Neyveli Santhanagopalan , Nadasurabhi Annual Festival , 12 Nov 2011

Vocal: Neyveli Santhanagopalan

Vocal Support : Guruprasad

Violin : Charulatha Ramanujam

Mrudangam : Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma

Ghatam : G Omkar

Thematic Concert on Muthuswami dikshitar Kritis

List:

01  swAminAtha paripAlaya – nAttai – Dikshitar ( S )

02  srI saraswathi namOstutE – Arabhi – Dikshitar

03  kanchadalAya dAkshi – kamalA manOhari – Dikshitar  ( O, N, S)

       neraval & swaras @ rAkA shashivadanE suradanE rakSitamadanE ratnasadanE ‘

04  rAmachandram bhAvayAmi – vasantha – Dikshitar

05  parimaLa ranganAtham bhajEham – hamIr kalyANi -  Dikshitar ( A,S )

06  trilOchana mOhini tripurANi – bhairavi – Dikshitar

07  srI rAmam ravikulAbdhi sOmam – nArAyaNa gauLa – Dikshitar  ( A,S )

08  pAlayamAm pArvathIsha – kannaDa ? – Dikshitar

09  kamalAmbikE – thODi – Dikshitar

10  srI subrahmanyAya namastE – kambOji – Dikshitar ( A,N,S,T )

       neraval & Swara @ ‘ bhUsurAdi samastha jana pUjitAbja’

11  srI ramA saraswati – nAsAmaNi ( nAsikAbhUshaNi ) – Dikshitar

12  mAmava pattAbhirAma – manirangu – Dikshitar

13  srI venkaTa girIshamAlOkayE – surutti – Dikshitar

14 slOkam ( mangaLam kOsalEndrAya) – madhyamAvati

A fabulous concert on a saturday morning at Nadasurabhi by Sri Neyveli Santhanagopalan. Themed as Muthuswami Dikshitar Compositions, he started to ( to my fear) with the familiar set of kritis. Swaminatha with some good set of swarams ( nothing to beat the same he did a few months back at Karanji Anjaneya Temple) he quickly moved on to Arabhi and regular kamala manohari kriti. Though the neraval was very detailed and unlike the usual fast paced ones, I was sceptical with the line the whole concert was taking.  Not often heard kriti ‘rAmachandram bhavayami’ , changed the course.  He checked whether the audience like rare kritis or the familiar ones ? Response was for a mix of both.

Explaining the background of the ‘parimala ranganatham bhajeham’, connected to the temple in the same name at ‘Thiru Indalur’ near Mayavaram ( correct me if I gathered the name of the place wrong), he said there are two versions ( pATantharm) to this song.  He chose to sing the hamIr kalyAni ( he did not explain the other version), with a detailed alapana ( first of the morning).  Alapana was very interesting, as he sang mostly in longer phrases, occasionally holding for a deep inhale. Charulatha’s return also followed the same longish phrases line.  A nice kriti, accompanied with some swara singing, this time looping in the shishya called Guru in the proceedings (Of course, he did a good job).

He continued the rare kritis with a bhairavi ( or was it mukhAri?) , trilOchana mohini before another surprice in the form of Narayana gaula. He said, this raga used to be one of the ‘ghana panchaka’ ragas in the earlier days, but lost out after kEdAragaula becoming popular. These days, T M Krishna, sort of revived this , taking it up to the prime slot in a couple of concert and also with a pallavi. Narayana gaula Alapana was very good ; slow and melodious. Interestingly, Charulatha did not play back ( they had a quick word in between) , not sure why. I would have liked to hear her playing this. Krithi was also sang brilliantly. As an after thought, after the percussionist played a round of korvais and concluded the kriti, post the customery applause after the piece, with a pause,  Sri Neyveli Santhanagopalan initiated the swaras for narayanagaula, which he and the team did commendably. Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma was at his best during this.

Couple of fillers in kannada and a navavarana kriti in thodi,  the main kamboji alapana came in. Like yesterday, this too failed to create any real excitement in me. The choice between O rangashai and Subrahmanyaya namaste were on the card, and it was the latter that he decided to sing. Kriti was majestic and it was a fitting rendition. He indicated to the mrudangist after the kriti,  and to our relief, Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma, requested the artist to continue with neraval and swara.  It was beautifully constructed and performed between all the participant on the stage. Neraval was excellent and so was the swara that followed.

