I had gone to the concert of Sri Kunnakkudi Balamuralikrishna on the 30th of May. The venue was Swamy's Hall, R.K.Mutt Road, Chennai. The organizers were 'Shanmukhapriya'.
This concert was a special RTP Concert. Accompanists were Sri V.Sanjeev on violin. Sorry, but I couldn't identify the mridangam player. The special guest of the evening was ‘Sangeetha Kala Acharya’ Vidhwan Sri Chengleput Ranganathan.
The list is as follows:
1)chalamEla - varnam - darbAr - Adi
2) mahAganapathim - nAttai - Adi (Short sketch, Swarakalpana)
3) sugunamulE - chakravAham - rUpakam(short Alapana)
4) ninnAda - kannadA - Adi(Swarakalpana)
5) RTP - shanmukhapriyA - Adi Sankeerna Nadai
Sri Balamuralikrishna is quite an accomplished singer. He has a lot of knowledge and powerful managing. Also, he has a good rapport with the accompanists and the audience. His stage presence is also appreciable.
The first varnam, chalamEla, in darbAr started smoothly. It was an ideal starter, I should say!
Next, he sang a short sketch of nAttai. But, the sketch was so excellent that it was like listening to a long AlApana. After a very good rendition of the Dikshithar kriti 'mahAganapathim', he sang a round of swarams. His powerful voice was evident in this section. His swarams were short and sweet. It was a nAttai that was properly sung.
An Alapana of chakravAham followed. I have to praise Balamurali as he chose very different ragas. He was a different singer and never was like the usual crowd. There is something special in his singing! 'sugunamulE' of Thyagarajar was rendered finely. The mridangam player gave full cooperation and his playing was exemplary.
'ninnAda' in kannada was rendered next with the usual splendor of kannada. His sangathis were very enjoyable. The kalpanaswaram section was out of the world. Balamurali is very talented, as he sings the best swarakalpana in the rarest of ragas! This one was truly magical! Once again, the mridangam player stole the stage with his able handling.
The main RTP was in Shanmukhapriya. The alapana was presented in two stages. The first stage was well balanced and perceptible. In both the stages, he brought out beautiful brigas. The raga was dealt with in a most superior manner for a duly long duration. The violinist Sri Sanjeev’s returns were very good in the first stage. In the second stage, he captured the full attention of the audience. Even his brigas were extraordinary! The thanam was fresh, although Balamurali had exhausted the raga already! The violinist’s investigation of mandhra sthayi was very pleasing. It was already about 50 minutes since he started the ragam-thanam. The pallavi, unpredictably, was the pallavi of the great Alathur Brothers! The thalam was Adi sankIrna nadai. The very long and difficult thalam was handled excellently by Balamurali. The line was obviously long, "kadhir vadivElan unadhu pAdham thunayE OrAru mukhanE dEvAdhi dEvane"
Kunnakkudi Sri Balamuralikrishna@Swamy's Hall,Chennai on 30t
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rajeshnat
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Oops I typed already a long post of the same concert.
kunnakudi bAlamuralikrishna@swamy's hall on May 30th,2009
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Organized by shanmughapriyA sabhA and it was advertised as a thematic special pallavi concert. Accomaniment was by V.Sanjeev - violin and Trivandrum vaidhyanathan- mridangam.
1. varnam? - darbAr? (missed this as I was late)
2. mahAgaNapthim(S) - nAttai - MD
3. suguNamUlE cheppuKoNti (R) - chakravAkham - T
5 mins alApanai and 4 mins violin return
4. ninnADa nEla(S) - kannaDa-T
5 mins swaras
5. pallavi + tani from 18:42 to 20:30 pm
6. speech by chingelpet ranganAthan
6. thEdi uNNai charaN aDaiNdhEN - sindhubhairavi - Subramania bhArarthi
7.pavamAna + mangalam KosalendrAya(madhyamAvati)
I missed the first varnam heard it was a darbAr not too sure . Joined from the beginning of a fine grip of nAttai swaras and BMK' voice setttled beautifully. A fairly elaborate chakravAkham was sung with a very dose of classicism of this beautiful krithi with semmangudi touch being omnipresent ,it would have been nice if he had given a round of swaras there for the chakravAkham krithi. The kannaDa was a fast filler and it was excellent throughout with a fast aggression in swaras very much aligning with the tempo of the preceding krithi
The mridangist played with a lot of azhuttam and he was very good throughout.The tani was in line with the pallavi with quite a lot of kannakku.
kunnakudi bAlamuralikrishna@swamy's hall on May 30th,2009
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Organized by shanmughapriyA sabhA and it was advertised as a thematic special pallavi concert. Accomaniment was by V.Sanjeev - violin and Trivandrum vaidhyanathan- mridangam.
