T.M.KRISHNA IN VANI MAHAL- 18/2/17

Review the latest concerts you have listened to.
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CRama
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Joined: 18 Nov 2009, 16:58

T.M.KRISHNA IN VANI MAHAL- 18/2/17

Post by CRama »

Accompaniments- Dr.Hemalata-Violin
Poongulam Subramaniam-Mridangam
Chandrasekar Sarma-Ghatam List of songs.

• E tavunara-Kalyani (N)
• Guruleka iduvanti-Gowrimanohari (R,N,S)
• Sobillu-Jaganmohini (R)
• Seethavara-Devagandhari (R)
• Sanatana Paramapavana-Phalamanjari(R)
• Samukhananilva-Kokilavarali-(R,S)


This concert is part of the on going Tyagaraja Utsavam in Vani Mahal. The occasion gave me the courage to attend the concert of TMK as there may be minimum aberrations. My decision was correct. It was an excellent concert. As is his paddhati, he commenced the concert with the heavy weight E tavunara. The song was rendered in a leisurely pace. For that, all the songs were rendered in the same leisurely pace. There was a highly imaginative and contemplative neraval at Sree karudagu tyagarajakararchita. The entire neraval was at Madhyamakalam. He is one person who used to do high decibel long neraval in the mel kalam with all the pakkavadymas joining with him to take it to a crescendo and top up with thunderous applause. In fact he started this practice which all other male singers are following now. Surprisingly here, he did not go for mel kalam neraval. It was purely contemplative, but a long neraval which was most enjoyable. He asked Hemalata to do the mel kala neraval. She also did not make it a crescendo. It was done very sensibly.

The next was alapana of Gowrimanohari. The raga took some time to unfold itself, but it was done very methodically- pauses at key junctures and making attractive patterns around the vantage points. The alapana was a pointer to his abundant manodharmam. After sancharams around mel ri, he started tanam and came down. Very aesthetically done. The song was presented well and neraval at tanuvusuta dhana dhara and very good swarams were received with cheer by the audience.

Next Hemalata presented a beautiful alapana of Jaganmohini which was followed by Sobillu Saptaswara. Following this, TMK presented a very detailed alapana of Devagandhari which was pristine, without meandering into the territory of any of its cousins and the song Seetavara was presented well. This was followed by the tani for 15 minutes.

After the tani, ragam Phalamanjari was presented briefly followed by the kriti Sanatana Paramapavana. The last song was Samukhana nilva in Kokilavarali, a Musiri special song. TMK presented a very good alapana of the ragam almost on the pattern of Musiri followed by the song and highly imaginative swarams. As the concert was ended abruptly, it took a few seconds for the audience to realise that the concert has ended. That is TMK style.

Dr.Hemalata played exceedingly well. Her following for alapanas and neraval were very meticulous and her solo alapanas and returns were succinct. Poongulam Subramaniam had good nadam, right amplification, no banging, and his strokes had clarity and good anticipation and following during the kritis. Chandrasekar Sharma jelled well with Poongulam and the tani was received well by the discerning audience.

An excellent concert for two hours and ten minutes.

rajeshnat
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Re: T.M.KRISHNA IN VANI MAHAL- 18/2/17

Post by rajeshnat »

CRama wrote: 19 Feb 2017, 11:21 TMK is one person who used to do high decibel long neraval in the mel kalam with all the pakkavadymas joining with him to take it to a crescendo and top up with thunderous applause. In fact he started this practice which all other male singers are following now.
CRama
In the last 100 years take any concert many have done it. Usually for mel kAlam neraval there is always applause. It is not that TMK started the practice . For sure it was prevelant even before with many artists in many concerts before. Thank you for the review.

sureshvv
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Re: T.M.KRISHNA IN VANI MAHAL- 18/2/17

Post by sureshvv »

I agree. But I can see where CRama is coming from. TMK used to make this a "high point" of his concert and the audience used to eat it up.

CRama
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Re: T.M.KRISHNA IN VANI MAHAL- 18/2/17

Post by CRama »

Rajesh, Suresh has got it right. The mel kala neravals of MMI or SSI or TNS never used to be so high decibel or create frenzy and not as lengthy as TMK used to do. Hear a TMK concert of seven years back. You will realise.

mahavishnu
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Re: T.M.KRISHNA IN VANI MAHAL- 18/2/17

Post by mahavishnu »

Good observation, CRama. Thanks for your review.

If anything, I find this to be a great change in TMK 2.0. Not having to sing mel kalam (both neraval and swaram) arrests his tendency for Ottam and high decibel singing, both of which detracted from his sense of sowkhyam and aesthetics (IMHO). Popularity with the audience notwithstanding.

