Reflections

 The Chennai music season is at its peak and I have been fortunate to listen to few concerts and I have written about some of them. This year has also been a year of controversy. It is totally upto an organisation to decide how and to whom they give awards. In my opinion the music academy is just another Sabha and I don't understand why there is so much discussion on who they choose for an award. However I have an issue on how the person in question, T.M.Krishna, is being projected as a reformer who has brought about change in Carnatic music. I don't understand how singing about a controversial individual in an RTP or wearing a lungi or saying I don't have Bakthi is recognised as a reform. These are only attention seeking tactics. How does it matter as long as one is sincere to the art form and respects the audience feelings and what is the need to declare these things publicly? The other funny thing is few people gloating that there was overwhelming crowd for TMK's 9 A...

Margazhi is just 1 day away and the Chennai music season has mostly started over the weekend. While the pandemic has been a major set back and has significantly impacted the Sabhas and the number of concerts and the unpredictable December rain has been another deterrent, the music season has slowly been trying to limp back towards normal. Hopefully 2024 will be a better year in making significant strides forward! I had a precursor to music season on Dec 1st when I attended Karthik fine arts day 1 concerts of Ramakrishnan Murthy and Trichur brothers. While the concerts were good, there is nothing like the Margazhi experience when major Sabhas are in full swing, the canteens are buzzing and Mylapore is reverberating with rich music! I started the music season with a concert by Sriranjani Santhanagopalan at Sankara School, Thiruvanmiyur. Since I don't have the luxury of staying in the city yet, this venue was a pleasant surprise nearer home with a good auditorium and plenty of parking...

Sanjay's concert at Parthasarathy Sabha on 30/12 was a real delight. Though I have heard a lot about Sanjay, this is the first time I heard him LIVE. Sanjay definitely  has a unique style and his expression and exploration of ragas really stand out. I found the selection of songs also to be really attractive. There was one song for each of the Trinity and then there were 2 Bharathiyar songs. If "Karuna Jooda nammina" in Shri ragam was soothing, the  lovely lullaby "Chetashri Balakrishnam Bhajare" in ragam Dwijavanthi was simply amazing. "Manam vaitharul Thaaye" in Sankarabharam was a fulfilling main song. While "Sollavallayo Kiliye" in Ritigowla was still resonating in your ears, "Ethanai Kodi Inbam Vaithai" another Bharathiyar song left you really speechless. The RTP which was Rendered To Perfection, was again unique. I thought I had atleast 2 different ragams, the aalapane seemed to be Hamsanandhi but the pallavi at the end was...

It was Abishek Raghuram singing at Parthasarathy Sabha today. I googled to find out that he is a child prodigy with a good music lineage and has been rising in popularity of late. After the opening Varnam passed, the next song went like 'Virulavu o kedha'. It took me a while to get used to Abishek. The way he was swaying between the violinst and mridangist, who by the way where atleast 5 ft apart, like he was possessed, with his convulsions and contortions, I really thought he was in serious trouble and needed a bunch of keys right away. The audience was also finding it very difficult, as half the time it looked like he was speaking to the Violinist or the Mridangist. The audio guy for his part didn't know what volume to give him. At the end of the second song, it was figured out that he needed more than one microphone and he was given the same! The crowd was so much that the sabha guys had put additional chairs all over the place and moving out of one's seat to the r...

My second concert of the day was by Sikkil Gurucharan at Parthasarathy Sabha. From a veteran in the morning to a youngster who is just 30, I was somehow seeing two ends of the spectrum on the same day. With Umayalpuram Sivaraman on mridangam, T.V.K.Ramanujacharyulu on Violin and Giridhar Udupa on Ghatam, it was a high profile team accompanying Gurucharan. After the second song, Gurucharan announced that the theme he had chosen was popular raagas but less popular krithis. Based on Dr.Sivaraman's request , he had chosen a song on Sri Thyagaraja in the raga Kalyani to start off. The song goes like "Sri Madaathi Thyagaraja guru". After a quick "Vidajaaldura", the main song was set in Thodi, "Amba nannu Brovave". The renditions of Kalyani and Thodi were really power packed.  Dr.Sivaraman really has some magic about him. The Tani as part of the main song was exemplary, so much so that for a change, the crowd that usually leaves when the Tani starts, wai...

