Sanjay Subrahmanyan at Thureeyam 2023

Source: MD Madhusudan, Wikimedia Commons.

My parents and I visited North Kerala last weekend merely to listen to Sanjay Subrahmanyan, undoubtedly my favourite artist, who was performing at Thureeyam. For those unaware, this is an annual music festival organised by the Sampujya Krishnananda Bharati Swamigal of the Anandabhavana Ashramam of Pothamkandam, Kannur. Many great musicians have performed here, and this year's iteration Involved TMK, Jayanthi Kumaresh and Hariprasad Chaurasia, to name a few.

The evening of the 15th of July, Sanjay was joined by his regular team of S Varadarajan on the violin and Neyveli Venkatesh on the mridangam, and on the ghatam by the illustrious Tripunithura N. Radhakrishnan. He began with a medium-paced padam in Gambheera Natta, 'Hara Hara Shiva Shankara', which rasikas may know from his Tamizhum Naanum concert in 2019. The piece soon escalated into the next speed. The percussionists got to show their mettle as he stepped it up yet another kaalam, each letter of the lyrics being distinct nevertheless. The night's next piece was 'Janani Ninnu Vina' in the serious Reetigowla. As in most of his concerts, he followed up a Tamizh introduction with a Telugu starter.

Up next came the first piece that night that kept ringing in my head for days after the concept. Begada is one of Sanjay's favourite ragams. He does not like calling it his favourite, and as he said in one of his YouTube videos, it is just one that his guru parampara treasures in their unique style. It was the Telugu kriti 'Anudinamunu Kavum Ayya Adi Venkateshwara' by Ramnad 'Poochi' Sreenivasa Iyengar. His treatment of the ragam was extremely memorable. 

Then came a long alapanam and violin solo in Ranjani, and the kriti 'Bhooloka Kumari',  based off a poem of Bharatiyar and set to music by Sanjay's gurunathar, Calcutta Krishnamurthy swami. My lack of familiarity with this ragam prevented me from appreciating it fully, but I can say without exaggeration that the piece did not bore me—even a cough from Sanjay could not possibly bore anyone! He followed this up with a 'bridge' piece, Swati Tirunal's 'Maamava Jagadeeswara', in the ragam Saraswati Manohari (think 'Enthavedu Kondu Raghava').

Crossing that aristocratic bridge, we came to the evening's main piece, and the one that we most thoroughly enjoyed. Muthuswami Dikshitar's 'Sri Subrahmanyo Maam Rakshatu' sent the audience into thrills after an alapanam and violin solo in Todi. Sanjay's garlands of swaras reminded me of his various Todi recordings I've listened to over the past two years. 'GA-RI-SA-ni-dha' seemed to be a pattern that he comes back to a lot during the swara rain and the preceding neraval. All of a sudden, his stunning bombs of swaras were gracefully interrupted by Neyveli Venkatesh, who began an elaborate thani with Tripunithura. The two battled ecstatically for close to fifteen minutes. The sad end of 'Sri Subrahmanyo Maam Rakshatu' was then marked.

The beginning of the end of the concert was 'Payum Oli Nee Enakku' in Khamas, a romantic Bharatiyar kriti. The music is by Sanjay himself. This was an enjoyable kriti that all in the audience savoured irrespective of listening experience or their liking for Raga music. The rare Salaka Bhairavi ragam followed in the Purandara Dasar composition 'Enu Madirenu'—also strong and likeable, though I was left scratching my head for the identity of the ragam.

He then sang, as he does a lot of mangalams, the Thiruppugazh 'Amudham Ooru' in Sindhu Bhairavi and bid the audience goodbye with the Sowrashtram mangalam. It was an unforgettable 2.5 hours of music with him and most in the audience were brought to their feet.

Meanwhile, I learnt that another concert by the Trichur Brothers was scheduled in Trivandrum the next day. While I would have gone had Monday been a working day, we decided instead to hang out in Malabar for another day: it was my first time in that part of Kerala. The next day we did a little sightseeing, went to the beach near Bekal Fort and stepped in the ocean for the first time in my life. What a weekend it's been—I listened to Sanjay for the first time and got my feet wet by the ocean for the first time.

Here's to many more kutcheries! Sanjay will probably be back in Kerala for concerts at the Kuthiramalika Palace and the Navaratri Mandapam, and I will hopefully be in Trivandrum to attend them both.