T V Sankaranarayanan @ Nadasurabhi annual Festival , 03 Nov 2019

Vocal : T V Sankaranarayanan

Violin : Nishant Chandran

Mrudangam : C Cheluvaraju

Ghatam :  Omkar G Rao

Morsing : ‘Sangeethasurabhi’ L Bhimachar

List:

01 viruttam ( kazhaliNai kANa vandEn ) – hindOLam

Eka radanam vAraNA vadanam – hindOLam – Adi – Tulaseevanam ( S )

02 viDajAladurA nA manasu – janaranjani – Adi – Thyagaraja ( A,S )

03 murugA murugA enrAl – sAvEri – mishrachAp – Periyasami Thooran ( A )

04 samAna rahitE – sArangatarangiNi – rUpakam – G N Balasubramaniam ( A,S )

05 ODi bArayya vaikuNThapati – bhairavi – Adi – Purandara Dasa ( A,N,S )

neraval & swara @ ‘mangaLAtmaka mOhanakAya ranga’

06 mOhana rAma – mOhanam – Adi x 2 – Thyagaraja ( A,S,T )

07 kA vA vA – varALi – Adi – Papanasam Sivan

08 viruttam ( kaNNA kArmukil vaNNA + paNNAl unnai tudikkum pAmaran nAn + karpUram nARumO + vandAn en manam pugandAn )  –  behAg, dEsh, hamsAnandi

tirupati vAsA venkaTEshA – hamsAnandi – Adi – Indira Natesan ?

09 eppO varuvArO – jOnpuri – Adi – Gopalakrishna Bharathi

10 Notes ( ga ma ga ri ga pa) – Adi – Harikeshanallur Muthaiah Bhagavathar

11 nI nAma rUpamulaku – saurASTram – Adi – Thyagaraja

shLOkam ( mangaLam jaya mangaLam) – surruTTi

Felicitation concert for the newly crowned ‘Sangeetha Surabhi’ Sri L Bhimachar, and who is better that Sri TVS to honour on such an occasion. One will say, the master is at work.

The morning concert had many of his usual compositions. A Tulaseevanam kriti to start with and the entire post main is in the predictable lines with kA vA vA, the eppO varuvArO, the Notes. Again and again, people request him to sing those and he always obliges. That part is not of our interest here.

He sang some interesting ragas in the middle. Started ‘janaranjani’ alapana, mentioned his uncle/guru rarely sung janaranjani, but he is in the mood to sing viDajaladura. Short alapana, but the typical sarvalaghu swaras added at the end. Sang another 4-5 minutes of saveri with some nice takes. Started the kriti at anupallavi ‘orukAl urai seidAlum’ and sang that beautifully. Ended with calling ‘murugA’ in a dozen variations. I found it very appealing. Sarangatarangini was a surprise. Don’t remember listening to it in a concert. Nice alapana again. Nishant Chandran played this very well too. He was always playing a bit short, allowing the veteran singer more time to sing. Appreciative effort.

Fairly detailed bhairavi. Standard alapana, time tested patterns and passages, that establishes the raga credentials with ease.  Interestingly, Odi bArayyA was taken. Neraval at mangalAtmaka was very good, so was the swaras. Quickly started the mOhanam alapana, at a tricky take , before moving to the melodic mohana phrases. Even the kriti was started with a different style, the start of ‘Mohana rAma’, from the often heard one.  Percussion team played a short tani avartanam, including the 88yr young Bhimachar, who has not lost any of his touches.

The main attraction was the viruttam. Viruttam singing is slowly disappearing from the concert scene. Even those sing it occasionally, sing a short piece and move on to the composition. Today, he sang an exquisite viruttam. This also included one that was written by starting with words ‘paNNAl unnai tudikkum pAmaran nAn’. Beautiful stuff. Loved it. Rest of the tail pieces, as mentioned was easy to guess.

His music, especially while singing the swaras, just flows, endlessly.

 

T V Shankaranarayanan @ Surabharathi 02 Jan 2016

Vocal : T V Shankaranarayanan

Violin : C N Chandrasekharan

Mrudangam : C Cheluvaraju

Ghatam : Srishylan

List:

01. shLOkam ( gajAnanam bhUtagaNAdi) – Arabhi

vighnEshvara shubha kAraka – Arabhi – Tulaseevanam ( S )

02. sakala graha bala nInE – aThANa – Purandara Dasa ( starting at anupallavi)

03. bhuvanEshvariyA – mOhana kalyANi- Muthiah Bhagavathar ( A,S )

04. abhaya varadE shAradE – hindOLam – Indira Natesan ( A,S )

05. venkaTa ramaNA – latAngi – Papanasam Sivan ( A,N,S )

niraval & svara @ ‘alamEl mangai maNALA, ambujanAbha dayALA’

