TM Krishna @ Boston - 4/11/09

newyorker · Post by **newyorker** » 12 Apr 2009, 08:40

TM Krishna
Violin: Embar Kannan
Mridangam: Poongulam Subramaniam

Venue: LearnQuest Music Conference, Weston, MA

1. Paripurna - Poorvi Kalyani - Rupakam - Tyagaraja (NS)
2. Tyagaraja Yoga Vaibhavam - Anandha Bhairavi - Rupakam (2-kalai) - Dikshithar
3. Smarane Sukhamu - Janaranjani - Adi - Tyagaraja (RN)
4. Ramachandra (??) - ?? ---> see note below
5. Shree Rajagopalabala - Saveri - Adhi (2-kalai) - (RST)
6. RTP - Begada - Chatushra Jaathi Jampa 2 kalai
"Kailasha pathe pasupathe uma pathe namosthuthe"
Swarams in Dhanyasi, Shree ragam.

Edit 4/12: After some valuable input from others, item 4 should read:

4. Ramacandrabhaktam - gEya hEjjajji - Adi - Dikshithar.

Just as I was having second thoughts about this concert after the lacklustre janaranjani alapana, TMK sang an out-of-this-world Saveri. This is hands down the best Saveri I've ever heard (a second being TMK's Saveri back in Cleveland in '07). The raga just melts in his hands and is particularly suited for TMK's robust voice. In fact, IMHO TMK handles some ragas like Dhanyasi, Saveri, Kambhoji even better than the 'old masters'.

Some other notes:

1. Disappointed not to hear a varnam, as TMK's aggressive style makes it a joy to listen to varnams. No complaints though, TMK often starts out his concerts these days with a 'heavy' krithi/ragam and pulls it off, as if to intentionally slight the varnam-as-a-warm-up argument.

2. Ananda Bhairavi was sung at a slow tempo as is his wont, but somehow the 'bhava' didn't quite land. Janaranjani was nothing special and I've heard better from TMK himself.

3. TMK illustrated the ancient concept of griha swaras using a Dikshithar composition. Unfortunately, I didn't catch the name of the raga (Gurjari?) nor did I really grasp the significance of this exercise. (At the risk of sounding at once lay and crude, it just seemed like Mayamalavagowla with some apa-swarams thrown in! What's more, TMK prefaced the krithi by asking the audience to expect exactly that!)

4. Did I mention the Saveri was outstanding?

TMK skipped neraval but sang swarams simulaneously @ 2 points in the sahityam. He also sang the second speed swarams ending in Pa and Sa alternately and also did the koraippu with Pa and Sa. His characteristic bhava-laden slow swarams spanning several avartanams were a real treat. Keeping with the dual-motif, he sang two korvais ending at 2 different points.

5. The RTP in Begada was entertaining if short, since TMK was pressed for time. The unusual talam was interesting and TMK performed anulomam. The thanam was reasonable but I felt that he sacrificed aesthetics with a litany of "thagaga" phrases.

6 Embar Kannan was uniformly outstanding and his bowing was sweet as ever. The mridangist was good too and played an entertaining thani.

vignesh.ishwar · Post by **vignesh.ishwar** » 12 Apr 2009, 09:08

the griha swara song is in raga geyahhejjeji pronounced( geya hejjeji)

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 12 Apr 2009, 09:20

newyorker · Post by **newyorker** » 12 Apr 2009, 09:22

@ Vignesh

Thanks, could you please throw some light on what exactly TMK demonstrated?

@ Coolkarni

>> You mean masters who sang when they were old.. perhaps ?

Fair enough, I deserved that for the sweeping comment I made

For what it's worth, I will reiterate that it's only my not so well informed opinion. And, on second thoughts, I would take Kambhoji off that list.

