Venue: Parthasarathi Swami Temple, Triplicane, Chennai

Date: 14 May 2007

Organizer: Arulmigu Parthasarathi Swami Temple & Parthasarathy Swami Sabha

Vocal: Vid. T.N.Seshagopalan (TNS)

Violin: Vid. B. Ananthakrishnan

Mrudangam: Vid. Mannarkoil Balaji

Tambura: Vid. Vaidyanathan

List of songs:

1) sAmaja varadA – sudha sAvEri – rUpakam – rAmanAthapuram srInivAsa iyengAr (OS)

2) kUDArai vellum – pUrvikalyANi – misra cApu – ANDAL

3) gOvardhana giridhara – hindOLam – Adi – nArAyaNa tIrtar (AS)

4) pArthasArathi nannu – madyamAvati – rUpakam – rAmanAthapuram srInivAsa iyengAr (NS)

5) kshIra sAgara – dEvagAndhAri – Adi – tyAgarAja

6) ugram vIram mahAvishNum (viruttam) – tODi

    ADi ADi aham karaindu (viruttam) – tODi

    paLLiyil ODi vanda tan siruvan (viruttam) – tODi

    nInE doDDavanO – tODi – Adi – purandaradAsa (AST)

7) shanka chakra gadA pANE (& other shlOkAs) – rAgamAlikA (jOg, valaji, aTANA?, bAgEshwari, bEgaDA, chandrakauns, sAmA, darbAr, hamsAnandi, rItigauLa, nIlAmbari, bauLi, shubapantuvarALi, shankarAbharaNam, shivaranjani, mAND) ***

    bArO krishnayyA – rAgamAlikA – Adi – kanakadAsa

8 ) annavayal pudhuvai ANDAL (viruttam) – maNirangu – uyyakkonDAr

    mAri malai muzhainjil – maNirangu – misra cApu – ANDAL

9) vangakkaDal kaDainda – suruTTi – misra cApu – ANDAL

10) swasti prajAbhyah paripAlayantAm (shlOkam) – shrI

11) sriya kAntAya (shlOkam) – shrI

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

*** There could have been more ragas in the ragamalika in 7). I managed to note down only these. I think I have almost covered the entire set sung. Each of the phrases in a particular raga were sung for only about 5 seconds and he just shifted from one raga to another very fast.

Being a die-hard TNS fan, I was looking forward to at least three hours of pure bliss upon seeing this concert listed as starting at 6.30PM in the morning papers, instead of the usual 7PM. Upon entering the temple, I came to know from an acquaintance that TNS had a train to catch at 9.15PM, had hence asked for an early 6.30 PM start and would wrap up before 8.30PM. The actual concert however hardly lasted an hour and a quarter. Had I not known TNS had a train to catch, I would have been thoroughly disappointed with such a short concert.

But even within such a short time, a TNS fan could get glimpses of the multi-faceted maestro. Though his raga alapanas were much shorter than his usual portrayals, he seemed to extract the essence of the ragas and give it to rasikas to enjoy. For example his tODi alapana lasted for just 4 minutes in place of the usual 30 min to 1 hour essays but had all the punch packed within that short time. He also sang many verses from the works of Vaishnavite saints, especially from the Thiruppavai, during the viruttams [ex: viruttam in 7) above]. Hearing the tODi alapana and “vangakkaDal“, one of my favorite verses from Andal’s Thiruppavai (in the raga suruTTi), made my day.

Looking forward to longer concerts of the maestro once these ‘dry’ summer months get over.