TM Krishna @ CLT - IIT on 9-Aug-11

[natakapriyan]

Violin-R.K.Sriramkumar
Mirudangam-Arunprakash
Gatam-
Kanjera-Anirud Athreya

TMK's voice and range is great asset

Varnam - Natakurunji very Rare tamil varnam by Ponnaiyapillai was a nice start
Chade bukthi-Atana-S krithi sung in fast pace Gait with swaras,
Sri Sukra-Paras -A-N MDR style singing of this krithi and elaborate Alapana and niraval.
Varnam - Reethigowlai (why this varnam in between GOK !! )
Geethartha-Suruti-A-S -hearing this krithi after a very long time with sowkiya alapana by both with soothing swaras
RTP-Gowlai on Kadal (Love) with ragamalika swaram in different Raga by Violinist and Vocalist
"Vizhigalal kavithai Solum anbe Pala Mozhigal irundum" Pallavai composed by Arunprakash .
Padam in tamil
Jagado-Karnataka Kapi

The hall was full till 9.30Pm and the concert ended by 10.05. TMK as usual was casual cracking jokes with RKS and audience. TMK Announced before RTP about the pallavi said usually all pallavi will be on Rama,Krishna, Siva, parvathi etc but this one is on Kadal , since i am weak in composing my friend Arun has composed this" Tani avatrthanam was excellent

[rshankar]

Lji - can you please post the lyrics for the nATTakurinji varNam?
#2 should be cEDE buddhi, right?
Ramesh - another pallavi to stoke your ire! Atleast, this time around, there is no 'DI' or 'aDI' to give added offense!

[mahavishnu]

Thanks, Natakapriyan.

Ravi, I actually quite like this pallavi line
Sounds like a wonderful song list (with the exception of the ritigowla varnam in the middle). TMK does a phenomenal Geetharthamu.

I'm sure Arun Prakash gets the composing muse from his father, although senior stuck to mostly devotional materials.

What was the tamil padham?
And is Jagadhodharana really in Karnataka Kapi (as in Sumasayaka)? It has always sounded like Hindustani (now conventional) Kapi to me...

[sureshvv]

Ghatam was played by N.Guruprasad.

Opening varnam was in Misra Chapu. Think it started with "Sarasaksha...". The varnam sung as filler was Sami Dayajuda in Kedaragowlai. The pallavi line was "vizhigalal kadhaigal kooridum anbe, mozhi pala irundhum"

The ragamalikas swaras were in Nattai, Vagadeeswari, Bahudari, Phalamanjari, Kiranavali, Udayaravichandrika, Abheri (Dikshitar school), Reethigowlai, Senjurutti, Kurinji and Kuntalavarali. It was a kind of "stream of consciousness" affair where the violinist and vocalist took turns to work in the next raga into the fold sometimes taking their time to make up their mind. TMK actually muttered "Iru varen" while dithering with the swaras before zoning in on Bahudari.

The 1st part of the concert was somewhat weighed down with the extra slow renditions of Paras (ata talam) and Surutti kritis with even slower neravals!

Tamil padam was "Adhuvum solluval aval anegam solluval" in Sowrashtram. Sometime last year TMK sung this as submain in a concert!

[rajeshnat]

The ragamalikas swaras were in Nattai, Vagadeeswari, Bahudari, Phalamanjari, Kiranavali, Udayaravichandrika, Abheri, Reethigowlai, Senjurutti, Kurinji and Kuntalavarali. It was a kind of "stream of consciousness" affair where the violinist and vocalist took turns to work in the next raga into the fold sometimes taking their time to make up their mind.

Suresh
Was it that vocalist took 1st raga and the violinist played a new 2nd raga and so on ... permutations .This type is usually done when instrumentalist play(for eg KSG - AK) . I welcome that for instruments as the overlap for instruments will be repetitive.I heard it for the first time in a vocal concert when carnatica brothers did this and asked that day's violinist to play another raga. Somehow in a vocal concert it is not sounding that aesthetic as I prefer violin repeating the vocalist in the same raga.

or

Was it like a SKGS switch that I had mentioned before in my review where 1st and 2nd raga is taken by TMK , the same 2nd raga is continued and a new 3rd raga is played by RKSK, then the same 3rd raga is again continued by TMK and TMK proceeds with 4th raga and so on ... This combination is actually quite good.

[sureshvv]

Option 2, i.e. it was built up similar to the KGS concert. Very nicely done with kaleidoscope effect when they jumped into the next raga at key inflection points, kind of like switching lanes on a busy but freely flowing 101.

[mahavishnu]

Tamil padam was "Adhuvum solluval aval anegam solluval" in Sowrashtram. Sometime last year TMK sung this as submain in a concert!

Now, this song has some liberal usage of "Di" and that too in rapid succession (avaL meedhu kuTRam ennadi, adiye pOdi). And a very petty pedestrian theme runs through it. The sowrashtram is very nice though

[rshankar]

Ramesh - we have discussed this padam at length earlier. I have seen it used in thematic presentations to represent devasEnA's feelings when murugan takes up with vaLLi. I agree that like most padams, it offers a distillation of the rAgam, saurAshTam in this case.

[mahavishnu]

Ravi, thanks for the link to the earlier thread and the lovely translation.

[bassethound]

Attended this concert and must sat this was one of the outstanding concerts for T.M.Krishna in recent times! The atmosphere was very relaxed and considering that the students of IIT dominated the audience the concert went on to be very leisurely and serene. Paras, Surutti and RTP were mind-boggling. RKSK is going from strength to stength and the tandem playing during the RTP made all, incl. TMK lose track of time. RTP extneded to nearly an hour with thani.

Ironically, a couple of days later TMK's RTP in Ragasudha hall in the comapny of M.A.Sundareswaran was not even a patch on the IIT one! MAS was so indifferent and appeared to be more a dampner to the great effort by TMK as well as, over doing the "kikikikiki" so called Parur-style! To say the least, MAS needs to shed his present attitude and go with the main artist in making concerts lively. Further, many youngsters like H.N.Bhasker, Akkarai Subbalakshmi, et al, seem to be striking good rapport with various vocalists and it is indeed sorry to note that a senior perosn as MAS, depsite his talent, should indulge in negative playing! Mysteriously, the audience seems quite forlorn about this talent of MAS with their generous applause!