It was Christmas special today at Music Academy. The Violin trio of T.N.Krishnan with Sriram and Viji Krishnan at 9:15 am. I had missed their concert and Parthasarathy Sabha and marked this one as a must attend.    I had set the alarm in mobile but unfortunately didn't notice that it was for 7:30 pm!  I woke up around 8:45 am and had to really rush. By the time I reached the academy it was 9:25 am but the parking was full and I had to rally around to St.Ebbas school, which cost me another 15 mins. I found my way to the balcony at 9:45 am, as the hall below was full. I found the same seat I had sat in at Shreya Ghoshal's concert a few months back. First row corner seat with a good view and enough space to stretch my long legs. The first song was one of the Panchratna Krithis, "Endharo Mahanu bhavulu". There was an elaborate main song which I liked but failed to recognize. The maestro then spoke and he wished the audience a merry christmas and a happy new year. He eve...

I reached a bit early for the Priya sisters concert on Sunday evening, with the idea of listening to Carnatica Brothers and I was glad that I did. They were just starting their main song, which turned out to be Abheri yet again and it was indeed "Bhajare Maansam" two days in a row. This was my first Priya Sisters concert though I remember hearing them briefly on TV several years back. After the "Nera Nammi" varnam, and "Pancha maathanga mukha Ganapathi" which I later learnt from google is a regular at Priya sisters concerts, came two pleasing Tamil songs "Maalmuruga Shanmuga" and  "Arivaar yaar unnai arivaar yaar". The highlight of the evening, Tygaraja's "Enthara neethana", happens to be one of my favourites and it was presented to perfection and in detail, with niraval and swaram placed at "Seshudu shivunuki". The RTP which went like "Gowri manohari karunai puri", reminded me of the main song presen...

I reached the hall a little bit early for the 6:30 pm concert by Sowmya. The earlier concert was still going on and I found Violin maestro T.N.Krishnan speaking. He was apologizing for having come late to the concert and making the audience wait and for having to now rush the percussionists to reduce the "Tani Avartanam" time because of it. The audience was really moved. One of them shot back saying the wait was worth it but the maestro still didn't take it. This was the first time he had come late to a concert in his life and he felt really bad. It was a touching moment and I felt bad for the elderly gentleman. I had got into a good seat and this time there were no teenagers or over weight people around as I settled down for Sowmya to start. Sowmya presented 3 songs which were dealt with in detail, for 30 minutes or more. "Naan oru Siru Veenai" (Chakravagam as per google), "Bhajare Maanasa Shri Raghuveeram" in Abheri and the main song which went so...

When I entered the NGS mini hall at around 10 am, people were slowly trickling in and occupying the seats .I found a good one which I thought had a good view of the stage and sat down. As the crowd picked up, an obese gentleman chose the sit right in front of me and my bird's eye view became a bald head view.  From a tall teenager to a bulky middle aged person! Wonder how these people pick me. I moved to the corner seat and settled down. The concert started 5 mins earlier than scheduled and in another 10 minutes or so the hall was almost full and by 10:40 am , there were people around 5 or 6 people standing and listening to Nisha Rajagopal in a packed mini hall at at NGS.  ‎10:15 am on Saturday is not too early after all! I had been to Nisha's concert twice last year, at NGS mini hall and at the Music Academy. I was really impressed and I thought she had an  expressive voice, very good command over the octaves and a confident stage presence. I also liked her choice o...

It was Sudha Raghunathan singing at Parthasarathy Sabha on Thursday evening. I reached home a little later than planned thanks to my lovely wife and her work commitments and had to almost gallop my way to the Sabha. I did make some futile attempts in between to hire an auto. Every time I paused no auto would turn up and a few paces after I started moving an empty auto would just buzz past. In about 5 minutes I gave up as I was anyway only another 10 - 15 mins away! I found my way in, around 35 mins late and had to sit in a different seat than the one marked for me, to avoid the hassle of brushing past a long line of people and also in the good will of causing minimum disturbance to the already settled audience. Sudha was winding up a song and in a few minutes she started on "Etha Vunnara". Kalyani yet again this year! From the elaborate Alapana , I understood that this could be the main song and I had missed quite a bit. By this time I had started getting irritated with a ...

