMK’s singing that was better! The surprise in this concert was the Kambhoji Raagam Taanam Pallavi. The Kambhoji raagam and taanam were awesome.
The last concert that I went to was on 6th January at Raaga Sudha Hall that was conducted by T.N.Krishnan Foundation. TMK started the concert with Deva Deva in Mayamalavagowlai and then sang Kripajoochutaku (Chayatarangini raga) and Sumasaayaka (Karnataka Kapi). He was about to start singing RaamachandreNa in Maanji when T.N.Krishnan asked him to sing the raga alapana. So after an alapana of Maanji, he sang the song. Here’s what I liked the most in this concert: Maanji and Surutti alapana, his rendition of the songs Kripajoochutaku, Ramachandrena and Sapashya in Jonpuri. The main song of the concert was Endukku Pedale in Sankarabharanam.
Today, I am going to the launch of the book, ‘Voices Within Carnatic Music’ written by T.M.Krishna and Bombay Jayashri with Mythili Chandrasekar. There is going to be a ‘unique music presentation’ by the two of them according to the ads. Let me see how it is.

Concerts – Part 5

Sanjay Subrahmanyan this Season
I went to 7 concerts of Sanjay this season. Needless to say all his concerts were simply superb! His concert at Kalarasana on the 24th of December is the one that I enjoyed the most. To begin with, this one was a 3-hour 24-minute concert. Sanjay was accompanied by S.Varadarajan on the violin, C.S.Venkataraman on the mridangam and Neyveli B.Venkatesh on the khanjira. The Sri Ranjani, Jyothiswaroopini and Karaharapriya (Chakkani Raja was the main song) alapana were all amazing! I loved the neraval and swarams at the line ‘Chintateerchuda Kentamodira’ in the Tyagaraja krithi ‘Entavedukondu Raghava’ in Saraswathi Manohari raaga. RTP was in Lalita raagam (Pallavi – Seethamma Mayamma). He sang the pallavi in Ananda Bhairavi, Neeleambari and Huseni. That was awesome. Varadarajan on the violin was excellent as usual. The claps didnt stop for a long time after each alapana/song. The audience gave a standing ovation at the end of the concert!
Coming to Sanjay’s concert at Music Academy, the Mohanam alapana and the RTP in Brindavana Saranga were the ones that I loved. Incidentally, T.M.Krishna and Sangeetha Sivakumar had also come to this concert.
At Rasika Fine Arts’ concert, he sang Appan Avadaritta in Karaharapriya and Karikalaba in Saveri for nearly 40 minutes each with elaborate alapana of both the raagas. In between these two he sang a very beautiful song in Neelambari, KaaNa KaNNaayiram veNdum, that lasted for nearly 10 minutes.
The last concert of Sanjay that I attended was at Asthika Samajam on 11th January. The Nattakuruji alapana that he sang that day will remain etched in my memory for a long time to come. I don’t have words to describe the way he sang Gopalakrishna Bharati’s song Vazhi Maraitthirukkudhu in a slow tempo with a very beautiful neraval at the line Utru Paarkave. This is the first time I am hearing Sanjay singing each and every word of the song clearly. In contrast to Vazhi Maraitthirukudhu, he sang a very fast-paced Aadum Chidambaramo in Behag. For this concert too, Sanjay was accompanied by Varadarajan on the violin.

Now that the Season has come to an end, I don’t know when his next concert at Madras is on. Am eagerly waiting for the next one.

Concerts – Part 4

Rithvik Raja on 30/12/2006 at Sivagami Pethachi Auditorium (Brahma Gana Sabha)
Rithvik Raja is T.M.Krishna’s student and you can spot him on the stage with TMK in all his concerts. After going to too many concerts of TMK, I went to Rithvik’s concert just to see how he sings. I must say I was not disappointed. He sang quite well. Starting with Sahana varnam, he then sang Rama Neepai in Kedaram. After a neat alapana of Varali, he sang Seshachala Nayakam. Neraval was done at the line Aravindapatra Nayanam. The main piece was PuNNiyam Oru Kodi in Keeravani raagam. Rithvik concluded the concert with Tirupati Venkataramana in Sindhubhairavi.

