T M Krishna, Chettinad Fine Arts

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 24 Jul 2006, 22:55

T M Krishna - Nagai Muralidharan - Karaikkudi Mani - V Suresh

Chettinad Fine Arts, Chettinad Vidhyashram School

24th July 2006. 6:30 pm

sAmi daya jUta - kEdAragauLa varNam - Adi
srI mAtrubUtam - kannaDa - misra cApu - MD (S)
sabApathikku - AbhOgi - rUpakam - GKB
eththanai kOdi inbam - danyAsi - Adi - bAratiyAr (R)
sarasa sAma dAna - kApi nArAyaNi - Adi - T
evari mAta - kAmbhOji - Adi - T (R N?S?)
tani?

As entered the hall's balcony to find some space to sit and found some familiar faces too, Sri T M Krishna was singing "somasakham natasukasanakam", the anupallavi of the kannaDa kriti. What followed were some brisk TMK-style-long-flowing swaras which was well received.

The danyAsi AlApanai had a few nice phrases and was monotonous in some parts as well. The kriti was kinda repetitive.

The kAmbhOji AlApanai was nothing different from the former one, in terms of the format. It was again good in parts and monotonous otherwise, which quite a few cheap brigas thrown in hither and thither. I left the hall while he started the kriti.

It was another of those concerts which would make a typical mylapore mama and mami give a huge applause.

Personally i would say it was a rather unfortunate day that all the artists on stage were on their off season.

bharath

meena · Post by **meena** » 25 Jul 2006, 00:04

As entered the hall's balcony to find some space to sit and found some familiar faces too

was it our ever poplular Kji...again ???

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 25 Jul 2006, 01:58

Hello Bharath,
Good to see another of your reviews. As I mentioned elsewhere, it makes us happy to hear from the thalai nagar of CM. Those of us who come to Chennai once a year (if we are lucky), do appreciate your postings. More power to all of you--the concert reviewers from Chennai! Keep them coming. and keep us up to date.
The same goes to Bangalore reviewers and to others...

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 25 Jul 2006, 02:04

yatra yatra k^Rita madhura sangItaM
tatra tatra k^Rita mastakA~njaliM|
bhAShpa vAri paripUrNa lOcanaM
vasata kulkarNiM rasika nandakaM||

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 25 Jul 2006, 10:51

Meena

I can spot Bharath from a distance.
Not too difficult I should say ... He is mostly in the first row and is always locked mentally -as though by a magnet- to every syllable uttered by the singer.

He will always find it difficult to spot me.
Unless he has a device that zooms in on people with closed eyes and shaking heads.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 25 Jul 2006, 14:19

1. kedaragowlai varnam by tiruvettiyur thyagarAjar
.....
7. evari mAta (RNST) -kAmbodhi - ThyagarAja
8. Eppo varuvAro - Jonpuri - GKB
9. Pachai mAl pOl meni - Viruttam (Ananda Bhairavi + Sindhu Bhairavi)
10. nadanda kAlgaL nondavO - Sindhubhairavi - Azhwar
11. Tillana - kamAs - Patnam Subramania Iyer
12. ni nAma rUpamulaku(mangalam)

I was there during the concert too. The best part of the concert was the 26 minutes of tani by KAraikudi mani ably supported by ghatam Suresh. His laya wizadry was complete. A certain analogy struck me when I heard KM's tani.When I was a kid,I used to move the glass doors up and down whenever I travel in the train as it picks up a steady and fast speed . I used to like different sounds especially when the train changes tracks during small stations, with my own modulation generated by moving the glass doors up and down .KM was very fast,and even the variations of the strokes were so complete,rapid and thoroughly enjoyable. Not a soul moved out during the tani.

TMK's varnam and kannada was ok.Liked the dhanyAsi alapana, but somehow the bharathiyar krithi did not bring the same charm of vilamba kala dhanyasi , that TMK is generally capable of. Particularly the phrases iraiVa iraiVa iraiVa thrice in the bharathiyar kithi's pallavi line dips the musical quality of dhanyAsi .

Abhogi was sung quite well , though starting with krupaanidhi is not as charming as starting with sabhapathi line. (usually singing with the anupallavi is done more in the post main krithi session).KAmbodhi was good with a neraval in the usual "bhakta parAdhInuDanucu parama bhAgavatula". The last 2 minutes of neraval was a little vottam with TMK, however crowd applauded a lot. swarams were just ok. Eppo varuvAro just like sarasa sAma was quite pedestal .

Viruttam was excellent , both Ananda and sindhu Bhairavi's were detailed , not just used as a little short pedastal to go to the sindhubhairavi tukkada to wrap the concert. The kamAs tillana is always rushed and again TMK did exhibit a little vottam.Overall a good to very good concert by TMK.

Nagai Muralidharan's accompaniment had a good tone(wish the volume of violin was little less).His kAmbodhi swarams was little scratchy. But all his alapanai's return were crisp and sweet. Ghatam Suresh played well, though during tani when KM handed over(especially second round of 6 mins), felt it was just too much for ghatam.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 25 Jul 2006, 14:22

Bharath,
Not trying to be nitpicking here. What did you mean by

"Personally i would say it was a rather unfortunate day that all the artists on stage were on their off season".