I had to battle the traffic to reach Vidhya Bharathi today for T.N.Seshagopalan 's 6:30 pm concert. I managed to reach just in time and hurried into a parking slot in the one of the lanes. As I sat down the curtains were just going up to reveal the smiling maestro and his accomplished team,  M.Chandrasekaran  on the Violin, Mannargudi Eswaran  on the mridangam. The concert started off well with the varnam Ninnu kori followed by "Rajagopalam bhaje". The maestro then started of on the aalapana of Khamas , recognized thanks to the popular "Broche va" in movie Sankarabharanam. And what and aalapana it was! the kalapana swaras just seemed to be flowing endlessly. It was as if he was making garland after garland out of the swaras and offering them to Lord Vishnu. "Sarasa Dhala nayanaa sankata haranaa" was the song. I have always loved Khamas and this composition and the rendition were sublime. The next song was the third song in Andal's Thiruppavai,...

I had not heard about Pantula Rama till I saw her name in the Parthasarathy Sabha donor pass. If a renowned Sabha gives her a day 1 prime slot, I assumed she would be good. I also came to know from her profile on the net that she has been around for sometime and holds a PhD in Carnatic music. When I entered the Sabha, I found the Chief guest who happened to be some Swamiji talking and there were many old people listening with rapt attention. Uninterested I loitered around for a while till it was announced that Unnikrishnan would speak. P.Unnikrishnan, the carnatic singer, has been awarded the title "Sangeetha Kala Sarathy" this year by Parthasarathy Sabha. It was an interesting speech interspersed with subtle humour. He remarked that at one point he was on the pitch both in music and cricket but he was glad to have chosen the right pitch - music. It was also good to listen to Unnikrishnan speaking about the current challenges today's musicians face with changing tastes....

I have heard a lot about Aruna Sairam but I have never heard her sing. I took my season ticket at Parthasarathy Sabha this time but they had almost everyone except Arun Sairam. Given my interest to see other Sabhas as well this time, I decided to buy a ticket for Aruna Sairam's concert at one of the other Sabhas. It turned out to Krishna Gana Sabha which was the only venue I knew apart from Academy where Aruna was singing this time After a sumptuous lunch and a nice siesta, we got through the T.Nagar traffic and ended up just in time for the 4:30 pm concert. The curtains raised and revealed the smiling face of Aruna Sairam. An artist with a pleasant demeanor, she maintained an excellent connect with her accompaniments and her audience throughout. The concert started with "Margazhi Thingal" from Andal's Thiruppavai. An apt and impressive song to choose considering it was the first day of Margazhi. I found it intriguing given my liking for Andal, Lord Krishna and T...

In my attempt to explore the music season and cover all Sabhas, I found myself at Vani mahal on Saturday 15/12 morning. The first concert was by Saralaya sisters. Google told me that they were students of Balamuralikrishna who had been around for quite a while and were invited by MS some 20 years back to sing a song.  When I walked in there were only 2 other people in the auditorium which seemed to have a capacity of 200 to 250.  Wonder how artists feel when the curtain goes up and there are less than 10 people in the auditorium including the 5 on stage. I guess 10 am on Saturday is too early a start, the count did go up considerably by 11 am. However I did feel bad for the artists as the curtain went up but they didn't show much reaction, maybe they are used to this! The concert started off with a Padha Varnam by Dr.Balamurali and was engaging. I recognized Pantuvaraali (Sarasaaksha) as they started the aalapana, thanks to my repeated hearing in the 80's of a K.J.Yesudoss...

Yesterday I woke up to the fact that the music season is no longer Maargazhi music season or December music season or Madras Music season for that matter. With Bharathi Vidya bhavan and a few sabhas starting their programmes in November and first week of December, it is now the "Chennai music season"! Somehow I had always associated this with Margazhi and I failed to notice that Singapore Indian Fine Arts in collaboration with Carnatic Radio, had started their music festival in Tattvaloka, Teynampet, an auditorium few minutes away from my place. I was casually turning the pages of the sunday Hindu and suddenly noticed that there was a free Malladi Brothers concert that evening happening very near by.  I searched kutcheris.com and realized that I had missed a few good ones in the past few days - likes of Sowmya, Gurucharan. However I was glad at the propsect of listening to Malladi Brothers. I went in 30 minutes ahead so that I could get a good seat and an youngster by name...