1. varnam? - darbAr? (missed this as I was late)
2. mahAgaNapthim(S) - nAttai - MD
3. suguNamUlE cheppuKoNti (R) - chakravAkham - T
5 mins alApanai and 4 mins violin return
4. ninnADa nEla(S) - kannaDa-T
5 mins swaras
5. pallavi + tani from 18:42 to 20:30 pm
6. speech by chingelpet ranganAthan
6. thEdi uNNai charaN aDaiNdhEN - sindhubhairavi - Subramania bhArarthi
7.pavamAna + mangalam KosalendrAya(madhyamAvati)
I missed the first varnam heard it was a darbAr not too sure . Joined from the beginning of a fine grip of nAttai swaras and BMK' voice setttled beautifully. A fairly elaborate chakravAkham was sung with a very dose of classicism of this beautiful krithi with semmangudi touch being omnipresent ,it would have been nice if he had given a round of swaras there for the chakravAkham krithi. The kannaDa was a fast filler and it was excellent throughout with a fast aggression in swaras very much aligning with the tempo of the preceding krithi
The mridangist played with a lot of azhuttam and he was very good throughout.The tani was in line with the pallavi with quite a lot of kannakku.
Last edited by rajeshnat on 31 May 2009, 22:22, edited 1 time in total.
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rajeshnat
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It was evident after chakravAkham that the pallavi was a prati rAgam and expectedly it was in the rAGAM shanumughapriyA. Timings are just too important that too being a special pallavi concert
5A. rAgam round 1 for 12 minutes:
The alApana was a perfect madhyamakAlam start , at around 5th minute, he touched for few minutes the mandara sthAyi of shanmughapriyA .BMK's voice azhuttam is always an asset and with he adding a lot of bass to his voice it was a flying start.
5B. violin round 1 for 8 minutes:
The violin return of sanjeev had a lovely azhuttam and very high shruthi adherance , with me hearing few recordings of the violinist kanyAkumAri yesterday his touches had a lot of style overlapping with his guru.
5C. rAgam round 2 for 11 minutes:
To an extent there was significantly little repetition , there was more madhyamAkala spread and very minimal tara sthAyi spread , I would have loved it better if he had gone for little more towards tara Sthayi (shanmughapriyA and tara sthayi will suit perfectly),there was lot of new patterns in his alApanai after first few minutes and he got his excellence back.
5D. violin round 2 for 9 minutes:
Here I just felt his violin return was appreciable only for tonal purity , in proportion i heard it as bit d i s p r o p o r t i o n a t e.
5E. tAnam for 17 minutes:
TAnam was just excellent to outstanding .The tAnam was sung in three rounds with almost equal return by violin,exceptional breadth control , I missed a little bit of high speed tAnam(major) and also there could have been atleast 4 to 5 minutes of tAnam with mridangam(minor).
5F. pallavi for 24 minutes:
The pallavi line was yesteryear Alathur brothers creation,certainly had loads and loads of technicalities , certainly it was brought well. The pallavi line was "kaDir vaDi vElA UNadhu pAdam thuNaiyE OrAru mughaNe devAdi devaNE", it was a tight rope walk one . The tAla was Adi , but sankeerna nadai in triputA. The pallavi could have been slightly shorter that too if you see in comparison with the swarA rAgamAliga, but it was pallavi in pallavi way no shortcuts that was the theme, in short BMK must have excelled , but I was bit lost there with extensive elaboration of little excess kanakku.
5G. swara rAgamAliga for 14 minutes:
The swaras for 14 minutes was not that well elaborated say in comparision with pallavi or tAnam, I was initially thinking he would end up with only shanmughapriyA , but in the other 2 rAgamAliga swaras it was not very elaborate certainly there was a dip there.
BMK Jr started from shanmughapriyA , went to kAmbOdhi and hameerkalyAni, with sanjeev playing violin return in kAmbOdhi and ended with hindOlam , and violinist did the same where he ended with ranjani after playing hameerkalyAni. I personally donot like different violin rAgamAliga returns it may suit well for say instruments concert but certainly not that great during vocal. BMK wrapped with shanmughapriyA swaras and it was excellent.
5H. tani had lot of kanakku and was for about 11 minutes, In short the pallavi and tani was for 1 hour and 48 minutes.
The minus was perhaps slightly longer violin return and perhaps not so adequate swaras , but one has to give it to this brilliant musician BMK, his voice had so much azhuttam and not even one sangathi there was a sag. He among his peers in his group of sub senior musicians is always a treat to hear
Special Note:
-------------
Vidwan chengelpet Shri ranganathan spoke very well ,he was praising all three and it was nice , he was mentioning one interesting anecdote which is worth sharing . He said gathi and nadai are always very confusing for many musicians . He recalled for the first time this kind of nadai -gathi was tried by his guru Alathur brothers in 1956 in malakOttai (trichi), with PMI in mridangam and it seems that it was tried after Shri Lalgudi jayaraman suggested to ALB at the beginning of the concert where ranganathan was assisting ALB.It was very nice for ranganathan recollecting and especially telling shri LGJ was a quite a trend setter in pallavi and that pallavi was that day sung in nAttaikurinji.
