From: aravind@cbnewsh.cb.att.com (rangarajan.aravind)
Newsgroups: rec.music.indian.classical
Subject: concert review
Keywords: seshagopalan
Date: 13 Apr 92 04:12:26 GMT
Organization: AT&T


 A Review of a Concert by T. N. Seshagopalan 

(The carnatic vocalist T.N. Sehagopalan is currently on a US tour,
accompanied by G. Chandramouli on the violin and Neyveli Narayanan on
the mridangam.  This is a review of a concert given today, April 12, at
Rutgers U. in New Jersey.  )

Seshagopalan is clearly an artiste of exceptional calibre.
In his four-hour-long concert, he was, in one word, "irrepressible".
Blessed with almost unlimited energy, a voice that can (convincingly)
span ~2.5 octaves, and a bottomless fount of ideas, he is like a river
in spate.  

He opened his  "recital" today with a slow and measured rendering of
Dikshitar's Maha Ganapathim, in Nattai.  This was followed by Telisi
Rama (Purnachandrika, Thyagaraja) in a much faster tempo.  In both
songs, his swara sequences showed his prodigious imagination
and his control over the tala cycle.

He then embarked on an alapana of Poorvikalyani, which was marked again
by intriguing darts of vakram - only this time without swara
enunciation.   My hunch that he would then render the classic Meenakshi
Memudam was proved right - but the song was prefaced by a sloka, also
extolling Meenakshi of Madurai, that I had never heard before. (By the
way, he is a Madurai native).  His swaras alternated with
three speeds, slow tisram, chatusram and fast tisram.  

Next were two short items - one by Bhadrachala Ramadas, Rama Bhadra in
Anandabhairavi, and the other, a verse from the Kamba ramayanam,
"Annalum Nokkinal" in Hameerkalyani.  (The concert flier said that he
has given an entire concert with pieces from this Tamil poem).  The
verse was sung in a way that the first line functioned as a pallavi.

Next came an alapana in a rare raga, Vijayasaraswati.  (He said it was a
creation of Muthiah Bhagavathar).   The raga is a (pure) janyam of
Simhendramadhyamam - Sa Ga Ma Pa Da Ni Sa; Sa Ni Pa Ma Ga Ri Sa.
The Da appears to be very weak; I could only discern its presence from
a chittaswaram in the middle of the krithi, Saranam Vijaye by
Muthiah Bhagavathar.

He took up Mayamma (Ahiri, Syama Sastri), which was sung with bhava, at
a slow tempo.  Following that came Thyagaraja's Banturithi, sung at a
blistering pace.  (This was probably in one of the many request slips
that had made their way to the podium).  The swaras accentuated the
sharp notes of this raga. 

It was now nearly three hours into the concert, and time for the main
piece - a Ragam-Thanam-Pallavi in Sankarabharanam.  The raga alapana
was mellow for a little while, and I particularly noted a Ga-Pa-Ga-Pa
sequence which seems to belong more to Bilahari but somehow sounded "at
home" here.  Of course, the briga passages followed, and then the tanam,
again at a blistering pace.   The Pallavi started out in 5-2-2 Talam
in 4-Kalai, for which swaras were sung.  Then he shifted to the more
conventional 2-Kalai, and sang more swaras after rendering the line at
different speeds.   Then followed a great ragmalika swara sequence -
Bahudari, Hindolam, Behag, Nilambari and Kaapi. 

The Mrudangam Thaniavarthanam was played, after 3.5 hours of music, and
I had no more energy left to concentrate ...

In conclusion, I would say that in addition to prodigious musical
talent, Seshagopalan is also blessed with *intelligence*.  His
repertoire is evidently very large, and he is not afraid to try the
unconventional  - witness the Kamba ramayanam selection.
On the flip side, his voice is quite thin, occasional transgressions of
sruthi are audible (the ga in Purvikalyani and Sankarabharanam sounded
a trifle "sharp" at times) but I'm willing to overlook these, because
there is so much "stuff" in what he projects.

He is indeed a most difficult vocalist to accompany, and Chandramouli
showed that in today's concert.  His playing was throughout very
restrained.  Unfortunately for him, Seshagopalan asked him to wind up
the swaras in Banturithi, and the tempo was, as noted earlier,
blistering.  
I could say "enough critiquing" whenever I felt like it, 
but poor Mouli had to be literally on his toes the entire 4 hours.   
On the whole, he did a fair job, given the amount of
energy and concentration needed to follow Seshagopalan.  


-Aravind

PS my internet address is    aravind@vax135.att.com       .This is
different from the address on the header of this message.