As mentioned in the previous post, having 2 good vidwans' cutcheri on the same day is a bad idea. Both of them being heavy singers (I mean the content delivery) on their day, will be a bit of over dose to the listener like me.
Sanjay finished his concert by 7.13pm. It’s good to see he has a good fan following. It was evident when almost 50% of the audience left the hall soon after the concert got over. Thanks to Ramanathan Iyer for calling the audience in the balcony to occupy the seats in the ground floor just before the Sanjay’s concert started. This atleast made the ground floor look occupied. Now the audience strength in the ground floor is just around 200.
TNS started the concert by 7.30pm with sarasi ruhAsana priyE. (TNS sang all 'Devi' kritis, that day being Friday could have been the reason) Followed by an alapana which started off like sri, went to nAyaki, madhyamAvathi and atlast settled in sri. I suggest the artistes announce the raga names like they do in AIR. This is to stop the audience flutter. Like Sanjay, TNS also took too long to finish the alapana. I found a lot of people in the audience becoming restless. The brilliant MuthuswAmi dIkshithar kriti Sri Varalakshmi followed the raga alapana. Sorry I missed out Chandru.
Chandru was his self as usual. He drives across a strong message that TNS is one of his preferred musicians today. Chandru thoroughly enjoys playing for TNS which I have noticed in almost all the concerts they were on stage. My opinion Chandru leads the small list of violinists of today capable of accompanying TNS. What I mean by this is that - capable of understanding what TNS is singing and reproducing it immediately. There are violinists who certainly play as good as Chandru and the likes but when it comes to be an accompanist one should have an extra skill which is lacking in most of them today. This is applicable to all the accompanists today. Chandru's essayed Sri ragam well. TNS completed the kriti without singing kalpanaswarams.
People started moving towards the exit doors. Yes its 8pm now. The artistes will but our audience will never let us down. When the clock strikes 8pm they all will start for their home. Please don’t blame them. They would have been advised by their physicians to take the medicines and food in time. So it’s the responsibility of the organizers to respect this happening. And plan the concerts accordingly. Have this is mind to the end of this post!!!
TNS started hamsAnandhi raga after Sri. He phrased, sang, elaborated, essayed – hey am running short of words and he is not stopping it. OMG he is still not finished the raga AlapanA. Abba atlast he turned to his left and saw Chandru, lighting struck and woke him up to remind that he has to give Chandru a chance to play. Chandru as usual played a neat hamsAnandhi raga giving kriti suggestive phrases. Alas again the often beaten pAhi jagaj janani of Swathi Thirunal. The lesson for me is – don’t listen to too many TNS concerts. No doubt a good kriti, TNS renders it well. But law of marginal diminishing utility prevails here. After a combat with his accompanists, TNS sang ShyamA sAstri’s brova vammA in mAnji immediately. A short, sweet mAnji made us yearn for more. This is what one should do to pull the audience back.
A surprise sprung up in santhAna manjari of MD. This was also a welcome piece in between long, chowka kala kritis (slow paced songs).
Hey there are only around 100 people in the audience and its 9.10pm. I was actually expecting Mannargudi Easwaran to start the thani Avardhanam. Yes till now I didn’t mention about MAE. You know why? He was in perfect sync with TNS and elevated the mood of the listener. MAE never made me grimace by making unwanted noise in between the kritis or raga Alapana.
I wanted to mention a habit which I condemn – most of the mrudangists will start aligning the shruthi when the violinists start playing the raga alapana or at times even when the vocalist is singing the alapana. It’s 1. Disrespect to the artistes 2. Bad on stage manners / etiquette. if they don’t have a respect for that artiste better not accept the concert rather than bully others.
Sorry for digressing. As this is not a review and my experiences, I take this liberty of straying.
Ok, the time is still 9.10pm as I had put the stop clock on hold. TNS zapped me by starting khAmbhoji raga Alapana. I always had a grouse with TNS. Of the 150 odd concerts of TNS I have listened to, I have heard khAmbhoji only in 3 concerts. Hence I said zapped. The way TNS started the raga delineation was just brilliant. TNS showed a different face of khAmbhoji to me. I was looking for the popularly known features but they were conspicuously avoided. I was expecting TNS to complete the rAga Alapana in about 10 minutes. To mine and audience’s dismay TNS didn’t. When TNS finished his Alapana its was near 9.30 with about 50 people fragmentally present in the hall. OMG what is Chandru doing there? Suddenly folk music was flowing in the hall. Yes Chandru started playing some lok sangeeth!!!!! Atlast TNS started a not so popular syAma sAstri kriti devi sri in a chowka kAlam. I looked at the clock, it’s 9.40pm and my stomach started pinching me. But my stupid principle didn’t allow me to leave the hall. Sorry I can’t say anything more, and already dying of hunger. Suddenly a sabash from TNS woke me up, when MAE started the thani avarthanam.
After MAE I heard kanjira sound. Yes Sundarakumar was sitting behind, how come I didn’t notice him rather hear him. By the time the thani avardhanam was over it was 10.10 and TNS started something like ‘sharade’, I’m deafened due to hunger. Broke my principle and left the hall towards the Woodlands eatout in the car park of Narada Gana Sabha. Yes this concert was held at NGS. I was with my friend Mr. Raghavan. Both of us were given a dosai with sAmbhar. No chutney or any other side dish. We ordered for one more dosa and a cup of coffee. Sorry am very sleepy. Catch you later after rejuvenating with some fresh air and music.
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