Sanjay Subramanian at Tamil Isai Sangam on 29th December 2011

Sanjay Subramanian - Vocal

Palakkad Maheshkumar - Mridangam

Varadharajan - Violin

Selvaganesh - Ganjira

Raja annamali manram is the ony auditorium which is illuminated and looks like kalyAnam mandapam. Even the podium looks really nice and a big hall

Pouring heavily and expecting "thane" storm, I expected a less crowd. It was reasonable.

Date 29th December 2011

Tamil Isai Sangam

1. Sariyo - Begada - Tiger Varadachariyar

2. HAnumAne - Malayamarutham - Arunachalakavirayar- (Swaram in HanumAne)

3. rAgam in pUrvikalyani for 4 minutes followed by Appaa naan (Tiru arutpa) - Poorvi Kalyani - Ramalinga adigalar

neraval in "tappEdum nAn seyyinum nee porutharula vEndum"

4. Kaalai tooki - Yadukula kambodhi - Marimuthap-p-pillai

5. Ullam Urugi - Kanakangi - Suddhananda bharathi

6. Saravana Bhava gugane - Kannada - Papanasam Sivan -swaram in "saravanabhava guhane"

7. RTP- Karagarapriya followed by the TirukkuraL Kuzhalinidhi yaazhinidhu enbar tam makkal mazhalai sol keladhavar

8. Tani

9. "pAril uyarnda nilam pUrna yoghamum bhogamum poRRidum puNNiya nilam" -behAg, Ananda bairavi, sahAna

followed by "en tai vAzhga enum mandhira nAdhame inbatthai kOOttudhamma"

10. Vazhiya Sendhamizh- Madhyamavati

No Flask, sipping hotwater after every song

No Library of books"

No "unusual" "designed" shirt. - I don't refer TMK in BGS

No battery of disciples sitting behind

No Invention/Discovery

A superb Karaharapriya and varadharajan's excellant return was the highlight that actually forgot our worries of heavy

downpouring and "Thane" storm.

I know Varadarajan-Sanjay combination is always good. Yesterday was another superb day to reckon.

In pallavi- In the word "enbar". He broke it into "en" and "bar" to aligh with tAlam. It does not convey any meaning though it sounded nice.

I think, he needs to think before rendering the pallavi.

Tani was excellant. Selvaganesh has improved a lot in his Ganjira. Well done.

Hilairty in TM Krishna Concerts

DIE HARD FANS OF TMK- PLEASE DO NOT PROCEED.
Recently, Mylapore music fraternity had a meeting to review of recent concerts where people expressed the concerts they attended. One of the famous comedy actors has also attended. One of the topics, was, as expected, TMK’s recent inventions/discoveries.
Discussion went on “how to control TMK /bring him down TMK’s “gimmics” (!) , the following ideas invented by the members. Real ly enjoyable. Some Q & A session also there.

Idea 1 – We need to form ATMK (anti-TM Krishna) faction. This team (say 10 people) has to go all his concerts and sit in the 4th or 5th row, so that TMK can see us.
After he finishes the first kriti, all of them have to get up and exit. If TMK is asking why are u leaving, the reply- you start singing properly then only we will sit for the full concert.

Idea 2 – All the ladies (ladies are also invited to join ATMK) have to get up before he starts pallavi and exit. If TMK asks why – Reply will be “our husbands are yelling at us since we spent more money on our make-ups (???)”

3 Question – How to leave TMK’s concert in between ?
Very simple, middle of the concert, while singing rAga, TMK will go to sleep. This is the time to get out?

4 Review of one TMK fan and his question? – He rendered “entaro mahAnubAvulu” in rAga maliga in Shanmugapriya, karaharapriya, bhAvapriyA, ratipatipriyA and haripriyA ? It was mind boggling. In my life, I have never listened such 1 hour 30 minutes “entaro”. My small doubt is what is the janyam of “haripriya”
Reply from ATMK member- You have mis understood, my dear. In one of the rows, Priya sisters were sitting. So he created a rAga on the stage “haripriya” and rendered his “enta”row”

5. What is the while colour box, he is keeping in front of him ?
Apart from hiding his library of books from rasikas, he creates pallavi for his RTP and also get online instruction from Trichy sankaran on the topic Inventions/Discoveries in music.

6. Will he ever get sangeetha kalAnidhi – Question of a die-hard fan of TMK ?
Reply from ATMK- He will never get. SK is given only for those who start the concert with varNam and ends with Mangalam...

7. For invention/discoveries, Government gets Bharat ratna. Why can’t TMK get this because he has invented so many? – TMK’ Fan’s concern - (This question carries Rs. 1000)
Reply by ATMK- President refused because he informed that he will sing “English pallavi”- “you are beautiful, I have never seen a babe like you in my life” in the ceremony hall, before receiving the award. He refused to take the award without singing his “own” pallavi.

