TN Seshagopalan @ Narada Gana Sabha, Chennai

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

Date: 15 Nov 2006

Organizer: Gurukrupa Trust

Occasion: 129th Jayanthi Celebration of Sri Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar

Theme: Sri Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar Compostions

Vocal: Sri T.N. Seshagopalan

Vocal Support: Sri T.N.S. Krishna

Violin: Sri M. Chandrasekaran

Mridangam: Sri Guruvayur Dorai

Ghatam: Sri T.V. Vasan

List of songs:

1) manamOhanA (tAna varnam) – mOhanam – kanDa aTa – harikEsanallUr muthiAh bhAgavatar (O)

2) srI mahA gaNapatE – malahari – rUpakam – harikEsanallUr muthiAh bhAgavatar (AS)

3) mAtE malayadvaja (daru varnam) – kamAs – Adi – harikEsanallUr muthiAh bhAgavatar

4) teliyaka nE – husEni – rUpakam – harikEsanallUr muthiAh bhAgavatar (A)

5) amba alankAri – bEgaDa – misra jampa – harikEsanallUr muthiAh bhAgavatar

6) kripAnidhE – hamsanAdam – misra chApu – harikEsanallUr muthiAh bhAgavatar (A)

7) mAnamu kAvalanu – sahAnA – rUpakam – harikEsanallUr muthiAh bhAgavatar (S)

8 ) sharaNam vijayasaraswati – vijayasaraswati – Adi – harikEsanallUr muthiAh bhAgavatar (A)

9) ikanE tALa jAlanurA – guharanjani – Adi – harikEsanallUr muthiAh bhAgavatar 

10) srI rAmA kOdanDarAmA – bhairavi – kanDa tripuTa – harikEsanallUr muthiAh bhAgavatar (ANST)

11) mAvUr vaLam – sindhubhairavi – Adi – harikEsanallUr muthiAh bhAgavatar

12) dhIm tArE nArE nArE (thillAnA) – hamsAnandi – Adi – harikEsanallUr muthiAh bhAgavatar

13) jaya mangaLam nitya – vasantA – Adi – harikEsanallUr muthiAh bhAgavatar

 

(Key: O=raga outline, A=raga alapana, N=neraval, S=kalpana swaram, T=taniavartanam)

What a beautiful concert it was !!! TNS was in great flow almost throughout. After a slightly off color start with a not-up-to-TNS-standards rendition of the mOhanam aTa tala varnam manamOhanA, TNS did a beautiful malahari raga alapana. mAtE malayadvaja was rendered with a lot of involvement. I could enjoy it and appreciate the composition more after attending his lecture on Sri Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar in Bangalore sometime back. The husEnI alapana was also a detailed one with both TNS and Sri Chandrasekaran excelling in their versions of the same. TNS sang hamsanAdam as it was supposed to be sung in the olden days i.e., as a janya of the raga neetimati with the ArOhaNam-avarOhaNam S R M P D N S – S N D N P M R S. Again, it was a gem of an alapana.

The concert started more than 30 min behind schedule again due to a felicitation ceremony and as a result TNS had to rush a bit through the main composition for the day, the bhairavi kriti. It would have been better had the concert started at say 6:30PM and went on for 3-4 hours. This would have given TNS time to pack in a few more rare compositions into the concert.

The percussion support was provided by seasoned vidwans Sri Dorai and Sri Vasan. The taniavartanam they played in kanDa jAti tripuTa tALam was a crisp one.  It was so much on the mark that it looked like a well prepared one and didn’t seem at all like they were improvising there.  Sri M. Chandrasekaran on the violin, as usual, was in fine form and was very appreciative of all the artistes on stage throughout the concert.