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 12 Apr 2009, 09:44

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 12 Apr 2009, 09:53

We now have a new 'travelling' reviewer.
I thought it was Vijay who specialized in that...

psitaram · Post by **psitaram** » 12 Apr 2009, 10:12

Just a quick add-on to the "Newyorker" review....IMHO the Janaranjani was quite good. The Saaver as pointed out was outstanding and so was the Thanam in Begada. Embar Kannan's Janaranjani was excellent. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the concert. I had secretly hope TMK would sing either Saaveri or Begada and to my pleasant surprise, he sang both. Poongulam Subramaniam was excellent, but I thought the mridangam was miked just a tad louder than the Violin or Vocal.

Pravin

rajaglan · Post by **rajaglan** » 12 Apr 2009, 11:22

Not to create a controversy....
Why TMK name didnot figure in Fort high school concert this year.
Is he coming to Blore this year during Ramanavami or out of station? May be out on long tour to USA.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 12 Apr 2009, 11:26

Newyorker, glad to note that you haven't given up kutcheri attending!
I really like TMK's RTP in janaranjani in his commercial release.

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 12 Apr 2009, 11:39

rAmachandra bhaktam - http://www.medieval.org/music/world/car ... aktam.html

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 12 Apr 2009, 15:19

newyorker wrote:
1. Disappointed not to hear a varnam, as TMK's aggressive style makes it a joy to listen to varnams. No complaints though, TMK often starts out his concerts these days with a 'heavy' krithi/ragam and pulls it off, as if to intentionally slight the varnam-as-a-warm-up argument.

Usually when the concert starts late or if there is a speech all musicians start with a heavy krithi/rAgam in the front . This is fairly prevelant with all musicians not just TMK.

carnaticdasan · Post by **carnaticdasan** » 12 Apr 2009, 15:55

Was the Gurjari song of Dishhitar---"Gunijanadi"?.This was Sri DKJ's stamped version of the song where Grihaswaras were used along the chitaiswarams

Was this song in Gurjari or in Geya---(Vignesh)

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 12 Apr 2009, 16:36

rajaglan wrote:Not to create a controversy....
Why TMK name didnot figure in Fort high school concert this year.
Is he coming to Blore this year during Ramanavami or out of station? May be out on long tour to USA.

Rajaglan - He is singing in Seshadripuram ramaseva samithi, Bangalore on 28 Apr - with H.K.Venkatram in violin and Arun prakash on mrudangam, amrit on kanjira.

-hari

newyorker · Post by **newyorker** » 12 Apr 2009, 17:18

Poongulam Subramaniam was excellent, but I thought the mridangam was miked just a tad louder than the Violin or Vocal.

Exactly my thoughts! For lack of a better word, the 'sharpness' on the mike was way too high and the mridangam lost all its nadham. And it completely drowned out the violin which was incredibly sweet and almost begged for a louder mike setting.

Was the Gurjari song of Dishhitar---"Gunijanadi"?.This was Sri DKJ's stamped version of the song where Grihaswaras were used along the chitaiswarams

Was this song in Gurjari or in Geya---(Vignesh)

The song was precisely the one mentioned by Vignesh. Thanks to Prashanth for the link to the sahityam.

Usually when the concert starts late or if there is a speech all musicians start with a heavy krithi/rAgam in the front . This is fairly prevelant with all musicians not just TMK.

While other musicians may start the concert without a varnam in the interest of time, TMK has almost patented starting a cutcheri with a major piece, 'major' defined as a composition that one would probably sing as a sub-main or main item with elaborate neraval and swaram. Examples from TMK's concerts in the past include "O Rangasayee", "Ramakathasudha", "Swararagasudha". It is not clear if this is just coincidental or TMK's subtle way of challenging the cutcheri format - almost always it sounds terrific, and I'm happy to overlook the absence of a varnam.

Just a quick add-on to the "Newyorker" review

Ah, the day when the "New Yorker" will have carnatic reviews in the "music" or the "talk of the town" section!

dhanyasi · Post by **dhanyasi** » 13 Apr 2009, 05:23

and there was a lilting javali (janaroo in Khamas) to conclude the concert...