I did not find anything like that...

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 25 Jul 2006, 15:32

Eppo varuvAro just like sarasa sAma was quite pedestal

Pedestal?

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 25 Jul 2006, 15:47

srkris
Good catch , there was a slip . I meant pedestrian ,which means ordinary. Also I should have meant glass windows instead of doors.

In the song list I missed the song "pitham teliya marundhu"- ShenjuruTTi -GKB ,which was song quite well before tillana.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 25 Jul 2006, 16:34

Bharath, thanks for the review. Add one more to the list of ex-sangeethamites, current rasikas who were at the concert...

I am coming around to the conclusion that derivation of musical pleasure is dependent more on one's frame of mind than anything else...take me for instance - if this was just another concert during my normally full kutcheri calendar, I might have agreed with Bharath...but coming after a prolonged absence from the city, I just can't get enough of live concert experience - and TMK with Nagai, Guru and Suresh, even if they were "off" as Bharath suggests, is enough ammunition to blow me away....

Sree mathrubhoothaam was a little punchier than usual - especially the stentorian swaras....swaras for Sabhapathikku would have been nice - the point of a short krithi in a raga offering reasonable scope without swaras or alaapana escapes me. Up next was my first Dhanyasi in ages so I was not complaining

I for one never complain about vocal excesses. Indeed I can help but wonder at the transformation in TMK's voice since he started bagging prime slots. At that time, the common complaint was that while the voice was pleasant and rich, it was not particularly pliable. Now, one is hard pressed to think of a more vibrant voice. Evari Mata is also the krithi which first got one to sit up and take notice of the-then-up-and-coming Krishna (Academy - 97/98 available from HMV) so there was some nostalgia as well...

The audio was better than the norm for carnatic cutcheries but Karaikkudi Mani's usually rich tone sounded a bit muffled but there was enough for laya buffs with an extended khandam interlude in which some adventurous korvais were demonstrated. I thought Suresh' provided the knottier variations.

Kulkarniji, perhaps we should have planned to meet at the concert!

Vijay

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 25 Jul 2006, 18:21

meena, i dont know Kji. I hence dont know if he was around there.

cml, what do those lines mean?

coolkarni, you are sure u spotted me? i dont think i am all that noticable. I find obscure corners to sit down at concerts

rajeshnat, i felt the concert wasnt upto the mark given the calibre of the artists on stage. though nothing else to do, i walked out when he started evari mATa. couldnt stand it anymore. well, we have always differed in rating any given concert, so i am not surprised at all.

vijay, i have drastically cut down on my concert calender just coz at a point of time, i found most concerts monotonous. The number of reviews i post off late, would be a guideline to that.

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 25 Jul 2006, 18:53

No.I did not attend the Concert
I only meant that I can spot you.
Something like the famous lines of Vivek iwhile being booked by the traffic police
I know the Police IG but......... The IG does not know me.

(I belong to the gang of (boisterous) Venkateswaran that keeps bugging you and the Professor at IIT for a copy of Vageesh's concert at IIT

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 25 Jul 2006, 22:58

rbharath

All that I meant is that wherever there is good music (at chennai inparticular) then (like proverbial Hanuman being present wherever Rama's name is chanted) CoolkarNi is bound to be there!

meena · Post by **meena** » 25 Jul 2006, 23:13

meena, i dont know Kji. I hence dont know if he was around there.

rbharath

u'll not miss spotting kji now, thanks to cml
http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=15060#15060

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 26 Jul 2006, 09:56

meena, thanks. should spot him hence i suppose.

cml, dint know it all along. thanks for educating me.

coolkarni, i know that mama. I thought he was called ambi mama. To clarify yet again, a copy of that concert of Sri Vageesh is available only with him. It was recorded and he took the cassettes with him. have u seen me?

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 26 Jul 2006, 13:46

Next time around I will introduce myself, so relax.

Yes I have seen you.
I told you , in the front rows .At IIT concerts(where there is a bustle around you -you pick a seat next to the Professor dont you) , Manda Sudharanis concerts.

vageesh's concert.
Yes that has joined the likes of melodies like
Basavaraj Rajgurus 6 minute Puriya Kalyan, Chaurasias 12 minute Chandrakauns (with Nizamuddin Khan on the tabla) Runa Lailas Bole Re pai Hara , Semmangudis Indu Enage Govinda
in some far corner of my brain.

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter
but
Sigh !
ONCE HEARD AND NEVER TO BE HEARD AGAIN MELODIES ARE SWEETEST !!

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 26 Jul 2006, 20:04

would wait to meet u sometime. i aint excited at all.

"Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter.
ONCE HEARD AND NEVER TO BE HEARD AGAIN MELODIES ARE SWEETEST !!"
- couldn't agree more with you. I have a good recollection of such once heard and never to be heard again stuff.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 26 Jul 2006, 21:32

ONCE HEARD AND NEVER TO BE HEARD AGAIN MELODIES ARE SWEETEST !!

thanks for that gem which I will add to my collections.
At my age it is:
madhuram shrutaM|
adhimadhuram vishm^RitaM||
(heard one are sweet; the forgotten ones (which I cannot recollect even with effort!) are the sweetest!)