Neyveli Santhanagopalan , JP Nagar 14 Sept 2013

Vocal : Neyveli Santhanagopalan

Violin: Charulatha Ramanujam

Mrudangam : Tumkur Ravishankar

Ghatam : Tumkur Shashishankar

List:

01. SLOkam ( kuNDina kumAri kAMAkshi? ) – Anandabhairavi

02. endarO mahAnubhAvulu – SrI – Thygaraja

03. gurulEka eTuvaNTi – gowri manOhari – Thyagaraja  ( N,S )

neravl & swara @’tatva bOdhana jEsi kApADu tyAgarAjAptuDanu ‘

04  rAmanukku mannan muDi – hindOLam – Arunachala Kavi  ( A,N,S )

neraval & swara @ ‘ paTTam kaTTa EtavanDi-rAman’

05  aTu kArAdani – manOranjani – Thyagaraja (O, S )

06  akhilANDESwari – dwijAvanti – Dikshitar ( A)

tani Avartanam

07 viruttam ( ullAsa nilA ?) – sindhubhairavi

manadir kugandadu – sindhubhairavi – Tanjavur Sankara Iyer

08  tirupugazh? – madhyamavathi

09 srI chakrarAja sihAsanEswari – rAgamAlika – Agastyar

10 SLOKam (kAvEri thIra vAsAya ) -dEvagAndhAri

nI nAma rUpamulaku – saurAshtram – Thyagaraja

If a concert give you something to cherish for a long time, something that linger with you beyond the concert hall, to me that concert has been a good one. Sri Neyeli Snathanagopalan’s concert always have one such instance, which I speak for a long time. Be it the outstanding ‘pUrvikalyANi’ he sang at the Odukathur Mutt, or the breathtaking swaras for Nata at the Karanji anjaneya temple, or the mayamaLavagauLa with UKS in a small hall a couple of years back. Yesterdays concert did provide a similar experience. What a phenomenal hindOLam he sang yesterday, and to top it another brilliant kalpana swaras for manOranjani.

concert started slowly with the pancharatna kriti as the listeners and the performers settled in. He quickly moved on to Guruleka etuvanti, with couple of rounds of neraval and tatva bOdhana and few rounds of swara. It was the hindolam that lifted the whole concert to a different level. 4-5 minute alapana and a short violin return, he started the Arunachala Kavi’s ‘rAmanukku mannan mudi’ in some style. The neraval was outstanding. In pausing at PAttam katta with various approached, I rememberd the MAni Iyers neraval at ‘ethanayO piravi’, giving the stress at appropriate places, moving from one word the other, with Charulatha following every nuances with utmost precision, the whole neraval was outstanding. The kalpana swaras that followed was stood up to the neraval with some fantastic swaras. Some interesting swara takes at sa,dA, ma,ga ( sa da for a minute or so) later moving to sA,ma,ni,ga,ma  ( cleverly spiting at sAma nigama and sAmani gama), before moving on to the more regular and longer set of swaras. The finale was a breath taking affair, which reproduced brilliantly by Charulatha.

Manoranjani was a similar story with another brilliant swara singing. At a point, there was some clever ‘alternating’ play between the vocal and violin to the delight of the listeners. Dwijavanti was the main ( so to say), which had an elaborate alapana by the vocalist. There was no violin return, as he launched into akhilandeswari. There was no neraval and swara ( probably due to time factor) and the percussion brothers, who were very supportive through out, played out a good tani avartanam.

Post main had the Tanjavur sankara Iyer’s sindhubhairavi and a couple of requests. To me the hindolam and manoranjani made my evening, and that is what a good concert all about.