T M Krishna, Seattle, 2014‐09-11

[ksharanam]

Sri. T M Krishna: Vocal
Sri. R K Shriram Kumar: Violin
Sri. K Arun Prakash: Mridangam

Kane Hall, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
2014, Nov 9th, 1500-1815

1. Anandanatanaprakasam — Kedaram — Misra Chapu — Muttusvami Dikshitar (Niraval, Svaraprastaram)
2. Marubalka — Sriranjani — Adi — Thyagarajar (Tanam)
3. Sarasvati Manohari — Sarasvatimanohari (Dikshitar-sampradaya) — Adi — Muttusvami Dikshitar (Ragam)
4. Alapana — Mukhari (Krishna)
5. Alapana — Kedaragaula (Shriram Kumar)
6. Evate Goodina — Gaulipantu — Triputa — Kshetrajna
7. Tillana — Sankarabharanam — Adi — Ramanathapuram Srinivasa Iyengar (Niraval, Thani Avartanam)
8. Sarade Karunanidhe — Hamirkalyani — Misra Chapu — Jagadguru Chandrasekhara Bharati
9. Pallavi — Pantuvarali — Adi (Ragam, Pallavi, Niraval, Svaraprastaram)
10. Era Ra Ra — Khamas — Adi — Dharmapuri Subbarayar
11. Slokam — Ragamalika
12. Dhava Vibho — Yamunakalyani — Adi
13. Mangalam — Yamunakalyani

I should confess I went into the concert with some trepidation: Krishna is known for challenging existing traditions around music delivery, and I've found sometimes it works for me and sometimes it doesn't. Today, happily, it did!

Kedaram was great. Slow niraval was at śītāṁśugaṅgādharaṁ nīlakandharaṁ śrīkēdārādikṣētrādhāraṁ. Funnily, this line has an un‐Kedaram‐like RMGS‐phrase (which clearly existed in Dikshitar's understanding of the ragam), which Krishna kept emphasising during the song, but never touched during the niraval. Krishna picked up the song after 1st speed niraval, but proceeded to perform 2nd speed niraval at the standard saṅgītavādyavinōdatāṇḍavajātabahutarabhēdacōdyam. Svaraprastaram was at yet another place — thajam thari in the solkattu chittasvaram. All in all, great justice was done to the grand song. I especially liked Shriram Kumar's handling of the ragam, with a lot of glides, especially at SMGM. Arun Prakash did his minimalist stuff for this song Sometimes it works, but not here, I felt.

Marubalka was a total contrast: all the fast‐paced Semmangudi sangatis, including the sangati with the 'pa' Arun Prakash's energetic playing was key to the song. Good fun! The thanam preceding the song was an interesting attempt, but the song was better. Shriram Kumar's style wasn't particularly suited to playing the thanam, one got the impression.

And then Krishna launched into an alapana for an obscure ragam, somewhere between Kannada, Arabhi and Sahana. Thankfully, 2 minutes in he announced it as Sarasvatimanohari of the Dikshitar‐sampradaya. I tuned out pretty much throughout the ragam and the ensuing uruppadi. Too bad he didn't sing the other Sarasvatimanohari; I'd have loved to have heard a niraval at 'Chinta Teerchudaku'.

A Mukhari alapana followed. I was hoping for a krti (Ema Ninne? Muripemu? Enta Ninne?), but Shriram Kumar instead played Kedaragaula, so I knew that was that. Both alapana-s were solid. Next up, the Gaulipantu padam was great; I love padams, and this one was especially tastefully rendered. The one hitch was that Krishna tends to vary his kalapramanam a lot throughout a song, and for a piece like this with a hard‐to‐follow internal gait, his variable pace made it harder to mark time.

Next up was an elaborately sung rendition of Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar's popular Sankarabharanam Thillana. I loved the slow pace Krishna set at the beginning; it let him explore contours of the ragam within every phrase. Somewhere during the niraval at the pallavi line, he bent over and spoke to Arun Prakash; sure enough, Arun Prakash started a thani after the niraval! Since the pallavi was an atita-eduppu 4 aksharams before samam, Arun Prakash played patterns of 7 and later 15.

