Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna@Los Angeles On June 03rd,2017
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Vocal : Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna
Violin : Hemmige Srivatsan
Mrudu angam : Tanjore Murugabhoopathy
Kanjira : B S Sundarkumar
Concert Type : Nirvana - no concert to follow
Day/Duration : Saturday/ 3 hours and 15 mins inclusive of 5 mins introduction
Concert Type : Ticketed Concert
Hall : Hoover School , Lakewood Los Angeles
Sabha : South Indian Music Academy LA(SIMALA)
1.sAmi ninnE (raga sketch)- ShreeRagam- Karur devudu iyer
2. varasikhi vaahanaa (s) - supradeepam - T
swaras for 4 mins
3. nee kelana(RS,S) - devamanOhari - Poochi
2 mins alapana and 4 mins swaras
4A. smarasada mAnasa (R N S T) - bilahari - ST
18 mins alapana and 8 mins violin return
10 mins neraval in garuda tharangam
and 13 mins swaras
4B. tani for 16 mins
5. RTP hemavati for 35 mins
15 mins alapana in hemavati
taanam for 9 mins
pallavi line --->> ShAradhE samvadE bhArathi vidyapathE vaNdE nijam??
8 mins pallavi line with 4 mins swaras
6. prabHO murAre ... hari guna nidhi mAdhavam (R) - chandrakowns - ???(Lji Help is this the one that s kalyanaraman sings)
7. jagadeesha (starting with Yogijaaksha) - nAdanAmakriya - ST
8. mannu pugazh kosalai - ragamaliga (?? + hamsanandi?? + sAranga+ hindOlam + neelAmbari)
9. nee nAma - sowrAshtram - T
It is roughly 2 calendar months since I heard carnatic live after I heard flamboyant trichur brothers . Concerts in LA is not as high as say bayarea , few artist make it to san diego or bay area and I guess just like sabhas in chennai the logistics or may be part of sabha groupings have less access to artists in LA (LA has disneyland but it is not carnaticland). Of late the pricing of tickets have gone up too , now asking for a minimum 30 USD is quite a lot but putting all that aside it was time well spent in LA yesterday
KBMK , I am hearing for many years as early as sangeetham days . I also know him in person . I would say his first phase was a true semmangudi-psn pathantram where say after pallavi or main would go in a usual trajectory of ssi numbers that was say till 2007 or 2008. Then for atleast 3 to 5 years he had voice problems where his gush of breathing out was always picked up by microphone and it was always an annoyance.Certainly GOD is great and he has found a way to get out of that nightmare in his recent third phase.
KBMK say from 2015 or so is polishing with his new avatar .One can say he goes in the direction of TN Seshagopalan as a primary radar and Abhishek Raghuram as his backup radar . Approaches of say taking an alapana and going for lesser number of songs is some thing his peer Abhishek standardized and certainly it is good that KBMK adopts that . Also for many parts of concert the brigas with a lot of ragabhavam and at times a loss of raga bhavam is something he is modelling from mahavidwan TN Seshagopalan.
Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna@Los Angeles On June 03rd,2017
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rajeshnat
- Posts: 9936
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04
Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna@Los Angeles On June 03rd,2017
Last edited by rajeshnat on 05 Jun 2017, 07:25, edited 1 time in total.
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rajeshnat
- Posts: 9936
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04
Re: Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna@Los Angeles On June 03rd,2017
Let me start with a crib for the dear simala - LA
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Why should the concert start at 6 pm , in the last 4 concerts that I attended in LA atleast it was 5 pm start . I just dont know how some artist consistently armtwist to start at say 4 pm or 5 pm and have a time of 3 and half to 4 hours which is the ideal time where as some artist only have 3 + hours . I dont know how this start time works favourably but that is what it is , Start at 6 pm for once a month concert makes a certain loss of 45 to 60 minutes of music.
Moving on to review
---------------------------
The start was shree ragam . An abhishekish approach was noted with raga alapana and he sang sAmi ninne well , there were feedback problems and I felt the echo was slightly in the high side . Varnam is really varanam . HE moved to supradeepam , the eka muruga krithi of Sadguru , the gel of the team was still not there , i could aurally notice the violin was not going that well with supradeepam and in swaras the return was shade slower.
Nee kelana was quite weighty , this raga is certainly tricky and I could sense KBMK was getting into a zone and the sound balance was right from there on with sundarkumar also getting into his zone of superlative performance. THe swaras had a bit of kanakku and few places I felt a bit of stretch (for a better thamizh term a bit of virisal especially when the cuts of talam with mrudangam artist also getting bit foxed).