06. intha sowkhya – kApi – Thyagaraja ( A,S,T )

07. viruttam ( vandAy manam pugazhndAy ?? ) – hamsAnandi

shrInivAsa tiruvenkaTa – hamsAnandi – Papanasam Sivan

08 eppO varuvArO – jOnpuri – Gopalakrishna Bharathi

09. Western styles notes

10. mangaLam – saurAshtram / madhyamAvathi –  Thyagaraja

The last concert I heard a couple of months back at Ranjani Fine Arts was one of the best for me in 2015. That memory still linger as I decided to attend this concert at the last moment. This does not match upto the expectation set by the previous one, but was another good concert by the senior musician.  The virtuosity and energy continued here, but the selection of ragas and the songs were from the staple list of a TVS concert. The hindolam piece probably was an exception and that was the only one, I missed in predicting.  As soon as he started the alapana of mohanakalyani, latangi, kapi or the viruttam, it was easy to predict what is coming next. From that point, this concert did not give any high. But, what he sang was true to his stature and what one expect from his concert. Not a moment of dullness, always pleasant to watch and listen.

Starting with the gajananam sholkam, deliberating on various words building the mood and atmosphere for the evening, it rolled in smoothly with the Arabhi kriti of Tulaseevanam. He started the athana kriti at the anupallavi at ‘ravichandra budha neene’ to some good effect. Mohanakalyani was the first alapana, fairly detailed and typical sangatis. CNC did his bit of improvisation in his return. It had to be bhuvanesvariya. He sang some brilliant swaras at the end, which probably one of the high point of the concert.

A shortish hindolam alapana was nice. It was clear he is not singing samaja vara gamana or rAmanukku mannan as the phrases deployed mostly sounded towards shudha hindolam ( I could be wrong). Indira Natesan’s kriti was a pleasant surprise. Another impressive rounds of swaras came in.

Another detailed latangi alapana, decent but nothing extra ordinary to talk about. Venkata ramana was to be the choice. An elaborate neraval at ‘alamel mangai’ was classy. Another high point of the evening. Some of the impressive sangatis and styling around ‘alamel angai’ was very very good. A second speed kalpana swaras followed in his typical style. I was thinking this would be the main as is the standard timing at the Surabharathi. At 8:35 pm, he started kApi alapana. Slowly building up from the short phrases to some impressive hindustani-ish sangatis ( he mentioned during the alapana that though kApi is considered as a janya of Kharaharapriya, it has more appeal if we do some mishra prayogas similar to hindustani style). CNC did almost similar phrase in his return. Intha sowkhya was sung beautifully, a bit faster than normal. There was no veraval but another classy rounds of kalpana swaras in two speed. Cheluvaraju played adequately through out the evening played an impressive tani avartanam with Srishylan.

Post main was again the standard list. Eppo varuvaro and the notes has to be there, to the waiting audience. I thought some one requested that. A decent crowd at the beginning of the concert by then slimmed to a handful count by the time the concert was over.

Another typical concert of TVS with most of the regular songs and ragas.

 

T V Sankaranarayanan at Ranjani Fine Arts , 14th Nov 2015

Vocal : T V Sankaranarayanan

Violin : T H Subramaniam

Mrudangam : Mannarkoil J Balaji

List:

01.  shLOkam ( gajAnanam bhUtagaNAdi ) -nATa

mahAgaNapatim manasA smarAmi – nATa – Dikshitar ( S )

02.  nIvE nannu brOva – darbAr – Walajpet Venkataramana Bhagavathar ( S )

03.  bArayya venkaTa ramaNA – sAvEri – Purandara Dasa

04.  samAna rahitE – sArangatarangiNi – G N Balasubramaniam ( A,S )

05.  padmanAbha pAhi – hindOLam – Swathi Thirunal ( A,S )

06.  kandan enra pEril – kAmbOji – Sundararaja ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & swara @’aruLvaram tEDi vandEn pannaga shayanA marugA murukA guhA?’

07.  aparAdhamulanOrva – rasAli – Thyagaraja ( A,S )

08.  RTP – ranjani – chaturashra tripuTa x 2 , +3/4 ( 6 akshara) eduppu

muraLIdhara madhusUdana mukundA | mAdhava murArE

rAgamAlika swaras in behAg & dEsh

09 viruttam ( nambanE ? ) – hamsAnandi , rEvati

nInE doDDavanu – rEvati – Purandara Dasa

10. eppO varuvArO – jOnpuri – Gopalakrishna Bharati

11. Notes

12. mangaLam – saurAStram – Thyagaraja

jayamangaLam – suruTTi

Stupendous ! Super class concert. Pure vintage stuff. Spell binding. I can go on and on with adjectives. 3 hrs of uninterrupted outstanding music. There is no point in picking up individual pieces. He was in his elements. Often reminding us on his Guru, by referring to his name or through the music. At the end, acknowledging the response from the audience ( a standing ovation), he sad he was able to connect with the listeners here and that gave him the strength.

