On 23rd December at The Music Academy

Accompanists:
S.Varadarajan – Violin
Guruvayur Dorai – Mridangam
Trichy K. Murali – Ghatam

Concert Duration: 2.5 hrs

List of Songs:
1. sariyO nI seyyum (varNam) – bEgAdA – adi – rAgA outline
2. vinAyakA vigna nASakA – vegavAhini – rUpakam – swarams at vinAyakA
3. ninnu sEvincina – yadukula kAmbhOji – misra cApu – AlApana
4. appA nAn – pUrvi kalyANi – khaNDa cApu – AlApana; neraval at tappEdu nAn seiyinum nI poruttal vENDum
5. mahA tripurasundari – bhairavi – rUpakam – AlApana; neraval at amba kamanIya maku bangAruvamma kApADuTakipudu samayamamma; swarams at kApADuTakipudu
6. Emani – vIravasantam – Adi
7. rAgam tAnam pallavi – suruTTi
Pallavi: jAlamE seivadazhagAgumA vadivelA en mEl – Adi (2 kaLai)
pallavi in hamIr kalyANi, sahAnA, shaNmukhapriyA
tani Avartanam
8. Srtva guNAt (Slokam) followed by bansi wAlE – mOhanam – Adi
9. nI nAma rUpamulaku – sowrASTram

With me still reminiscing about the music of the Sanjay’s concert at German Hall the previous evening, I was off to Music Academy at 5:15 in the morning, almost shivering in the cold Margazhi morning, to buy the tickets for that day’s concert. There were 7 of them already waiting. Having gone to the Academy at this time last Season too, I can tell you that for getting balcony tickets for Sanjay’s concert, it is enough if you go by 6:30 – 7:00 am. In fact, last year, stage tickets were available as late as 10:00 am.

I can’t remember the last time I heard Sanjay singing vEgavAhini/cakravAham. swarams in vEgavAhini left me wishing to hear an elaborate vegAvAhini from him sometime.

suruTTi RTP, some phrases of the AlApana of which was reminiscent of Semponarkoil SRD Vaidyanathan’s very beautiful suruTTi AlApana in ‘Arar AsaippaDar’, was the most memorable part of the concert for me. Coming after elaborate pUrvi kalyANi and bhairavi, the AlApanas and neravals of which were superb, a rAgam like suruTTi did change the mood of the concert to a delightful one.

sahAnA kept making frequent appearance in Sanjay’s concerts all through the season. 🙂 If it was a part of rAgamAlikA swarams in Brahma Gana Sabha and Vani Mahal concerts, a part of viruttam in Narada Gana Sabha concert and a part of tAnam in Bharat Kalachar concert, in this concert, when he sang the pallavi in different rAgams, sahAnA was again there! Only an elaborate sahAnA AlApana was still left.

All the accompanists were all excellent throughout.

I would rate this concert as the best of Sanjay at Music Academy in the last 4 years. And I think this is also the first time in the last 4-5 years that I saw that the auditorium was almost full for his concert. A lot of them left before Mandolin Srinivas’ concert started next.