T.N.Seshagopalan @ Ananthapadmanabhaswamy Temple, Chennai

Venue: Sri Ananthapadmanabhaswamy Temple, Adyar, Chennai

Date: 26 Feb 2007

Vocal: Sri T.N. Seshagopalan (TNS)

Vocal Support: Sri T.N.S. Krishna (TNSK)

Violin: Sri V.V. Ravi

Mrudangam: Sri Trichur C. Narendran

List of songs:

1) aparAdamula nOrvA – rasALi – Adi – thyAgarAja

2) sAdinchanE – Arabhi – Adi – thyAgarAja

3) sArasAksha – pantuvarALi – Adi – swAti tiruNAL (ANS)

4) chEtasri – dwijAvanti – rUpakam – muthuswAmi dIkshitar (A)

5 ) gAnamUrtE – gAnamUrti – Adi – thyAgarAja

6) pankaja lOchana – kalyANi – misra chApu – swAti tiruNAL (ANST)

7) bhajarE yadunAdam – pIlu – Adi – sadAsiva brahmEndra

8 ) tillAnA (tanam tAra dirana?) – behAg – Adi – ??

9) vijayagOpAlatE (mangaLam) – suruTTi – Adi – nArAyaNa tIrta

10) sriya kAntAya (slOkam) – srI

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

The concert which was supposed to start at 7PM started at about 8:10PM (TNS was apparently stuck in traffic). It was a long wait for all those who had assembled in the packed hall in Sri Anantapadmanabhaswamy Temple and by the time TNS started, most seats around me had become vacant. However once TNS started, his magic took over to give me another one of those great experiences of listening to him sing. The mami who sat next to me compared TNS to the flute wizard Mali who also used to come in late to concerts but used to capture the heart of rasikas once he started playing.

TNS began with the fast paced “aparAdamula nOrva” and “sAdinchanE”. The pantuvarALi alapana that came up next was beautifully executed in true TNS style. The father-son duo of TNS & TNSK, with some good support from Sri V.V. Ravi and Sri Trichur Narendran, took the concert to a totally different level during the kalpana swarams in the kriti “sArasAksha”. Its always a great experience hearing them both at work. The detailed dwijAvanti alapana that lasted for about 15 minutes was a real treat to the ears. Sri V.V. Ravi played a short and sweet version of the same. Just when I thought that “chEtasri” was the main song of the day and that TNS would launch into neraval and kalpana swarams, TNS ended the song and moved on to sing “gAnamUrte” which led me to speculate on a possible RTP. A beautiful alapana of kalyANi followed next and Sri Swati Tirunal’s composition “pankaja lOchana” was sung with neraval and kalpana swarams at “sundaratara rUpa”. TNS sang a tillAnA whose words I couldn’t get properly as the entire tillAnA got drowned in the sounds of “nadaswarams” and “tavils” coming from the temple procession that was happening outside. The fact that the hall had poor acoustics didn’t help either. TNS finished the concert with a mangaLam in suruTTi and a slOkam in srI.

Three TNS concerts in three days …. life’s good.