Just as a contrast, try listening to his etavunara (commercial release with Mysore Manjunath & Kamalakar Rao from Charsur 2008), to see the difference in how he presents this song.

rajeshnat
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Re: T.M.KRISHNA IN VANI MAHAL- 18/2/17

Post by rajeshnat »

CRama wrote: 20 Feb 2017, 22:08 Rajesh, Suresh has got it right. The mel kala neravals of MMI or SSI or TNS never used to be so high decibel or create frenzy and not as lengthy as TMK used to do. Hear a TMK concert of seven years back. You will realise.
Crama,
After semmangudi era , I have heard mel kala neravals by TRS , SKR , Ramnadkrishnan and Santhanam(bit less when compared to TRS) and there were rounds of applause for the mel kala neraval. Then in the next era I have heard TVS with mel kala neraval with also rounds of applause . For eg, Hear the applause of semmangudi sarasAksha neraval in pantuvarAli (shree padmanabha) you hear the same applause or even more than TMK. If you consider sriram gangadharan as the same era as TMK his mel kala neraval is more mEl kalam than even tmk.The mel kala neraval of Trichur Ramachandran is frenzy at its peak.

As such the mel kala neraval - frenzy is always there in every era, you attributing to TMK as the one who started is what I am countering . There are varying degrees of applause for mel kAla neraval depending on the audience and the recording. Of course musicians like MDR never went that much with frenzied mel kala neraval

Sivaramakrishnan
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Re: T.M.KRISHNA IN VANI MAHAL- 18/2/17

Post by Sivaramakrishnan »

CRama wrote: 20 Feb 2017, 22:08 The mel kala neravals of MMI or SSI or TNS never used to be so high decibel or create frenzy and not as lengthy as TMK used to do.
MMI can't be grouped with SSI or TNS. The style was an exclusive 'nalinam' type.
The 'high decibel' could be from the Pakkamelam if at all some felt it so!

SrinathK
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Re: T.M.KRISHNA IN VANI MAHAL- 18/2/17

Post by SrinathK »

An electrifying crescendo is also one of the rasas of a musical experience, and speed and thrill appeals a lot when you're younger (both as a musician and as a rasika), but as you grow older and more experienced, you start seeking other rasas too. How many more times you'll keep trying to break the speed meter anyway? Don't you have anything else to offer? The concept of superficial virtuosity becomes a very real feeling and you start thinking about using your technique more for the aesthetic rather than just bring the roof down. Experience and the wear and tear of a fast paced life changes your musical taste over time. This is natural for all generations and it has been going on since humanity grew a musical year. :ugeek:

However, when you're old you can very quickly forget what it's like to be younger and this might account for some of the more condescending remarks made at upcoming youngsters (and many of today's seniors when they were younger). They in turn will need their aggressive spirit of youth to shrug off these stings. Save the sensitivity for old age, or better yet, be sensitive to the rasikas while being yourself, respect them for they do their part to support and further a great art, but also cultivate a thick skin against their prejudices, trolling, rigidity and at times plain ignorance, with the realization that no one can satisfy everyone, every time. Not easy.... :lol:

Although for an artiste, if he has to keep his technique at it's peak, he must never lose that ability that made his technique so superlative in the first place.

In the last decade when I was in school, I was drawn to TMK by the power and range of his voice, his imagination, his swaras, and those electrifying moments. His neraval in Koluvaiyunnade as an example was super-hit, edge of your seat, mind blowing stuff and I've heard it several times. I eagerly wonder how he would present it now. I would never miss a TMK concert if I had any chance of attending it (and I still wouldn't if I could be in 2 places at once).

Come to my IIT days and I've heard TMK twice over 5 years at CLT. The second concert in particular, was unmatched in sheer intensity despite the slower tempo of the pieces. I can't forget that haunting rendition of Shree Shukram Bhagavantam in Paras for one. I remember being totally satiated even more than anything I had been during the rollercoaster days, I just wanted silence to float in that feeling the rest of the day, such was the power of the new aesthetic.

The only problem I always had with those thrillers isn't the musicians themselves as much as the sound system -- they just blow your eardrums out.

I feel that no one so successfully combined the rasas of bliss, flow and elegance in their swara singing like Madurai Mani Iyer did. A topic for another day....

Evolution is a good thing -- if 20 years from now, you're still the same, then something is wrong...

Purist
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Re: T.M.KRISHNA IN VANI MAHAL- 18/2/17

Post by Purist »

@SrinathK .. I completely agree. You have put the issues in the right perspective.
In the context of what you have said, one can appreciate MMI 's music stands out on a high pedestal
because nothing - (ragam , tanam ,song or swarams) makes it tiring at any point of time - I mean at whatever age
of listening. Infact there is one more dimension to his music- ie appealing both for connoisseur and the pamaras.

