Category Archives: Music

Sanjay Subrahmanyan’s Concert

I went to Sanjay Subrahmanyan’s concert at Sivagami Pethachi Auditorium yestereday. I had called the previous concert as one of Sanjay’s best. Now I am at a loss for words to describe yesterday’s concert! Should I call it one of his ‘bestest’?!! It was sheer pleasure to attend such a wonderful 3-hour concert after a long time!
Here’s the complete list of songs sung by Sanjay:

1. Nadathanumanisam – Chintamani
2. Raghunayaka – Hamsadhwani
3. Geeti Chakra – Kannada
4. Arulvaai Angayarkanniye – Darmavati
5. Aadum Deivam – Kambhoji (Main piece)
6. RTP – Hamsanandi
Pallavi: Karuninchara – Ragamalika (Sahana, Saveri, Suddha Danyasi, Nalinakanti, Bhahudari)
7. Pagaivanukku Arulvai – Ragamalika
8. Kulam Tarum(Viruttam) – Ragamalika (Shanmugapriya, Behag, Sindhubhairavi, Sama)
Narayana Nalinaayaka – Sama
9. Ganta Mani – Kanada
10. English Notes – Sankarabharanam
11. Mangalam – Sowrashtram

Accompaniments:
Varadarajan – Violin
P. Satish Kumar – Mridangam
Bangalore Rajasekar – Morsing

The Kannada raaga alapana that he sang before singing the Dikshitar krithi ‘Geeti Chakra’ was superb. Incidentally, that happens to be one of my favourite songs sung by Sanjay! The joy of hearing your favourite singer sing your favourite song in a kutcheri is something that cannot be described in words!
The Kambhoji alapana was so beautiful that it left you wishing that he would sing it for some more time (It was less than 10 minutes in duration). The Pallavi ‘Karuninchara’ which he sang in different raagas and that too in the tune of popular krithis like Énta Nerchina, Manavyala and Brova Baarama, made it even more enjoyable.
Varadarajan, on the violin, was excellent as usual. (Since Varadarajan plays for both Sanjay and TMK regularly, I think I would have attended more number of Varadarajan’s concerts than Sanjay’s and TMK’s). Bangalore Rajasekar on the morsing and Satish Kumar on the mridangam, made the Tani Avartanam a thoroughly enjoyable one.

Guru again!

I am going to write yet another post on ‘Guru’. On Sunday, CNN IBN showed an exclusive programme on the music of Guru. Mani Ratnam, Gulzar, A. R. Rahman, Abhishek & Aishwarya spoke about the music and clippings of the songs were also shown. One song which was completely left out by all of them was ‘Baazi Laga’. When even some hard-core Rahman fans themselves are saying that Baazi Laga is one song that is not upto Rahman’s standard or something like that, I wonder why not even a single word was mentioned about that in the programme.

Roja Jaaneman

Though I have known for a long time that there is a version of ‘Roja Jaaneman’ (‘Kadhal Rojave’ in Tamil) sung by Hariharan, I happened to listen to it only this August. I immediately got hooked on to it. There have been times when I have listened to this song continuously for more than ten times! Hariharan’s voice has added even more beauty to this superb composition by Rahman. Yesterday it struck me all of a sudden that it has been more than a month since I listened to it! I immediately played the song and listened to it for 3 times. That is the magic of Rahman’s music. Even though you have listened to his songs ‘n’ number of times you will still want to listen to it again and again and again!

T. M. Krishna’s Concert

I went to TMK’s concert on Sunday at Vani Mahal. Here’s the complete list of songs he sang:

1. Varnam – Navaragamalika
2. Gnanamo Sagaraada – Poorvikalyani
3. Sri Kumaara Nagaraalaye – Atana
4. Seethapathe – Kamas
5. Ehi Annapoorne – Punnagavarali
6. Kripajoochutaku – Chaya Tarangini
7. Kathikeya Gangeya – Todi (Main piece of the concert)
8. Smarasundaraajuni – Paras
9. Sarvam Brahmamayam – Madhuvanti
10. Vasudevasutam Devam – Ragamalika (Sahana, Bhairavi, Kambhoji, Kalyani, Mukhari)
Balakrishnam – Mukhari
11. Anri Ulagam Alandaai – Sindhu Bhairavi
12. Mangalam – Sowrashtram

Accompaniments:
R. K. Shriramkumar – Violin
V. Kamalakar Rao – Mridangam
Anirudh Athreya – Khanjira

It was yet another wonderful concert by TMK. A special mention has to be made about Anirudh Athreya who was very good on the Khanjira.

T.M.Krishna’s Concert

I went to T.M.Krishna’s first concert of the season at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan yesterday. Here is the list of songs that he sang:

1. Varnam – Kedaragowlai
2. Seshachalanayakam – Varali
3. Dorakuna – Bilahari
4. Vinaraadana – Devagandhari
5. Nadachi Nadachi – Karaharapriya
6. Sevikka Vendum Ayya – Andolika
7. Pacchai Maamalaipol (viruttam)
Janaki Ramana – Kapi
8. Talalenura – Kamas
9. Manasa Sancharare – Sama
10. Mangalam – Sowrashtram

Accompaniments:
Guru Karaikudi R.Mani – Mridangam
Ramanujacharyulu – Violin
V.Suresh – Ghatam

The more I listen to him sing, the more I seem to like his singing! He sang the Bilahari alapana followed by the kriti Dorakuna and then the swarams for the same so excellently that I thought this would be the best piece of the concert. But, the Nadachi kriti in Karaharapriya that soon followed proved me wrong. ‘Sevikka vendum ayya’, which he sang after someone in the audience asked him to was also superb.
The audience gave the longest applause for the tani avartanam that I have ever seen! In the end, TMK requested the audience to be seated while he sang Mangalam. They left only after he finished singing it. It reminded me of TMK’s request to the audience in a concert at Music Academy during the last season when he asked the audience not to leave in the midst of a song or during the tani avartnam. They gave respect to his words and as soon as every song got over, one could see a large group of people getting up and leaving!

December Music Season

It’s that time of the year again when there are so many concerts happening in every nook and corner of the city that you will end up being confused as to which one you should attend that day! No wonder Madras is the place-to-be for a Carnatic music rasika in the month of December!

I went to the concert of Sanjay Subrahmanyan yesterday at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. It was one of Sanjay’s best concerts! He started the concert with my favourite ‘I Vasudha’ in Sahana. I just loved the Harikambhoji and Hamirkalyani alapana. Sanjay was accompanied by S.Varadarajan on the violin, Srimushnam Raja Rao on the mridangam and Coimbatore Mohanram on the ghatam. Each one of them gave a thoroughly enjoyable performance. Thank God I didn’t miss the concert yesterday!

‘Guru’ Music

Being a very BIIIIIIG fan of Mani Ratnam and A.R.Rahman, the first thing that I wanted to do today was to get the CD of ‘Guru’! But it was raining so heavily that I could go & get the CD only at around 12. From the time I got it, I have been listening to it continuously! The music is, as expected, excellent! There surely is nobody to beat Rahman!