8. Why he slapped “Ghatam vidwan” in yesterday’s concert ?
He started the slowest kriti ‘Ososi” and sang for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Mridangam was just tapping and no job for Ghatam vidwan at all. So he went home to see sun TV serial for half an hour and returned. So, he was slapped.

9. Why Mridanga vidwan cried in yesterday’s concert ?
TMK started concert with “pavamAna” in madhyamavathi and immediately asked Tani to start.
Mridanga vidwan could not even align his sruti and he was still struggling to adjust the mike. Without knowing what to do, he cried.

10. Why Karaikkudi Mani gets more claps than TMK when both perform together
ATMK member – arE Bhai !!!! very simple, rasikas can understand what KM is playing !!!

11. Why Akkarai is always accompanying ?
Because she is the only rasikas who is showing akkaRai in his concert.
Non-tamilians – Akkarai is the place, akkaRai is Interest.

12. Why Dhanush was very happy after attending TMK’s concert ?
He understood the meaning of the word “kolai veRi di” (a recent blockbuster song_

13. Why nalli kuppusamy chetty walked about as soon as the Tani started.
Nalli asked TMK the following pallavi
navAratna pattu mukam unakku, navarasa vizhiyum unakku - (indicating the latest design of saree in nalli). TMK took some other pallavi.

Like these, there are some 100 jokes cracked mostly on TMK and few on Sanjay and R&G
Very interesting. I had a stomach ache after attending this (laugh-riot).

Malladi Brothers at Tatvaloka on 13th Dec 2011

Singapore Indian fine arts on 13th December 2011.

Mannargudi Eswaran
M.A.Sundaresan
Trichy Murali

Saint Thyagaraja in His kriti "etla dorakitivo" says -

pAda balamO peddalASeervAda
balamO suswarapu
nAda phalamO ....

it means

"Is it because of the might of Your holy feet? or is it because of the strength of blessings of elders?
or is it because of the result of (my Upasana of) Nada of melodious Svara "

Malladi brothers, undoubtedly, has all the three. Another brilliant concert by MBs. Almost 3 hours concert with RTP
despite the fact that the next day, they have a concert at vAni mahAl. It is the second concert of the December
season for them,

Singapore cultural association has conducted this programme at Tatvaloka, Eldams road. Yesterday was the last day of the
programme. This sabha had some excellant concerts like sashank, Gurucharan which I could not attend.

You will not stop appreciating that they planned at pallavi on the stage, rendered Spencer venugopal kriti and also sAranga
kriti in knowing that it is Singapore sabha and
Singapore is famous for Murugan temple. So, they had the pallavi as sinhapuri murugane, sivan magane, guhane"

Full crowd, being a small hall with less number of chairs, few of the old people were listening by just standing. Most of the
crowd remained till mangalam and gave a standing ovation.

jalajAksha- asAveri varnam - Lalgudi G Jayaraman

sri Raghuvara suguNaalayA - Bairavi -Thyagaraja and swaram in "the same line"

vasantA rAgam followed by eTlaa dorakitivO -ThyagarAja- Neraval in "pAda mahimo beddlar sri" and swaram.

DevagAndari rAgam followed by "Sri kAmakshi srilarAja tanaye sadAnanda hrudaye" -spencer venugopal. Spencer Venugopal
was present in the concert.

arunAchala natham - sAranga -Dikshitar.

Detailed MayAmAlava gowlai- vidulaku mrokkeda, mayAmALava gaula, Adi, Tyagaraja.

Ananda bairavi-RTP-Pallvi in "Sinhapuri murugane, sivan magane, guhane"- kalyAni, mohAnam, -Kanta jAti triputa talam tisra
nadai.

karpagAmbikai-Bilahari-Sivan.

sarvam brahmamayam-maduvanthi-Sadhasiva brahmendera.

Adi deva paramAtma - annamAcharya - Sindubhairavi

Mangalam.

asAveri set the mood of the conert. Mic system not co-operating for first 10 miuntes, they took a quick plunge into
bairavi and a flow of vasantha(m) started.

Rare kriti and neraval with the "punch" lines were poetic and then came Spencer's kriti. lAvanyam of kAmakshi was well
knit in the kriti. Initially, I thought it was Dikshitar kriti untill they announced the composer.

raag MM gowla as main was bit surprising. Traditionally, they take heavy weight rAgas as main. But sriram did full justice
in bringing the beauty of this rAga. Excellant rendition.

Anandha bairavi was short and on the spot pallavi in MLV style was praiseworthy

Sometimes. one has to take life as it comes. Coming Saturday, MBs are giving concert at Petachi with Trichy sankaran
EmbAr kannan and Dr.Karthik. Next day, 4.3o slot at MA with Varadarajan, Umayalpuram sivaraman Two concerts
at strategice places with great accompanists less than 24 hours time.