Saketharaman on 30/12/2006 at R.A.Puram Bhakta Jana Sabha
I had gone to Saketharaman’s concert at Music Academy last year and it was pretty good. This concert was also equally good. Starting with Saveri varnam, after a couple of songs, he sang a Tyagaraja kriti in Subhapantuvarali after a raaga alapana. Saraguna Palimpa in Kedaragowlai was the one chosen for elaboration. But for the slip at one point when putting the swarams at the line Varaguna Seshadri, he sang it quite well. After Om Namo Narayana in Karnaranjani, the concert concluded with a beautiful Tillana in Madhuvanti. Akkarai Subbalakshmi on the violin was very good.

Carnatica Brothers on 31/12/2006 at Raga Sudha Hall (Naada Inbam)
This is the first time I am listening to the Carnatica Brothers sing. I liked Ganesh’s voice more than Sashikiran’s. I had to again listen to Saveri varnam in this concert too. Ne Jesina Neramu in Poornachandrika, Sooryamoorthy in Sowrashtram, Ini Enna Pechirukkudu in Sahana and a song in Begada were the ones I liked very much in this concert. Devi Brova in Chintamani raaga was the main piece of the concert. Though the concert was good, their singing didn’t impress me enough to make me go to another concert of theirs in the near future.

Concerts – Part 3

Guitar Prasanna on 28/12/2006 at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Prasanna started the concert with Nattakurunji varnam. He was accompanied by J.Vaidyanathan on the Mridangam and E.M.Subramanian on the Ghatam. After playing compositions in Abhogi, Devaranji, Kapi, Jayantasena, Kedaragowlai and Sindhubhairavi, he played an alapana of Harikambhoji raagam and did a raaga bedham at madhyamam and played Mohanam. After this he played Raghuvamsasudha after someone in the audience asked him to play it. While playing Kalyani alapana he did a graha bedham and played raagas Harikambhoji, Karaharapriya and Sankarabharanam. Talli Ninnu Nera, a composition of Syama Sastry was the one he played in Kalyani. After playing Vanchatonuna in Karnaranjani, again an audience request, he concluded the concert with ‘Bowling for Peace’, that he termed as neither a varnam nor a kriti but just a piece of music that he had composed for his album, Electric Ganesha Land’.

Guitar Prasanna on 30/12/2006 at Sivagami Pethachi Auditorium (Brahma Gana Sabha)
In this concert, Prasanna was accompanied by Mannargudi Easwaran on the Mridangam and Purushotthaman on the Khanjira. The highlight of this concert was the Raagam Taanam Pallavi in 4 raagams that he said he had composed only on the previous evening. The pallavi was Anandam Sachchidaanandam Paripoorna Brahmosmi where Anandam was in raaga Revathy, Sachchidaanandam in Hamsadhwani, Paripoorna in Hindolam and Brahmosmi in Mohanam! The composition was superb! The tani avartanam was one of the best that I have heard in the season. After the Tani, Prasanna said in all his concerts people left only after the Tani Avartanam! Some of the other songs that he played are Nannuvidachi in Reetigowlai, Endaro Mahanubhavulu, Alaipayuthey. He ended this concert also with ‘Bowling for Peace’.

I enjoyed both the concerts very much. Does the fact that not many people turned up for both his concerts inspite of Prasanna playing so beautifully show that still not many like to hear Carnatic music played on guitar?

Concerts – Part 2

Sangeetha Sivakumar on 24/12/2006 at Rani Seethai Hall (Kalarasana)
Though my initial plan was to go only to Sanjay Subrahmanyan’s concert at Rani Seethai Hall at 6.15 pm after attending Sowmya’s concert for an hour at Music Academy, my plan changed thanks to Sowmya deciding to postpone her concert that day due to a bad throat. I reached the place when Sangeetha was finishing a kriti in Kalyani. After singing Vinaraadana in Devagandhari, she started the Keeravani alapana, the raaga chosen for the main piece of the evening. She sang Tyagaraja’s composition, Kaligiyunte with neraval and swarams at the line, Baguga Sri Raghunathuni Padamula. After one more song, she wound up the concert with Khamas Tillana. I liked this concert of hers more than the one at Academy.

Nithyasree Mahadevan on 25/12/2006 at Music Academy
I missed the first one-hour of the concert. Nithyasree was singing Kaya Roshanesham in Abheri when I entered the auditorium. Here’s the partial list of songs:
1. Anandutanu – Jingala
2. Maamava Satatam – Jaganmohini (Main piece of the concert)
3. Maalon Maruganai (Viruttam) & Koovi Azhaikka Koodaathaa – Sindhu Bhairavi
4. Begada – Raagam Taanam Pallavi
She sang the pallavi in raagas Vasantha, Atana, Hameer Kalyani, Varnaroopini
5. Tum Bi Kaun Khabar – ?
This happens to be the third concert of Nithyasree’s that I went to in this Season. I don’t know why but I didn’t enjoy any of her concerts as much as I used to earlier. Initially I thought since it has been more than a year since I last went to her concert, I should go to one more Nithyasree’s concert and see. But I got a bit bored too during her concerts! But the fact that the auditorium was jam-packed shows that not everyone felt the same way as I did.

