T.M Krishna - Bangalore Gayana Samaja Feb 3, 2012

[prahalad_rag]

T.M. Krishna - Vocal
Embar. S. Kannan - Violin
K. Arun Prakash - Mrudangam
Purushottam - Kanjira.

Wow! What a crazy good concert by T.M. Krishna at Bangalore Gayana Samaja as part of the Spring Festival. We know that a TMK concert will be good but see the list below for why it was crazy.

1. O Rangashayee - Kambhoji (N,S). That's right! He started off like a not out batsman on day 2 of a test match. Anyone that came in late must have thought that they missed at least 3 pieces before this one. No raga alapana, started straight away with the kriti. And TMK, known for his slow renditions, slowed this down even further, the super slo-mo replays might have looked fast. The swara in 2nd kala went on and on (taxing for the first piece in a concert).

2. Janani Ninuvina - Reethigowla (A). Another super slow song. The alapana was good and so was embar Kannan's return. No neraval or swaras.

Poor percussionists must have had a tough time playing to such slow pace.

3. Sree Ganapathy - Sowrashtra (S). TMK picked up some pace with this one. Started with the anupallavi though and some brisk swaras at the end.

4. Harikambhoji raga alapana and pallavi line "Ma harikambhoja bhavadi nuthe" - Yes, no typo here. Harikambhoji after he had sung Kambhoji at the beginning. Elaborate alapana and a pallavi line without singing thana. First time I have heard that. No swaras or neraval either. Percussionists played some delightful patterns in the thani.

I had almost given up on this concert by this time but what was to follow quite made up.

5. RTP Anandabhairavi with ragamalika swaras - Certainly, the piece de resistance of the concert. I was almost certain that he would sing the alapana and thana and leave it at that since he had sung a pallavi earlier. But he stuck to structure. The pallavi "Isaindanai arindavar yaaringe" (my Tamil is not perfect, so pardon the errors please) (composed by the mrudangist K Arun Prakash while on their way over from Chennai to Bangalore by train a few hours before the concert)evoked a few chuckles from the audience. TMK let Embar Kannan lead during the raga malika phase of the swara prasthara. Much hilarity followed when Kannan played a few rare ragas and TMK asked whaat the raga was! When Kannan started Kapi, TMK went "Abba, inda ragam enakku theriyum". Naasikabhooshani, Priyadarshini, Kapi and Sindhu Bhairavi were rendered with TMK traversing back through the ragas at the end (ala Bhavayami). Wonderful rendition of the RTP.

Few more quick fillers followed which I did not note down. "Dasarendare Purandara Dasarayya" was the Kannada song. We were spared of the mandatory speech in the middle of the concert, after the thani.

Refreshing, unconventional. Wondering if the tradition of starting with a Varna followed by a krithi on Lord Ganesha has completely vanished. I have not heard one in a long while now. And 2 pallavi lines! Really?

* This post is by no means a review. Just my thoughts.

[sridhar_ranga]

The pallavi "Isaindanai arindavar yaaringe" (my Tamil is not perfect, so pardon the errors please)

Could be "isai tanai aRindavar yAringE" (who among us knows music?)

[Thalaivarda]

Krishnanai arindavar yaaringe.

There is nothing wrong in eating curd rice first, followed by rasam and sambhar. But i cant do that.

[badari]

Complete line of pallavi :
Isaindanai arindavar yAringe...iravanai aDaindiDum .. prformed in Adi taala

Translated with the help of may tamil friend:
None knows music here.. except God.

pl correct me if Im wrong.

[Thalaivarda]

who knows that music which can take us to god.

[kssr]

Two reviews of the same concert is going on in parallel. May be merged.

[arasi]

A slight correction in the pallavi line. It's not iSaindanai but iSaidanai. Was it iSaidanai aRindavar yAringE? iRaivnai aDaindiDum 'vidathinai' aRindavar yAringE?? A flowing pallavi line by Arun Prakash.