Excellant Tani. Violin is Ok. Somehow, Sundaresan could not play to his potential. He looked disinterested. He finished his
return quicker and only Ananda bhairavi saw some classics.

Also he was throwing his hand during tani with ohs, besh etc. I though he will hit ravikumar's nose.

Sikkil Gurucharan at Asthika Samaja on 10.12.11

Sikkil Gurucharan
Mysore Manjunath - Violin
Sri.Kamalakar Rao - Mridangam
B.S.Purushottaman - Kanjira

Venue- Asthika samajam, Alwarpet

Event- Sruthi Laya Kendra -founded by Sri.Karaikkudi Mani. This sabha presented Guru Surajananda Award to
Guruvayur Dorai and Gowri Manohari Award to Rajkumar Bharathi.

Despite the award function, the concert started at 6.35 PM !!!!.

Chalamela - nAttakurinji-Adi tAla varNam.

padhavini- sALaka bhairavi-Thyagaraja -swaram in "padhavini"

KalyAni- followed by kandEn kali teerndhen, karuNaik kadalai-nAn -Gopalakrishna Bharathi. Neraval in
"ninrEn sannidhi arugil"

mAkelara-jayanthasri- Thyagarajar-swaram in mAkelara

Main-mukhari- followed by kArubAru- Thyagarajar -swaram in "nelaku mudu"

Tani

avatAru raghupati -kamAs- annamAcharya

ChEndanai kandhanai- verse from Kandar alankAram- in Tilang, BehAg, sindhu bairavi followed by
"kandanin azhagil bhaktar mayakkam" in Sindhu bhairavi- composed by SurajAnandA and tuned by
Sri. T.S.KalyAnanarAman - Did swara bedham in Tilang-Behag.

pavamAna.

In a two hour concert, SK did full justice by giving a crisp kalyAni and detailed mukhAri. Mysore's return
in mukhAri is very good even clapped by SK.

Sri.KR's tani with BSP mertis mention. The verteran with Purushottaman gave 20 minutes quality-packed tani.

Other Info -

kARthik Fine arts - Bhavan's Mini Hall - Musicians living abroad (MLA) concert- I went through the schedule.
There was a concert where the Ghatam is by Sri. kuno Takaski from Japan. Anyone who knows this person's
background/guru can enlighten me. More importantly, I liked the "Sri" before his name in the pamphlet.

TMKrishna at Asthika Samajam Alwarpet on 6th Dec 2011

T.M.Krishna
Mridangam-Guru Karaikkudi Mani
Violin-H.V.Vinayakaram
Ghatam- Trichy Murali

Place- Asthka samajam- Guruvayoor Durai Trust.

TMK, being the first programme of this season gave a stellar performance. He along with GKM created an
electifying atmosphere. At times, you don't want to listen any other concert for few days after listening
to any live or recorded version. I felt this many times after listening MMI recordings.I had the ditto
feeling yesterday.

Tatva jIvatvam brahmani tatva kIvatvam - Sadasiva Brahmedral- Keeravani- swaram in "tatva jivatvam"

Alapana in Purvikalyani - "Tillai chidambaram enre"-Gopalakrishna Bharati

Mini alapana in jayanthasena followed by "vinatA sutavA" -Thyagarajar. Swaram in "mata bhAda manE"

Main-Harikambodhi- "enduku nirdaya evarunnArura" -Thyagarajar - neraval in "dharalO nIvai tyAgarAjupai" and
swaram.

Tani

marubAri tALalEnurA-KhamAs- PattAmirAmaiah.

Tandai tayUm nee, ennuirk kuyirum nee - verse form Thaymanavar on tirisiragiri (Tiruchirappalli)- dhanyAsi, mohanam and behAg
followed by "irakkam varAmal"- Gopla krishna bharati

Eppo varuvAro- Jonpuri- GKB

PavamAna-Mangalam.

First of all, this programme is on behalf of Guruvayoor Durai trust, Logo of Mridangam with GuruvAyurappan at the centre of
mridangam showed the mood of Astika samAjam

Second, the programme which was supposed to start at 6.30 started at 7 Pm and another 15 minutes for mike sytem. Till purvi
kalyAni kriti, TMK was complaining about the speaker/mic system. Result, the concert is for 2 hours.

The most irritating part is there had to be timelimit in praising each other. The rasikas are not present to see the award
function but purely to enjoy music. Even a moderate CM fan knows about Guruvayur Durai, Karaikkudi Mani or PSN. What is the
fuss in taking time and prasing each other.

After the function was over, there was a half a dozen youngsters bring a big bench for the artists to sit. After TMK said
"NO", they removed it and put a carpet for the artists to sit. So much of confusion. For a minute, I thought whether Tom
cruise had come to Asthika samAjam.