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 13 Apr 2009, 08:48

The New Yorker has included a few HM concerts and dance recitals in their listings over the years, if I remember. Don't know if they have ever mentioned a CM concert, let alone a review!

rajaglan · Post by **rajaglan** » 13 Apr 2009, 08:54

s_hari wrote:
rajaglan wrote:Not to create a controversy....
Why TMK name didnot figure in Fort high school concert this year.
Is he coming to Blore this year during Ramanavami or out of station? May be out on long tour to USA.
Rajaglan - He is singing in Seshadripuram ramaseva samithi, Bangalore on 28 Apr - with H.K.Venkatram in violin and Arun prakash on mrudangam, amrit on kanjira.

-hari

Ok...That is good.

Ramaprasad · Post by **Ramaprasad** » 13 Apr 2009, 10:24

Here is another account of this concert. The enjoyment of music, being very sujective, could generate different reaction from the audience. Here is mine. Hope this will supplement the one by Newyorker.
I have also added one more to the list.

7. Janaro I Mohamumella_Kamas_Rupaka. A javali

Around Easter, LearnQuest Academy of Music, near Boston, MA arranges a 3-day long music conference, which includes performers from both the Hindustani and Carnatic genres. For rasikas who enjoy both these styles, this is a three day feast of some great music. Here is a brief review of one of the concerts.

The format of the kutcheries, because of the number of performances included, restricts the time for each performer (like the Chennai scene in December). For somebody of T M KrishnaÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s caliber, it is indeed a disadvantage. As one could see from the list above, the development up to the RTP was great, but after that, it was a fast denouement to the conclusion.

The Purvikalyani composition of Thyagaraja, with a short neraval and a crisp swarakalpana set the stage for the grand Anandabhairavi kriti of Dikshitar. The leisurely rendering of the piece brought out the often mentioned calming effect of this raga, even as one enjoyed the sahitya of Dikshitar. The Janaranjani alapana, which I had not heard in a live concert for quite sometime now, brought home how melodically pleasing this raga is. After the beautiful neraval, I was hoping the piece would conclude without a swarakalpana since I wanted to continue enjoying the feeling generated by the neraval. Swarakalpana would have been an anti-climax. There was no swarakalpana!

The next kriti, a composition of Dikshitar, was prefaced by a brief introduction. TMK gave a two minute lecture on a concept in Indian music that pre-dates its separation into the two styles as we understand them today. This is the idea of Grahaswara. He said it would take him a lec-dem of 2-hours to expound this for us. I leave it to the musically curious among you to read more about it or write about it here. Dikshitar has used this concept. It was a finely rendered short piece. The chitteswaram at the end of the composition was sung with and without this concept in mind to bring out the nuanced defferences. A great mini lec-dem.

Saveri would certainly be called the center piece of this concert, since time restriction made the rest of the concert converge to a faster finish. Even though one might have heard Krishna render this kriti many times before (and I include myself in this group), it always emerges as a fresh foray into this great raga. The bhava-laden rendering of DikshitarÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s description of the temple in "Dakshina Dwarka"

rajaglan · Post by **rajaglan** » 13 Apr 2009, 14:35

TMK talked of this grahaswara in an earlier occassion in Gayana samaj , blore too.

tkb · Post by **tkb** » 13 Apr 2009, 23:48

I am sure any one will accept that a concert is successful only when the co-artists play to enhance and not just accompany. It is also a fact that they have also performed together many times, not necessarily in this tour, and they do have a great understanding. This is a good team always to listen to.

ramakriya · Post by **ramakriya** » 14 Apr 2009, 01:26

carnaticdasan wrote:Was the Gurjari song of Dishhitar---"Gunijanadi"?.This was Sri DKJ's stamped version of the song where Grihaswaras were used along the chitaiswarams

Was this song in Gurjari or in Geya---(Vignesh)

The song in question is "Ramachandra Bhaktam" in gEya hejjujji, 13th asampUrNa mELa.

guNijanAdinuta in gurjari, also has a grahasvara passage. I believe there is one for sadAvinata sAdarE in rEvagupti as well (although I have not heard any renditions of that).