Percussion support was superb through out the day. Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma leading the way with Omkar giving a spirited performance. They continued their good form with a solid tani avartanam. Charulatha was as good as she always is.  Post main had a few kritihis including one of my favourite mamava pattabhirama’ in manirangu.  In all, a solid performace by Guru and his Guru.

 

Neyveli Santhanagopalan @ Karanji Anjaneya Temple , 10th Apr 2011

Vocal: Neyveli Santhanagopalan

Vocal support : Guruprasad

Violin : Charulatha Ramanujam

Mrudangam : Arjun Kumar

Ganjira : Guruprasanna

List:

01  valaci vaci ( varNam) – navarAgamAlika – Patnam Subramanya Iyer

02  mahAgaNapatim – nAtta – Dikshitar  (O, S )

03  manasA eTulO – malaya mArutam – Thyagaraja ( N,S )

          neraval & swara @’ kalilO rAjasa tAmasa guNamulu kala vAri chelimi’

04 sAmaja vara gamanA – hindOLam – Thyagaraja  ( A,N,S)

          neraval & swara @ ‘ vEda shirOmaNi mAtruja saptaswara nAdachala’

05  rAmabhadra rA rA srI rAmachandra rA rA – Ananda bhairavi – Bhadrachala Ramadas

06  brOchEvAravarurA – khamAs – Mysore Vasudevacharya  ( A,S,T )

07  nanda tanaya gOvindana – bhImplAs – Purandara Dasa

08  thillAna ( niri niri gama garisA )  – pUrvi – T Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar ( O )

09 mangaLam – saurAshtra , madhyamAvati - Thyagaraja

10  slOkam ( kAvEri tIra vAsAya) – madhyamAvati , varALi

        slOkam ( AnjanEya ) – surutti

A fabulous concert yesterday by Sri Neyveli Santhanagopalan at the Karanji Anjaneya Temple. All the struggle to reach the place after going in circles paid off at the end by some beautiful music.

A meditative hindolam and a cracker of a natta made the evening for me.  He was in some presine mood yesterday, and despite occasional slip in shruthi, he was on top of the proceedings. Very verbal in his support to accompanying artists, often closing his eyes and contemplating the next phrases of the alapana , shaking his head in appreciation, one could feel that he is enjoying the concert along with the audience.

Varnam started briskly and in typical way. A short alapana of Natta before the Dikshitar kriti was sweet. Thie rendition of natta was very special for the way he sang swara. All one could ask for was there. Multi speed render,  tisram and khandam, effective and intelligent use of ‘kanakku’ , outstanding violin accompaniment with some spirited percussion support. Interestingly, there was no use of the elongated ‘ri’, which I identify as the ‘jeevaswara’ of nAtta, in the entire swara singing. 

Malayamarutam was just ok until the neraval. Neraval was detailed with some good sangathis and a short set of swaras. Hindolam alapana was utstanding. I said meditative earlier, for he gave a sublime unhurried , close to heart    apalana nudging charulatha to play phrase after phrase after him.  On her turn for return, Charulata ws in even greater form.  Samajavaragamana was to come to our expectation. Neraval was short and had another set of cracking swaras.

 Main khamAs alapana was in two phases. I thought he ended the alapana rather abruptly and started of the kriti from anupallavi. It was interesting in a way and one could sense the surprise even from the accompaying artists.  On the same way, I thought even swara was ended very differently handing over the proceeding to Arjunkumar. Tani avartanam was loud ( the percussion in general was loud through out) and exciting (!).

There was hope for a pallavi, but was disappointment on that count. The organiser, announced that he will end th concert with a devarnama. Notable in the post main was an intersting raga sketch of pUrvi before the thilana. The chain of mangalam and slokams followed closing a great concert in the evening.

 

Neyveli Santhanagopalan at Indiranagar Sangeetha Sabha 21 Feb, 2009

Vocal : NeyveliSanthanagopalan

Violin : Delhi Sundararajan

Mrudangam : Trichy Sankaran

Ganjira : B S Purushotham

Songlist:

01 ninnu kOri ( varNam) – mOhanam -  Poochi Srinivas Iyengar ( S )

02 kanjadalAya dAkshi – kamalAmanOhari – Muthuswami Dikshitar ( A,N,S)

        started at anupallavi ‘ kunjara gamanE’  

        neravl & Swara  at ‘rAkA shashivadanE suradanE‘

03 santAnagOpAlakrishNam - khamAs – Muthuswami Dikshitar

04 chinna nADEna – kalAnidhi – Thyagaraja

05 kaDaikkaN vaithanai – bEgaDa – Ramaswami Sivan ( A,S )