From the first nata kriti, where he sung some fabulous swaras, a shear variety from the usual swaras I am accustomed to listending, I was hooked. The responses from T H Subramaniam was subtle and as memorable as the main artist. A darbar kriti of Walajpet Venkataramana Bhagavathar and a saveri devarnama came in quick succession. He announced he is going to sing the GNB composition in sArangatarangiNi, after explaning its arohana /avarohana phrases. Samana rahite, registered in my mind and hence the alapana was enjoyable. T H started his return with a few ‘hamsanadam’-ish phrases. TVS came to the rescue, stating the difference between the two ragams are the ‘dhaivatam’. However, TVS’ alapana did not give any glimpses of hamsanadam. TH Subramaniam, later played some impressive phrases. Samanarahite was good with few rounds of kalpana swaras added at the end. Hindolam alapana was at a different style. I was told that he largely played keeping the ‘madhyamashruti’ ( there was no correction to the shruti box). Padmanabha pahi was again a good choice with another rounds of impressive swaras.

I’ve near 100% hit rate with kAmbOji as main in a TVS concert ( I think once I was lucky to hear Sankarabharanam and another with kApi). Typical MMI school alapana flowed, of pure classical fair. Even after listening to this umpteen times, it has not lost its sheen and charm. THS was again briliiant. I was speculating between mA jAnaki and maragata vallim, but he chose to sing a not so common kriti ‘kandan enra pEril’. Later he clarified this as a composition of ‘Sundararaja’. A superb detailed neraval and ever impressive kalpana swaras added to the overall class. Accompanying artist was in super form in supporting the main artist.

He started the alapana in rasAli, stopped and explained this as one of the favorite of his uncle. For once, I thought he is going to sing a pallavi in rasAli, but it wasn’t the case. Alapana was short and TH Subramaniam played beautifully in his turn. Again a few rounds of swaras added to the song.

Having come here at Ranjani Fine Arts, he said, ranjani has to be sung and he is going to do a short pallavi. Another brilliant alapana by both the artists. Tanam was equally good. He sang some ‘Anandam tA, anantam tA, dhanam tA, dAnam tA’ sequence in the middle ( thanks to Mouli for bringing this to my notice). Not a great pallavi line, and no innovative tala structure, but the overall pallavi was pretty good. No, detailed trikalam. He seems to contemplate on what to sing for ragamalika swaras before coming up with very good behag and desh. T H Subramaniam was fantastic here. Post pallavi had a beautiful viruttamm in hamsanandi and revati before the devarnama. En energetic eppo varuvaro and the Notes came before the mangalam, which lasted nearly 5 mins.

One should recognize and appreciate the contribution of the supporting artist on the stage. TH Subramaiam was outstanding. He not only played along superbly, but some of his ‘volleys’ were mesmerizing. He had a solo concert at Ananya on Friday, which i missed, but he impressed one and all. Mannarkoil Balaji was equally good, non-intrusive. He played an excellent tani avartanam. For the rasali song, TVS stopped and said this is how the legend Subramania Pillai play  for the pallavi line. A concert to remember for a very long time.,

 

T V Sankaranarayanan @ Nadasurabhi , Madurai Mani Iyer Centenary Concert, 15 July 2012

Vocal :  T V Sankaranarayanan

Vocal Support : Mahadevan S

Violin :  C N Chandrasekharan

Mrudangam : Arjun Kumar

Ghatam : Giridhar Udupa

List:

01 viruttam ( kazhaliNai kANa) – Arabhi –  TVS

vighnESwara SubhakAraka – Arabhi – Tulaseevanam ( S )

02  jAnaki ramaNa – suddha sImantini – Thyagaraja ( N,S )

neraval & swara @ ‘ratna naLina daLa nayana nrupAla’

03 devarnama ( pariya sogadavO) –  ragamAlka in sAranga,hindOLam & hamsAnandi – Purandara Dasa

04  enta vEDukoNDu – saraswati manOhari – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S )

neraval& swara @ ‘chinta dIrchuTa kenta mODirA ‘

05  venkata ramaNa – latAngi – Papanasam Sivan ( A,N,S  – started at anupallavi ‘shankha chakra dhAri)

neraval @ ‘ alamEl mangai maNALA ambujanAbha dayALA’  & swara at pallavi line

06  chakkani rAja – kharaharapriya – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S,T)

neraval & swara @ ‘ kanTiki sundara-taramaku rUpamE’

07  sArasamukhi – gauDamalhAr- Muthaiah Bhagavathar ( S )

08  kA vA vA – varALi – Papanasam Sivan

09  viruttam ( vEyUru tOLi  pagan) – behAg ending at jOnpuri – Tiru gnAnasambandhar ?

eppO varuvArO – jOnpuri – Gopalakrishna Bharati

10  Notes  westernstyle

11 mangaLam -saurAshtram – Tyagaraja

Nadasurabhi’s this months music concert was dedicated to the memory of Madurai Mani Iyer on his 100th year of birth. Aptly, and as is around the worls,his prime desciple and nephew Sri T V Sankaranarayanan honoured the occasion with a scintillating concert.