-Ramakriya

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 14 Apr 2009, 01:36

Ramakriya: What is a grahaswara passage?

rajeeram · Post by **rajeeram** » 19 Apr 2009, 09:08

vk,
Check this out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvyegmLf ... annel_page

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 19 Apr 2009, 11:08

Thanks rajeeram. The link is much appreciated.

I listened to the explanation and the song a few times. His setup in the speech is a bit confusing with the "wrong" and "right" characterization. I misunderstood that he is going to sing the Graha swara passage first and the modern-base version next. I realized I misunderstood when he sang it in the opposite order.

This had me scurrying to Sangeetha Sampradaya Pradarshini which clarified the idea and what TMK meant.

Let me put down my understanding of what this is.

As TMK says, in ancient times, ragas were sung with respect to the graha swara ( starting note or home ). I assume he is referring to the shadja/madhaya grama times ( pre fixed-tonic times ).

SSP says that Geya Hejjajji is "madhya graham". Here is the snippet from the SSP on the raga lakshana and the chitta swara for this song.

The second version of each line is the graha swara passage. SSP denotes this through the notation "Swara/Graham". We can see that they are uniformly shifted up by three swara letters from the corrsponding swaras on the first version of each line ( S-->M, P-->S, M-->N, G-->D, R-->P etc. ). The substitution is only for the swara letters and not for the frequency. That is what TMK refers to as 'sounding odd' or 'wrong', because when he sings S he actually sings the P frequency of his tonic. The violinist would have played exactly the same thing for both versions of the chitta swara passage. I can imagine how confusing this all can be and some effort is needed to keep all this straight while singing.

Hope I got this right. newyorker, whatever apaswara type thing you felt should not have been due to this since sonically both chittaswara passages sound the same, the graha swara passage uses differnt solfa syllables, that is all.

BTW, if you pay close attention, TMK mixed up the swara names a bit. The first time he sings the graha swara passage, he sings "smgm" instead of "mndn" at the end.

Please listen to it and let me know if this observation is correct.

Then after he says "this is graha swaram, let me sing it one more time", he switches between the graha swara passage and swara passage a few times. I can not figure out what order he meant to sing them ( like alternate between the two etc. ). This is what he sings in that second time.

1) First line of graha swara passage
2) Repeat of the first line of graha swara passage
3) First line of the swara passage
4) First line of the graha swara passage
5) Second line of the swara pasage
6) Second line of the graha swara passage ( with the correct 'mndn' this time

)

It will be great if someone can listen to it and provide any corrections to the observatons I have made above. My knowledge on this is only half an hour old!

gn.sn42 · Post by **gn.sn42** » 19 Apr 2009, 11:29

Thanks, vasanthakokilam. That excerpt from the SSP made it much clearer. You're correct about the "mndn" bit. If I heard correctly, his first pass is 3),4),5), and 6) from your description (with smgm); after his comment, he does 1) and 2) perhaps to help listeners see the contrast; and then does the whole 3)-6) bit again (with mndn).

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 21 Apr 2009, 12:02

gn.sn42, I listened to it again. In his first pass he first sings the swara passage both lines (repeating each line), then sings the graha swara passage both lines ( repeating each line ).

gn.sn42 · Post by **gn.sn42** » 23 Apr 2009, 12:33

I listened to it again. You're mostly correct - what he sings is

swara line 1 (x 2)

swara line 2 + ramam

graha swara line 1 (x 2)

graha swara line 2 (smgm) + ramam

graha swara line 1 (x2)

swara line 1

graha swara line 1

swara line 2

graha swara line 2 (mndn)

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 23 Apr 2009, 12:52

gn.sn42, Yup. I listened to it one more time and that is exactly what he sings. Thanks.