TMKrishna at Shanmukhananda, Mumbai - 21/8/16

[arunsri]

Sri. T.M. Krishna
Sri. R.K. Sriramkumar
Sri. N. Manoj Siva
Sri. Anirudh Atreya

3 hrs 05 mins duration - a soulful musical experience.

the song list - in no way able to capture the spirit and the mood he created

1. giripai nEllakonna - sahAna - Adi - thyAgarAja [RS, slow swaras only]
2. short tani [both percussionists playing together]
3. tungA tIra virAjam - sALagabhairavi - Adi - kamalEsha viTThala [R elaborate]
4. padavini - sALagabhairavi - Adi - thyAgarAja [N at chadivi vEda... and Swaras at pallavi]
5. payyAda - nAdanAmakriya - tishra tripuTa - kshEtrayya padam [soulful raga AlApana] - only mridangam accompaniment keeping in view the mood of the song and its temp
6. rAga AlApana - kApinArAyaNi [violin]
7. sarasasAma dAna - kApinArAyaNi - Adi - thyAgarAja - only kanjIra accompaniment to upto anupallavi. Mridangam joined during neraval at hitavu mATallEntO
8. tAnam in gauLa
9. duDukugala - gauLa - Adi - thyAgarAja - violin playing swaras, Krishna singing sAhitya [rapid swaras at mAnava....]
10. mAtE malayadhwaja - khamAs daru varnam - Adi - muthiAh bhAgavatar
11. tani Avaratanam
12. vINAbhEri - AbhEri - Adi - muthuswAmy dIkshitar [short ragam]
13. pullAgi - an evocative viruttam in kAmbhOji
14. thiruvaDi sharaNam - kAmbhOji - Adi - gOpAlakrishna bhArati [N at aDutta vanda yEnnai taLLal AgAdu...] - sublime
15. jambUpatE - yamunA - rUpakam - muthuswAmy dIkshitar [super AlApana]

nothing more to sing after this

Close to 500 people or more were there even at 9 30 PM. When Anirudha played solo for the kApinArAyaNi it was an experience, when Mridangam alone accompanied the padam, it was awesome.

[arunsri]

A whole some experience, where even the individuals shone

[Narayanan NB]

Time stood still when Krishna sang those sahana kalpana swarams in manthra sthayi...especially those phrases pa ma dha nd ni sa dha..the beauty of dhaivatham was shown so beautifully..truly mesmerising...aesthetics at its best..Yamuna kalyani alapanam was again so brilliant...i felt vinaabheri was average...have heard more aesthetic renditions..gowlai tanam was beautiful..again time stood still when Krishna sang kamboghi...there is something very very special about his kamboghi..especially those moments in the viruttam when he hits the phrase dha ri sa ni dha..oh no I get goosebumps..only thing that I missed in the concert was a long neraval..Krishna's neravals are so brilliant and aesthetically so beautiful..overall a wonderful concert that made me forget that I was in a concert..I felt like walking on a rainy night amidst the beautiful singing clouds of sahana, I felt like walking on the seashore amidst the waves of mystic kamboghi, I felt like sitting on the riverside with the winds of Yamuna kalyani blowing over my face and I felt like walking in a crowded street on a beautiful Saturday evening while the sun was setting wid a beautiful khamas..after all that's what we want..concerts that make u forget that one is in a concert

[narayan]

Narayanan NB,
Sorry to intrude while you are in such a mood (I was there for at least half of the concert, so I can say that I actually know what you are referring to, and I endorse it, in so far one can endorse such a personal statement as yours), but my question is about kamboghi. I've heard people call it Kambhoji or kambodhi or perhaps kambodi, but this is a new one to me. Is there an alternate way of referring to this great raga? I'm sure it's not a typo because you have used it 3 times.

[Narayanan NB]

Dear Sir
I am sorry if I have hurt the sentiments by calling this great raga as kamboghi..but tats how I like to call this ragam..kamboghi wid a silent 'g'. Somehow I fail to capture the majesty of this ragam in my imagination by calling it kamboji..i knw it sounds crazy and I am sorry but I can't help.