TMK's pallavi, served the unconventional way, was the highlight of the concert. His Anandabhairavi tAnam was appealing, including the RagamAlikai bit.
TMK entertains in other ways too. Examples: after singing priyadarSini, asking Embar Kannan at the violin reply, something to this effect: what rAgam is this? Please announce it!
Starting pavamAna, pausing to say that he doesn't like to sing it, and then continues and completes it!
Had a good time, listening to him

In all the three concerts so far, the accompanists were excellent.
Arun Prakash, a 'lesser played, the better' school of player, was support all along, he in turn with the support of Purushotham.

Embar, whose sweet sounds we barely heard at the start of the concert, blossomed into a full-fledged player, thanks to Krishna.

The series is drawing a lot of people. Hall almost full at first, more coming in, as several leave at tani and yet others a little later, to get home in this heavy traffic-infested city. A longer series this time, it's a serious pre-runner for the Ramanavami marathon to come. Traffic or not, Bengaluru is not the sleeping city when it comes to CM. Not any more!

Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira had held the spring series for a few years at Jayanagara's Mangala Auditorium at a local college--a spacious and modern hall it is. I suppose it isn't available these days. There was ample parking. The grande dame of halls here, the Gayana Samaja, is victim to present day conditions like Metro constuction and the resulting chaos in traffic.
Still, it promises to be a grand season. Looking forward to a few more concerts, though I can't make it to all of them.

[rshankar]

Complete line of pallavi :
Isaindanai arindavar yAringe...iravanai aDaindiDum .. prformed in Adi taala

Translated with the help of may tamil friend:
None knows music here.. except God.

pl correct me if Im wrong.

I think it means, 'is there anyone here who knows music, (music) that leads you to the Lord'

[squims]

Oh man... Why, oh why wasn't I free this evening?
Whether I would have liked the concert is something I cannot say unless I'd heard it, but it most definitely sounds interesting! Wish I could have made it.

[sais72]

Starting pavamAna, pausing to say that he doesn't like to sing it, and then continues and completes it!

You seemed to have not heard what he said completely. This is what happened. He started singing "pavamana" and as usual (unfortunately) several people in the audience started to leave, he stopped singing and said that singing mangalam was not for the artists alone and indicated that if that was the case, he might have even skipped it. A section of the audience got his message and he sang the mangalam completely. There were still some people who either did not understand what he said or were indifferent and continued to move towards the exits .

I believe it important to sensitise the audience to this but at times his methods border on the brash.

A good concert it was. He sang swaras in all the three octaves (touching the upper octave and lower octave shadjams) in the second RTP ragamalika swaras.

[sais72]

Few more quick fillers followed which I did not note down. "Dasarendare Purandara Dasarayya" was the Kannada song. We were spared of the mandatory speech in the middle of the concert, after the thani.

Two others that i remember

* tunga tarange gange, kuntalavarali
* entaTi kulukE, kalyANi, rUpaka, Dharmapuri Subbaraya Iyer - Just looked up on the web and this javali is apparently in Kalyani, did not realise it then.

[Enna_Solven]

I believe it important to sensitise the audience to this but at times his methods border on the brash.

Somethings never change. Here The Grand Old Man is asking the audience to sit down. This is not the only recording that I have where he says 'sit down'!
http://www.mediafire.com/file/q0xv4s7d40ek8w8/13 Mangalam-pavamana.mp3

[arasi]

sais 72,
Apologies for not getting it right. My hearing is going, as the calendar keeps turning!

That entaTi kulukE was spot on!

[SabashBale]

"This is not the only recording that I have where he says 'sit down'!"

In at least a couple of other live concerts one of which I happened to attend in Velacheri last year, he even asked people to 'stand up' - of course, for the national anthem. Saving grace - he didn't open the concert with it!

[vasanthakokilam]

I believe it important to sensitise the audience to this but at times his methods border on the brash.

