TNK - TAS Mani - Ranganath Chakravarthy

[srikant1987]

13 Feb 2011
at Ananya (opp Rotary Club, Malleshwaram)
for Karnataka College of Percussion

vallabha nAyakasya - bEgaDa - rUpaka - MD (RS)
OrajUpu jUcEdi nyAyamA - kannaDagauLa - Adi - T
raghuvara - pantuvarALi - Adi - T (RNS)
evarani nirNayinciri - dEvAmrutavarShini - Adi - T
heccarikagA rArA - yadukulakAmbhOji - k.cApu - T (RNS)
braHma kaDigina pAdamu - mukhAri - Adi - Annamacharya (R)
gItArthamu - suruTTi - Adi - T (RS)
tani
kaNDu dhanya - behAg - rUpaka - PD (?)
eppo varuvArO - jOnpuri - Adi - GKB
Note
nI nAma rUpamulaku - saurAShTra - Adi - T
madhyamAvati sketch

In the speeches before the concert, Prof TN Krishnan said that the place gave a feeling of being a kalA kShEtra. Indeed, all the pictures of various dance forms in the hall made it a place of art.

Prof TNK clearly enjoyed and the support given by the percussionists, especially Sri Mani. The tani carried forward gItArthamu -- this is something Mannargudi Sri Easwaran does beautifully. It is one thing to give perfect-anticipation support to krtis and manOdharma, but another thing to carry the krti forward into the tani itself.

It was nice to sit down cross-legged a very small distance from the stage while listening to the whole concert. A kalA kShEtra experience indeed!

I cannot thank Sanjeev (sanjubluerock3) of this forum enough for telling me about this concert! Thanks also to Sri TT Srinivasan (?) for requesting gItArthamu.

[bilahari]

Thanks for the report, Srikant. Total solo of TNK must've been sheer sowkhyam! And with suruTTi main, too!

[appu]

Srikant1987

Ananya concerts are normally held in a house or a basement. correct. Was this concert held elsewhere. I remember attending a couple of Ananya concerts. Do not remember seeing any idols or kalakshetra style settings. Could you please clarify.

[srikant1987]

Yes it was a basement only -- I didn't mention any idols. By pictures, I meant, still photographs of dance performances, framed and put up all over the walls. I am hopelessly ignorant about dance, but think there were different kinds of dances. I am judging mainly ( :$ ) from the variety of costumes.

It was kalA kShEtra as in a Place (field) of Arts and not Kalakshetra, Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai -- 600 041.

[appu]

Srikant1987

Thanks for that info. Can you please give a little more details on TAS Mani and Ranganath Chakravarthy. I have not heard of them. What instruments and their lineage.

Thanks

[srikant1987]

Indeed I hadn't heard of the percussionists earlier either :$

TAS Mani plays the mridangam (you could have assumed that )
http://karnatakacollegeofpercussion.com/tas/mani01.php
He has learnt from Palghat Sri Ayyamani Iyer

It appeared Sri TAS Mani has accompanied TNK sir many times earlier too -- or accompanied the vocalist in concerts where Prof TNK provided violin accompaniment.

Sri Ranganath Chakravarthy played the ghaTam in this concert.

The introductions were in Kannada and I couldn't follow much. I generally get artists introduced to myself by listening to how they play/sing in the concert. Hopefully sanjubluerock3 will fill in!

[mri_fan]

TAS is a legendary player in Banglore. He moved early on from Madras probably 40-50 years ago and many of the players in the area can trace their lineage to him. He's played for MSS, DKP, and virtually every other muscian you've ever heard of alive in the last 30-40 years. He is married to RA Ramamani, a vocalizst and they've toured the world with some other percussionists doing tala vadya. His style is very classical and traditional

Here's an example.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuG9djXLF2Q

[srikant1987]

It was nice to sit down cross-legged a very small distance from the stage while listening to the whole concert. A kalA kShEtra experience indeed!

It simply didn't occur to me to take a photo! Even I could've taken a satisfactory photo from this position!