Sri TVS spent a few minutes reminiscing his association with his uncle, guru and mentor which he said, began when he was 7 year old. As someone who observed him in close quarters , at concerts ( for a free car ride in his early years, he said), sitting behind him observing the awestuck audiences across various places around the world, his admiration has no bound. He said, he preferred to sing some of MMI’s favorites, instead of talking to us. However, before the concert, he recited a short verse he wrote on his guru’s praise.

Concert started with his own viruttam and Tulaseevanam kriti in Arabhi. A quick set of swara alternating with his son set the tempo for the evening. A spirited Suddha Simantini, with neraval and swara with the rest of the team in unison ( albeit to a discomfortable decibel levels submerging the lead vocalist’s voice a little) , a ragamalika kriti early in the concert ( the lines of the kriti were hardly audible in the melee) lifted the expectations.

Explaining MMI’s liking for Saraswati Manohari, he said he can’t replicate the same effect, however will sing the same kriti. The alapana was very short, but the kriti with neraval and swara made up for the short coming. Mahadevan sang a nice latangi alapana with some good phrases, repeated by C N Chandrasekharan. Venkataramana started at the anupallavi with a fabulous neraval ar alamEl manga and another round of swaras at pallavi line.

It was kharaharapriya for main, as I was expecting a kAmbOji or Sankarabharanam. TVS alapana were on a softer side, though all the familiar phrases of kharaharapriya appeared in sublime form. I associate kharaharapriya alaoana to be a little more aggressive. On his turn, C N Chandrasekharan did play some nice works. Kriti and the neraval were fantastic – I can never get tired of listening to chakkani rAja – but it was the swara that followed was the ighlight of the evening. After deliberating for a while at the slower tempo, and alternating the initial rounds of swaras with his father, Mahadevan took charge with some cracker rounds to a grand finish.

Tani avartanam from two leading percussionists were good as expected. Despite a slightly noisy accompaniment, Arjunkumar and Giridhar Udupa did a great job for the overall effectiveness of the concert. CN Chandrasekharan too chipped in appropriately through out the day.

Post main had those expected MMI list. Sarasamukhi, kA vA vA, eppo varuvAro and the western notes came in quick succession before the mangalam. Overall a high octane concert with some of the gems of MMI’s repertoire.

 

T V Sankaranarayanan @ Nadasurabhi 14 Nov, 2008

Vocal : T V Sankaranarayanan

Vocal Support : Mahadevan Sankaranarayanan

Violin : Mysore Srikanth

Mrudangam : Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma

Ghatam : M A Krishnamurthy

Song list :

04 bhuvini dAsuDane – srIranjini – Thyagaraja ( A,S )  – Alapana by Mahadevan

05 ardhanArISwaram – kumudakriya – Dikshitar

06 kannan enra pEril karuNai kollum – kAmbOji – ?  ( A,N,S,T)

neravl & swara @ ‘aruL varam tEDi vandEn..muruka guha punnakai mukha..’

07 RTP – brindAvana sArang – Khanda Triputa

pallavi line : ‘srI ranga hariranga pANDuranga brindAvana sAranga

ragamalika swaras in brindAvana sArang , Ahir bhairav(?) , sindhu bhairavi

08 viruttam ( enrum onrAki) – hamsAnandi?

tirupativAsA venkatEshA – hamsAnandi – ?

09 rAma rAma rAma rAma rAma ennirO – tilang – Purandaradasa

10 mangalam – saurAshtram & madhyamAvati – Thyagaraja

As usual, I reached the venue late and my guess is that I would have missed the first three krithis.  I was just in time for the srIranjini krithi, and TVS requested the blessing of the audience for his son, and made him do the alapana for sriranjini. The young lad, did a commendable job.

If it is a TVS concert, there is no mark in guessing the main. It was kAmbOji again. Luckily, he sang a not often krithi , instead of mA jAnaki or maragatha vallim.  He is a master of this raga and the neraval and swarakalpana was with his usual brilliance.  Mysore Srikanth did a fine job with his following and Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma was as usual very effective.  He along with M A Krishnamurthy presented a subtle, enjoyable tani avartanam.

After the break, the Pallavi in Brindavana sarang was a surprice. But, this was a short affair with short alapana by both father and son, a single instance of tanam ( without a chance for violinist) and short sets of pallavi.