Thamizhum Naanum, Dec 12, 2020, Sanjay Subrahmanyan, S. Varadarajan, Neyveli Venkatesh, B. Swarnarethas

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tmmurali
Posts: 35
Joined: 16 Sep 2018, 23:01

Thamizhum Naanum, Dec 12, 2020, Sanjay Subrahmanyan, S. Varadarajan, Neyveli Venkatesh, B. Swarnarethas

Post by tmmurali »

Sanjay Subrahmanyan (vocal)
S. Varadarajan (violin)
Neyveli Venkatesh (mridangam)
B. Swarnarethas (tanpura)

This concert was available free online at tamizhumnaanum.eventvirtually.com.

To start, Sanjay gave a short speech expressing pleasure at joining everyone in their homes. It was "our home's kutchery". He was sporting a small, unobtrusive mike, which captured his voice very well. The sound quality was excellent throughout.

1. The first item was vinAyakA sharaNam in kalyANavasantam composed by T M Thyagarajan.

2. Next he sang kalaimagaLE ennai kAttaruLvAi in sarasvati by M. M. Dandapani Desikar. There was a short round of pleasing swarams.

Searching for the lyrics online, I chanced upon several "Ennai Kathirikkai" ("Oil brinjal") recipes, an unexpected bonus. Hope some concert this season has a song with the word "vennai".

I like both these ragams and I very much enjoyed the renditions. The artistes were in fine form.

3. The next song was nAda nilai kanDuruga nAn in gAyakapriya (the 11th melakartA) by Koteeswara Iyer, which he also sang in last year's concert at the Tamil Isai Sangam. The alapanai was lovely, with a few more touches of vakulAbharanam than I observed last year. But quite short, sadly. Varadarajan's return was excellent. I find vakulAbharanam to be somewhat haunting; the addition of D1 N1 makes gAyakapriya even more so. There were some chittaswarams; I cannot recall if he sang them in 2019. No neraval or swarams.

4. An alapanai of bahudAri came next followed by rAmasAmi dUtan nAnada, raVana by Arunchala Kavi from his "Rama Natakam." I guess this poem describes Hanuman's audience with Ravana in his court. I liked the admonitory cadence of this song. The artistes skipped the first and second charanams and leapt to the third charanam.

5. The RTP was in Patdeep, a ragam which he has sung before, e.g., in Maryland in 2009. The power and range of his voice shone here. There was an unhurried, meditative start to the thanam with the pace picking up in subsequent rounds.
I felt he hit the upper nishadam a few times. More experienced listeners may be able to confirm. The R and T were the highlight of the concert for me.

The pallavi line was "Aanum Pennum Nigarena Kolvadhal Arivil Ongi Ivvayyam ThazhaikumaaM", a lyric by Subrahmanya Bharathi. (I am not sure how to transliterate it.) The talam was khanda Ekam, according to the video. They sang/played the lines only a small number of times before starting the swarams. No ragamalika here. The thani avarthanam followed.

6. viruttam (akila charAchara pashupatiyAgiya) in kamAs and thiruvalarar mayilayin by Papanasam Sivan.

7. viruttam (kulam tharum) followed by nArAyaNanai thuthippAi composed by Raghava Ramanuja Dasan. The ragam is komalAngi, which apparently equals charukesi - D1 (see footnote at the end of this article). There have been quite a several discussions of this piece on rasikas.org. I enjoyed Sanjay's rendition immensely.

8. viruttam (orumayudan nin tiru)in kAmbOdi, sAveri, and kApi.

9. vAzhiya shentamizh in madhyamAvati by Subrahmanya Bharathiar.

Sanjay concluded with a short speech acknowledging their concerns about conducting a virtual concert. He thanked the enthusiasm and support they received from rasikas all over the world. He expressed the hope that we would meet in person next year.

I have begun to like this type of online concert in a studio atmosphere. It is more intimate than a kutchery in a hall. The duration of the concert was short, though, being around 95 minutes. This brevity constrained the length of the manodharma portions of the concert. But I am quibbling. Thanks to the artistes, the organisers, and the crew for bringing high-quality music to our doorstep despite the pandemic.

rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: Thamizhum Naanum, Dec 12, 2020, Sanjay Subrahmanyan, S. Varadarajan, Neyveli Venkatesh, B. Swarnarethas

Post by rajeshnat »

TMMurali
I did have a bhagyam to once hear patdeep RTP of Sanjay , i think it was mudhra concert atleast 8 to 12 years back. Sanjay repertoire is aptly demonstrated . He packed a lot and I guess Venkatesh would have given a shortest tani and varadu did not clog with a longer violin return.. To save time they indeed not have upapakkavadhyam. I personally like vakulabharanam a lot and also would like to hear the varnam of TMT in kalyanavasantham.

Keep writing , you have great skills though you joined only from 2018. Our bad luck my assumption is you are somewhere in the US.

ganesh_mourthy
Posts: 1371
Joined: 02 Sep 2007, 23:08

Re: Thamizhum Naanum, Dec 12, 2020, Sanjay Subrahmanyan, S. Varadarajan, Neyveli Venkatesh, B. Swarnarethas

Post by ganesh_mourthy »

It was a new refreshing delight to see the singers so close without any make and the violin fingers and all that digital clarity. You feel like you were sitting among them in a 10*10 feet room and listening and simply loved the feeling. As mentioned by Murali , the feeling was personal and intimate. Equally, it must have been an experience for them to be singing just before the cameras in all directions than hundreds of audiences. Even the advert was not pesky. Thankful to the sponsors.

sureshvv
Posts: 5523
Joined: 05 Jul 2007, 18:17

Re: Thamizhum Naanum, Dec 12, 2020, Sanjay Subrahmanyan, S. Varadarajan, Neyveli Venkatesh, B. Swarnarethas

Post by sureshvv »

Missing my annual penance of sitting backstage at BGS and witness the master weave the concert web from start to finish. This was not even close! Damn corona!!

tmmurali
Posts: 35
Joined: 16 Sep 2018, 23:01

Re: Thamizhum Naanum, Dec 12, 2020, Sanjay Subrahmanyan, S. Varadarajan, Neyveli Venkatesh, B. Swarnarethas

Post by tmmurali »

rajeshnat wrote: 14 Dec 2020, 15:55 TMMurali
I did have a bhagyam to once hear patdeep RTP of Sanjay , i think it was mudhra concert atleast 8 to 12 years back. Sanjay repertoire is aptly demonstrated . He packed a lot and I guess Venkatesh would have given a shortest tani and varadu did not clog with a longer violin return.. To save time they indeed not have upapakkavadhyam. I personally like vakulabharanam a lot and also would like to hear the varnam of TMT in kalyanavasantham.

Keep writing , you have great skills though you joined only from 2018. Our bad luck my assumption is you are somewhere in the US.
Thanks for sharing your experience and for the encouragement. I am not sure if you meant that you would like to listen to the varnam live, but there is a recording on YouTube: vinAyaka sharanam

And yes, I do live in the USA.

rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: Thamizhum Naanum, Dec 12, 2020, Sanjay Subrahmanyan, S. Varadarajan, Neyveli Venkatesh, B. Swarnarethas

Post by rajeshnat »

Review of Sanjay concert in The Friday Review from The Hindu dated Dec 18th ,2020.
https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/ ... 354480.ece

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