T M Krishna @ PSS on 25th December 2011

[hema]

This was a Christmas treat, indeed. The story (plagiarising from a collaborator) that he told was very good.
The place was jam-packed (as someone said last year -- sardines in a tin indeed) -- the
speakers were BLARING!
....
....
....
But the music was really great.

Song List:
Sujana Jeevana -- Khamaas -- Tyagaraja
TeliyalEdu rAmA -- dhEnukA -- Tyagaraja
TyagarAja -- Anandabhairavi (SSP -- apparently) -- rAga, swarams,
suddha dhaivatam being the differentiator.
I wish he had chosen different song - KVN's version rings in my ear a lot.
It must have been lot of hard work to sing it differently.
Initally Subhalakshmi had difficulty but later did do a very good job.
Dinamani Vamsha -- Harikamboji -- Tyagaraja
Todi -- main -- very very well rendered -- I feel at his final neraval he shd have given
a chance to Subhalakshmi -- a disappointment.
Gowla -- RTP -- he asked Subhalakshmi to play raagam for which he sang
taanam -- this was indeed a nice gesture. (Swarams did have an hamIr kalyani,
Surutti and others?) -- Pallavi -- apparently the same pallavi he sang at IITM.
And there were some thukkadas -- I remember Aazhi mazhai (started with a short viruttam)-- varAli.
The final one was "another kind of English Note? from Dikshitar." Not sure.

Although he started about 10-15 mins late, he did sing an extra 10-15 mins.
So no regrets.
Initially both artist and violinist were sort of uncomfortable(?) -- one did not
hear very many "sabaash's " from TMK for Subhalakshmi.
Things changed with Todi -- and there seemed much more understanding
thereafter.

I like Subhalaksmi a lot (the sound of her violin)-- I do feel that she was not exploited sufficiently.

Manoj Shiva and the kanjira were indeed good. But I really do not have
any competence to evaluate them.

[hema]

Forgot to mention:

Todi -- varnam -- kanakAngi -- I have heard this at BSU 2010.

[Jigyaasa]

TyagarAja -- Anandabhairavi (SSP -- apparently) -- rAga, swarams,
suddha dhaivatam being the differentiator.

Todi -- main

His AnandEshvarENa in the SSP version of Anandabhairavi is very moving. It must have been interesting to hear a kriti as common as tyAgarAjayOgavaibhavam in a different mould. Definitely calls for a lot of hard work.

What was the compoisition in tODi? My guess is yAr pOi sholluvAr (padam) by vaidIsvarankOil subbarAmayyar ] because I couldn't think of a jAvaLi in tODi

[bilahari]

Jigyaasa, look at post 2: tODi varNam was main (wish he'd picked rUpamu jUCi!).

[rajeshnat]

The final one was "another kind of English Note? from Dikshitar." Not sure.

He sings rAma jaNardhana - another dikshitar creation in shankarAbharanam. Should be that one.

[Jigyaasa]

Jigyaasa, look at post 2: tODi varNam was main (wish he'd picked rUpamu jUCi!).

OH!! I thought this was just the varNam which the reviewer had forgotten to include, not the main! Good one!

[MV]

I went to this concert. I think there are 2 halves to this one. The first half was traditional. Ananda Bhairavi in Dikshitar school with D1 was just brilliant. I don't think 'yoga vaibhavam' in Thyagaraja Yoga vaibhavam has sounded this haunting! Thanks TMK!! Dinamani vamsha as a filler(was it meant to be one) was great to here. Then came a lovely Thodi alapana from both TMK and Akkarai. The second half starts here. I have heard about his list-shuffling. This is the first time I have heard an Ata Thala varnam as a main. My thoughts on that? Kanakangi is such a beautiful varnam. It was refreshing to hear it given the place of honour specially since it was so well presented. The problem is Neraval @ Thanayudaina missed the feel of an appropriate sahityam for the neraval. Also Ata Thala is long-winded for a crisp effect. Yet, both TMK and AS carried it off. But Thani in Ata was the clincher. The main artistes sang no KS. But I feel the percussionists did that With my ground level knowledge of percussion, even an Adhi tala thani, I would think, is quite intense and involves kanakkal-perukkal. To then do it in Ata, with kuraippu and theermanam was just masterly.

Ok, so TMK has lost the old concert list.. But he held my interest the whole time. Did ARI face any outcry when he set the concert paddhati? Don't know but I got my money's worth yesterday from all 4 artistes.

