T V Sankaranarayan - how many births must I take?

 “Ettanayo piravi edutthu edutthe ilaitthen” (I'm tired of this repeated cycle of births)

…. A once in a lifetime neraval in a grand SankarAbharaNam at the AIIMS auditorium in Delhi in late 1990. My first live concert. What an initiation to this addictive habit, with TVS and VVS pushing each other to ever greater heights across Purvikalyani, Kaanada, Ranjani and of course this Sankarabharanam!

TVS was the first artiste I was totally obsessed with. I chased him across concerts whenever opportunity arose. I remember going to 4 concerts of his in 10 days during the 1991 Chennai music season. Heard 3 elaborate Mohanams in those (RTP at the Academy, Evarura at Narada Gana Sabha and Kapali at Kalarasana), yet I was a wee bit disappointed he didn’t repeat Mohanam at the last of the four at Nungambakkam Fine Arts. 

Sanjay Subrahmanyam and life lessons

Sanjay Subrahmanyam is one of the, if not THE, top ranking performing artistes in Carnatic music currently.

I can safely say that the sentence above is possibly the most inane sentence I have written in my life. Because to anyone who follows Carnatic music even casually, the premise is totally superfluous. It would be as obvious to them as a “gooseberry in one’s palm”, to borrow an ancient reference. To those who don’t follow the art form, Sanjay would almost certainly be an unknown entity, and the premise irrelevant.

So where am I going with this? I count myself in the former cohort - listeners / followers of Carnatic music. I have followed Sanjay’s musical journey since about 1990. I love his music, but more importantly I adore how he delivers great and chaste classical music without making a fuss about external appearances. I have seen and heard him in a phase when he would deliver a pristine Kambhoji or Todi, while sporting purple streaked longish hair. There was nothing unclassical about the music, yet he was cocking a mischievous snook at the stuffy mamas and mamis who infest the Carnatic listening world. Who place more value on appearance and form, while being unable to differentiate a Saveri from a Behag, or even a Varnam from a Kriti for that matter!