After an unfamiliar Hamir Kalyani piece that had great layam, Krishna started a Pantuvarali alapana. As he and Shriram Kumar alternated in stages (each stage restricted to one scale region), I wondered if a pallavi was afoot. Indeed, a Tamil pallavi, pārttatum maṉam mayaṅkiṉēn pāvaiyiṉ pārvaiyaip, (composed by Arun Prakash, I understand) followed. Ragamalika svarams ended in Khamas, and Krishna started a Khamas javali right afterwards. 'Maulau Gaṅgāśaśāṅkau', Appayya Dikshitar's lyric popularised by Semmangudi, followed, and then a soulful Yamunakalyani bhajana.

A lot of traditional 'rules' were broken, but they were all pertaining to the concert format. None of the rules pertaining to how the music should be sung were tampered with; in fact, Krishna's treatment of the songs is extremely traditional. I'm not sure why singing a Tillana first or a Varnam last is a problem at all; I think a judicious mix of fast‐paced and slow‐paced songs, with diversity in talams & ragams is what's necessary, and Krishna & party provided all of that.

[rajeshnat]

[*] Alapana — Mukhari (Krishna)
[*] Alapana — Kedaragaula (Shriram Kumar)
[*] Evate Goodina — Gaulipantu — Triputa — Kshetrajna
....

A Mukhari alapana followed. I was hoping for a krti (Ema Ninne? Muripemu? Enta Ninne?), but Shriram Kumar instead played Nilambari, so I knew that was that. Both alapana-s were solid. Next up, the Gaulipantu padam was great;

KSharanam
RKSK should have either played kedaragowlai or Neelambari. YOu should clarify. Tx for your review.

[sureshvv]

A lot of traditional 'rules' were broken, but they were all pertaining to the concert format. None of the rules pertaining to how the music should be sung were tampered with; in fact, Krishna's treatment of the songs is extremely traditional. I'm not sure why singing a Tillana first or a Varnam last is a problem at all; I think a judicious mix of fast‐paced and slow‐paced songs, with diversity in talams & ragams is what's necessary, and Krishna & party provided all of that.

Nice detailed review with a tidy summation. Does the standalone alapana sound all right to you? Personally that is my primary beef.

[ksharanam]

KSharanam
RKSK should have either played kedaragowlai or Neelambari. YOu should clarify. Tx for your review.

Sorry, he played Kedaragaula. He played Neelambari later as part of ragamalika niraval for the pallavi, and I got confused. Fixed the review.

Nice detailed review with a tidy summation. Does the standalone alapana sound all right to you? Personally that is my primary beef.

Thanks! Well, my problem is one of anticipation and then let‐down. The combination of sahityam, svaram and layam are where it's at for me, so for me the alapana is only a precursor to a composition. The height of creativity in Carnatic music, IMO, is the niraval. When an artiste sings an elaborate Mukhari, I'm already imagining a niraval at 'kanulara sevinci' or ''edi jesina' or even a 'nelaku mudu'. Likewise, I love Kedaragaula, and would have loved to have heard a niraval at, say, 'vikasitapankajavadanudu'. I feel let down after a standalone alapana.

[HarishankarK]

Quote
And then Krishna launched into an alapana for an obscure ragam, somewhere between Kannada, Arabhi and Sahana. Thankfully, 2 minutes in he announced it as Sarasvatimanohari of the Dikshitar‐sampradaya. I tuned out pretty much throughout the ragam and the ensuing uruppadi. Too bad he didn't sing the other Sarasvatimanohari; I'd have loved to have heard a niraval at 'Chinta Teerchudaku'.
Unquote

You should D K Pattammal's rendering of the same song. It's like a breath of fresh air. I got simply hooked on. You can find it in Sangeethapriya.

