Sanjay Subramanian @ Bharat Sangeet Utsav 2006, Chennai

Venue: Satguru Gnanananda Hall, Narada Gana Sabha, TTK Road, Chennai

Date: 03 Nov 2006

Organizer: Carnatica (Bharat Sangeet Utsav 2006)

Vocal: Sri Sanjay Subramanian

Violin: Sri S. Varadarajan

Mridangam: Sri K. Arun Prakash

Khanjira: Sri K.V. Gopalakrishnan

List of songs:

1) sarasuda (varnam) – sAvEri – Adi – kothavAsal venkatrAma iyer

2) anudinamunu – bEgaDa – rUpakam – rAmanAtapuram srInivAsa iyengAr (NS)

3) rAmA lOkAbhi rAmA – bhairavi – kanda chApu – krishnasAmi ayyA (ANS)

4) ennadu jUtunO – kalAvati – Adi – thyAgarAja

5) saraguNa pAlimpa -kEdAragOwLa – Adi – rAmanAtapuram srInivAsa iyengAr (AS – main)

6) pArengum pArtalum – kalyANi – Adi – ghanam krishna iyer

7) OhO kAlamE – sahAnA – Adi – vEdanAyakam piLLai

8 ) vizhikku thuNai (viruttam) – kApi

     shanmuganE siva – kApi – rUpakam -nIlakanTa sivan

9) jAnAti rAmA tava (viruttam) – mAnD

     rAmanai bhajittAl – mAnD – Adi – pApanAsam sivan

10) Adum mayilAi uruveduthu (viruttam) – behAg

     karpagAmbigai nI allavO – behAg – rUpakam – pApanAsam sivan

11) nijagAdasA – sindhubhairavi – Adi – jayadEva

12) teruvinil naDavA maDavAr (tiruppugazh) – suruTTi – chatusra dhruvam – aruNagirinAtar

13) pavamAna (mangaLam) – sOwrAshtram – Adi – thyAgarAja

I think Sanjay Subramanian is singing in Chennai after a long gap; the last concert, if I am correct, being at Sri Krishna Gana Sabha in early September this year. I had been longing to hear him live ever since coming to Chennai but hadn’t got a chance as he was busy giving concerts outside India.

Sanjay always delivers and today’s concert was no exception. He seemed to be in full form from the word go. anudinamunu was so beautifully sung. The sangatis for the pallavi line themselves were so beautiful. bhairavi raga alapana was crisp and so well executed. Sanjay’s rendition of ennadu jUtunO in this concert is the best I have heard till now. The kEdAragOwLa alapana and kriti were also very well sung. The effect got from the pause given at the end of anupallavi in this kriti and the subsequent start of the charanam (satadrutu pUjita) was a very good one. However, the kalpana swaram almost abruptly ended. Use of a korvai would have provided a better ending but might have had the effect of compromising on the melody, the raga being kEdAragOwLa.

If Sanjay was awesome, so were all the other artists on stage, especially Sri Varadarajan on the violin. The taniavartanam was played in chatusra and kanda nadais. Sri K.V. Gopalakrishnan was able to reproduce the kuraippus played by Sri Arun Prakash very well.

Towards the end of the concert, Sanjay sang a lot of his usual thukkada pieces. The post taniavartanam portion of the concert was an extended one consisting primarily of viruttams and thukkadAs and it just left many in the audience (well, at least a group of people sitting to my left) wondering if a ragam tanam pallavi would have provided a fitting finale.