Live in San Jose - the Prince of Music: Part 1

Wait: Have you read the prelude!?


As I entered into the concert hall at about 6:30 (that's when the gates opened), the tracks of “How to Name it” were being played faintly on the hall speakers. The hall was almost empty, and I got myself seated in about 10 minutes. Slowly, the seats started getting filled, all the ten tracks of “How to Name It” were played, and then repeated once again after which “Nothing but wind” commenced. Meanwhile, Raja’s troop started occupying the stage - all of his usuals including Shenoi Balesh, Flute Arunmozhi alias Napoleon (singer of “Arumbum Thalire” from Vijay’s Chandralekha - What a song!!), Cello Sekar, et al. There were about 30 violin-like strings (violins, cello, etc.), 3 keyboard players, 5 percussionists, 3 guitarists, one lady on the sitar (not sure if it was the sitar, could not figure out since I was sitting quite far), 3 people taking care of clarinets and saxaphones, and about 10 of them on chorus. The hall was pretty decent, but not the best one I had been in the US. I had an OK view and thankfully, had nothing to complain regarding the sound quality.

One of the several best things about this concert was punctuality. Sharp at 7:30 (the announced time), the event organizers came up on stage and greeted the audience and said, “We know that many of our friends are stuck in traffic, but Raja sir wants to start on time”. Almost immediately, the troop played the introduction score at the end of which the Maestro walked on to the stage. What a scene that was!! He slowly walked on to the dias, paid his respect to the audience and without much further ado, opened his harmonium. Right away, he started off with the now-famous verse from Adi Sankara’s Soundarya Lahari and continued with Janani Janani (Movie: Thaai Moogambikai). It has always been my dream to listen to Raja singing this song live and my joy had no bounds when it came true (though I was in Chennai 15 months ago, I had to narrowly miss his Endrendrum Raja). It is indeed an experience to listen this song with full orchestration (strictly speaking, I should be repeating this sentence for every song), as Kalyani (the name of the Ragam) reverbrates in your ears and oozes into your heart. I must say something about Raja’s use of Kalyani. Kalyani is a very commonly used Ragam in Carnatic, where most songs start on the higher end of octave (higher “Sa”, as they say it) - like in the “Vanajakshi” Adi tala varnam or Thyagaraja’s “Ammaraavamma” or sometimes, on the middle “Pa” (“Vanajakshi” ata tala varnam or “Nidhi Chaala Sukhamaa” of Thyagaraja). Raja too has composed songs which follow this tradition - Vandhaal Mahalakshmiye (higher “Sa”), Arul Thavazhum Karunai (higher “Sa”, in album “Ramana Malai”) or the arohanam-only Kalaivaniye (middle “Pa” or “Ma” depending on how you sing it). His “Nadhiyil Aadum” (in case you did not know, this song too has a verse from Soundarya Lahari - what's with Raja, Kalyani Ragam and Soundarya Lahari verses!?) starts somewhere in the middle (around “Ga”). . However, I feel Raja’s agmark Kalyani’s are two songs which start around Sa - “Janani Janani” and “Amma endrazhaikkadha”. Even with the limited scope of his voice, he is able to bring out so many emotions beautifully, and when he sings “Sakthipeetamum Nee” for the third time when he effortlessly sweeps over the higher octaves, you ought to feel one with the divine. The experience is only enhanced when you listen to this live, in comparison with the recording.

Almost as soon as the song got over, the percussionists took off with the “Udukkai” and the chorus stormed off into “Hara Hara Mahadev” with phrases from Sri Rudram. Enter Karthik to render Om Shivoham (Movie: Naan Kadavul, originally sung by Vijay Prakash). I should say Karthik performed really well, and the chorus added so much power to the song. When I first listened to this song when the movie released, I was blown off by its technical content, because I had never been fully satisfied with Raja’s use of Panthuvarali (name of Ragam) by Raja. His “Piraiye Piraiye” and “Rojavai Thaalaattum Thendral” deal more in the lower octaves, which is not a very good characteristic of the Ragam. Do you remember “Enna Varam Vendum” (Movie: Nandavana Theru, which featured the more-famous “Velli Nilave” song)? There, the “thogaiyara” (i.e., prelude before the song) starts in agmark Panthuvarali but the actual song reverts back to lower octaves, sigh! May be Raja thought that light music cannot bear this feature of Panthuvarali, i.e., the feature which gives it weight! For this devotional song, he breaks those shackles, and adheres to tradition - what a song, what a composition!