Sivaramakrishnan
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Re: T.M.KRISHNA IN VANI MAHAL- 18/2/17

Post by Sivaramakrishnan »

SrinathK wrote: 24 Feb 2017, 11:25 Evolution is a good thing -- if 20 years from now, you're still the same, then something is wrong...
Evolution in classical arts can't be compared to contemporary arts.

A good essay otherwise, SrinathK!

arasi
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Re: T.M.KRISHNA IN VANI MAHAL- 18/2/17

Post by arasi »

Yes, MMI's music--
Magic of my youth
Middle age and now--
mahA mEru, Mani :)

shankarank
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Joined: 15 Jun 2009, 07:16

Re: T.M.KRISHNA IN VANI MAHAL- 18/2/17

Post by shankarank »

The whole thing about mEl kAlam appeal , and ARI Kutchery format becoming stale are a distraction and a straw man technique that has been used to frame the issue and conduct the discourse.

Many artistes of previous times did mEl kAlam neraval, but before they reached there they provided lot of substance - first their kArvais had laya Suddham. Or their brighas had exquisiteness - even in cases where they were weak on maintaining kAla-pramaNam.

The ARI format is a representation of progression of laya viSrAnti - and nothing else. I would say SSI devised somewhat slightly different setup by including a dIkshitar number, use of miSra cApu etc. SSI out of gratitude may have credited ARI for all his own strengths.

Which avid long time rasika will not want a concert to end with tyAgarajAya namastE instead of a mangaLam?

TMK's frustrations sub consciously had to do with the fact that his crescendo became his trade mark and his schooling lacked the ultimate sense of layam. And he is one of the strongest in that league of YACM male line up in terms vocal expression. The mathematical / technical abilities of various artistes here - I consider irrelevant! Well what about TNS and such - TNS did pratyEka sadhakam for 6-7 years on mathy stuff - and hence his expositions stick! To the extent that anybody doing Pallavi after him will sound rote to people who followed him!

The entire YACM male vocal lineup - I consider them weak in relation to the state of the art of layam before them - leaving out in fact TNS from comparison!

What I am talking about is the sense that is felt when they start the first line of a kriti!

And why would this be of any relevance to any average Joe-Schmoe rasika - I think it does - layam is subtle and will leave an imprint on repeated listening! But then repeated listening itself became a challenge for whole host of other reasons - E.g. Movie culture fostering boredom for same things repeated again.

Their goes the real CM! Out the door! And the man also walks out!

SrinathK
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Re: T.M.KRISHNA IN VANI MAHAL- 18/2/17

Post by SrinathK »

Well, if you look at it that way, GNB was probably the one who pioneered the thrilling "brigha neravals", which he used to virtually explosive effects -- for one, he wasn't a kaarvai or a kampita oriented singer and replaced both with bullet like staccatos.

What TMK did last decade and what Abhishek does now isn't any different in spirit. The past always looks more golden than it really did for whatever reason.

ARI did the same thing in tanam, his speed was vervy and yet there was always an element of measured restraint and avoiding excess in his music. Still you have to say, it was in fact he who introduced the whole racy, spectacular dimension to concert performance. But I agree, you can't argue with the balanced packaging, that was a masterstroke for what was then a modern age and taste. But it does mean you can't pick one dimension and explore it to it's limits in a concert.

Ending a concert randomly without indication though does feel strange in practice since there is no build up towards it, it seems to come out of the blue. Even concerts that have ended right after the major item and the tani without the "encore" section would appeal to me better.
Last edited by SrinathK on 27 Feb 2017, 18:56, edited 1 time in total.

Vocalist
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Re: T.M.KRISHNA IN VANI MAHAL- 18/2/17

Post by Vocalist »

SrinathK wrote: 27 Feb 2017, 18:48 The past always looks more golden than it really did for whatever reason.
I think it's more a case of the past seems/looks more golden now than it did at the time. (Of course, in many ways it was, but in other ways it wasn't).

pperumal
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Re: T.M.KRISHNA IN VANI MAHAL- 18/2/17

Post by pperumal »

SrinathK wrote: 27 Feb 2017, 18:48
ARI did the same thing in tanam, his speed was vervy and yet there was always an element of measured restraint and avoiding excess in his music. Still you have to say, it was in fact he who introduced the whole racy, spectacular dimension to concert performance.
Reminds me of what my grandfather in Trivandrum told me when I was a young boy of 13-14 and used to love listening to concerts on spools (yes he had plenty of those) and cassettes (the 'cool' thing then).
He said among the musician circles of ARI's times, they used to be rather vocal about their disapproval of his 'concert package'.
In fact, they apparently used to make fun of the number of allied ragas he used to pack in one concert and how, according to them, he would not explore any one in detail and 'to their satisfaction'.
ARI was, in essence, a rebel and revolutionary of his times and my grandfather often said that musicians felt that he transformed his weakness (of not being able to explore too much) to a brilliant strength of brevity.

