Sanjay Subrahmanyan @ Rama Seva Mandali , Fort High School Grounds 07 Apr 2012

Vocal : Sanjay Subrahmanyan

Violin : S Varadarajan

Mrudangam : B Harikumar

Ganjira : Venkataraman

List:

01  everEmi bOdhana ( varNam) – sahAna – Patnam Subramanya Iyer

02  paralOka sAdhanamE – pUrvikalyAni – Thyagaraja ( S )

03  rAma ninnu vinA – SankarAbaraNam – Thyagaraja

04  mAmava pattAbhirAma – maNirang – Dikshitar ( A,N,S )

      neraval & swara @ ‘ vichitra maNimaya simhAsanE navaratna maNTapE’

05  nIyE sharaN shanmukhA – kAmbOji – Papanasam Sivan

06  endukO nI manasu – kalyANi – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S,T)

     neraal & swara @’ sharaNAgata vatsala nammiti tAaka nAma parAtpara’

07  chalamlarA – mArgahindOLam – thyagaraja

08  RTP – sAvEri – tisra tripuTa

     pallavi line ‘ varaTTum, manamE varaTTum, iru manamE varaTTum, patarAdiru maname – varaTTum..’

     pallavi in rAgamAlika sAvEri, Anandabhairavi, hamIr kalyANi, mOhanam

     ragamalika swaras in sAvEri, Anandabhairavi, hamIr kalyANi, mOhanam

09  mAtADa bAradEnO – khamAs – Narahari Dasa

10  kalilO harismaraNa – kApi – Muthaiah Bhagavathar

11  viruttam ( vizhikku tuNai ) – mAND

      ArumO Aval – mAND -  Kannan Iyengar

12  mangaLam – saurAshtram – Thyagaraja

Another brilliant concert by Sanjay at the Fort high School grounds. The cracking swaras of Purvi kalyani, the outstanding manirang, the sangatis of the rare sankarabharanam kriti and saveri alapana stood out in a remarkable day.

Concert started with the sahana varnam in the typical two speed variation. The purvikalyani kriti came quick follwed with some fabulous swara singing, despite the dampener came in the form of power interruptions. Power outage seems to be following Sanjay here almost every time ( last time while he was concluding a mesmerisig everi mata main ). While he was at the cresendo ( so to say) with some superb swara the power went off to the dismay of the listeners. Sanjay , unperturbed continue singing, but was harldy audible to people sitting in the back rows.

A rare Sankarabharanam kriti of Thyagaraja came in next. The only knowledge I have of this kriti is a BMK version (I was told that there is another by Dr.S Ramanathan). The elaborate sangati’s he sng for nannu rakshimpa’ was phenomenal. If this wasgood, what followed was fabulous. A 7-8 minutes of manirang alapana followed by the predictable mAmava pattAbhirAma’. Neraval , interestingly was taken up at ‘vichitra manimaya’ ( this kriti provides ample possibilities of neraval lines). Neraval, to say the least, was just briliant, so was the swaras that followed.

A short shanmukhapriya came in before the main. Sanjay started the main with few shortish phrases. an unplanned, uncontrolled yawn broke out from me, and I immeditely sensed the ‘kalyani’ on its way. I dont know if it’s only me, but the kalyani alapana did not give many aha or ‘tsch, tsch’ moments. However, the kriti with rather shortish neraval and swaras were good enough to cover the main. Harikumar and the young Venkataraman gave a spirited, well received tani avartanam.

To make up, sAvEri alapana was very very good. All that was missing in kalyani was her e. He received the maximum applause after the brilliant saveri alapana. Tanam was just good. Pallavi was interesting. After few rounds of pallavi neraval , he changed the raga to Anandabharabi, hamir kalyani nd mohanam. He did it in a tricky ( may be a it gimmicky) way with these combinations as :saveri , saveri+ anandabhairavi, saveri+anandabhairavi+hamirkalyani,  saveri+anandabhairavi+hamirkalyani+mohanam easing from one raga to other for the same line. ragamalika swaras folowed the same pattern in the reverse order.

The support cast did a great job to make this concert memorable. Varadarjan was following Sanjay near 100%. His retunrs for manirang , kalyani and saveri were top class, so was his swara returns. Harikumar also gave a great support, along with the Ganjira aritst.

Post main had only  couple of songs. I was expecting a longer version of viruttam, before arumo aval. Apart from the small glitch in the power, the rest of the concert was very very good.