Chennai is getting ready to welcome the mystic month of Margazhi. There is a sudden chillness in the air as Margazhi approaches which is a welcome break from the otherwise hot Chennai weather but that is not the only thing about Margazhi. It is time for the music season which has become some sort of an identity for Chennai over the last few decades. The weekend news paper is loaded with advertisements from all the major Sabhas and there are a dozen or maybe even a score. While all the Sabhas try to get the popular artists and all the stars try to accommodate every Sabha, the good thing is there is also a lot of encouragement for youngsters. There are free 2 to 3 free Kutcheri slots every day in the schedule where the new comers are given a chance and many of them have made it big. I listened to some of them last year - Nisha Rajagopal, Amrita Murali, Sandeep Narayan and I am glad to note that some of them have advanced to the evening slots this year. I listened to Nisha Rajagopal ...

It has been raining continuously in Chennai from thursday evening thanks to Cyclone Thane. I braved the downpour and made it to the Music Academy along with my family for Nisha Rajagopal's afternoon concert. I expected to just breeze through and get a parking slot at the academy which was not the case. By the time I parked at St.Ebbas and walked back in the rain, Nisha was into the aalapana for what was most likely her second song. The ragam reminded me of some popular Ilayaraja songs. I learnt later that it was lataangi. Conscious of the canteen closing time, we had headed straight to the canteen. After taking a took at Iyengar's elaborate menu, a special one at that - with urulakezhangu vadhakkal, paavakkai pitlai and so on, I smacked my lips, rubbed my hands and sat down. As the items were lined up one by one, I noticed that the crowd was pretty good despite the rain and ankle deep water on the floor. As I started eating, Nisha started on "Pirava Varam vendum" thr...

‎2 concerts at the academy today .. had a good lunch and then briefly heard the violin maestro TN Krishnan wind up before settling down for Sandeep narayan's concert.. The guy next to me at lunch was still at vatha kozhambu when I finished, that too after 3 or 4 appalams and 2 rounds sambar and he muttered to me "130 roobaikku onnum perisa illaye". I walked away with a smile. after all it is such characters also who make the sabha experience interesting Sandeep narayan who has let go of the NRI tag to become a full fledged carnatic musician was impressive .. took a strong coffee in the break and followed it with Amrita murali which made it back to back concerts yet again ..Amrita dealt with Akshaya linga vibho in detail which was heart warming .. however made the mistake of staying till the end, the whole area goes mad before the 4:30 pm concert and I could not take my car out .. So took a short walk to Parthasarathy sabha and had some snacks .. badam halwa and kuzhi pa...

was at 2 concerts today .. concert 1 - Nisha Rajagopal at NGS was like a breath of fresh air, the maama next to me kept prompting the raagas as she moved from charukesi to dhanyasi and so on and took Rama Rama Guna seema which I was told was a Swathi thirunal composition in Simhendra madhayamam as the main piece .. Claps at regular intervals and an overflowing crowd with 20 odd people standing in and outside the mini hall showed her rising popularity.. the poli, bhajji, coffee combination at gnanambiga afterwards was good but didn't make so much impact after such a fascinating concert! concert 2 was Malladi brothers at Indian fine arts .. I realised that when a duo is singing there is lot more scope for creativity which makes the concert more vibrant. Umayalpuram sivaraman on mirudangam made the concert lively and the viiolinist was also good. They sang one of my favourites - sogasugaa mrudanga thaalamu .. the guy next to me this time was sunil raj, so no raaga prompting though ......

Making good use of maargazhi .. what a month! after some delicious food over the last few days, I think the liking for carnatic music also rubbed on or should i say re ignited .. listened to an old bombay jayashree CD on the way to office. the rendition of Kanden Kanden seedhayai was really touching . Coming back to food, was at NGS today, Venpongal with gosthu was simply heavenly. Finished for the day with a crispy onion rava dosa and a strong Coffee :-)