[carnatricks]

awesome concert. i was there from the dhenukha piece only. i heard the niraval and swarams for khamas were breathtaking and soulful. sad i missed them. the entire concert was like a jigsaw puzzle where all the pieces came together beautifuly. his selection was great and the way he phrases his ragas are nice. maybe give him some paint brushes in his hand and put a canvas in front of him as he is singing and we may have a painting for each raga. very emotive. none of the standard or cliche sangathis. was very refreshing. another thing i noticed is no one leaves a tmk concert mid way and all his concerts this season has drawn huge crowds prompting the organizers to call for extra chairs. he has his way with the audience and keeps them glued to their seats. he certainly did to me. and the way he rendered the thodi varnam and the neraval gave a fulfiling effect. like a kaddhanuvaariki or a koluvamaragadha if not more. its nice to also see so many people here on this forum appreciating the varnam as the main as compared to a couple of years ago. like MV says, maybe it's just a matter of time. like how ARI set the paddhati, maybe tmk will have his own in a few more years with another set of musicians following suit. overall, a very enjoyable concert.

[vasanthakokilam]

Another day, another concert, what a difference in rasikas' perception! Very good to read. I am positively biased in favor of varnams and I hope TMK's efforts like this in 'main'fying it is just the beginning. There is so much material in a varnam to play with and to stretch and shape it in the artist's creativity. Approaching it in exactly the same manner as a regular composition may itself be too limiting.

For example, in a regular composition, artists add kalpanaswaras to the sahitya. Varnams are full of swaras already. Wouldn't it make sense to add kalpana sahitya to a varnam? May be something contextual like the city or the venue or the temple where the concert is happening or may be even about current events as appropriate.

[fuddyduddy]

the RTP was classic : the words, the raagams chosen, the tempo - everything!

[CRama]

Adding kalpana sahithya to a varnam- Perhaps TMK may do that also. Who knows.
But it is stretching too far. Already enough mutilations in the name of innovations. Instead of mutilating the hundred year old varnam, let the vidwan compose a kriti on the spot on the presiding diety of the temple or on the sabha or the sabha manager and sing it . That will be better.

[MV]

Adding kalpana sahithya to a varnam-.

That would be seriously pushing it... hope noone goes that far!

[vasanthakokilam]

CRama, MV: What do you think will be the problem? Kalpana sahitya was just an off the cuff idea of mine, so no real issues if it gets trashed but unless someone tries it aesthetically, we would not know its potential. Especially, if varnams are given more significance than used as a warm up exercise at the beginning like it is now which is a real shame.

We all have accepted niraval and kalpanaswaras for compositions, we do not label that as mutilating the compositions.

New aesthetics are very hard to come by. It has to pass the functional, emotional and social requirements. The emotional and societal aspects are the hardest. The functional aspects are much easier. There is a job to be done and we need to hire 'kalapana sahitya' for that purpose. One such situation (where kalapana sahitya may come in handy) is if a musician ( or the audience ) does not like the charana sahitya of a tana varna ( it is usually very sparse lyrically and there are no lyrics for the charana swaras ) and the musician needs a good line for niraval. One interesting thing that can be done is to compose kalpana sahitya for one of the charana swaras and then improvise on it like it is normally done in niraval. If it is tastefully and artistically done, it is worth a shot. Like how we talk about famous pallavi lines, future rasikas may talk about famous kalapana sahitya lines used by yesteryear greats for niravals in varna elaborations I am only half joking, tana varnas and RTPs have a very symbiotic relationship at their core.

Of course, I am thinking ahead to a time when singing a varnam elaborately ( which the magnum opus ones truly deserve ) and improvising on it have become acceptable. There is no guarantee of that, I know.

[sureshvv]

CRama, MV: What do you think will be the problem?

The idea sounds great. But will be very hard to execute. Spur of the moment
pallavis are composed for RTPs and most of them are pedestrian. Some
special pallavis are composed for specific occasions and they are also nothing
to write home about. However TMK has sung some nice memorable pallavis
composed ahead of time (together with RKS or AP).

So to think that sahitya can be created extempore' sounds a bit of wishful thinking.

[MV]

CRama, MV: What do you think will be the problem? Kalpana sahitya was just an off the cuff idea of mine, so no real issues if it gets trashed but unless someone tries it aesthetically, we would not know its potential. Especially, if varnams are given more significance than used as a warm up exercise at the beginning like it is now which is a real shame.

vk, I think it is the ratio that has been historically of just composers to vageyyakaras to just musicians. If the kalpana sahityam door is opened, then we could start getting pure trash.. (like Kolaveri??)

[vasanthakokilam]

Suresh: Actually I know a few people, Arasi included, who can compose beautiful lines with excellent edugai/monai
characteristics that are suitable for singing. But I agree such a skill is rare and that we should allow for that to be put
together ahead of time. In fact, there is a precedence, kapalaswaras are not always extemporaneous.

MV: Yes, we will get some trash, but then again some good ones too.That is the risk and bargain we take in many endeavors.

