Review of Sanjay Subramanian's concert for Indian Fine Arts, December 2015.

(Another version of this appeared in The Hindu December 25, 2015)

Sanjay Subramanian is one of those artistes who lose themselves completely in their singing. From the opening phrase, it was clear that the Bhairavi alapana would be a long-drawn affair. The celebrated vocalist took time to anchor himself in the raga, and then, entrapped in his own wild imagination, he raced around randomly within Bhairavi, like a caged tiger. The vocalist’s eclectic learning was evident from the multiple shades of musicians of yesteryears, notably Chembai and D K Jayaraman. When he stood on an incredibly long karvai on the upper shadjam, an amazed audience applauded heartily. The outcome was a Bhairavi extremely rich in manodharma, though less-rich in aesthetics.

Not many accompanying violinists could have played in step with such an imaginative Bhairavi, but veteran Nagai Muralidharan seemed to have no difficulty in matching Sanjay’s brilliance. When the violin’s raga sketch ended, as mridangist Srimushnam Raja Rao was tapping the drum to check sruti alignment, and the audience was waiting eagerly for Sanjay’s choice of the song, the singer surprised everyone by beginning a tanam. He was aware of the effect he produced, for he was all smiles as he sang ta-nam, setting it to Adi tala and going through tala exercises, thisram, kantham and all that. Raja Rao seemed to be only happy to be kept busy.

Then followed a pallavi that began half a beat before the start of the tala cycle. The lines ‘un darisanam kidaikkumo Nataraja’, made for a very enjoyable pallavi and the only disappointment was Sanjay did not get into multi-raga swaras. Raja Rao and Kanjira artiste K V Gopalakrishnan, played a sweet tani.

Earlier, the opening bars of Sanjay’s another alapana showed it to be a vivadi, but singer quickly ended speculation by announcing the name of the raga—Vanaspati. A vivadi is always an aural treat and Sanjay produced an enchanting one. After the alapana, replied in measure by Nagai Muralidharan, Sanjay picked up Vanadurge Vanaspati, choosing the Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar’s composition over the more famous Thyagaraja work, Pariyachakamaa. Vanadurge seems so rare that a google search threw up only one other rendition of it, by violinist Nellai K Viswanathan. The song has some chittaswaras and it was interesting to note Sanjay singing the vivadi note, suddha gandhara, with a gamaka, which made it sound like sadharana gandhara. That Sanjay did not tail the song with kalpana swaras was a big disappointment—swaras help popularize rare ragas better.

Sanjay’s other biggish offering was Dhandapani Desikar’s Dharmavati piece, Arulvai Angayarkanniye, and a good part of the alapana was delivered in Sanjay’s typical ‘mouthful-of-marbles’ style. Dikshithar’s Suruti Navagraha Kriti Angarakam, Saint Thyagaraja’s Sahana composition, Evasudha and a javali in Kannada language, mataada baaradeno, were the other elements of the thoroughly enjoyable concert.