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.