"Sandhya Ragam" - Concert Reviews by Sandhya Shankar

  Malare Mounama ?   It was a humid Friday afternoon on September 25th, when my maid tells me that she is not coming to work for the next few days.... now that is a crisis for me, so I jumped and asked her the reason. Pat comes the answer, ‘Amma don’t you know that SPB died? My husband & I are devastated and depressed.’ Now, this is the magic of SPB with which most of us have grown up with and this is the same magic we can never outgrow!  This has become a personal loss for millions of people and the Indian film music world for he is truly irreplaceable!! They call him a legend and how else can they describe a man who made his debut in playback singing in a 1966 Telugu film ‘Sri Sri Sri Maryada Ramana’, and last for 54 years in the most dynamic & competitive film music industry.  Who would think that a boy from Konnetammapet, Nellore with a surname Sripathi Panditaradhyula, will also through his remarkably expressive singing make us love,laugh, cry and live w...

The terms ‘BC’ has taken a different meaning from our school days.. it’s not just ‘Before Christ’ but it is ‘Before Corona’. It is a thing of the distant past that .. when you had to look at the clock on the wall to hint that your guest should leave. Today, you just need to terminate the Zoom video call with a click, and then blame it on the internet. How many of us like the fact that the world can gaze upon you only in the way, you frame it in the corners of your video camera ?  Well, Corona has certainly done different things to different people. I always thought, we would do things on our list if only we found time. Initially, many would have thought, that they will benefit from this forced lockdown and they will be able to focus on their personal life. But I am confident that, there are men out there with really long hair not having dared to go out for a haircut fearing this Corona. In the beginning, there were sincere promises of sharing domestic chores but over time only I wa...

  Among the many changes that we are experiencing, most of which is extremely frustrating, this December Music Season( if it happens) may also see plenty of changes, beginning with the sabha canteens(shorter queues, hiked pricing on already highly priced menu, attempting to make up for lost business during lockdown, different seating arrangements(only 50% audience capacity, more soberly dressed women or maybe exquisite ‘pattu’ masks with embroidery matching their shiny sarees which have been lying idle in the cupboards for months. One welcome change, would be sabhas opting for online ticketing, enabling minimal contact, not having to go and wait at the venue at 3am, like you do or rather used to do, for Tirupati darshan only to get a token. And portals such as Music of Madras can facilitate a smoother or should I say healthier procurement of tickets.   In a lighter vein, lot of people are going to be disappointed that they can’t notice who else has come and even worse not be r...

Nen Je Nandini Gone are the days, when we were able to identify the singer, lyricist, music director when we heard a song. I would easily recognise if the voice was Lata Mangeshkar or Asha Bhonsle, Mukesh or Kishore Kumar, Mann Dey or Mohammed Rafi. Same was the case, when we could recognise Ilayaraja’s music or M.S.Vishwanathan and likewise being able to distinguish between Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar from Dr.M.Balamuralikrishna from Maharajapuram Santhanam or M.S.Subbalakshmi from everyone else !  What I am trying to imply is that everyone sounds similar especially in the field of playback singing for films. Probably it’s because there is too much happening with very hardworking, focussed young artistes, who are MORE hardworking and MORE focussed and have MORE ambitious parents and most important definitely MORE opportunities !  There are so many immensely talented artistes that it is difficult to distinguish one from the other and maybe it’s even unfair to rank them. Being i...

Garga Sudha Rasa The nice thing about watching concerts online is that I have managed to listen to a few artistes whose name I have been hearing but have been unable to go for their kutcheris.  One such person is a youngster Sunil Gargyan, who has learnt music from Nagai S. Bashyam and P. B. Shrirangachari initially and later from none other than P.S. Narayanaswamy. I listened to him recently during the online kutchery series by Mani Krishnaswamy Academy and what I saw a young lad with a sweet disposition & a sweeter voice !  He started the concert with a shlokam which was a thaniyan about 46th Jeeyar of Ahobila Mutt. Thaniyan is an invocatory verse of glorification to an Acharya which is usually composed or submitted by a sishya. Having made an auspicious beginning he commenced the concert with a Thyagaraja krithi in Ragam Mayamalavagowla ‘Tulsi Dalamulache’ set to Rupaka Thalam. I had first heard this sung by the legendary M. S. Subbulakshmi.  B...

Classical PR I don’t want to be one more person to whine about the impact of Corona, or profess some knowledge about when the scientists across the globe are going to find the cure or vaccine whichever comes first ! Nor am I sure how this economic crisis the world is going through will play out. I can’t claim that I have discovered any hidden talent within me or that all my relationships are improving and blossoming ! One thing I can state confidently is that, this is the first time in my life, I have seen the entire world come to a standstill. It’s brought the world to its knees and for several people it’s been not just a career changing but life changing experience. Everybody is exhibiting their talent and skills on the social media.... it certainly proved one thing and that is Man is very quick to adapt to any given circumstance !  Here, when I use the term ‘Man’, it’s not a gender bias, it’s universal (need to clarify this before all the women activists shout hoar...