[HarishankarK]

There were some comments earlier that T M Krishna has abandoned the Ariyakudi cutchery format because he is not able to sing anymore, has voice problems etc., etc., - with the last few reviews of his concerts i think those comments are put to rest.

[HarishankarK]

Does the standalone alapana sound all right to you? Personally that is my primary beef.

What's the issue with that.? Even during pallavi singing artistes take up tanam in several ragas before singing pallavi. It is part of carnatic Veena playing tradition also. Amongst the ragas used for tanam, one of them could be a favourite. Do you feel disappointed then if sings pallavi in the first raga? What about ragamalika swaras in pallavi? Does it mar the appeal of pallavi rendering?

[sureshvv]

Does the standalone alapana sound all right to you? Personally that is my primary beef.

What's the issue with that.?

My issue is that it feels incomplete. "Mottai" - if you understand tamil.

Even during pallavi singing artistes take up tanam in several ragas before singing pallavi. It is part of carnatic Veena playing tradition also. Amongst the ragas used for tanam, one of them could be a favourite. Do you feel disappointed then if sings pallavi in the first raga?

No. But I would feel disappointed if the first raga is thrown away and not used in the pallavi portion.

What about ragamalika swaras in pallavi? Does it mar the appeal of pallavi rendering?

Not at all. As long as sufficient attention is paid to the raga in the Raga portion of the RTP.

[thenpaanan]

There were some comments earlier that T M Krishna has abandoned the Ariyakudi cutchery format because he is not able to sing anymore, has voice problems etc., etc., - with the last few reviews of his concerts i think those comments are put to rest.

I attended TMK's concert on Friday here in Phoenix, Arizona. Nothing wrong with his voice, even thought it felt that he was feeling a bit hoarse, perhaps because of the extremely dry air here.

This comment about TNK changing the Ariyakudi format and related comments others have made makes me wonder. When people first started singing in the Ariyakudi format did a lot of (elite) people complain: "enna idu, orE keerthanaiyaa paadi thallaraa! onnu rendu raagam vistaaramaa paadina poraadO. paada mudiyaliyo?" [Trans: What is this? They singing one keerthana after another. Is it not enough to sing one or two raagams in detail. Perhaps they are incapable.]

-thenpaanan

[arasi]

Thenpanan,
I am sure they did! Yes, they kept on doing it. Then, they started getting used to it, wanted to get away from the north (long before wanting to keep away from the northern language movement happened ) Only thing was that they were not heard as much as the rasikas of today. They might have written a 'kAlaNA' (penny) post card about it or discussed the new wave with concern when they met their country cousins in the village at harvest time.

However, the format added more dimensions to the concert. They found that they started listening to more krutis and what a revelation it was about the fund of songs created by the trinity and others! Sorry, no food analogies, I had decided, but can't help it just this once. Creations of different textures became possible because of this--as in a feast...

[mahavishnu]

Thenpanan,
I am sure they did! Yes, they kept on doing it. Then, they started getting used to it, wanted to get away from the north (long before wanting to keep away from the northern language movement happened ) Only thing was that they were not heard as much as the rasikas of today. They might have written a 'kAlaNA' (penny) post card about it or discussed the new wave with concern when they met their country cousins in the village at harvest time.
However, the format added more dimensions to the concert. They found that they started listening to more krutis and what a revelation it was about the fund of songs created by the trinity and others! Sorry, no food analogies, I had decided, but can't help it just this once. Creations of different textures became possible because of this--as in a feast...

Arasi, interesting that you should mention that. The piece below is not just country cousins talking, but an excerpt from the most elite discussions that took place during the proceedings of the 1933 conference of the Meccademy!

I understand that I am digressing from the theme of this thread itself, but though I would edit and repost something that I posted in the context of another thread on : "What is ailing Carnatic music?" Full discussion here: http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic. ... uu#p234165

"Here is an article from 1933 in the Music Academy proceedings that I found quite amusing. The running general theme is that the whole world of music being diluted and changing rapidly in a despicable direction.

