T M Krishna - 29-Mar-2015 - Seshadripuram, Bangalore

[ranjanimalavi]

T M Krishna - Vocal
H K Venkataram - Violin
H S Sudhindra - Mridangam
Omkar Rao - Ghatam

1. Intha Sowkya - Kapi - T (NS)
2. Varnam - Valachi Navaragamalika - KVI (R, Thanam, S)
Ragam, Thanam, Swaram in all 9 ragas
Varanam wa sung in 2 speeds
3. Upacharamu Chese - Bhairavi - T (N)
4. Slokam - Maulau Ganga - Chenchurutti (R)
Pranatharthi haram - Chenchuruti - MV
5. Thani
6. Irakam Varamal - Behag - GB (S)
7. Slokam - Shantakaram Bhujagasayanam - Mayamalavagowla
Deva Deva - MayamalavaGowLa - ST (N)
8. Javali - Vanitaro Ee - Ananda Bhairavi - DSU
9. Nottu - Cintaya Citta - Shankarabharanam - MD
10. Mangalam - Sowrashtram - T

It was a great concert.

It took long time to tune the tambura and get the mike settings correct.
But it turned out very well after that.
Better mridangam player would have elevated the concert to a different level.

Raman

[arasi]

Ranjanimalavi,
From the sound (apres test) of it, the concert was well worth it, then.
I also notice the climb in order of the normally delayed varNam in this TMK concert...

[sais72]

I would have titled the review "Intha sowkhya mani ne cheppajala" for the experience.

A warm day in Bengaluru was yeilding to a pleasant evening in Bengaluru. I was late to the concert, at the parking lot i heard strains of kapi and i was humming Intha sowkhya... I walk in to the open quadrangle and hear T M K singing "Intha sowkhya" with a lot of melody and emotion.

How much sowkhya - pleasant weather, top class leisurely exploratory singing/playing, good acoustics, squatting close to the artists and all for FREE. Who all do you thank - tyagaraja, his disciples, TMK's gurus, TMK, accompanists, organisers and the various sabhas in bengaluru, blessed we all are...

pranatharthi haram should be mentioned as being in raga jhunjhuntti ( TMK mentioned that It is Jhunjhuntti and need not be called chenchurutti in south india ).

[badari]

Indeed, it was one of the best concerts of TMK that I have ever heard. The accompaniments indeed elevated it to the next level.

An image from the evening is uploaded here

http://arohanaavarohana.blogspot.in/201 ... atram.html

[Purist]

Alapana, thanam and swaras in nine ragas (back to back) is indeed a stupendous effort.
I doubt if anyone has done that. It was seamless moving from one raga to another and in absolute control.
Hats off
I have been critical of TMK many times of his handling concerts etc but still attend because of the 'aha'
moments he is capable of creating. This was one such. HK Venkataram on violin was superb and surely added
lustre. Sudhindhra on Mridangam in my opinion played very appropriately to TMK's flow and gelled so well.
Thank God, had it been any bang bang (noisy) artist it would have taken away the saukhyam of the concert.

[rajeshnat]

Alapana, thanam and swaras in nine ragas (back to back) is indeed a stupendous effort.
I doubt if anyone has done that. It was seamless moving from one raga to another and in absolute control.
Hats off

There is a chance that vocalist will take the first ragam, the violinist the next or some times the violinist first and then vocalist next . It may also be a case of Ragam taken by vocalist , taanam taken by violinist. As they say The Devil is in the details. Would like to have more granular explanations on how the navaragamaliga ragam,thanam and swaras were broken. TMK indeed is capable of stupendous effort and there are certain shades of aesthetics that I love.I can relate to the reviewers who have mentioned about his inta sowkhya , in recent 2014 concert he even sang a lovely mandara sthayi alapana of delicious kapi.

[Purist]

It was a mandra sthayi nereval this time for " Intha Saukhaya " landing at mandra sthayi 'sa'.
As for vocalist/violonist taking turns, while it did happen but TMK didn't miss out on any, rendered them either before or after the violinist.

[badari]

It was a very different contrast of TMK that day. Inspite of the mikAsura appearing at the very beginning, he showed patience for almost 20 minutes, before walking to the sound engineer's console to set the settings. He has controlled on such outbursts and has focused his energy on delivering class on the stage.

What happened next is history, which will stand in the memories of rasikAs for quite sometime.

[grsastrigal]

VadaninE is another classy piece in kApi though no qualms about Intha sowkyama. In his first December 20114 concert, he rendered this along with Sriramkumar with swarams. VadaninE has more "juice" of kApi.

Navaragamalika- "R T"-- hmmm. must have been "too delicious".

[arasi]

Good signs all...
At this rate, will varNam be the number one item in TMK's future concerts?

H.K.Venkatram can be an asset to a concert. Are his professional commitments the reason for our not hearing him more, or is it because vocalists don't focus on him that he is under-utilized?

Badari,
Thanks for the picture. TMK in white...

[Lakshman]

arasi: Please check your email and respond ASAP. Thanks.

[rajeshnat]

2. Varnam - Valachi Navaragamalika - KVI (R, Thanam, S)
Ragam, Thanam, Swaram in all 9 ragas
.....
As for vocalist/violonist taking turns, while it did happen but TMK didn't miss out on any, rendered them either before or after the violinist.

Purist,
One critical point is the swaras of navaragamaliga varnam that he sang are cittaswaras and not kalpanaswaras.If i am wrong , i wish to be corrected.

[vasanthakokilam]

It is indeed gratifying that our members are fair minded enough to say positive things when they experience one even when they were critical in the past.

While we can not guarantee that with every member of our forum, artists who feel that this forum is not artist friendly, should make a note that people do respond to quality when they experience one.

[ranjanimalavi]

Rajesh,

Ragam - TMK, HKV alternated with raga but always continued with previous raga
In the middle TMK started with some raga, which KHV reminded him of wrong order, and he cut short and started again with correct one.
Tanam - Backwards from Sri and sung by TMK and HKV repeated, except for Kalyani which HKV started first
Swaras - Backwards from Sri, with Kalpana swaras and ending with Cittaswars
TMK was saying in the middle of Swaras, that he can go on and on.

Swaras in Behag were beautiful too, as well as the mantra sthayi neraval.
MayamalavaGowLa infact was so freshing to hear at the end.

It was not a typical Bangalore weather, as the Summer hasn't fully set.
Not hot, cooler, open air and the music was literally floating in the air and the rasikas maintained pin drop silence.

All these things contributed to a great listening experience.

Raman

[Purist]

Rajeshnat, it was chittaswaras of the varnam first in the normal fashion, and kalpana swaram
towards the end. (as ranjanimalavi explained )