The recent kutcheri at Kalakshetra was packed with the characteristic Sanjay Subrahmanyan offerings. From unexpected compositions, inconceivable sangatis and sancharams to powerful stimulation of the accompanists, it kept the audience riveted. He was accompanied by S. Varadarajan (violin), Neyveli Venkatesan (mridangam), and S. Venkataraman (ganjira),
Sanjay’s concert opened up a new dimension in design and rasana . He began with a rarely heard varnam, in Vachaspati, in Ata talam, composed by Tiger Varadachariar, in honour of Rukmini Devi. Á fitting opening in this auditorium. The next one, Muthuswamy Dikshitar’s ‘Kari-kalabha-mukham’ in Saveri, Rupakam, is not very common either.
Halfway through the third song, Tyagaraja's ‘Marachedayya, Rama Rama,’ Hamsadhwani, desadi, Sanjay ventured into kalpanaswaras. Exchanges between voice and violin resounded through the hall, with the percussionists pitching in with vim. Both, this kriti and the one which followed, Swati Tirunal’s ‘Sarasa Samana’ in Gaurimanohari, Adi talam, with clusters of kalpanaswaras, are also not usually heard at recitals.
‘Enna doochuna,’ Tyagaraja’s soulful kriti in Kalavati, desadi talam was a solemn time filler before the next piece. One could rate the Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi in Khambodi as the ‘piece de resistance’. The artists took their time in weaving brilliant patterns in alapana and tanam, and the latter was given more time for development than what one encounters in a two-hour concert. The pallavi was in a surprisingly simple beat, tisra jati triputa on single beat (Yaar poi solluvar, Enakkaaga); but that did not make the presentation dull. It lilted vivaciously, drawing sporadic, spontaneous applause. Through the Ragamalika, swaras in Bhairavi, Kalyani and Todi — all ‘ghana ragas’ — Sanjay’s booming voice made a deep impact.