Karthik leaves, enter SPB. Huge roars and still none of the artists on stage have spoken a word - only music so far. One of the young ladies (is this Geetha Madhuri?) joins SPB to render Jagadha nandha Karaka (Movie: Rama Rajyam); the song was originally voiced by Shreya Goshal (and of course, SPB). This song is a beautiful, filmatic rendition of Suddha Dhanyasi. If alone you had heard this song in its pure carnatic form, you would understand how difficult it is to give a light-feel it. But such a task is cakewalk for Raja, is it not? While he can tune a not-so-light “Ragavane Ramana Ragunadha” (another song on Rama, in the same Ragam?!), he can also give us a “Vizhiyil Vizhundhu” or set Thiruvasagam in Oratorio to Suddha Dhanyasi (I am talking about Pooveru Konum) - western looks at Suddha Dhanyasi. Hell, he can also make Trisha (imagine her in a skimpy vest and tight pants) dance to his Suddha Dhanyasi in “Ilaya Nathi” (Movie: Manasellaam). Damn, he has even composed “Punjai undu” in Asuddha Dhanyasi (as Gemini Ganesan calls it in Unnal Mudiyum Thambi - for Telugu friends, it would be Hamsadhwani to Himsadhwani in Rudraveena). Such is the range of this guy!! Lets proceed now and get back to this Ragam later in the concert.


So, the first three songs were devotional, and then Raja greets the audience with this speech, alternatively in Tamil and Telugu - “You all think that you have come here to see me, but the truth is that I have come to see all of you!” Man, take a bow! Based on some blogs I have read about Raja’s previous New Jersey and Toronto concerts, there were some Telugu-Tamil tensions. None was apparently present here at San Jose. In fact, SPB and Raja made deliberate efforts to prevent such tensions by conversing in both languages. SPB (who sometimes chose English to talk) even went on to say: “Don’t go on to the Internet and write that the number of songs in one language was more than that in the other, and hurt people’s sentiments!” Having said that, I am a Tamilian, and don’t have the same amount of knowledge about Telugu songs, as I do about Tamil songs, and hence have written this from the perspective of my knowledge alone. Limited references to Telugu music is reflective only of my poor knowledge about the Telugu music/film industry.

The next song was the biggest surprise of the evening to me. Hariharan walks up on stage and pays his Namaskaram to Raja, and then, I believe Raja requested him to do a quick Aalapana, and Hariharan obliged. I knew the ragam (Hamsanadham, which uses S R2 M2 P and N3) immediately and began wondering what song has Hariharan sung for Raja in that Ragam! However, the percussion that followed immediately solved the puzzle, it was the greatest pleasant surprise of the evening - Isaiyil Thodangudhamma (Movie: Hey Ram, originally sung by the great Ajoy Chakraborty). I couldn’t enough appreciate Hariharan for singing somebody else’ song; I don’t think anybody else that would have been able to do enough justice to that song. Hariharan’s rendition was actually very good. However, I did notice one thing, and I am sure Raja noticed it. At the end of the 2nd Charanam, there is a short swaram sung beautifully by Ajoy, but Hariharan decided to change it (I am sure that he did not forget the original or something like that, but only wanted to show his creativity), but ended heavily deviating from the Ragam (he introduced “Dha” into this swaram), and that fact did not go well with me. When Raja himself fits the entire song in this Raga, a foreign “Swara” seems odd, and Ajoy uses only S, R, M, P and N. Raja was too surprised for a second, but given that Hariharan metered his own swaram well into the thalam, ended up clapping for him. I too clapped! So, is it true that even some genius like Hariharan has to struggle to contain one’s singing within that Ragam!? Another unrelated thing is that, I have been told Hariharan does a lot of unnecessary gimmicks in live concerts and these gimmick adversely affect his singing. Well, there was none in this concert - his singing was simply superb!! Also, I really enjoyed the “thana thim dhim, thana dhimdhimdhim” chorus in this song.