[Narayanan NB]

I personally feel Manoj Siva escalates T.M Krishna's concert to a different plane altogether. Siva's limited timely improvisations is a real treat. The way he builds up and improvises during Krishna's gradual improvisation during neraval (something we missed in this concert)is just brilliant.

[MaheshS]

Dear Sir
I am sorry if I have hurt the sentiments by calling this great raga as kamboghi..but tats how I like to call this ragam..kamboghi wid a silent 'g'. Somehow I fail to capture the majesty of this ragam in my imagination by calling it kamboji..i knw it sounds crazy and I am sorry but I can't help.

Crazy is just about right Do tell if you have names for other well established ragas as well.

From Commentary on Sri Subramanyaya Namasthe by Mahaperiyava.

Paramacharya asked "the raga of this kriti is said to be Kambodhi, but the name given in books is Kambhoji, right?" When Ariyakkudi said yes, Paramacharya continued, "Many of us know Kambhojam is Cambodia (in S E Asia), and that Bharat culture had taken deep roots there. If we inferred that Kambhoji is a raga 'imported' from that place, researchers like Sambamurthy (the late Proof P Sambamurthy) disagree. Cambodians might have imported many things from us, but not we, far advanced in civilization, from them; definitely not in music, where we were much advanced whereas they had mostly folk music. Then why the name 'Kambhoji'? "I have a thought here - there is another place called 'Kambhojam along India's northern border. Kalidasa, no ordinary poet and quite knowledgeable too, tells Yasha to go this way and that in his 'mEgha SandEsam' - good enough to plot a map! In his Raghuvamsam, describing Raghu's invasions and victories, he has mentioned one 'Kambhojam', beyond the Indus and along the Himalayas. From this, we deduce that, within the extended India (akand Bharat), there was one Kambhojam near the Hindukush mountains. May be our Kambodhi raga was from this place? "Many ragas are named after places, right? Sourashtram, Navarasa kannada, even Kannada, Sindhu Bhairavi, Yamuna Kalyani, like this Kambodhi might have come from Kambhojam region.

[narayan]

Dear Sir
I am sorry if I have hurt the sentiments by calling this great raga as kamboghi..but tats how I like to call this ragam..kamboghi wid a silent 'g'. Somehow I fail to capture the majesty of this ragam in my imagination by calling it kamboji..i knw it sounds crazy and I am sorry but I can't help.

Dear Sir, Just wanted to assure you that my sentiments are not hurt in the least! I must say that kamboghi with a silent g is a masterly twist to the tale (very very close to kamboji with silent j, but not quite the same). The main point is that I'm glad you enjoyed the music. I did, too.

[kssr]

Psmith with a silent P

[rshankar]

I guess the real question should be "when did kAmbhOji become kAmbOhi?"

[vasanthakokilam]

Q: when did kAmbhOji become kAmbOghi?"
A: On the calm day before pongal? j/k

I am interested in hearing further explanations from Narayan and Narayanan NB .

[rshankar]

Q: when did kAmbhOji become kAmbOghi?"
A: On the calm day before pongal? j/k

VK - not Pongal, but bOhi...

[sureshvv]

I am sure VK was providing a crossword type clue rather than spelling it out

[Narayanan NB]

Dear Madam
As I said, I really don't have any explanation for this. During my UKG exam, one of the true or false questions were, whether climbers are stronger than trees and inspite of knowing it is false, answered it as true, because I liked the pictures of climbers better than trees. It is embarrassing when I think back now. Probably same explanation goes here. I am one of those kindergarten or rather, a nursery student, in music. Probably, I would be embarrassed about it after some years, but for now, that's how I like to call it. It's just because I like it.

[sureshvv]

UKG exam has scarred you for life. Seems like the best argument yet to do away with these

[Narayanan NB]

Dear Sir
That was just an example. I didn't know any other way to explain. Anyways, bottom line is I like it that way. I didn't ever imagine I would be asked for such a detailed explanation on this. I never claimed I was right. I don't mind changing the spelling in my post.

[sureshvv]

Thank you for injecting some fun into the review. No need to change anything

[Narayanan NB]

Thank you Sir