The author of the piece is the great music scholar Sripada Ramamurthi Pantulu (the rest of the authors and peer-reviewers of the journal in this period were very scholarly people including TL Venkatrama Iyer, TV Subba Rao, HMB, Tiger Varadachar and other giants).

Here is Sri Pantulu's take on what he sees as ailing CM in 1933. (full link here: http://issuu.com/themusicacademy/docs/ma_journals_1933). I quote:

"THe history of South Indian music during the last quarter of a century is the lamentable changeover, from the reign of soulful melody, to the tyranny of the mechanical drum. Raga has been dethroned and tala has usurped the supremacy. The practice of mathematical svara permutations has frozen up the fountains of creative joy of the emotional spirit. Today it is the scale that is attacked; the raga is seldom rendered. This mechanical attitude of the musician has had its reaction upon public taste. A singer has come to be esteemed less for those exquisite touches of melody that move even non-sentient beings than for the number of svara avruttas with which he can overwhelm the drummer. Equally reprehensible is the vice which with an interminable load of monotonous sangatis, overburdens the graceful and delicate musical forms of the master composers. A certain measure of latitude for indulging in phrase extension may not be improper, where it is governed by good tast and a regard for and understanding of the bhava of the compositions. It is not true freedom which ill accords with discipline. Another weakness which is characteristic of the age we live in, is the craze for speed thrills. No more is heard of the soft and restful rendering of the great passion modes, with graceful slides and long drawn notes, teh favoured haunts where the spirit of the raga forever dwells! The age of Melody is gone; that of the Drum, the Morsing and the kanjira has succeeded!"... (sic: all spelling errors are from the copied quote, not mine).

Please keep in mind, that Sripada Pantulu's comments were probably made at the zenith of the Ariyakkudi-ization of the carnatic ethos." I wouldn't be surprised if everything he was saying was a direct reaction to Ariyakkudi's way of rendering madhyamakala kritis and the number of sangatis in compositions like "vAtApi" that came into being since the early 1900s.

My concern is not that TMK is replacing the Ariyakkudi tradition. But that he has not given sufficient thought to how one might replace it successfully and still keep the listeners satisfied.

Or perhaps he has just run the best crowdsourcing effort on seeking answers to this question! My kAlaNa's worth to this discussion.

[arasi]

Ramesh,
Thanks for bringing this. The avid reader that Krishna must be, of musical works and of music matters, it is possible that this was one of the articles that he had read too.

'Young' as I am, it makes me feel 'younger', as if I was reading their postcards to an illiterate grandmother

[vasanthakokilam]

Mahavishnu, that is quite interesting and funny as well, such a torrent of words. Given that their complaints were in the domain of mathematical svara permutations, domination of the drums, fast taking over slow etc. may be they will like this concert tour of TMK especially with the 'minimalistic' playing of AP and TMK's preference for chowka kalam

What is a bit astounding is, in the midst of such yesteryear stalwarts and the potential for such blazing criticism, ARI who was only 43 then ( and a decade or so into coming out of the shadows of his gurukulavasa ) managed to think independently and evolve and cultivate a new format. ( may be even a few years earlier ). Or may be as kvchellappa writes here http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic. ... 62#p271462 his contribution is with crystalizing an already happening phenomenon. Interestingly, the above group did not complain about too many songs in a concert like Thenpaanan imagined above which I think was true with ARI's concerts then. I thought that would have come up since they were comparing 1933 with the previous 30-50 years.

I wonder though what they were actually complaining about. Who were dominant mridangists then and who were the artists who excelled in such svara and kalpanaswara gymnastics?

[mahavishnu]

VK: It sounds to be like Sri Pantulu had quite an axe to grind!

Yes, ARI's ascent was meteoric by this time and he had achieved a significant level of fame. He was to receive the SK about 4-5years from then. I suppose being 43 is not old, but just to put things in perspective... average life expectancy in India in 1931 was 27! Although I imagine the distribution is very skewed and the median was probably a more representative measure of central tendency (This is the first hit I got when I searched on google http://books.google.com/books?id=kT8e2A ... 33&f=false, the rest of that chapter is really interesting too).