In short a very good to excellent concert.
5A. rAgam round 1 for 12 minutes:
The alApana was a perfect madhyamakAlam start , at around 5th minute, he touched for few minutes the mandara sthAyi of shanmughapriyA .BMK's voice azhuttam is always an asset and with he adding a lot of bass to his voice it was a flying start.
5B. violin round 1 for 8 minutes:
The violin return of sanjeev had a lovely azhuttam and very high shruthi adherance , with me hearing few recordings of the violinist kanyAkumAri yesterday his touches had a lot of style overlapping with his guru.
5C. rAgam round 2 for 11 minutes:
To an extent there was significantly little repetition , there was more madhyamAkala spread and very minimal tara sthAyi spread , I would have loved it better if he had gone for little more towards tara Sthayi (shanmughapriyA and tara sthayi will suit perfectly),there was lot of new patterns in his alApanai after first few minutes and he got his excellence back.
5D. violin round 2 for 9 minutes:
Here I just felt his violin return was appreciable only for tonal purity , in proportion i heard it as bit d i s p r o p o r t i o n a t e.
5E. tAnam for 17 minutes:
TAnam was just excellent to outstanding .The tAnam was sung in three rounds with almost equal return by violin,exceptional breadth control , I missed a little bit of high speed tAnam(major) and also there could have been atleast 4 to 5 minutes of tAnam with mridangam(minor).
5F. pallavi for 24 minutes:
The pallavi line was yesteryear Alathur brothers creation,certainly had loads and loads of technicalities , certainly it was brought well. The pallavi line was "kaDir vaDi vElA UNadhu pAdam thuNaiyE OrAru mughaNe devAdi devaNE", it was a tight rope walk one . The tAla was Adi , but sankeerna nadai in triputA. The pallavi could have been slightly shorter that too if you see in comparison with the swarA rAgamAliga, but it was pallavi in pallavi way no shortcuts that was the theme, in short BMK must have excelled , but I was bit lost there with extensive elaboration of little excess kanakku.
5G. swara rAgamAliga for 14 minutes:
The swaras for 14 minutes was not that well elaborated say in comparision with pallavi or tAnam, I was initially thinking he would end up with only shanmughapriyA , but in the other 2 rAgamAliga swaras it was not very elaborate certainly there was a dip there.
BMK Jr started from shanmughapriyA , went to kAmbOdhi and hameerkalyAni, with sanjeev playing violin return in kAmbOdhi and ended with hindOlam , and violinist did the same where he ended with ranjani after playing hameerkalyAni. I personally donot like different violin rAgamAliga returns it may suit well for say instruments concert but certainly not that great during vocal. BMK wrapped with shanmughapriyA swaras and it was excellent.
5H. tani had lot of kanakku and was for about 11 minutes, In short the pallavi and tani was for 1 hour and 48 minutes.
The minus was perhaps slightly longer violin return and perhaps not so adequate swaras , but one has to give it to this brilliant musician BMK, his voice had so much azhuttam and not even one sangathi there was a sag. He among his peers in his group of sub senior musicians is always a treat to hear
Special Note:
-------------
Vidwan chengelpet Shri ranganathan spoke very well ,he was praising all three and it was nice , he was mentioning one interesting anecdote which is worth sharing . He said gathi and nadai are always very confusing for many musicians . He recalled for the first time this kind of nadai -gathi was tried by his guru Alathur brothers in 1956 in malakOttai (trichi), with PMI in mridangam and it seems that it was tried after Shri Lalgudi jayaraman suggested to ALB at the beginning of the concert where ranganathan was assisting ALB.It was very nice for ranganathan recollecting and especially telling shri LGJ was a quite a trend setter in pallavi and that pallavi was that day sung in nAttaikurinji.
In short a very good to excellent concert.
Last edited by rajeshnat on 31 May 2009, 22:36, edited 1 time in total.
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cacm
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I thank BOTH the previous two members for the scholarly no nonsense reiews which conveyed depth as well as imparted knowledge....I feel Kunnakudi Sri Balamurali krishna is DEFINITELY already a great artist & will be heralded as such by anyone who hears him...Incidentally he gave a BRILLIANT& SCINTILLATING concert at Cleveland Festival this year. VKV
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arasi
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rajeshnat
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Added the accompanist in my first post. The pallavi line that you have mentioned is quite popular with mmi. This ALB pallavi had the exact lines "kadhir vadi vEla(n?) unadhu pAdham thunayE OrAru mukhanE dEvAdhi dEvane"arasi wrote:Rajesh,
I was hoping that you would give us the name of the mrudangist (SRRV did not know either). We seem to have several 'so so' players. It would be nice to know who this good one is.
The pallavi line as I remember starts this way: unadu pAdam tuNaiyE, ARumugane, OrARu mauganE and so on.