 

Sanjay Subrahmanyan , Nadasurabhi Annual Festival 12 Nov 2011

Vocal : Sanjay Subrahmanyan

Violin : S Varadarajan

Mrudangam : Neyveli Venkatesh

Ganjira : Guruprasanna

List :

01  sAmi nI rammanavE – kEdAram -  Thiruvottiyur Thyagayya

02  rA rAmA intitAka – asAvEri – Thyagaraja ( S )

03  enta rANi tanakenta – harikAmbOji – Thyagaraja ( N,S )

        neraval & swara @ ‘ shEshuDu shivuniki bhUshuDu lakshmaNa’

04  ardhanArIshwaram – kumudakriya – Dikshitar ( A,S )

05  Anandavalli – nIlAmbari – Swathi Thirunal

06  marugElarA O rAghavA – jayantaSrI – Thyagaraja ( A )

07  RTP – ShankarAbharaNam – Chaturasra triputa, 2 kaLai

       pallavi line : “chakkagAni bhajana jEsE vAriki takkuva galadA srI rAmA dina dinamu’

       no Ragamalika swaras

08  gOpAla bhaktim mE – bhAgEshrI – Swati Thirunal

09  nanda tanaya gOvindana – bhAgEshrI – Purandara Dasa ( started at Anupallavi)

10  slOkam ( jAnAdi rAma )  – sindhu bhairavi , durga

       mannupughazh kOsalai than – rAgamAlika ( durga,laLita, tilang, sAranga,hindOLam,nIlAmbari)

11 bhArata sarAjya sakhi – dEsh – Mayuram Viswanatha Shastri

12  paNiyin vintuLipOlavE – harikAmbOji ? – Thirupugazh

13 mangaLam – saurAshtram – Thyagaraja

A typical Sanjay concert. Power packed, with excitement galore ( both the performers and the audience alike).  He stsarted with another special varnam. This time in kEdAram. I dont know if any other current performer who brings so much variety into varnam.  Asaveri kriti followed quickly, giving us some taste of what is to follow with some sparkling swaras at the end.  Harikamboji kriti , enta rAni tanakentu’ came with out an alapana, and he chose to do neraval at the standard ‘sheshudu shivuniki” , in detail followed by another longish swara singing, lasting nearly 30 mins.

First alapana of the day came with kumudakriya, keeping us guessed for a long time. To me, this was the highlight of the concert. The alapana by Sanjay and Varadarajan were top class, so was the kriti that followed. He chose to sing swara at two places, one at “kumudakriyA rAganutam” and soon at ‘AgamAdi sannutam’ and it just added to the overall appeal to the kriti. Swathi Thirunal’s padam ‘Anandavalli’ came with all it emotive grandeur , before the alapana for Jayanthasree, I understand a requst from one rasika.  Jayanthasree alapana was also very good.

Without any further delay or fillers, he began Sankarabharam alapana. It was grand and awesome, lasting more than 30 mins between the vocal and violin.  Varadarajan in his return , reproduced some of the notes based phrases which Sanjay sang earlier in his turn.  A longish alapana and the style, dashed some hopes for a tamil kriti ( betting for tUkiya tiruvadi or s Shyama Sastry kriti) , but hte tanam that followed erased any concern we had. Fabulous job by Sanjay and Varadarajan. Pallavi line popularised by Semmangudi was very interesting, longinsh and more sounds like a neraval singing ( since there was no trikalam).  There were no ragamalika swaram, but the Sankarabharanam swaras were again fitting to the build up thus far.  By now , the noise levels were beyond comfort, with the excitement getting into the percussion team.  In general, mrudangam was noisy and often repeated the same pattern. Tani avartanam was a continuation of the chaos.  Guruprasanna , on the other hand was very good and it was pleasure listening to him whenever he had a chance to come forth.

Post main had 2 back to back bhAgeshri kritis, and a ragamalika kriti in Tamil. The slokam was started in sindhubhairavi, but a chit that put across, seems to have changed the original plan.  Mayuram Viswanatha Shastri’s desh kriti was another note worthy rendition before the close.

A very fulfilling concert, with an outstanding kumudakriya and the grand pallavi to remember.

 

Sanjay Subrahmanyan @ Venugopalaswamy Temple, Malleswaram, 27,Aug 2011

Vocal:  Sanjay Subrahmanyan

Violin : M R Gopinath

Mrudangam : Patri Satishkumar

Ganjira : Guruprasanna

Songlist:

01 sarasijanAbha ( varNam) – kAmbOji – Swathi Thirunal

02 paralOka sAdhanamE – pUrvi kalyANi – Thyagaraja ( S )

03 ini oru kaNam – srI ranjini – Papanasam Sivan ( A )

04 paridAnamichitE – bilahari – Patnam Subramanya Iyer ( A,N,S )

      neraval & Swara @ ‘ rokkamichutakunE mukkaNTi chelikAnu’

05 gAngEya vasana dhara – hamIr kalyANi – Swathi Thirunal ( A )

06 srI rAjagOpAlam – sAvEri – Dikshitar ( A,S, T )

       ragamalika swaras in sAvEri, sahAna, varALi, yadukula kAmbOji, dhanyAsi, kharaharapriya, SankarAbharaNam, hamsAnandi, sudha dhanyAsi, amrutavarshiNi ?, —————-, shivaranjini, surutti.  ( couldn’t note the missing two )
06 b   tani Avartanam

07 dAsara nindisa bEDa – rAgEshri – Purandara Dasa

08 viruttam ( bhUrtavaLE bhuvanangal patinAngu?? ) – darbAri kAnaDa

       shlOkam ( jAnAdi ) – mAND

       rAmanai bhajitAl – mAND - Papanasam Sivan

       ArumO Aval  – mAND – Kannan Iyengar ?