Arasi: Yes, Krishna is quite aware of these bits of CM history, probably more so than most. I believe he worked quite a bit on the history of this period, when he did his pictorial biography of ARI as part of his coffee table book.

Tillana — Sankarabharanam — Adi — Ramanathapuram Srinivasa Iyengar (Niraval, Thani Avartanam)

What line did he choose for the neraval? "nAdrudheem dhim" or "nAdrudheem dhim"? Sorry couldn't resist )
Jest aside. I'm really curious.

[ksharanam]

What line did he choose for the neraval? "nAdrudheem dhim" or "nAdrudheem dhim"? Sorry couldn't resist )
Jest aside. I'm really curious.

He chose the pallavi line — naadhrdheem dheem thana thiranaa, naadhr thaani thom tha theerana. I felt it was actually quite a good line for niraval; enough space between syllables for karvai. You see, the 2nd line has an inherent rhythmic pattern — thaa, tho and thee fall on emphatic beats — as well as an inherent tonal pattern — MDPM, GPMG, RMGS; Krishna and Shriram Kumar skilfully exploited that.

[sureshvv]

After waxing eloquent about "kannulara sevinci" & "vikasita pankaja", you may now be helping to prop up the theory that words are not really necessary

[ksharanam]

After waxing eloquent about "kannulara sevinci" & "vikasita pankaja", you may now be helping to prop up the theory that words are not really necessary

Haha, caught me I'm torn on the importance of lyrics, but for me, layam is paramount. (Hence my rather unfashionable Thyagaraja-fanaticism )

Thinking about it some more, I realise I couldn't care less if you performed niraval at kanulara sevinci in Kedaragaula or kalilo rajasa tamasa gunamulu in Arabhi. I feel having some lyrics is key though; maybe the lyrics help structure the line, like trusses in a sculpture?

[Sundara Rajan]

I am reminded of the saying "purANamithyEva na sAdhu sarvam, nachApi kAvyam navamithyavadyam". Changes do take place over time and in the long run most changes, if not all, are accepted.

[arasi]

My nightmare is that minimalism (of a sort and why? Because of eschewing lyrics, the main musician not playing a dominant part and so on) should not lead to not even using the voice much, but resorting to mime here and there--weird as it sounds (nightmares are made of such stuff).

After a pilgrimage to Banares, giving up a favorite food was the tradition. If music be a journey (it is, in our learning process and expositions), and if you are fortunate, you will be granted many inspiring moments. That's what you take to your performances and share with the listeners--not in a piece meal manner, but in some unity.

It's all very well to call rasikAs 'stuck in the mire', leading us to analyze to smithereens merely a formal frame work. If that had restricted musicians in all these decades, we wouldn't be raving about the greats of the twentieth century! How marvellous and different they all sounded, the format not choking their imagination and individuality!

I am still not convinced that it's the cachEri panktA (latter day concert tradition) that is the restricting factor for the fertile imagination of a singer. Words are the key to communication. Good lyrics substantiate the feeling in music--especially CM which for a long time has used them to flesh out the feelings. Someone said that words are needed in bhajans, may be not in concerts (sorry, I can't remember who. So many threads, so many posts). You can worship with all kinds of flowers (AlApanA, swarams, instruments). Silence in the sanctum is ideal. However, well-chanted mantrAs add another dimension to the experience. Someone suddenly breaks out into song there, pleasing to the ear. All these make the whole experience complete and richer for us.

[harimau]

After a pilgrimage to Banares, giving up a favorite food was the tradition.

Wow!

Could we take up a collection to send some musicians to Benares so that they can give up forever some idiosyncrasies? :-BD )

[harimau]

[quote="ksharanam"]

Thinking about it some more, I realise I couldn't care less if you performed niraval at kanulara sevinci in Kedaragaula or kalilo rajasa tamasa gunamulu in Arabhi.

[/quote]

Surely you mean kalilo rajasa tamas a gunamulu from Manasa etulordhuney in Malayamarutham?

