Kunnakudi BMK - KGS - 23rd Dec 2010

[bilahari]

Kunnakudy Balamuralikrishna – Vocal
B.U. Ganesh Prasad – Violin
Mannargudi A. Easwaran – Mrudangam
Uduppi Sridhar – Ghatam

Duration: 2h 15min

Approximate Songlist:

01. nera nammiti (varNam) – kAnaDa – khaNDa aTa
02. kari kalaba mukam (S @ nIlagrIva sukumAram) – sAvEri – rUpakam
03. EmaNi pogadatura – vIravasantam
04. parAtpara (R, S @ pallavi) – vAcaspati – Adi
05. saraNam saraNam raghurAma – asAvEri – miSra cApu
06. ninnAda nE (S @ pallavi) – kannaDa – Adi
07. kaligiyunTE katA (R, N @ bAguga srI, S, T) – kIravANi – Adi
08. arAr Asai paDAr – nAdanAmakriya
09. samayamidE (jAvaLi) – bEhAg
10. tAm tAm tAm (tillAna) – khamAs

KBMK started with a rather sketchy sketch of kAnaDa. The varNam was presented in only one speed, which was rather disappointing. His voice was continually strained today, and he did suffer some shruti lapses throughout. I do like his forceful, open-throated singing, however. His sAvEri had some nice gamakas about the madhyamam in the kalpanaswaras. Like his kAnaDa, KBMK’s vAcaspati also had a rather dubious start – I guess he doesn’t subscribe to the reveal-raga-in-opening-line school of thought. That’s perfectly fine with me. His vAcaspati was imaginative but the lack of emphasis on the madhyamam until the end made it a curious exposition. The dhaivatam oriented phrases were well conceived. I loved KBMK’s emotive closing flourish in the asAvEri krithi (several new krithis today for me). Similarly, KBMK hit his straps with the long, final round of sarvalaghu swaras in kannaDa. For the second consecutive concert, kIravANi was the main item. KBMK’s kIravANi was filled with fast passages and brighas. He sang a very brief neraval before engaging in swaras that had a nice N,D motif. I particularly loved his rendition of ArAr Asai paDAr. The tukkadas were all well done and I wish more artistes sang such lovely, heavy pieces at the end of concerts.

With all the breathing into microphone chatter on the forum, I especially looked out for this. It is true that this is an area KBMK needs to work on, but I honestly wasn’t troubled by it at all. To me, the lack of thorough neraval was a bigger deficiency in this concert (as it was in San Diego when I first heard him too). I will not rant about the importance of neravals for the umpteenth time. I like KBMK’s singing, but his voice was not in best shape today and his music today generally lacked sowkhyam. Just my impression. Slowing down a bit may do him plenty of good, as will more intelligent modulation of vallinam and mellinam in his voice. Nonetheless, he presented varied fare today and I enjoyed listening to several rare krithis.

BU Ganesh Prasad was exceedingly good on the violin. His kalpanaswara returns were on the money and his playing for krithis was appropriate as well. His kIravANi ragam was very, very good and I gave him a loud round of applause while people stared at me suspiciously. Particularly, his use of D,M,GR as a refrain was good, and the GR MG PM type ascending patterns were well done. His SP,MGRS,,, in the upper octave was very evocative.

MAE was his usual self – sensitive during krithis, keen during kalpanaswaras, and exuberant in the thani. I really loved his playing for kaligiyunTE today – he adorned sangathis so beautifully with his strokes. His clarity is also something that amazes each time. Uduppi Sridhar was reticent on the ghaTam but played nicely during the thani. His returns during kalpanaswaras were fine.

All in all, a fairly good concert by the promising musician.

P.S. I brought my camera to India to take photos during concerts, which I have been doing. Alas, I discovered I left my USB cable at home in Singapore so I cannot upload the photos. Do I get brownie points for my good intentions, at least?

[Sathej]

02. karigalava mukam (S @ nIladIra kumAram) – sAvEri – rUpakam

Has to be Dikshithar's Kari Kalabha Mukham, I guess..and the Swaram maybe at nIlagrIva sukumAram..GNB's version is beautiful..

Sathej

[bilahari]

Thanks for the corrections, Sathej!

[grsastrigal]

Sometimes it happens, Emani pogadadura was rendered by SGC and BMK and yesterday by Sanjay in MA. ..(I did not attend these, but heard)

[harimau]

P.S. I brought my camera to India to take photos during concerts, which I have been doing. Alas, I discovered I left my USB cable at home in Singapore so I cannot upload the photos. Do I get brownie points for my good intentions, at least?

Most electronics stores in Chennai will sell you a USB cable. If your camera uses a proprietary USB port as opposed to a standard mini-USB port, you should be able to slide the camera's memory chip into the slot of a netbook/laptop or get an inexpensive card reader. You can always use a camera store to take out the chip and give you prints or a CD with the photos.

Now that I have given you the workaround, you get brownie points only when you post the photos.

[hamirkalyani123]

I am listening live right now to KBMK thanks to charsur, and it seems like he probably has a sore throat or something like that. His varnam in saveri was sketchy too. I don't want to comment any further since I am listening to him more or less first time.