Hariharan just sat behind Raja, and enter stage, Bhavadharini (Ilaiyaraja’s daughter). Raja stated that the day was a music festival for all us (as fellow blogger Sirumazhai points out: all those who are quick to point out Raja’s pride and arrogance, what are you still doing here?!), and hence the next song was Idhu Sangeetha Thirunaalo (Movie: Kaadhalukku Mariyaadhai). I had an inkling as to why Hariharan had not left the stage and was just hanging around behind Bhavadharini - it was to immediately sing the more-famous Ennai Thaalaatta Varuvaalo, from the same movie. Both these songs have almost exactly similar tunes, and were well executed by the orchestra. I felt Bhavadhirini’s voice had not warmed up fully in the beginning and she struggled a bit - her singing improved significantly (of course, within her bounds and limitations) over the course of the song.

Next song, enter (Chinnakkuyil - literally referring to small Koel, while actually the Koel is much much smaller than her!) Chithra and we are treated to blissful orchestration as we hear the prelude of Ninnukkori Varnam (Movie: Maniratnam’s Gharshana, dubbed version of Agni Natchatram). One particular thing I noticed was Chithra’s extra efforts to reach the higher notes and land on them perfectly - even after so much singing, she knows she has to go that extra distance (for example, she has to touch higher “Ga” to sing “Raguvaraney” correctly) to attain perfection - Wow!! The song is set in Mohanam Ragam (well, doesn’t the Mohanam Varnam start with the word “Ninukkori”? This, obviously is not a coincidence and is a showcase of Raja’s knowledge in the carnatic arena, and his ability to chose lyrics!). The best part of Raja’s live concerts is that, some of the instruments which sound so little in audio recordings are so well audible when sounded from stage. That is such a pleasing experience. You will understand this even if you grab the recordings of “Andrum Indrum Endrum” or “Endrendrum Raja” from Youtube and listen to them. If alone you listen to it live, it will blow you off. This particular song (and many others which followed) did!

Enter Mano, and starts off with “Pattu Pattu Poochi Pola” and Arunmozhi lends his ever-soothing flute, as we sail into Shenbagame Shenbagame (Movie: Enga Ooru Paattukkaaran) - set in Sindhu Bhairavi (Ragam name). Somebody tells me that Asha Bhonsle was moved to tears on listening to this tune. Mano sang it very well, just like the original touser (a.k.a. Ramarajan) version. The last line of the Pallavi goes something like “Searndhirundhaal Sammadhamey”. Mano, in many stage concerts, sings the “Sammadhamey” part a bit oddly. The “ma” in “sammadhamey” needs to be short, but Mano often elongates it, because it easily fits into the rhythm. Raja is too much of a purist and perfectionist, and he caught it this time; for Raja, both the lyric and the tune has to be impeccable! He corrected Mano on the spot.

First big duet of the evening - SPB and Chitra on stage! Song: Mounamela Noyi (Movie: Sagara Sangamam, the original Telugu version of the Tamil “Mounamaana Neram” -  both Tamil and Telugu versions were originally performed by by S. Janaki). This song turned out to be a lilting melody, but unfortunately, the audience would not stay true to its meaning and kept on shouting. There was particular one crazy person who constantly shouted “Balu Balu” whenever SPB came on to the stage. Raja wants to have absolute decorum during his concerts (he started the concert prohibiting whistling in any form), and was visibly upset by the unruly crowd. He even shouted out saying, “Is this how you behave in this country?!” Even after all this, the “Balu Balu” rants did not stop, even until the end of the concert.

Having given atleast one song to each of the singers, Raja returns to singing - to be continued in Part 2.