Two excellent concerts on consecutive days – one of Sanjay Subrahmanyan and one of T.M.Krishna – What more can a fan of Sanjay and TMK ask for? 😉

Sanjay Subrahmanyan’s Concert

Accompanists:
Nagai Muralidharan – Violin
Tanjavur Ramadoss – Mridangam
Alathur Rajaganesh – Khanjira

Where & When? – Vidya Bharati (Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha) on 29th December

Concert Duration: 3 hrs

Songs List:
1. varnam – kAnaDA – Adi tALam
2. mundu vEnuka – darbAr
3. niravati – ravicandrikA – AlApana; neraval & swarams at mAmava maragata
4. shrI satyanArAyana – shubhapantuvarALi – short AlApana
5. Arukkum aDangAda – bEgaDA – swarams at Arukkum
6. yArO ivar yArO – bhairavi – AlApana; neraval & swarams at chandra bimba mukha malarAlE ennai tAnE pArkkurAr oru kAle – tani Avartanam
7. RTP – dEsh
pallavi: guruparA kumarA guhA tuNaiyE pArvati shiva bAlaka – Adi (4 kalai ?? (Somebody help me get the technical details correct 🙁 ) shifted to 2 kalai before the swarams)
swarams in hamsAnandi, varamu
8. vishwEshwar – Ragamalika (sindhu bhairavi, kOsalam, pahADi) – brief AlApana of sindhu bhairavi
9. ADum chidambaramO – behAg
10. mangaLam – sowrAshtram

Before I write anything about the concert, I have to write about the concert venue, Vidya Bharati. The hall has no proper ventilation. Though I did go for a couple of lec-dems in the mornings there, I didn’t find the place that stuffy since it wasn’t much crowded. But, yesterday evening, when the place was so over-crowded and the bad dull lighting there only adding to the stuffy atmosphere, I hated being there. 😐 With shamianas covering up all the open space outside the hall, waiting in the queue outside to get into the hall was so difficult since there was no proper air circulation at all. Now that I am done with the rant, let me move onto the concert.

First it was a brief AlApana of dEsh followed by a very beautiful rendition of tunbam nErgayil in the Margazhi Mahotsavam concert and then, it was the swarams in dEsh followed again by a beautiful rendition of tunbam nErgayil during the chAyAranjani RTP in the Krishna Gana Sabha concert. There couldn’t have been a better precursor than these two, to the grandeur that was to come in the form of an elaborate raagam taanam pallavi in Sanjay’s concert yesterday! Some 50 minutes of just raaga dEsh alone followed by some awesome swarams in hamsAnandi and varamu! It was a delight hearing the beauty of dEsh being brought to the fore by Sanjay and Nagai Muralidharan. 🙂 Now that Sanjay has sung dEsh RTP, RTP in dwijAvanti is what I am waiting for next.

Moving backwards to the opening pieces of the concert, though the first two songs were sung well, it was only from the ravicandrikA AlApana that I was hooked to the concert. I just loved the ravicandrikA AlApana and the neraval and swarams for niravati.

After songs in shubhapantuvarALi and bEgaDA, elevating the concert to a level higher was the amazing bhairavi AlApana! The AlApana was for some 15 minutes. Bringing back memories of a concert earlier this year in which the same song was the main, was the excellent rendition of yArO ivar yArO replete with neraval and swarams. A very beautiful bhairavi it was in this concert!

Now, how can I not write about the bhairavi in the concert on the previous day when I am writing about the beauty of bhairavi here? Here follows a write-up on T.M.Krishna’s concert at Music Academy where again, bhairavi was the main.

T.M.Krishna’s Concert

Accompanists:
R.K.Shriramkumar – Violin
K.Arunprakash – Mridangam
B.S.Purushottaman – Khanjira

Where & When? – The Music Academy on 28th December

Concert Duration: 2.5 hrs

Songs List:
1. intaparAka – nAdanAmakriyA – neraval & swarams at kanatalli
2. karuNaiya – varALi – neraval at paramAtamuDu jeevAtmuDu okaTai
3. nA jIvadhAra – bilahari – AlApana; swarams at tyAgarAja
4. mangaLadEvatE – mArgadEshi
5. viribhoni – AlApana; tAnam; neraval & swarams at sAmi shrI rAjagOpAla deva
6. idudAno – behAg – raaga outline
7. pADinEn vADi (viruttam) – Ananda bhairavi, kalyANi, kharaharapriyA, khamAs karpUram nArumO – khamAs
8. mAdhava mAmava – nIlAmbari – very short spell of swarams at ambuja lOchana
9. rAmachandrAya janaka – kurunji

From the moment I saw in the souvenir of Music Academy that TMK was going to sing the bhairavi varnam, viribhoni, as the main, I was looking forward to hearing it and what a bhairavi it was!!! Thank God there was no Sanjay’s concert on that day!

The fast-paced neraval and swarams for intaparAka, the bhava-soaked neraval for karuNaiya in varALi (I, personally, don’t care the least about whether TMK was anubhavichifying the divinity of varALi or the lyrics while singing the neraval at paramAtmuDu jIvAtmuDu 😉 ) , the beautiful bilahari AlApana and the excellent rendition of nA jIvadhara replete with so many sangatis, especially, the sangatis for the line, rAjIva lOcana – every moment of it all was absolutely brilliant! mangaLadEvatE in rAgam mArgadEshi proved to be a good filler between that wonderful bilahari and the grand bhairavi that was to follow.

A 15-min AlApana by TMK and an AlApana half that duration by Shriramkumar, some 10-min or so tAnam by both of them, with Arun Prakash and Purushottaman joining them during the last couple of minutes of the tAnam later, followed one of my most favourite varnams, viribhoni with an extra swaram in the charanam and anubandham. neraval and swarams were sung at the line, sAmi shrI rAjagOpAla dEva. I think that line was also sung in different speeds during the neraval. (Again somebody please help me get all these technical details correct!) It was a really elaborate bhairavi and it was absolute bliss listening to the beauty of the bhairavi unfold with every passing moment. 🙂 Not even for a second did I get bored of TMK’s singing and Shriramkumar’s playing.

After those last four pieces which were, as usual, good, it was a contented-me who left the concert. 🙂

Incidentally, last year, Sanjay’s concert at Bharat Kalachar was on the same day as TMK’s concert at Music Academy and both their concerts had kAmbhOji as the main and I did go for both. This year, Sanjay’s concert on the day after TMK’s concert at Music Academy had the same raaga as TMK’s as the main. Next year, which raaga is it going to be? 😉