A Thrilling Experience - Sanjay Subrahmanyan

Enthusiastic and renowned Carnatic vocalist Sanjay Subrahmanyan presented a fabulous concert in the company of violinist S.Varadarajan, mridangam artist Palladam Ravi and kanjira artist ALathur Rajaganesh on the 15th of December. This was one of the very few concerts that started on dot at 6pm, thought the concert extended till about 9.30pm.

 

The concert kicked off with the ‘Vanajakshi’ varnam in Reethigoulai, followed by ‘Sama geetha Priyan’ in Goulai. The swarams in the anupallavi were quite interesting. The next song was ‘Nee daya che rama’ by Thyagaraja in Yadukula Kamboji. He sang kalpana swarams in the charanam in two speeds which were very nice. Sanjay seemed to be in full form! One could see a lot of children sitting on the dais and listening to the concert with great fervor.  

 

Next, he rendered ‘Saraswathi Namosthuthe’ in Saraswathi by G.N.Balasubramaniam. The alapana for this song was completely breathtaking. The hall was jam – packed and most of them had to sit down, or on the steps of the stage, or in the pathway. Phew! I had to stand for two FULL hours of the concert since there was no free seat available. Next, he sang ‘Naadadi maata ne’ in Janaranjani by Thyagaraja. The alapana contained great flights of imagination of the singer. The alapana by the violinist was also very vigorous and equally good. The neraval was done at ‘Thala ku vaachina bhaga’ and displayed a lot of flashes of brilliance. He sang swarams after the neraval in two speeds. They were really exhilarating. Though there were a very few places where the shruthi was lost, it was overshadowed by his brilliant swarams. Next was ‘Mayamma yani’ in Ahiri by Shyama Sastri. It was rendered really well. After that, was ‘Kanmaniye solladi’ in Saranga by Mazhavai Chidambaram Bharathy. There were two tempting seats in the first row and I went and sat down there. After two hours of standing, my legs seemed to completely welcome this. Next he moved onto the Ragam-Thanam-Pallavi in Karaharapriya. The ragam was splendid, filled with a lot of brihas and was sung with complete and tremendous breath control. The violin was really good. Then, he moved onto the thanam. The violin for the thanam, too, was mind-blowing. Though it started off very slowly, it later acquired great speed. Sanjay sang the fast pace with immense awesome-ness and the shifting of one not to another was very complete too. The thanam was very vigorous, when suddenly he gave a gap and sang ‘Thaaaanum’ softly, as though beckoning to a child. It was really beautiful. The pallavi was ‘Takadimi tadim endru natanam aadinar natarajan’. The talam was first in Adi 4 kalai, but eventually moved onto Tisram, 2 kalai Adi and Adi. Though he made a slight mistake in the talam, he hid it tactfully by appreciating the violinist’s competitive playing. He then sang the swarams in Tisram and 2nd speed, which meandered on. After this, was the thaniyavardhanam between Palladam Ravi and Alathur Rajaganesh, which was really nice and very competitive. 

 

Sanjay is one of the very few artists who have no paper in front of them to peek into. I feel this is a very laudable virtue. He then moved onto a vritham – ‘Shruthvaa gunaan bhuvana sundara’ followed by ‘Karunaa Nidhaan’ in Charukesi. He then sang ‘Mannupugazh kosalai than’ as a request from one from the audience, in Suddha Saveri – Vasantha – Saranga – Yadukulam and Neelambari. There were a lot more shouts of requests from the audience which he politely refused by offering to sing a concert next year, full of songs of the audiences’ request! Next he sang ‘Pagaivarukku arulvaay nal nenje’ in Maandu – Jodhpuri – and Behag. Last but not the least, he sang a vritham followed by ‘Kaana vendaamo ayyanai?’ in Sriranjani by Papanasam Sivan. He then concluded the concert with the mangalam, with no gap, immediately after the previous song as the concert had already extended much. Sanjay was awarded with a standing ovation from the audience and the applause from them didn’t die for a long time!

 

Tamasaa.T.T.