Additing to the woes, Even after the programme started, suddenly TMK got up and went go Durai and the latter put a shawl
and garland. After this, Karikkudi mani got up and awarded Durai. Man, what is happening ?

Interestingly, TMK brough 4 of disciples to accompany him with twin TamburAs. Seeing the crowd at the podium, I remembered
"Tiruvayaru crowd for pancha ratna kritis"

Once TMK is set, eveybody was in sheer joy of music. The breathtaking swaras in keeravani clearly started the mood of
the artists and rasikas. It was a full crowd and TMK never lost is tempo a bit. His high speed jayanthasena followed by a
slow and steady Harikambodhi was truly a memorable one, that to bringing SSI's famous "enduku"..

Tani by Karaikkudi mani- one line review- "the clappings lasted at least 2 minutes" which was not even for TMK in the
concert. As Durai summed up - "to praise Karaikudi mani, this "janmam" is not enough. You have to take another one"

Trichy murali definitely gasping for "return" and could not do any justification. The intricate "kanakkus" in mridangam
is always unique for KM. Other Trichy Murali was Ok.

Honestly, Iam listening violin by HVV, the first time. He definitely did justification in his return. Good show.

TNS for Brahma Gana Sabha at Petachi Auditorium » 06 Dec 2011 17:28

Sri.T.N.Seshagopalan
Mridangam - K.Ramesh
Violin- VV Ravi
Ghatam A.S.Murari


1)....Singing Ritigowla Swaram. Could not get the song/varNam.

2) Vinayaka - Hamsadhwani - Vennna Kuppaiyar - Hamsadwani- Adi
Swaram in "Paramakrupa sAgara"

3) Raag-Pantuvarali followed by "rAmanAtham bhajeham"- Muthuswamy Dikshitar. Actually, it is kasi ramakriya in Dikshitar term and he took
neraval in "kumAra guruguha viditam". This was in praise of rAmeswaram rAmanAtha swAmy.

4) Raag- kannada followed by "SonnAlum iyal manam kelAdhe" - "must be Oothukkadu"

5) sArasadala nayane - Saramathi- HMB.

6) Raag- Guharanjani followed by "Ikanethala" by HMB

7) Todi main followed by "Enduku dayarAduda"- Thyagarajar

Tani

9) vandu seruvar - sahana - kavi kunjara bharati.

10) "hE dayaluvA, hE krupaluvA - Prarthana abhang.

11) Oru pozhuthum- chakravAham- Tiruppugazh - Arunagirinathar.

12) pavamAna followed by "shriyak kAnthaya....srinivAsAya mangalam...."

It was Day 2 in BGS. Venue- Petachi Auditorium. BGS along with evergreen "nalli" conferred "gAna padhmam' on
Sri.Nagai muralidharan. TNS was in very good form and perfect sruit alignment, he gave a stellar performance.
It was almost 3 hours concert and he was energy personified. Just to mention, after he completed the pavamAna
and in the middle of shriyak kanthaya, he gave a 3 minutes madhyamAvathi raga alapana which showed the energy
this veteran has had.

Given a change he would have rendered RTP on that.

The venue was surprisingly half-full despite being Sunday. I was listening kannadA raaga after a long time

Guharanjani, as TNS explained is of 40% kuntalavarAli, 20% Harikambodhi and in daivatham, it touches nAttakurinji.
Interestingly, after TNS finished guharanjani and waiting for return from VVR, the latter could not get the rAga
correctly and after 30 seconds stopped and asked TNS to start the kriti...!!

Todi, home ground of TNS, saw some breathtaking "pudis" and VV Ravi's return was also equally good.

Tani was very well done by the duo.

Sanjay Subramanian at Music Academy on 6th October 2011

Sanjay Subramanyan
Neyveli Venkatesh-Mridangam
Varadarajan-Violin
Venkatramanan-Ganjira
Gnjira vidwan, is the descendant of Chittoor family

Event:Sanjay Subrahmanyan has been chosen for the Indira Sivasailam Endowment Award this year. Vocalist Sudha Ragunathan was the the first recipient of this award, instituted by The Indira Sivasailam Endowment Fund in association with the Music Academy of Madras.

Sanjay, in his speech, lauded the support received from accompanying artists and rasikas and journalists. Good gesture.
Ms. Mallika Srinivasan, Chairman of TAFE and daughter of late Indira Sivasailam had presided over the function.
SRD Vaidynathan, Sanjay’s Guru was also present for the concert. Sanjay was moved by his presence on this Vijayadasami day and he expressed this in his speech.
The list goes like this:

