Kunnakkudi Balamurali at Hamsadhwani on 25th July(Semmangudi

[srinivasrgvn]

Kunnakkudi Balamuralikrishna - Vocal
V.V.Ravi - Violin
R.Ramesh - Mridangam

I attended the concert of Kunnakkudi Balamuralikrishna on the 25th of July at 6 P.M. in Hamsadhwani. It was held for remembering Semmangudi Sri Srinivasa Iyer’s 101st Birthday.

There was a 1-minute (exactly a minute, with the announcer looking at his watch periodically to ensure punctuality) silence before the concert started to remember DKP as it was she who inaugurated Hamsadhwani. The concert started quite late at about 6-15 P.M. But, the announcer’s address was short, saving time. I just wish concerts could start punctually akin to that of the Music Academy, but that will still remain a dream, I guess. The concert was very much enjoyable, comprising of typical Semmangudi style compositions.

1) sAmi nI pai - Anandhabhairavi - khanda jAthi ata - varnam by tiruvEttiyUr thyAgayyA (SS)
2) intha parAkA - nAdhanAmakriyA - rUpakam - AnaiyA (SS,KS)
3) pAlaya mAdhava - asAvEri - Adi - swAthi thirunAl
4) moyyAr tadam(tiruvembAvai) - pUrvIkalyAni - rUpakam - mAnikkavAchakar(tune set by SSI)(A,KS)
5) karunasamudrA - dEvagAndhAri - Adi - Thyagarajar
6) shrIkAntha - bhavapriyA - Adi - Thyagarajar(KS)
7) rAma nI samAnam - kharaharapriyA - rUpakam - Thyagarajar (A,N,KS,T)

[Abbreviations - SS - Short Sketch, KS - Kalpanaswaram, A - Alapana, N - Neraval, T- Thani]

Balamurali has established himself in the CM world already. He is extremely talented and is very much promising to be a future star. The first piece was delightful, being a varnam in the folk-ish Anandhabhairavi. The chittaswaram section was very much pleasing. I recommend this varnam to those of you who have not heard it. You will love it, if it is sung by Balamurali especially. The short sketch in the beginning was also nice.

Next followed ‘Intha parAka’, a typical SSI piece, often sung by TMK also; nAdhanAmakriyA was fine, with necessary nuances and emotion. A Kalpanaswaram section also followed. I was happy to see BM render swaras for this special raga ignored by many or willingly pushed by some to the post main portion. I have also heard TMK render swaras for this piece.

The next kriti was quite a rare and exquisite piece of Swathi Tirunal. It was ‘pAlaya mAdhava’ set to asAvEri. I have not heard this piece much and I felt it was a very admirable song, with so many beautiful swarAksharams. Kudos to BM for selecting this piece!

pUrvikalyAni alapana was splendid, especially in the higher octave. BM brought out pUrvikalyAni with all its grace and power. I felt that this particular raga alapana was a ‘sampoorna’ alapana, replete with utmost clarity and quantity (It lasted for nearly 8-9 minutes).T he composition was ‘moyyAr tadam’, a thiruvembAvai that was popularized by MSS and SSI. I was personally expecting ‘mInAkshi’ or ‘gnAnamo sagarAdha’, but I wasn’t disappointed with this song’s rendition. The Kalpanaswarams were fantastic, with BM putting in a lot of effort.

I thought the dEvagAndhAri piece was the pre-main filler, but I was wrong as a super fast ‘shrIkAntha nIyada balAthibala’ came by. This song immortalized by Semmangudi, was presented well by BM. He also included a last-minute swarakalpana passage. Razor sharp swaras were flying about and it was difficult to follow where they halted! The violinist’s returns could have been better here.