[arasi]

Harimau,

What if they were not their 'chosen' ones but were adapted by them in thinking that they were crowd-pleasing ?? Malvolios who took to wearing yellow garters? :ymsigh:

[ksharanam]

Surely you mean kalilo rajasa tamas a gunamulu from Manasa etulordhuney in Malayamarutham?

No, I meant so long as there is *some* lyric, I don't care, even if it's not from a song in the ragam.

[thenpaanan]

Mahavishnu, that is quite interesting and funny as well, such a torrent of words. Given that their complaints were in the domain of mathematical svara permutations, domination of the drums, fast taking over slow etc. may be they will like this concert tour of TMK especially with the 'minimalistic' playing of AP and TMK's preference for chowka kalam

This is frankly very surprising. I would have assumed that in the earlier era when pallavi singing dominated the performance, there would be a lot of time and scope to indulge in all sorts of fireworks. We know that a lot of now obscure talas were in currency at that time as well. I would have thought the "kaNakku" aspect of our music is a direct inheritance from those times. It is hard to imagine a 4-kalai or 8-kalai pallavi that was the hallmark of high ability in those days can be executed without a lot of rhythmic fanfare from the percussionists. This article makes the opposite claim. Also if what I have read is accurate the "full bench" of tALa vAdyams were in vogue even before ARI's time. Did this full bench only come into play (pardon the pun) during the thani Avartanam?

What is a bit astounding is, in the midst of such yesteryear stalwarts and the potential for such blazing criticism, ARI who was only 43 then ( and a decade or so into coming out of the shadows of his gurukulavasa ) managed to think independently and evolve and cultivate a new format. ( may be even a few years earlier ). Or may be as kvchellappa writes here http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic. ... 62#p271462 his contribution is with crystalizing an already happening phenomenon. Interestingly, the above group did not complain about too many songs in a concert like Thenpaanan imagined above which I think was true with ARI's concerts then. I thought that would have come up since they were comparing 1933 with the previous 30-50 years.

I am beginning to think that ARI rose to prominence in a bit of a vacuum. Perhaps the older generation (such as?) were on their way out and there was no one in the category of strong performer to take their place until ARI came?

The other thing that is absolutely mystifying to me about the ARI format is the process ARI took to arrive at it. Did ARI try various other arrangements before he landed on this particular one? If so what/how did he experiment? ARI was well-known to be highly adept at gauging audience sophistication. But we always only hear of the kachEri format as if it landed from space all worked out/figured out to be aesthetically balanced and pleasing. Aesthetics never work that way -- there is usually a process of trials wherein both performer and audience have to collaborate on the journey -- the performer provides the new ideas and the audience reacts with their approval or disapproval. So how did ARI do it? Perhaps he had help from others?

(To return to topic) My personal take on TMK's efforts is that he too is trying out various things to see what works and what does not. Without taking risks there is no guarantee of something really new. He is brave enough to risk total failure on the stage. Some see that as arrogance but no one ever accused ARI of arrogance. We know that ARI's contemporaries such as Chembai who had performed in both formats accepted it and flourished with it. But were there naysayers too back then -- prominent artists who felt that manodharma is uppermost and there is no peer for pallavi in that regard? Why mess with tradition, etc?

I wonder though what they were actually complaining about. Who were dominant mridangists then and who were the artists who excelled in such svara and kalpanaswara gymnastics?

I have read (cannot find the reference now) that Naina Pillai (as singer) was one such proponent of rhythm-dominated performance. On the accompanists's side, the Pudukottai school of mridangam was also supposedly more into vyavahAram. But how it all actually turned out on stage is anyone's guess at this point.

-T

[rajeshnat]

Thenpannan
Historically the format was actually done by Poochi srinivasa Iyengar and then passed to ARI. Very nice points especially when you say there was more kanakku and vyavahAram just half a generation before ariyakudi.

[vasanthakokilam]

The laya related posts have been moved to its own thread: http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic. ... 11#p271511