Sanjay Subramaniam accompanied by R. K. Shriram Kumar on the violin, Arun Prakash on the mridangam and Aarti on the tanpura/tambura gave an impressive concert on Oct. 22 at MIT. It lasted over 3 hours and I didn't see even one person leaving the hall despite the lateness of the hour.
The songs rendered were (a - AlApana, n - neraval, s - swarams) 1) erA nApai - todi varNam - Adi - patNam subramaNya ayyar 2) nenarunchara - simhavAhini - Adi - thyAgarAjA (s) 3) kamalapada - harikAmbOji - Adi - papanasam sivan (as) 4) upacAramula - bhairavi - rUpakam - thyAgarAjA (ans) 5) gAngEya - hamIrkalyANi - adi - swAti tiruNAL (as) 6) innamum tAmasamEn - dEvamanOhari - Adi - vEdanAyakam piLLai 7) RTP - sankarAbharaNam - chatusra ata tALam (tisra nadai) "samAnamA sabhapatE sadAsiva, sakalaulakamE unakku sari (samAnamA)" 8) "mAnAda..." - rAgamAlikA viruttam 9)tillai sthalam - SAmA - Adi - gOpAlakrishNa bhArati 10) kAkkai siraginilE - dEsh - Adi subramaNya bhArati 11) tillAna - kamAs - Adi - rAmnAd SrinivAsa ayyangAr 12) iyal isai - husEni tiruppugazh (chanda tALam)The concert was well balanced in terms of choice of rAgAs, tALAs and composers. I was very happy with his offer of the rarely sung kritis in harikAmbOji and hamirkalyANi. One could see Sivan's mastery of the Tamil language and the rAgA harikAmbOji in each and every line of kamalapada. It also showed how even in the common Adi tALam, one can incorporate a variety of rhythmic features by effectively using eduppus, nadais etc. Perhaps this is an indication of the excellence of kOnErirAjapuram vaidhyanAtha ayyar, who was admired a lot by Sivan, in the laya department and his influence on Sivan. (There was a posting on this great maestro (KVI) on the net recently.) I hope Sanjay continues to render this song and help it achieve the popularity it richly deserves.
On a slightly different note, this song seemed to bristle with literary devices such as yadhukais. One of my friends pointed out that this was composed when Sivan was younger and he eschewed such features in his later compositions. Perhaps this could be an interesting thread to discuss.
The choice of the sedate hamirkalyANi piece as the "main piece" (meaning the one in which the tani was performed) was quite interesting. Neither Sanjay nor Shriram resorted much to the fast pace, very much in accord with the lakshaNA of the rAgA. The final kOrvai (tadinginathOm) in the swaraprastAra sung by Sanjay was very appropriate in its use of a janta swara like pattern at slow tempo.
The accompanists really provided very good support and it could be clearly seen that they acted as a team. They also seemed to have a generally good time on the stage, as evinced by their cracking jokes and smiling/laughing. I would like to pick out the melodious AlApanas in sankarAbharaNam and hamir kalyANi by Shriram for special mention. Arun Prakash's miSranadai interlude during the tani was particularly pleasing.
The pallavi was one sung by DKJ among others (though DKJ sang it in a different tALA) and was very impressive. Both Sanjay and Shriram performed trikAlam neatly. One noteworthy point of the RTP was that the artist did not dilute the effect of sankarAbharaNam by latching on a string of rAgamAlika swarams.
On the whole the concert was a very rewarding experience to those who did attend it. For those who did not, I would recommend trying to get a copy of the recording (the audio system was handled very professionally by Sri Venkatachalam and co: - I am sure this would have ensured the recording is of excellent quality!). You may get a copy by contacting Sankar Sunder ([email protected]).
Ramana
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