Margazhi Musings 2019: Sandeep Narayanan

Date: 9^th Dec 2019 / 18:30 Hrs

Venue: Srinivasa Sastry Hall, Mylapore

Team: Sandeep Narayanan, Ramakrishnan (Violin), Traivandrum Balaji (Mridangam), Chandrasekhara Sharma (Ghatam)

Sannidhi Academy of Music and Arts is conducting music festival for two days (9^th and 10^th Dec 2019) at Srinivasa Sastry Hall, Mylapore. This is a historic building founded in 1905. It houses Ranade Library on the ground floor. If you want to look at the “Dictionary of Slang and Colloquial English” by Henley & Farmer, this is the place. This has about 8000+ books that belong to the worlds of 1800-1900s. The reading room is quite popular with the neighbours who come to take their quota of daily news. This library was started on Brodies Road (the present day R.K.Mutt Road) before moving to this permanent building on Luz Church Road. The first floor hall called Srinivasa Sastry Hall was opened in 1955 to facilitate lectures and meetings. Sastry happened to be the Vice-Preisident of the association. Many would know him as “Silver Tongue” Sastry. I understand many CA coaching classes and other training sessions do happen regularly.

Let’s move to the present-day music. I have seen this hall hosting many music concerts for the last few years. One must admit that this hall was not built for hosting concerts. It is out and out a lecture room with no permanent fixtures. The chairs can be arranged and moved freely. Moreover, the hall is in need of major renovation. Within the constraints, it has been spruced up as much as possible. To remind the rasikas, the acoustics is not that great. The advantage is that you can find your own vantage position in the hall and decide to sit or stand. Some rasikas took compelte liberty by moving the plastic chairs across the hall as they pleased thus metamorphosing the hall into a Minotaur's Labyrinth. Another challenge is that it would be difficult to sit on these chairs for more than an hour at a stretch. The only salvation lies in the quality of the concert and Sandeep didn't disappoint a bit.

It was an ensemble cast with Sandeep Narayanan. This was the first time I attended Trivandrum Balaji’s. There was a sizable crowd that filled up that hall. Thankfully, the introductions were crisp. Sandeep started with a brisk Kalyani varnam “Vanajakshiro ee virahomorvane” of Ramnad Srinivasa Iyengar. He took to Anandabhairavi in “Kappathuve unathu baram” and showed his touch of mastery. A Sarasangi kriti of Ramaswamy Shivan (elder brother of Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer) “Neekela Dayarathu” was next.

Balaji was trying to sort out his Mridangam till now. Somehow, he looked a bit unhappy with his choice. Perhaps, he wished he had brought another one! Ramakrishnan was at his best. Chandrasekhara Sharma was a great team player. If one plays an instrument like Kanjira, Ghatam or Morsing that is considered an Upapakkavadhyam, one needs to be patient to understand how the violinist and mridangam players interpret the vocalist and then be prepared to dazzle. Sharma always peps up the concert like Aniruddh. The fact that he is the nephew of the legend Vikku Vinayak Ram speaks about his illustrious lineage.

The concert that was a tad sedate, till now, began to blossom now. When the rasikas heard Sandeep starting an alapanaa of Kambhoji, there was an immediate pleasure pervading the entire hall. A gamaka oriented heavy raga, it offers immense scope for the singer to experiment. Recall Sirkazhi Govindarajan’s “Arupadi Veedu konda” in the film Kandan Karunai tuned by K.V.Mahadevan. The only question was which kriti would be the chosen one. The wonderful “Maa Janaki cetta bataga” came out. Niraval, as expected, was at “Rajaraja vara Rajivaksa” and showcased Sandeep’s extraordinary mastery over the swaras. What a lilting composition! Balaji too joined in the symphony having finally found the right rhythm. Ramakrishnan let his violin speak on the various dimensions of Kambhoji.

There was an eager anticipation after this song. Given a 2-hour concert, we can only talk of 2 kritis for detailed exploration. So, there was space for just one more. What would that be! An out-of-the-world alapanaa of Simhendra Madhyamam was served in its full splendour. Ramakrishnan gave a tough fight to Sandeep. “ninnE nammitinayyA shrI rAma” of Mysore Vasudevachar was the chosen one. Maharajapuram Santhanam’s rendition of “Asainthadum Mayil” of Oothukadu Venkata Kavi is still the reference for this beautiful ragam. Sandeep’s came as close to this indeed. Kalpanaswarams came at “Neeraja netra” and tested Balaji to the full. Balaji did full justice during the tani.

A beautiful Tulsidas kriti starting with “gOpAla gOkula vallabhI priya gOpa gOsuta vallabham, caraNAravindam aham bhajEvajanIya suramuni durlabam” followed. Is this in Vallabhi?

He wound up the concert with a Niroshta Thillana composed by Madurai T.N.Seshagopalan. A standing ovation was the fitting response to a fabulous concert. All the pains, arising from the uncomfortable chair and surroundings, were forgotten!

  

Ambience: *

 Vocalist: ***

Accompanying artists: **

Raga of the Concert: Simhendra Madhyamam

Overall: ***