BTW, what we are talking about here is something incremental and not something earth shattering.
Take the first charana swara of a tana varna. It is not sarvalaghu and has enough karvai swaras
appropriate for fitting niraval worthy lyrics. It can be entertaining and musically enriching.

Just some speculative ideas.

Adding lyrics to some of those varna phrases can be tried by even amateurs among us. I highly recommend it
as a fun and rewarding hobby. It works great in a group setting. If you have talented kids in the mix, it is a blast.
And a related and equally rewarding activity is this: Like how musicians sing the pallavi line in different ragas after
ragamalika kalpanaswaras, sing a viruththam like line in different ragas, borrowing from varnas for melodic ideas.

[Ranganayaki]

MV,
Kolaveri is just a piece of music that brought enjoyment to millions worldwide, for the fun it expressed while using utter banalities for words and ideas. It is akin to using trash to create sculpture that surprisingly ends up bringing pleasure and fascination. It’s unfair to bring that poor song into this discussion just to trash it. (I imagine that song going,"Huh? Now what did I do? ) These phenomena do have a place in our existence, so let’s allow Kolaveri its place - it just doesn’t belong in a discussion/chat about possibilities in Carnatic music.

Vasanthakokilam, the idea sounds nice, but “pedestrian” is an apt word, for the kind of lines I’ve heard described occasionally. Some reviewer this month mentioned an artist (not sure of who either was) composing a pallavi on the names of the accompanying artists. While it probably was a mildly fun thing to do, and certainly a compliment, a nice validation - almost an honor, for the artists, the words themselves sounded utterly boring and rather labored. I would have been completely bored through that RTP.

(only) Artists who are actually gifted with a strong poetic ability should try it in concerts, and that could be fantastic... An RTP would be an apt place to try this, I can't imagine sahityam being added to varnams, those are compositions in their own right, and I'm not sure the idea of adding new sahityam to an existing composition appeals to me.

[vasanthakokilam]

Kolaveri has so quickly become like the Godwin's Rule for any music discussion

Ranganayaki: Again, possibility of pedestrian lyrics should not be a strike against anything. Yes, that is the risk we have to take. Not all musicians need to compose, they can borrow others lines.. Hope people do not copyright these things

I do relate to the issue and psychological knot about adding lyrics to varnams. But I do wonder about the asymmetry. How come we feel utterly comfortable with chitta swarams that are added to then existing compositions!

[Ranganayaki]

Vasanthakokilam, I agree with you that the possibility of pedestrian lyrics should not be a strike against anything. That would be in keeping with my posting in another thread about some "untouchable" dikshitar kriti that one is not even allowed to learn or perform.

Yes.. from the numbers of lyrics that fall by the wayside may arise an occasional improvised gem.

[keerthi]

1. tyAgarAjayOga-vaibhavam is special since it has very sparing use of the Dha note. Probably thrice in the whole song. If the phrase '-yOga' was sung hauntingly, it must have been because TMK inflected it differently; not because of D1.


2. VK,

Don't you think that singing extempore lyrics in a concert is more a hallmark of a poet with musical knowledge, than a performing artiste. It call for 'Ashu-kavitvaM', an ability to compose poetry on a given topic, in a given metre. These aren't skills a concert artist aims to develop.

2a. There have been instances of such sAhityam being added, so all those shouting murder can take solace in these precedents -

Tiger varadacariar composed words for the cittaswaram and (muktAyi) ettugada swarams of the tODI varNam rUpamu jUci, for Rukmini devi to be able to choreograph it better.

There is sAhityam set to the cittaswaram and ettugada swarams of the bhairavi ATatAla varNam 'viribhONi', which is definitely a posterior addition. it is lyric of very high quality and fits perfectly with the music, nonetheless is post hoc.

There are traditions, where musicians sing sahityam set for the C.swarams and E. swarams of other common varnams like the sAveri 'sarasudA' and kalyANi 'vanajAksirO'.

[vasanthakokilam]

Keerthi: Great info. Thanks.

Thinking back, I went in the direction of kalpana sahitya to solve this: MV wrote "The problem is Neraval @ Thanayudaina missed the feel of an appropriate sahityam for the neraval." So, it looks like it can be worked out either with kalpana sahitya by an Asu Kavi-cum-performer or a priori with the help of a good lyricist!!

[MV]

1. tyAgarAjayOga-vaibhavam is special since it has very sparing use of the Dha note. Probably thrice in the whole song. If the phrase '-yOga' was sung hauntingly, it must have been because TMK inflected it differently; not because of D1.'.

Keerthi.. thanks for your informative post. It is not "Yoga" but vaibhavam went something like P,S, snDnDp highlighting the D1