Sabhapatikku- Abhogi- GKB
PollA puliyinum-and swaram in “pollA” MayamAlava Gowla- Papanasam Sivan
SahAna alApana for 7 min followed by “Vandanamu raghunandana”- Thyagarajar
Ahiri alApana for 3 min followed by “mAyammA”-Shyama Sastri
Ranjani rAgam for 5 min followed by “ranjani niranjani”-GNB- neraval in “sanchita pApamella” followed by swaram.
kAA vAA – varAli-Papanasam Sivan
Main-kAmboji followed “SubrahmanyAya namaste”-MD
“Vizhikkut tunai”-verse followed by “saravanabhavamenum”-Shanmugapriya-P.Sivan.
Chinnanjiru kiLiye-BharatiyAr-rAgamAlika
“PoothavaLe" verse from Abhirami Andhadhi in raag kAnada, Oorile kAni illai”-verse from pAsuram in Sindu bhairavi & Adum mayilAi-Thiru mayilai padhigam in behag-followed by kalpagambigai nee allavo-behag-P Sivan
VandarulvAi sundari maNi- Karnataka behag- PattAmiramaiah
Mangalam-pavamAna & vAzhiya senthamizh.

Music academy podium was decorated with Green colour set in top and back and it was sort of “Go green”. Amazing to see so much of art work was carried out for an over 4 hours function by Sivasailam Trust. The invitation card itself showed the involvement of the team. High tea was served to all the visitors and there was a big crowd, being holiday, The hall was full at 5.30 itself and the concert started at 6.30 (After a long time 6.30 !!!!, in time)
Interestingly, a week back, Arun excello, where Sanjay performed, showing video presentation of their real estate projects before the concert and the rasikas got irritated and asked them to close the screening. Sort of Cinema theatre...news reel.....story.

No gimmicks, no tu toos, no Alattur type talakkattus, no complicated rAgas leaving the rasikas to debate- Sanjay presented another memorable concert. Few Somu “pudis” were observed in Kambodhi. Brisk Abhogi followed by fast “pollA”. He, as commented in his speech, took GNB composition and proved how he keeps GNB in high esteem.
kAmbodhi was a top class and master piece of MD (who will forget the Ariyakkudi-paramacharyAl conversation on this kriti) was rendered very well. But he finished abruptly for tani without swaram or neraval.
Violin – as senior vidwan told me once- “varadu” kku ellam “varudu” . “vArAdadhu enru onrum kidaiyadhu . kAlaiyum vAra mAttAn”. (varadarajan know everything, nothing like “unknown” and he will not let others down).
He closely followed Sanjay as “shadow” and proved him as one of the best vidwans today.

Tani is another class.

Ranjani & Gayatri for Arun Excello on 1st Oct 2011

Ranjani & Gayatri- Vocal
Charulata Ramanuja-Violin
Arun Prakash- Mridangam
K.V.Gopalakrishnan-Ganjira

Date-1st October 2011.

VENUE & OCCASION – Arun Excello, a Corporate giant is coming out with Real Estate construction activities in the outskirts of Chennai and in order to promote this, they had a 3 day programme coupled with Navrathri Celebrations. Friday night, TM Krishna was performing and Saturday was R&G and Sunday it was Sanjay.

Lady AndAl School-Harrington Road-Venkata subba rao hAll.

The list goes like this:

1.SorasUda- sAveri-Kothavasal V Iyer

2. saraseeruha(S) - nAttai -puliyUr duraiswami Iyer

3.HarikAmobdi-Alapana for 3 minutes followed by “enadu manam karuNai”- Papanasam Sivan

4.Amma rAvamma-Kalyani-Thiagarajar- Neraval and swaram in “sAmarasa dala netru, thyagarajuni mitru”

5.Hindolam Alapana by Ranjani followed by “nErajakshi kAmakshi”- MD

6.marive rekkava-mAlavi-GNB – (a brilliant mAlavi and well rendered by R&G)

7.Main- Bilahari followed by “ChAmundeswari pAlayamAm”- Mysore vAsudevachar
Neraval in “rAkA nishAkara sannibha vadanE rAjIva lOcanE” and swaram

8.Tani

9.“Tunga uttunga panirangame” – vasantA followed by “ninRum irundum kidandum”-a verse, from Abirami andhadhi in kApi, sindu bhairavi followed by “karunai deivame
kaRpagame”-P.Sivan“

10.Abhang-rAgam not known.

Mangalam

Excellent auditorium, acoustics and background settings and being a corporate show, extra lightings focusing the artists-it was a true class and R&G was in fine form on that day.

Being navratri, they took Goddess kritis from all composers and rendered with perfection. Started with Alatur style varNam, they immediately into the business, nAttai was presented with aplomb. Neraval in “sAmarasa” was truly outstanding and the exchange of neravals and swarams was well crafted.

The Hindolam rAga by by Ranjani or Bilahari by Gayatri was master-class. Each and every phrase was rendered with perfection. They have truly mesmarised the rasikas. They had the energy till the last Abhang. Breath taking “pudis” in abhang….no way to express the class. I have attended many concerts of R&G. Easily, this will be in my memory for long time.