06 saravaNa bhava guhanE – kannaDa – PapanAsam Sivan

07 kaddanu vAriki – thODi – Thyagaraja  ( A,N,S,T)

        neraval & Swara @ ‘ baddu tappaka bhajiyinchE bhakta pAlanamu sEyu‘

        tani Avartanam

08 ambayaninne moraliDa – aTANa – Ponnaiah Pillai

09 RTP – naLinakAnti – Misra jathi jampa , 2 kaLai

    Pallavi line ‘ rasikE kalA rasikE navarasa kalA rasikE naLinakAnti rAgapriyE’

   ragamalika swaras in valachi, bilahari and sindhubhairavi

10 rAma manthrava japisO – jAunpuri – Purandara Dasa

11 sAramaina ( javaLi)- behAg – Swathi Thirunal

12 piravA varA – rAgamAlika – Arunagirinathar ?

13 vinAyakuni – madhyamAvathi – Thyagaraja

     started at ‘anAdharakshaki srI kAmAkshi’

14 mangaLam – saurAshtram – Thyagaraja

Nalinakanti alapana and the pallavi followed were the take of the day for me. A concert which was on a ‘good’ rating until then has been elevated to a very good with this one rendition. After a promising start with the short alapana and a good neraval of Kamalamanohari krithi, it was just rolling on. Thodi alapana was also in the good side, without any ‘aha’ moments. Delhi Sundarrajan in his return alapana had some brilliance, though. But, the naLinakAnti alapana made all the difference. It was brillinat, so was the viloin reply. The pallavi and the swaras followed were also fitting to the pallavi. Overall a very good concert.

 

Neyveli Santhanagopalan – Surabharathi Sanskrit & Cultural Foundation 07 Feb 2009

Vocal : Neyveli Santhanagopalan

Vocal Support : Guruprasad

Violin : M A Sundaresan

Mrudangam : Umayalpuram Sivaraman

Ghatam : Giridhar Udupa

Song list:

01 vAtApi gaNapatim – hamsadhwani – Muthuswami Dikshitar

02 tuLasi daLa mulache  – mAyAmALavagauLa – Thyagaraja ( N,S)

neraval & swara @ ‘sarasIruha punnAga’

03 mInAkshi mEmudam – gamakakriya ( pUrvikalyANi) – Muthuswami Dikshitar ( A,N,S,T)

neraval & swara @ madhurApuri nilayE maNivalaye’

tani Avartanam

04  jagadOdhAraNa – kApi – Purandara Dasa

05 mangaLam – saurAshtram – Thyagaraja

The concert was on the occasion of awarding “sangeeta ratnakara” to Sri Umayalpuram Sivaraman by Surabharati Foundation. Held in a banquet hall of Mayfair Hotel, Basavanagudi with all the associated fan fair, along with another award for a Sanskrit Scholar ( whose name , I do not recall now). The ceremony went on beyond the originally announced time and was over only by 6:45. There was fair amount of time, as the organiser announced that the concert will begin at 7:00pm after the Coffee/Tea break with refreshments. However, the re-arrangement of the stage and the usual tussle with the sound system, delayed the start until 7:25pm. He had promptly announced that the concert will end by 8:30. With one hour to go, and all those stalwarts on the stage, I was hoping to hear something interesting and memorable.

He started the evening with Vatapi, showing few strains with his voice. Luckily it was settled very soon and we were treated with some outstanding stuff , however truncated the session was. Mayamalavagaula was the next , which I was hoping to hear on my way to the concert. The neraval and the swara followed was very good with some outstanding support by the violinist and UKS. The main poorvikalyani had a very short alapana (to my disappointment), but another outstanding rendition of neraval and swara.  UKS and Giridhar Udupa did a short taniavartanam, where the maestro was greeted with a standing ovation by the audience.

The usual , sabha secratary-style speech to interrupt the proceedings ( which was not called for, for such a short concert), followed by the loooong speech by Sri UKS , praising the artists on the stage individually, the organisers and the audience; which is becoming a regular affair these days. This had eaten away a good 20 minutes from the concerts time and was already 9:00 by then.  There was just enough time to squeeze in a devarnama before the mangalam.

Barring these disappointments, whatever delivered was brilliant.  All the artist on the stage were very good , with special mention of M A Sundaresan, who I thought, excelled through out with some fine playing.