Bilahari was the main raga that was elaborated .He covered in a nice methodical fashion with adequate rest in madhyamakAlam . The ideas were well rounded , lot of TNS like brigas were rolled some hit and some did not hit the sweet rounded zone of perfect rAga bhavam . I am assuming he took this song as it is a KVN special and the violinist was a student of KVN who came few decades back to settle in US. Neraval and swaras were strictly conformant to carnatic idioms and he sang both neraval and swaras with a lot of doze of layam. Felt the interchange between the violin and vocal could have been better
The days best was unquestionably the RTP . Hemavati is certainly a tricky raga to elaborate and he sang with lot of firepower. The start was bit unconventional in the sense no meditative start (I guess all this was because he had only 3 hour plus concert). Taanam was non metered and was only in madhyamakALa affair , I was expecting few distinct mel kala shoots but that did not happen. The pallavi line was quite difficult to decipher when he sang but for lack of time , i think he slightly rushed and made the trikalam come so quickly within few minutes . The swaras were only hemavati , it was bit of one big round like TNS or Abhishek , felt he could have channeled bit more there to cohesively go with the team.
An abhishekish approach of a long alapana followed and it was chandrakowns . I was not sure for few minutes whether it was kalyanavasantham or even sumanesaranjini , but he sang well. I am assuming the number he took is a skalyanaraman special , but i found the words were bit dissonant.
His SSI school atlast came up in nAdanAmakriya and the ssi krithi was sung bit slower but I love this number and two back to back alapanas of candrakowns and nadanamakriya and subsequent followup of krithis kept me glued . The popular kulasekara azhwar ragamaliga was sung well , I could notice that the raga bhavam for few ragas could have been more focussed with more accuracy.
THis is the first time i am hearing Hemmige srivatsan . He came few decades back to USA . His play was bit slower in the first half ,but from second half he picked up well . There was no intrusion but may be bit more melody and right speed in his bow would have helped especially to negate the at times abrasive brigas approach (just like say how akkarai helps abhishek). I particularly liked his alapana of hemavati where he played so concisely , in my past years I have had struggle when violinist return hemavati where that immediate cluster of vachaspathi will come in. It is so many years since i thought that I have to hear hemmige and I look forward once to hear his vocal concert - i remember 10 years before when Pattabhi pandit told me that KVN bhavam is best with Hemmige.
THe percussion team were rocking with first few songs going bit haywire with feedback and sound adjustments . Murugabhoopathi has sunaada touch and at times he pausing to understand KBMK briga directional change helped .
The hero for the day was unquestionably B S Sundarkumar , what mastery he has with the instrument . His best was the first round of play in tani , he plays with such speed and he slowly reduced the volume to nearly naught and then slowly raised the volume with the same high speed play(speed was purely orthogonal to volume) .Sundarkumar is a legend in making he and his kanjira can go with the next BOSE speaker ad to clearly demonstrate orthogonality of speed and volume.
KBMK can watch out for few things
---------------------------------
1. He certainly has great ideas and his approach of tns and abhishek in his third avatar is nice too. But I am struggling at times to hear him as he goes way too much away from Microphone. In say mannu pugazh kosalai for few alankarams in say neelambari he only tries to reach from the second rasika , but he fails to connect the omnipresent first rasika - Microphone. I hope he can bring in conscious posture correction. Also in pallavi line the phrase was not clear it was bharathE than it appeared like bharathi . I dont care about his hand and leg movements , there are many who do more but singing straight or near straight to microphone is not optional. He has to give comfort to his omnipresent first rasika - microphone
2. KBMK voice is not in melodious scale but that is okay. We have musicians of himalayan stature not having great voice in the past and present. But he can sing slightly restrained one or two numbers where he avoids that excessive brighas. Brighas with laya poruttam should have low latency , at times he creates a higher latency or in thamizh as they say i find a bit of virissal(blur in english). To an extent when say Abhishek sings with so much brighas he has that voice with such rich harmonics but KBMK may have to tailor his brighas to suit his voice texture . A bit toning downwith a share of little less of TNS like brighas will make me enjoy bit more. I as a rasika should not approximate ragas for few pockets during his singing.
I wish the concert was near 4 hours , he would have not consciously cut short the pallavi and may have presented a submain R N S. Common simala you are a great sabha please restore 4 or 5 pm start .
Overall a very good to excellent concert for 3 hours and 10 minutes
-------------------------------------------------
Why should the concert start at 6 pm , in the last 4 concerts that I attended in LA atleast it was 5 pm start . I just dont know how some artist consistently armtwist to start at say 4 pm or 5 pm and have a time of 3 and half to 4 hours which is the ideal time where as some artist only have 3 + hours . I dont know how this start time works favourably but that is what it is , Start at 6 pm for once a month concert makes a certain loss of 45 to 60 minutes of music.
Moving on to review
---------------------------
The start was shree ragam . An abhishekish approach was noted with raga alapana and he sang sAmi ninne well , there were feedback problems and I felt the echo was slightly in the high side . Varnam is really varanam . HE moved to supradeepam , the eka muruga krithi of Sadguru , the gel of the team was still not there , i could aurally notice the violin was not going that well with supradeepam and in swaras the return was shade slower.