Good sangatis in almost all the compositions, evenly paced. The rAga selection was likeable and kudos to R&G.

mAlavi I rememberd SSI’s “nenarunji” with LGJ- the breath taking way of rendering kritis and swarams- R&G tried and failed in between, missed the speed. !!

Charulata in violin was a big let down. Follow up of swaras, she could not bring out the speed or repeat the pattern. Sort of mixed bag. If she wants to perform better, she had to listen more and try to show the speed in her violin. Her performance was mediocre though she justified in her return, especially in Bilahari.

Tani-Arun does not bang or even shake his head while playing Tani. Bringing “sunAdam in his Mridangam by gentle tapping”-he is expert. Never failed to impress. Tani was good with KVG.

Ra

Ranjani & Gayatri singing Papanasam Sivan Kritis

26th September 2011- Narada Gana Sabha.

Smt Ranjani & Gayatri
Manoj Siva-Mridangam
K.V.Gopalakrishnan-Ganjira
Charulata Ramanujam-Violin

• SivakAmsundari-Mukhari
• Ninnarul Iyambalaguma-Pantuvarali- Neraval in “innal kootti inbam ooti”
• GowrimanoharA karunAkara-Gowrimanohari
• Sub-main in Raag Alapana in SAHANA followed by “Sri vAtAapi ganapatiye ” followed by swaram in “vAtApi”
• “KarpagAmbigai yundu- Sudha sAveri
• Main-sAVeri-followed by “kAmakshi gowri kAnchipura nAyaki”-Adi- followed by chittaswaram and neraval in “kAnchipura nAyaki”
• Tani
• rAmanai bajittAl- Maand
• sivagangA nagara nivAsini - punnAgavarALi – Adi
• srirAma jayamangalam -Madhyamavati
To Commemorate 121st Birth Anniversary of Papanasam Sivan, this was organised. The programme was supposed to have started at 6.30 PM, but started at 6.55 and promptly ended at 9 PM !! Kapaleeswarar Pancharatnam was rendered followed by conferring “Sivanisai Selvar” on T.R.Subramanyan by Sri P.S.Narayanaswamy.
I heard that R&G had been continuously performing for the 3rd day on Monday,, the first 2 days being in Bangalore. They tried to provide a good concert but duration was a real factor. I think Rasikas deserve at least 21/2 hours concert.
Brisk Mukhari ignited a good start followed by PantuvarAli. Mic system was not perfect and had to be adjusted before starting pantuvarli. The song was a replica of “Ninnu near nammi” type and showed how much Papanasam Sivan got impressed with Thyagaraja’s kritis.
Gayathri’s sahAna was a real treat. She brought all the nuances of this raga in her Alapana, though I expected “chittam irangAtha” came a surprise “Ganapathy” kriti in TM krishna’s style.
Karpagambikaiyundu is a new kriti. If someone gives the link of this kriti/lyrics, it is good.
Ranjani started with sAveri and somewhere she lost the “briga” aspect and Gayathri came to the rescue and finished it beautifully. kAmaksi is a wonderful piece and swara exchange was really good and it was rendered very well, a welcome song for Navrathri.
Tani was short and Ganjira was not audible till the tani. Mridangam volume was too loud from the beginning. Better these small issues get sorted out before the screen is lifted.
Violin- She played her violin within the precincts of the rAga and was really good. But, it is better to bring more “brigas” in the violin to make it real challenging for the artists.
Even for vAtapi, they referred the book which was intriguing.

TM Krishna at Narada Gana Sabha on 28th August 2011

TM Krishna on 28th August 2011.
R K.Sriramkumar-Violin
Srimushnam Raja Rao-Mridangam
Purushottam-Kanjira
The concert was at 11 AM. In memory of Veena SeshaNNA. The advantages of attending Sunday 11 AM concert are many, viz.,

-Have lunch and attend the concert. You have to just skip precious afternoon nap. For TMK, it is ok.

-No traffic jam, being Sunday.

-Afternoon concerts are always free.

-You can talk to stalwarts leisurely, if you have close proximity with them.

-If you don’t have AC at home (or want to save Electricity), napping in venue like NGS with full AC, on a Sunday, is like “vaikuntam” !!!

- the concert, if delayed, may continue to be performed for 3 hours since, normally, there is no programme after the concert. The next programme will start at 4 PM, evening session.

The list goes like this

“undedhi rAmudu- Thyagarajar- Swaram in “undedhi”
Thyagaraja palayasumAm- Gowlai-MD (Neraval and swaram in “Guruguha”)
Kriti-GamaAshrama-Seshanna kriti.
Sri rAmam-Narayana Gowla-MD-rAgam, swaram (no neraval)
tAva vibho-Yaman KalyAn (?)
pArukkulle nalla nAdu-baratiyAr
Mangalam kosalendraya-chencurutti, peelu,punnagavarali and nAdanamakriya.
Chencurutti-TillAna

When TMK is performing in front of senior vidwan, he should have started with a varNam or should have rendered a decent main rAga or done some justification in SeshaNNa Kriti, on whose behalf the programme was conducted.
All the three was missing. His NG rAga rendition was not ”A” class, not because of TMK, but because of rAga, he has chosen. Some of the rAga alapanas are like “swimming in well/tank” as SSI says. Some of the rAgas are swimming in sea/river. There is nothing in NG, chosen as main, for more than 5 min. Sriramkumar return was better than TMK.