Sadly, that became a 'golden mean' and my grandfather, to his last days, lamented about how concerts have become 'bhajanai's packed with too many songs :)

Please note that I am just quoting from what I heard him say :)

Regards.
- PP.

SrinathK
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Re: T.M.KRISHNA IN VANI MAHAL- 18/2/17

Post by SrinathK »

pperumal wrote: 27 Feb 2017, 22:58
SrinathK wrote: 27 Feb 2017, 18:48
ARI did the same thing in tanam, his speed was vervy and yet there was always an element of measured restraint and avoiding excess in his music. Still you have to say, it was in fact he who introduced the whole racy, spectacular dimension to concert performance.
Reminds me of what my grandfather in Trivandrum told me when I was a young boy of 13-14 and used to love listening to concerts on spools (yes he had plenty of those) and cassettes (the 'cool' thing then).
He said among the musician circles of ARI's times, they used to be rather vocal about their disapproval of his 'concert package'.
In fact, they apparently used to make fun of the number of allied ragas he used to pack in one concert and how, according to them, he would not explore any one in detail and 'to their satisfaction'.
ARI was, in essence, a rebel and revolutionary of his times and my grandfather often said that musicians felt that he transformed his weakness (of not being able to explore too much) to a brilliant strength of brevity.

Sadly, that became a 'golden mean' and my grandfather, to his last days, lamented about how concerts have become 'bhajanai's packed with too many songs :)

Please note that I am just quoting from what I heard him say :)

Regards.
- PP.
Exactly. Nothing's changed in a hundred years. The mother of all traditions continues...

One day we'll write about the good ol' days of Sanjay, RaGa, TMK, Shrinivas, Sudha, Nithyashree, Abhishek, Ravikiran, Malladi, etc.. etc.. and some young whippersnapper will rave back about the musicians of his day and how virtual reality means he cannot miss a concert no matter where he is, even from Mars maybe... of course, VR tickets will apply.

shankarank
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Re: T.M.KRISHNA IN VANI MAHAL- 18/2/17

Post by shankarank »

pperumal wrote: 27 Feb 2017, 22:58 Sadly, that became a 'golden mean' and my grandfather, to his last days, lamented about how concerts have become 'bhajanai's packed with too many songs :)
Your Grand father is talking about a form change that happened and he is conditioned by the form of exposition of his time. In that sense most of my life was spent listening to YACM artistes barring the recordings and as a teen even some light pop artistes! I should have been conditioned by them only.

The substance I talk about is a cross cutting attribute - that cuts across ages.

To listen to 4 hour hemavati by Rajaratnam Pillai around kamalalayam, you will need a different sense. There may not be that many melodically unique phrases to account for the time frame - but the exposition will have different laya @ various phases ( for example a particular melodic sequence gets repeated in a different time arrangement an hour later) and in that process may provide a different Sruthi experience! The instrument's humidity could be a factor too!

During the so called Bhajanai phase of the music : several new things were found even post PMI. caturASra tiSram was added by PR and LGJ. But that does NOT make it new modern music. Just that it was not formally recognized and expounded on. Even Narayana Tirta tarangam kataya , kataya has a foot print of this naDai. And laya is the only thing that can possibly connect us back further up to gIta govindam days of sAhityam!

Then PR himself has taken a certain lakshya Ganjira sollu - a seemingly random reach to samam in a slow seven beats from a Bhajanai in Palghat and developed it into a major exposition per his documentary.

But things can get lost when real major mental shifts occur. This is the second generation after the Golden era - when musicians like KVN, PMI were not educated in the modern system! PMI did not even know how to unlock a door with a key!

Madurai Somu illustrates several things. His concerts show the importance of laya in sAhitya so well. He would take a random sanskrit verse - a SlOka that a Sastrigal that walked by his street must have muttered and sing it. Couple of items down you will get to hear a kripa jUcutaku - cAya tarangini where he gets fired up with PR and his own reaction tells you what is music! Same thing repeats in a concert with TVG/VVS with a random Sanskrit number that meanders - and everything fires up as soon as a superb devAdi dEva in sindhuramakriya is sung with a scintillating round of svarams! An elaborate tODi and vandE santam Sri hanumantam - damp squib!

The sAhitya which is like fertilizer for music if overused/misused/abused can make the land barren and un-cultivable!

I also think we didn't incorporate and develop a good Authentic Indian philosophy of music based on tradition - i.e. we left it where the elders ( like HMB) left it and did not take it further and took the physical analysis of sound to be the basis of studying music. So enter the pitch analysis and all discussions centered around it.

This tradition is ancient, modern and post modern on a continuous basis ( borrowing a phrase from a book talk) !

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