09 kaLilO harismarana – kApi – Harikeshanallur Muthaiah bhagavathar  ( O )

10 mangaLam – saurAshtram – Thyagaraja

Fantastic concert yesterday by Sanjay Subrahmanyan and team at Sri Venogopalaswamy Temple. At this venue, he seems to excel every time.  Therre are so many high points of the concert hence it is difficult yo pick a few that stood out. But if I haveto, I will go for the one of its kind sAvEri alapana, the soulful hamir kalyani, beautiful sree ranjini, the brilliant swara for bilahari and a cracking tani avartanam.  See, it covers the entire concert.

Varnam was sung in 3 speed. However, the ‘bhava’ seems to be lost at the 3rd speed, the lyrics weren’t clear as well.  Purvi kalyani had a set of swaras sung very well.  Detailed Sreeranjini and bilahari alapana were brilliant. So was the shortish alapana for hamir kalyani. The violin retun for all the alapana , I thought, was shorter than usual.  Bilahari neraval was pretty decent so was the swara. The mrudangam accompaniment was at best during hamir kalyani. Sanjay presented the kriti in a slow mellifluous way.

Saveri alapana was one of the best I’ve heard in last few years. Outstanding the way he managed to take the audience through the contours of the raga providing many ‘aha’ moments. As usual, there was no neraval for the main, but the swara singing was fabulous. After the first kala saveri swaras, Sanjay went on a ragamalika swara singing through a chain of ragas. M R Gopinath had his highlights during this swara singing. 

Tani Avrtanam was all exhilerating and loud. The stage as wel as the audience seems to be on the verge of an ecstasy. Guruprasanna matching the show stealing Ptri Satishkumar.  The percussion from then on were too loud and in the melee, we could hardly hear the already subdued violin.

Post Tani speeches went on for a while possibly eating away from a possible Pallavi. Pallavi was not there, but his post main Mand and kapi were good enough to close the show. Another brilliant concert by Sanjay.

 

Sanjay Subrahmanyan , Spring Festival , Gayana Samaja 04 Feb 2011

Vocal : Sanjay Subrahmanyan

Violin : Nagai Muralidharan

Mrudangam : Srimushnam Raja Rao

Ghatam : Giridhar Udupa

Song list:

01  ninnE kOri ( varNam ) – kAnaDa – Thiruvottiyur Thyagayya

02  kanchadalAya dAkshi – kamalA manOhari – Dikshitar

03  hari hari hariyani smaraNa jEsitE – saraswathi -  Walajpet Venkataramana Bhagavathar( A,S )

04  sAmOdam chintayAmi – Sudha dhanyAsi – Swathi Thirunal ( A,N,S)

neraval & swara  @ ‘ Syanantura nagari shObhAyamAna dEham’

05  dIna rakshaka ninnu – Ahiri -   Ponnayya Pillai ??  ( A )

06  nanda gOpAla mukunda – yamunA kalyANi – Dikshitar ( A,S,T )

07  haridAsulu vEDalE – yamunA kalyANi – Thyagaraja

08  RTP – kAmbOji – tisra triputa

pallavi line ‘ Erana sAmi pagavAri bOdhincherO ‘

rAgamalika swaras in ‘Ananda bhairavi, hamsAnandi , bauLi, nAtakurinji, sAvEri , hamsadhwani , simhEndra madhyamam , mOhanam, _______i, hindOLam, varALi, surutti

09 dAsara nindisa bEDa – rAgESrI – Purandara Dasa

10  tumbam nErkayil – dEsh – Bharatidasan

11  viruttam ( jAnAdi rAma ) – nIlAmbari

uyyAla lUgavayya -nIlAmbari – Thyagaraja

12 manamE kaNamum maravAthE – bhImplAs – Papanasam Sivan

13  mangaLam – saurAshtram – Thyagaraja

Fantastic concert yesterday by Sanjay and team, at the Rama Lalita Kala Mandira concert at Gayana Samaja. Yamunakalyani as main, an outstanding palavi in kAmbOji, beautifully executed sudha dhanyasi kriti, an Ahiri alapana… there are many to talk about.  Seldom we get to hear five raga alapana in any concert. The accompaniment mainitaining the high standard supporting the main artist.