Better rAga selection would have satisfied our “afternoon soul”. Good to see Sri.Nedanuri got up before he started NG.

I don’t agree artists referring to books/papers while singing the song. TMK referring papers for SeshaNNa kriti and for Barathiyar song. Somtimes comparisons are inevitable. I could not stop thinking of Sanjay rendering “Karashri” kriti at the same venue couple of months back without referring any paper.

GamanAshrama rAga alapana was not fuly justified. There is an RTP of Gamaashrama of Malladi brothers, Sri.Nedanurigaru must have been proud of his disciples after listening to TMK.

I still love going to TMK concert. His neraval in “guruguha” of Gowlai kriti and fast swarAs in Harikambodhi were a real beauty. Of course, the accompaniments, especially the tani of of SMR and Purushotam , was excellent.
Someone was telling this.

Good God Arunkumar was not accompanying in Mridangam, Otherwise, he will give some “Valentines Pallavi” and asked TMK to sing RTP with that pallavi. TMK also would have rendered.

I could not find TN Krishnan, when the concert started. Entered the hall at 11.15 and observed Sri.Nedanuri, Smt.Vijayantimala Bali and sabha secretaries. He must have left early.

Another advantage of afternoon concert is the duration. Even if it started late, it can continue. In NGS, the next programme was 4.30 PM. (That day eve, Ranjani & Gayathri was giving a concert). No need for TMK to shorten his concert.

Ironically, he was talking to some of the listeners half an hour after the concert. He could have rendered RTP (without Arunkumar pallavi !!!) in that time.
Another problem was with TMK –his pronunciation. He started “Undedhi RRRaamudu”. I did not know whether TMK was angry with Lord Rama. As the meaning goes- “It is indeed Rama only”. He did not need to stress the “R”. He should be careful or need to face the wrath of Anchaneya !!!

TMK needs to understand that his rasikas have big appetite for music.

Madurai Mani Iyer and Shammi Kapoor

I read an article in “The Hindu” on 18th August 2011 by Sunil Gavaskar on the Indian Cricket Team’s performance in England. Surprisingly, he started the discussion with Shammi kapoor, a famous Hindi actor, who passed away recently.

He was mentioning the enthusiasm and jubiliation, Shammji created in all his songs, through his dance and body language. He also added – “Even if I got out for a duck and returned to pavilion, by listening to his songs, I felt so happy and forgot my sorrows”.

Talking about Shammi kapoor, with my limited “Hindi songs” knowledge, his fantastic ability to render love songs on screen. The wild, the spontaneous, came through in fast-paced songs. Some of his songs “Aaja Aaja mein hoon pyar tera, Allah, Allah, inkaar tera” and “yahoo” song etc.

I never saw this actor standing upright in any of the songs ?!!!. Actually, thanks to Mohammed Rafi for rendering his golden voice in all his songs.

Who can forget the uninhibited, boundless energy and passion.. the flamboyance. The unfetted, uninhibited lover, who was at his best in comic roles, buffoonery, dancing, jiving, fooling around pretty damsels, came absolutely naturally to him.

When I see any of his songs in TV, I will not change the channel and wait for the songs to complete since I always get charged seeing his joy and jubilation in his dance sequences.

I was wondering whether any other person/factor made me enthusiastic/joy or happiness, I could not figure it out that time and left the thought as it is, then came today morning .....

As my morning hours, before I leave for office, are filled with prayers and listening to FM gold where between 7 AM and 8 AM, some carnatic music being played. Today, instead of FM gold, I changed to playing audio cassette of Madurai Mani Iyer (MMI). He was singing “KamalAmba”, a navavarNa kriti of Sri.Murthuswamy Dikshitar in the raga “Bairavi” and it started from the middle. It was soothing and I enjoyed his inimitable style of singing. When the turn of Swara started, as usual, he started his flamboyant “swara” delineation coupled with his inimitable “la la”, he also sang “Raaga” as swaram for a minute. It was spontaneous and wonderful that it made my heart filled up with energy and his soulful music made me ecstatic.

Then, I changed my question like this ? Is there any other person, other than MMI, who is wild, untamed, spontaneous and full of joy and charge the listener full of energy?

The answer was Shammi kapoor.

As MMI made my heart/soul dancing and Shammi made me, physically dancing..