Nee kelana was quite weighty , this raga is certainly tricky and I could sense KBMK was getting into a zone and the sound balance was right from there on with sundarkumar also getting into his zone of superlative performance. THe swaras had a bit of kanakku and few places I felt a bit of stretch (for a better thamizh term a bit of virisal especially when the cuts of talam with mrudangam artist also getting bit foxed).
Bilahari was the main raga that was elaborated .He covered in a nice methodical fashion with adequate rest in madhyamakAlam . The ideas were well rounded , lot of TNS like brigas were rolled some hit and some did not hit the sweet rounded zone of perfect rAga bhavam . I am assuming he took this song as it is a KVN special and the violinist was a student of KVN who came few decades back to settle in US. Neraval and swaras were strictly conformant to carnatic idioms and he sang both neraval and swaras with a lot of doze of layam. Felt the interchange between the violin and vocal could have been better
The days best was unquestionably the RTP . Hemavati is certainly a tricky raga to elaborate and he sang with lot of firepower. The start was bit unconventional in the sense no meditative start (I guess all this was because he had only 3 hour plus concert). Taanam was non metered and was only in madhyamakALa affair , I was expecting few distinct mel kala shoots but that did not happen. The pallavi line was quite difficult to decipher when he sang but for lack of time , i think he slightly rushed and made the trikalam come so quickly within few minutes . The swaras were only hemavati , it was bit of one big round like TNS or Abhishek , felt he could have channeled bit more there to cohesively go with the team.
An abhishekish approach of a long alapana followed and it was chandrakowns . I was not sure for few minutes whether it was kalyanavasantham or even sumanesaranjini , but he sang well. I am assuming the number he took is a skalyanaraman special , but i found the words were bit dissonant.
His SSI school atlast came up in nAdanAmakriya and the ssi krithi was sung bit slower but I love this number and two back to back alapanas of candrakowns and nadanamakriya and subsequent followup of krithis kept me glued . The popular kulasekara azhwar ragamaliga was sung well , I could notice that the raga bhavam for few ragas could have been more focussed with more accuracy.
THis is the first time i am hearing Hemmige srivatsan . He came few decades back to USA . His play was bit slower in the first half ,but from second half he picked up well . There was no intrusion but may be bit more melody and right speed in his bow would have helped especially to negate the at times abrasive brigas approach (just like say how akkarai helps abhishek). I particularly liked his alapana of hemavati where he played so concisely , in my past years I have had struggle when violinist return hemavati where that immediate cluster of vachaspathi will come in. It is so many years since i thought that I have to hear hemmige and I look forward once to hear his vocal concert - i remember 10 years before when Pattabhi pandit told me that KVN bhavam is best with Hemmige.
THe percussion team were rocking with first few songs going bit haywire with feedback and sound adjustments . Murugabhoopathi has sunaada touch and at times he pausing to understand KBMK briga directional change helped .
The hero for the day was unquestionably B S Sundarkumar , what mastery he has with the instrument . His best was the first round of play in tani , he plays with such speed and he slowly reduced the volume to nearly naught and then slowly raised the volume with the same high speed play(speed was purely orthogonal to volume) .Sundarkumar is a legend in making he and his kanjira can go with the next BOSE speaker ad to clearly demonstrate orthogonality of speed and volume.
KBMK can watch out for few things
---------------------------------
1. He certainly has great ideas and his approach of tns and abhishek in his third avatar is nice too. But I am struggling at times to hear him as he goes way too much away from Microphone. In say mannu pugazh kosalai for few alankarams in say neelambari he only tries to reach from the second rasika , but he fails to connect the omnipresent first rasika - Microphone. I hope he can bring in conscious posture correction. Also in pallavi line the phrase was not clear it was bharathE than it appeared like bharathi . I dont care about his hand and leg movements , there are many who do more but singing straight or near straight to microphone is not optional. He has to give comfort to his omnipresent first rasika - microphone
2. KBMK voice is not in melodious scale but that is okay. We have musicians of himalayan stature not having great voice in the past and present. But he can sing slightly restrained one or two numbers where he avoids that excessive brighas. Brighas with laya poruttam should have low latency , at times he creates a higher latency or in thamizh as they say i find a bit of virissal(blur in english). To an extent when say Abhishek sings with so much brighas he has that voice with such rich harmonics but KBMK may have to tailor his brighas to suit his voice texture . A bit toning downwith a share of little less of TNS like brighas will make me enjoy bit more. I as a rasika should not approximate ragas for few pockets during his singing.
I wish the concert was near 4 hours , he would have not consciously cut short the pallavi and may have presented a submain R N S. Common simala you are a great sabha please restore 4 or 5 pm start .
Overall a very good to excellent concert for 3 hours and 10 minutes
Last edited by rajeshnat on 05 Jun 2017, 07:34, edited 1 time in total.
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rshankar
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Re: Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna@Los Angeles On June 03rd,2017
#2 should be varaSikhi vAhana.
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sankark
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narayara000
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