The concert started bit low with the varnam and kamala manohari kriti not making any impact. I was expecting a round of swara for kanchadalaya dakshi. He quickly moved on to the first alapana of the day. Alapana and the swara was ok. The concert really moved a notch up with the Sudha dhanyasi alapana and neraval.  Neraval was very good, however the swara singing was short. Ahiri alapana was a surprise and very nice, however the violin return did not have all the beauty of the raga. Deena Rakshaka was new to me, and is pretty good. I was wondering if this is going to be the main. Sanjay closed the kriti without neraval or swara.

The real surprise was the main. Yamunakalyani was presented in very slow tempo and the alapana was fabulous. Mixing the carnatic and hindustani style presenting the raga in its all grandeur , to the enthusiastic response from the crowd. Nagai Murali in his return did justice to the vocalist.  Jampupathe was in the offing, however, he choose another Dikshitar kriti, rendering the kriti in the slow tempo with Nagai Murali following him brilliantly. The swara that followed also stuck to the same tempo , fabulously executed. I was hoping for a second speed swara singing, but he indicated to Srimushnam for tani avartanam.

Tani avartanam was superb, though occasionally giridhar Udupa went overboard. Through out the concert, both Raja Rao and Udupa were playing very well. Sanjay immediately took up another yamunakalyani kriti, this time a thyagaraja composition, which is set to a faster speed, and completed with a faster round of swara singing, making amends ot my earlier disappointment. On second thought, I think this was a good idea.

Pallavi was outstanding. Two phased Kamboji alapana was top class, so was the return by Nagai Murali. Tanam as usual was brilliant, by both the artists. Unusual pallavi line ( must have been taken from some other kriti) set to tisra triputa. Ragamalika swaras came in a flurry, switching from one to another. Sanjay requested to increase the volume during the kamboji alapana. The decibel lever were so high from this point on often making it unbearable. I am not sure what made him to request for the increase in volume.

Post pallavi kritis included his usual rAgesri, desh and bhimplas. The neelambari viruttan and Uyyala concluded the concert before the mangalam. One concert to remember for yamunakalyani, Ahiri and the brilliant Kamboji pallavi.

 

Sanjay Subrahmanyan , Nadasurabhi Annual Festival 21, Nov 2010

Vocal:  Sanjay Subrahmanyan

Violin : Mysore Nagaraj

Mrudangam : Tumkur Ravishankar

Ganjira : Guruprasanna

Songlist:

01  chAlamu sEya ( varNam ) – hindOLam – Tiger Varadachar

02  Sankari nIvE – bEgaDa -  Subbaraya Shastri

03  O rAjIvAksha – Arabhi – Thyagaraja ( A,S )

04  kAnthimathi karuNA nira – kalyANi – Subbarama Dikshitar ( A )

05  niravadhi sukhadA – ravichandrika – Thyagaraja  ( O , N, S )

neraval & Swara @ ‘ mAmava marakata maNi nibha dEha ‘

06  kOri sEvimparArE – kharaharapriya – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & swara  at pallavi line

07  RTP – tilang   – chatusrea triputa , 2 kaLai

pallavi line ‘ ninnayE gatiyenru ninaikkirEnaDi kaNNammA’

rAgamAlika swaras in hamsAnandi , kadanakutUhalam, ?? , bhAgEshrI

08  ninnayE gatiyenru ninaikkirEnaDi kaNNammA – bhAgEshrI – Subramanya Bharathi

09  nanda tanaya gOvindana – bhAgEshrI – Purandara Dasa

10  tumbam nErkayil – dEsh – Bharathi Dasan ?

11 mangaLam – saurAshtram – Thyagaraja

Another good concert by Sanjay, this time at the inaugural concert of this year’s Nadasurabhi Annual Festival.  He started the concert with a rare varnam in hindOLam ( I guess its by Tiger Varadachar), a short one though.  After a short bEgaDa krithi came the first alapana of the day with Arabhi. A detailed kalyAni followed with another not often heard krithi.  surprisingly, there was no neraval or swaras. A brief alapana of Ravichandrika came soon with an explosive ‘niravadhi sukhadA’ with fast paced neraval and swara, which I thought was fabulous. Kharaharapriya was the main for the evening and I again had high hopes. Another not often heard kriti was to follow, and this time he did neraval and swara ( unlike the previous day) before the tani avartanam. However, neraval and swara were short and did not do full justice to the main.

Pallavi was sure to follow, and it was very good as expected. While we still debate if it is Tilang,  both alapana and tanam was superb. Mysore Nagaraj was outstanding during tanam ( he was fantastic through out the day) and often received with applause from the audience. As typical to his concert, the ragamalika swaras extended with the kriti in the last raga bhAgEshrI.

Over all another very good concert, with some outstanding violin accompaniment from Mysore Nagaraj.

mAmava marakata maNI nibha dEha