review of concert of Madurai TNSeshagopalan on9-4-2007

Review of the concert of TNS at the Musiri chamber of music.



I was a little upset in the beginning due to my inability to sit on the floor in front like Ram did and also because of the fact that the artistes were not at all visible clearly due to the diffused light in the hall,in which, normally concerts used to take place in broad daylight, I beleive. But the moment TNS started singing Mayamalavagoula and "Merusamana that could move the mountains" ( thanks Arasi for the coinage) I was raised slowly from the earthly discomforts and all of a sudden found myself up in the clouds as though transported by a jetplane. When we landed back( I say "we" because this feeling was shared by other rasikas who were with me.) we were left dazed, stunned and wonderstruck.

The concert was a layalahari from the start which was enhanced by Sangithakalanidhi TKMurthi who accompanied on Mrdhangam and MASundaresan who played the violin. The svara to 'Merusamana' of Thyagaraja was short but expressed expertise.After 'chandrambaja,' one of the navagraha krthis of Dikshithar, the day being a Monday, there came a beautiful Saranga followed by 'NeevAda nE gAna' of Thyagaraja as expected, with a similar short and sweet svara as in Mayammalavagoula.

Next came a surprise! 'Enthaveduko' of Thyagaraja, a forte of Musiri. The way TNS sang this made one remnisce of Musiri and the music of Musiri school, coming from the voice of Seshagopalan, nevertheless with the unmistakable stamp of TNS along with it, is a rare treat that could be expected only in the Musiri chamber of music.

After this TNS sang 'brovavamma' of Shyamasasthri in manji, which proved what TNS said earlier, during the annual conference of the Music Academy last December that manji has got a definite profile(moonji).


Then it was the nayaki krthi of Thyagaraja, the raga which always received rich nourishment in the hands of TNS and what followed was the exquisite abheri, the raga which was shaped, groomed and dressed rich to resemble a celestial dancer . In the end of the alapana the closed mouth singing finished the decor and then flowed the heavenly 'nagumomu' of Thyagaraja. The svaraprasthara was as usual at 'jagamele paramathma ,' following a fantastic neraval and it resembled AbheerinAtya (kuravaiyAttam).Sri TKMurthi and Sri MAsundaresan ably supplying the pakkavAdhya which was pakvavadhya.

The thani that followed was splendid with Sri TKMurthy on Mrdhangam and Aniruddh Athreya on kanjira after which it looked as though the mani part of the concert was over but no! What followed next was the unexpected, amazing (not amazing with respect to TNS but only regarding the time of its inception.) a double barrelled , double decker and double creamed RTP of Anandhabahiravi-sindhubhairavi.(it was not double raga pallavi with poorvardha in one raga and uttharardha in another but a pallavi sung in two ragas. simultaneously and hence the above adjectives! ) I have used so many qualifying phrases because it was Anandha(tthEn) sindhu(m)bhairavi.It was amazing in the sense the transition of one raga to another both in raga alapana and svaraprasthara was very quick but smoothly blended with the masterly strokes of a creative genius.It left the audience dazed, stunned and wonderstruck with its incredibility which feeling continued even after the javali "marulu konnadhira' in kamas, and a bhajan of Tulsidas in bahiragibhairav(or revati of carnatic) and the thiruppugaz in hamsanandhi which itself was a delight by the play in gathi, and it took a long time to come back to earth even after the landing like that felt during a jet-lag! He is not a mere sangithakalanidhi, a treasure trove of music but an inexaustible mine of music.