P.S.: I am not writing about any of Sanjay’s or TMK’s concerts now since I have reserved the best concerts for the last!

Concerts – Part 1

As I didn’t write about the concerts I went to for quite sometime now, here you go. I am planning to write in parts about all the concerts I went to till now. Those who are not interested in Classical music, please skip these posts!

Concerts at Music Academy:

Lalgudi G.J.R.Krishnan & Vijayalakshmi – Violin Duet on 22/12/2006
This happens to be the first concert of theirs that I am going to. Each and every song/alapana they played were so good. The raaga chosen for elaboration was Todi and RTP was in Vachaspati. I now want to go to more concerts of theirs.
Continue reading

Sanjay Subrahmanyan’s Concert

I went to Sanjay Subrahmanyan’s concert at Sivagami Pethachi Auditorium yestereday. I had called the previous concert as one of Sanjay’s best. Now I am at a loss for words to describe yesterday’s concert! Should I call it one of his ‘bestest’?!! It was sheer pleasure to attend such a wonderful 3-hour concert after a long time!
Here’s the complete list of songs sung by Sanjay:

1. Nadathanumanisam – Chintamani
2. Raghunayaka – Hamsadhwani
3. Geeti Chakra – Kannada
4. Arulvaai Angayarkanniye – Darmavati
5. Aadum Deivam – Kambhoji (Main piece)
6. RTP – Hamsanandi
Pallavi: Karuninchara – Ragamalika (Sahana, Saveri, Suddha Danyasi, Nalinakanti, Bhahudari)
7. Pagaivanukku Arulvai – Ragamalika
8. Kulam Tarum(Viruttam) – Ragamalika (Shanmugapriya, Behag, Sindhubhairavi, Sama)
Narayana Nalinaayaka – Sama
9. Ganta Mani – Kanada
10. English Notes – Sankarabharanam
11. Mangalam – Sowrashtram

Accompaniments:
Varadarajan – Violin
P. Satish Kumar – Mridangam
Bangalore Rajasekar – Morsing

The Kannada raaga alapana that he sang before singing the Dikshitar krithi ‘Geeti Chakra’ was superb. Incidentally, that happens to be one of my favourite songs sung by Sanjay! The joy of hearing your favourite singer sing your favourite song in a kutcheri is something that cannot be described in words!
The Kambhoji alapana was so beautiful that it left you wishing that he would sing it for some more time (It was less than 10 minutes in duration). The Pallavi ‘Karuninchara’ which he sang in different raagas and that too in the tune of popular krithis like Énta Nerchina, Manavyala and Brova Baarama, made it even more enjoyable.
Varadarajan, on the violin, was excellent as usual. (Since Varadarajan plays for both Sanjay and TMK regularly, I think I would have attended more number of Varadarajan’s concerts than Sanjay’s and TMK’s). Bangalore Rajasekar on the morsing and Satish Kumar on the mridangam, made the Tani Avartanam a thoroughly enjoyable one.

T. M. Krishna’s Concert

I went to TMK’s concert on Sunday at Vani Mahal. Here’s the complete list of songs he sang:

1. Varnam – Navaragamalika
2. Gnanamo Sagaraada – Poorvikalyani
3. Sri Kumaara Nagaraalaye – Atana
4. Seethapathe – Kamas
5. Ehi Annapoorne – Punnagavarali
6. Kripajoochutaku – Chaya Tarangini
7. Kathikeya Gangeya – Todi (Main piece of the concert)
8. Smarasundaraajuni – Paras
9. Sarvam Brahmamayam – Madhuvanti
10. Vasudevasutam Devam – Ragamalika (Sahana, Bhairavi, Kambhoji, Kalyani, Mukhari)
Balakrishnam – Mukhari
11. Anri Ulagam Alandaai – Sindhu Bhairavi
12. Mangalam – Sowrashtram

Accompaniments:
R. K. Shriramkumar – Violin
V. Kamalakar Rao – Mridangam
Anirudh Athreya – Khanjira

It was yet another wonderful concert by TMK. A special mention has to be made about Anirudh Athreya who was very good on the Khanjira.