COOL AND BREEZY - Sandeep Narayan


COOL    AND   BREEZY


Sandeep Narayanan  : Vocal
B.Ananthakrishnan   :  Violin
Poongulam subramaniam Mrdngm
S.Sunilkumar.            :   Kanjira
Kalyani Viswanathan   Tambura

Sandeep Narayanan commenced his concert with a rare varnam composed by  Shatkaala Narasaiah in Pantuvarali "Saami ninne na pai" with a shower of swaraas. It was literally "Swara mazhai" with the violinist presenting a beautiful Pantuvarali.
Muthuswamy Dikshithar's Gowlai raga krithi in misrachapu talam "Sri Maha ganapathi (r) avathu maam.."  was energetic.
The next one in the agenda was Thanjavur Sankara Iyer's "Balasubramaniam paadhame thunai.."in a rare ragam Vishnupriya a janya ragam of 32nd Mela ragam Vivardhini. The delineation and the violin re-play were very nice.
A short and sweet Papanasam Sivan  song "Theril yerinaan" in Kalyani was captivating.
Then came an elaborate Khamas. Mysore Vasudevachar's "Brocheva" was the main item followed by an energetic thani aavarthanam. The exploration at”Aatura muga karirajunu brochina..” was quite good.
Gopala Krishna Bharathi's "Varuga lamo Ayya” in Maanji was soothing for the ears.
Then came Ramanathapuram Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar’s “Thaana Thillaana”, which has the sahithyam first and jathi next
Taradhipanana dasaratha thanaya sadaya ninnu nammi Sri Rama
Smitha Mukha Sridhara Srinivasa nannu brovomu. This is set to Lakshmeesa thaalam. Very nicely presented.
Another beautiful item was a composition by Thulasidas in rag Vallabhi.”Gopala Gokula Vallabhi priya Gopago sutha Vallabham…” was the number presented. Then came a mesmerizing Madhyamavati. Papanasam Sivan’s “Karpagame Kann paaraai” was captivating. The concert concluded with a mangalam.
On the whole the concert was cool and breezy.

 About the Author:


SHANKAR VENKATRAMAN, a practising company secretary by profession, hails from a family with musical lineage. On the maternal side, his mother’s great grandfather Nemam Subramania Iyer was one of the last disciples of Saint Thyagaraja Swamigal. His maternal grandfather Nemam Nataraja Bhagavathar was the disciple of Mahavaidhyanatha Sivan and an Asthana Vidhwan of Sringeri Samasthanam. His son “Kalaimaamani” Prof N.S.Ramachandran was the Director of different  Kendras of All India Radio and the  Dean and Director of Music Department, University of Delhi. He had composed many kruthis out of which “Sri Chandrasekhara Yatheendram Aashrayae”on Sri Kanchi Paramacharya in Sankarabharanam popularized by Dr.M.S.Subbulakshmi and “Sree Maha Ganapathae..” in Aabhogi an evergreen hit of M.L.Vasanthakumari are very popular.

Shankar Venkatraman’s father (Late) K.V.Venkatraman, son of Kanjanur-Kottur S.Vaithyanatha Swamy Iyer was an ardent devotee of Sri Kanchi Paramacharya and had served as the Correspondence-in-charge for Sri Paramacharya while Shri Periyavaa was camping in Kumbakonam during 1930-31(When Periyavaa was referred as Kumbakonam Periyavaa). Sri Sengalipuram Anantharama Deekshithar is Vaithyanathaswamy Iyer’s maternal cousin.

Shankar did his schooling at Vidya Mandir, Mylapore (1968-1982) Chennai and obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce from Loyola College, Chennai. He did his Company Secretary course from the Institute of Company Secretaries of India, Chennai-600034.

(*The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of Music of Madras.) 

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