Then, the main piece’s alapana started and the audience were just mulling in to the sweet fragrance of Kharaharapriya as expected (Its Semmangudi’s celebration; How can one fail to sing Kharaharapriya!) when, suddenly, a quarrel arose in the audience!! It was an old mami, fighting furiously with an auto driver who demanded more money. Both of them were arguing loudly, interrupting the concert. As the audience were diverted and disturbed, BM stopped singing and looked at them, along with the audience. Then, members from the audience and the sabha people consoled the auto driver and separated the fighters. But still, old mami was refusing to shell out even a paise and the driver stood out waiting for her. The concert resumed. The auto driver would have got his lump of money, I presumed. A great Kharaharapriya alapana was presented although I felt that the Semmangudi touch was lacking. Expecting the treatment of Semmangudi was unfair but still, in his birthday celebration, you would expect a small dose of him!!(which was there, eventually) Violinist’s alapana was brilliant; it reminded me of MSG style with its lavish fashion. As expected, the song of the evening was ‘rAma nI samanam’. It was sung sincerely by BM with necessary sangathis and the phenomenal neraval at ‘paluku paluku’. Violinist scored well in the neraval. The Kalpanaswaram was fabulous, with an incessant flow of manodharma in the final kalpanaswaram that spanned for nearly 4-5 minutes. Thani was good.

It was already 8:30P.M. And I had to get home for dinner.

Commenting on the accompaniments, the violinist could have played a little bit (mind you, a very little bit) less shabby throughout. The mridangam was okay but I felt that it was a bit of a bang (I have no right to comment on the technicalities but to my ear, it sounded a bit bang -like). Overall, it was an enjoyable evening except for the fans (the old electrical fans and the fans of Balamuralikrishna!).

[bilahari]

LOL, I sincerely hope this auto driver- mami tiff in the midst of a concert will make an appearance in Relished Rapports sometime, Srinivas! Also, a concert starting at 6.15 that was scheduled to start at 6 still started 15 minutes early .

Only one neraval all concert? Although, in many of the SSI recordings I have, he too does not do many neravals in each concert (usually just for two major items).

Thanks for the nice review.

[rajeshnat]

2) intha parAkA - nAdhanAmakriyA - rUpakam - AnaiyA (SS,KS)

5) karunasAru(?) - sahAnA - Adi - Thyagarajar(?)

It was an old mami, fighting furiously with an auto driver who demanded more money. Both of them were arguing loudly, interrupting the concert. As the audience were diverted and disturbed, BM stopped singing and looked at them, along with the audience.

# I am assuming intha pArakA is in mAyamAlavagowla and not nAdhanAmakriyA ?

# Did you mistake karunA samudrA in devagAndhAri as sahAnA?

# I think the old mAmi must be nAsikAbhooshaNi

[srinivasrgvn]

Rajesh,
I am quite sure that it was nAdhanAmakriyA. Actually, there are two versions - one in mAyAmAlavagowla and one in nAdhanAmakriyA. This one sounded like nAdhanAmakriyA. I may be wrong. But, I am 90% sure that it is nAdhanAmakriyA.
I don't think it was dEvagAndhAri. dEvagAndhAri would sound a bit like Arabhi and I didn't hear Arabhi-like phrases. I did hear sahAna, I think. Any other member may please verify if the above said info are correct.
And, this mami was way too older to be nAsikabhUshani! =)

[srinivasrgvn]

Thanks bilahari! Yes, I was disappointed to hear only one neraval. But, that one was itself enough to compensate. And, another bright aspect was that BM phrased 'shrI kAntha nIyada- balathibala' perfectly unlike Semmangudi. Semmangudi used to sing like this - 'shrIkAntha nI----yadabalAthibala' which is wrong and changes the meaning. I was happy to notice that young BM was absorbing the good aspects of SSI.

[malavi]

It was karunasamudra rama in devagandhari and not sahana. each and every sangathi was perfectly sung by BM.
ofcource mrudangam was a bit of a bang ,we felt there was no need of a mike.

[srinivasrgvn]

oh, thank you malavi! I definitely didn't know that it was dEvagAndhAri! I haven't heard it much, so I couldn't identify it. Sorry! Well, how about nAdhanAmakriyA? Is it right or wrong?

[VK RAMAN]

It will be nice if the artist can take 10 seconds to announce the song tile and raagam before rendition

[malavi]

I was taught the kriti intaparaka in mayamalavagaulai by Musiri Mama. i came to the concert when BM was singing poorvikalyani.so dont know intaparaka sounded like nadanamakriya or mayamalavagaulai.as far as i know it is mayamalavagaulai.