Thank God to give some people who, by their action, give others value of their life.

nAda niranjan- Poojya Swamiji Ravishankar

Experience with Sri.Ravishanker-Nadha Vaibhavam.


It was a memorable sunday. As a person who physically visited that place and enjoyed that serene atmosphere, experience the musical journey and as a father whose daugther was one among 5700, I was, indeed, lucky.

I normally do not go to gatherings like this because Iam allergic to crowd. I enjoy listening to good music by laying on an easy-chair or going to a nearby sabha.

Saturday, my wife who had accompanied my daughter for rehearsal with the same team, thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere and insisted me to come on Sunday. So, I was there.

With 5700 musicians. 70% of them was less than 13 years from different schools in Tamil Nadu and other States like Karnataka, Andhra and Maharashtra, including Nagpur and Pune, creating proper logistics for all of them would have been possible only if it had been done by big Group or Government.

But Shri RRS with his sheer delegating power and Grace organised this. See some "impossibles" made simply possible "just like that"

a) 80-90 Pallavan buses arranged to pick the students and parents from the origin to destination and back

b) Krishna sweets provided food for all the students after the conert at their respective place. where they were sitting without unnecessary queue or
commotion.

c) Even bus drivers and assistant were given food.

d) The musicians were given snacks at the entry and also provided green bag to keep their chappals so-no confusion after the show.

e) There was a gap of 20 minutes after the 4th song so that the children can go to wash-room or have some snacks etc. In this meantime Tani avartanams and Shri Ravishankar's speech and honouring the big musicians who attended the programme.

Shri Ravishankar gave a soothing speech and made one point very clear- "when someone asked me whether it is possible to gave a musical gathering like this, I said why not possible if we have dedication and God's Grace ?". No wonder he succeeded in his attempt.

I could not stop wondering where video clips were shown, conducting a programme in colombo on 21st January, in the disturbed area, where some 28,000 persons were chanting Tevaram. Amazing. A person who conducted his Art of Living in Kashmir and Pakistan, nothing is impossible.

But, having got children togther in a particualr place and make them to sit for 3 hours togehter and conduct a programee requires lot of energy. Remember 1
Lac and odd crowd came to witness the function and no untoward incident or no continuous announcents except 2 (one child missing his mother and one person missing the camera.

Around 10,000 CDS were made with the songs and distributed to as many schools and also uploaded in a particular site so that those who could not get the CDs
can download. Only one rehearsal on the previous held in the same venue and Vijay siva's encouraging words, during the rehearsal. to the children after evey song was a delight to watch. For putting talam, he said "to put on one towel, if no towel, don't put" sort of.

Shri Ravishankar's 13 min yoga and his short speech for corruption free, health-fill India was a must for the crowd.

As Shri G.S.Mani pointed out- "we cannot get the sruti alighed with 4 people, keeping all the people together and singing a sruti-perfect programme
was because of divine's blessings thorugh Shri.Ravishankar. It is very true.

The songs

Sidhi Vinayakam- Dikshitar- Shamnugapriya
Anantamrita- Amritavarshini-Dikshitar
Nagumomu- Abheri
Mudhukare yashodha- Annamacharya
Venkatachala nilayam- Dasar
Ananda nadamAduvar- Neelakanta Sivan etc..

Thanks Almighty for giving me this opportunity...

Sikkil Gurucharan at Astika Samajam on 31.1.2011

Astika Samajam-Alwarpet arranged a series of concerts as part of Thyagaraja Aradhana
festiva and it was the day of

Sikkil Gurucharan
Tiruvarur Baktavatsalam
S.Varadararajan-Violin
Vakam Gopalakrishnan-Ghatam

The concert was supposed to be for 2.30 hours but delayed and started at 6.50 because TB arrived late. Sharp it ended at 8.50.

Nerenemmi-Kanada

ReJesina-Purnachandrika-PSI Swaram in Rejesina.

Raga Alapana-Kumudakriya followed by
"Ardhanareeswaram and Neraval in "Ardhanareeshwaram"-MD

Srirama Padama- Amritavahini-T

Main-Shankarabharanam-followed by "Enduku peddala"- Neraval in "Veda sastra" and swaram.-T

Tani

nALai varum enru- Chandrakauns-Madurai GS Mani

Iyal isai-Tiruppugazh-Desh-AruNagirinadhar

Mangalam kosalendraya-surutti followed by "Srirama JayamangaLam"

SGC managed to give full justice in raga alapana of both K.kriya and S.Bharanam. Unknown kriti in PSI added value to this though he was referring the book while singing this...

His Shankarabharanam was too good. Pleasure to listen "enduku", the best of T's compositions.

Special mention about Tani. Vaikam and Tiruvarur-I would say performed most of their concerts together. Sort of "Made for each other". Tani for 7 minutes was superb. A good Guru is identified by a good disciple. Delhi S.Sairam is one among many of TB.