Somethings never change. Here The Grand Old Man is asking the audience to sit down. This is not the only recording that I have where he says 'sit down'!
http://www.mediafire.com/file/q0xv4s7d40ek8w8/13 Mangalam-pavamana.mp3

E_S, could you put down who the grand old man is. I have not downloaded it yet, but knowing that info before downloading will help. Thx.

[squims]

It's Semmangudi mama.

[vasanthakokilam]

after singing priyadarSini, asking Embar Kannan at the violin reply, something to this effect: what rAgam is this? Please announce it!

Wow, what if the violinist does not know the raga? I know concert violinists can easily repeat what the singer sang and even elaborate on it without knowing the raga. Ragamalikas can include some obscure ones. In those case, I guess the violinist should just recite his idea on the Aro/Ava

[arasi]

VK,
That happens I suppose, but there was no hesitation on the part of Embar Kannan when he announced it--with a chuckle, I thought. I hope Sai agrees on this.
TMK did not fuss at all, I thought. He seemed quite amiable, in fact...

[prahalad_rag]

VK/Arasi,

In this case, as I had mentioned in my post, it was Kannan that actually led in the ragamalika phase. TMK sang the swaras after Kannan had played on the violin. TMK asked Kannan to announce the raga AFTER he had sung the swaras without know what raga it was. That was pretty nice on TMK's part.

[arasi]

It all happened quickly, and my mind couldn't register the sequence. In a ragamAlikA , the rapid succession of rAgAs make it difficult, any how. Still, if it was the violinist who led (as you say), then, surely, he wouldn't hazard a pretty new rAgam without knowing if the lead man knows it or not. That's why I assumed that Krishna was being playful in his words.

[Ranganayaki]

Wow, sounds like a lot of fun, I"d have loved to be there! Thanks Prahlad_rag and all others for the review and the clarifying discussion.

[srikant1987]

TMK sang the swaras after Kannan had played on the violin. TMK asked Kannan to announce the raga AFTER he had sung the swaras without know what raga it was.

Krishna didn't know what rAga it was? It was clever of Kannan to take the rare opportunity an accompanying violinist gets (ONLY Krishna ever gives such a thing -- and people throw acid at him for it) to initiate an unfamiliar rAgam. Of course Krishna could handle the "rAgam" without knowing its name. Violinists often get such things -- though not normally from Krishna.

[rajeshnat]

When vocalist sings a rAga swaram in a rAgamaliga , at times even without knowing the rAgA the violinist can just play the scale without knowing the rAgA, but when violinist plays the rAgA , the vocalist has to be more specific , no ambiguity there. Not just TMK few musicians have done this before.

[srikant1987]

at times even without knowing the rAgA the violinist can just play the scale without knowing the rAgA, but when violinist plays the rAgA , the vocalist has to be more specific , no ambiguity there

Why this double standard?

Though yes, I guess this has been there for a while ... the "soul" of rAgams is often not that intimately known to violinists. Then again, there are many double standards to "counter" this.

For priyadarshini, though, I guess there's not much of real "soul". srmdns sndmrs. OK, done. I know priyadarshini.

[arasi]

srikant,
You 'purists' have a way of dismissing 'trivial' rAgAs, don't you?
All in fun, of course, and you know it--don't you
Guess what. I do like priya darSini and think it has emotive quality.

If I understood it correctly, VK said it and I agreed that a violinist can wing it even if he's unfamiliar with a rAgam, after listening to the vocalist. On rare occasions, I get the feeling that the vocalists announcing a rare rAgam is not just for the benefit of the audience but also to signal the violinist.
A violinist cannot spring a surprise on the lead artiste. My guess is that they would have discussed the pallavi before the concert.

[sureshvv]

My guess is it was all theatre

[arasi]

And we are all players--but for the vocalist (he sings!).

Sureshvv, couldn't resist saying that, after what you said

[ramamantra]

Courting controversy as usual!

Showing off his 'vidwat': Kambhoji/Harikambhoji; Ritigowla/Anadabhairavi

He cld have as well started with 'Pavamana'