T.M.KRISHNA IN KRISHNA GANA SABHA- 21/6

[CRama]

Akkarai Subbalakshmi in Violin, Arun Prakash in Mridangam played along.
Song list.
• Rave Himagiri kumari-Thodi Swarajati (N)
• Ramanee pai-Kedaram (T,S)
• Mummoorthulu -Athana (R,N)
• Thiruvotriyur Thyagarajan- Athana (S)
• Kalyani ragam, Sahana ragam
• Rama ikanannubrovarada (S)
• Sree Ramam Ravikulabdhisomam–Narayanagowla
• Tani
• Meenalochanabrova-Dhanyasi (N)
• Dinamanivamsa-Harikambodi (R)
• Mangalam

TMK again proved that unpredictability is very much predictable in his musical offerings. I wont call it as concert as he don’t want it that way.
TMK commenced with the magnum opus Rave Himagiri kumari Swarajati of Syama Sastri. The rendering was very leisurely himself savouring each and every phrase and the audience also happily became a part in this musical sojourn. Just before the last charanam, he sang a long chttaswaram like portion in the same gait and with the same phrases as was coming in the succeeding charanam. I have a gut feeling that he slipped while starting the last charanam and intelligently presented like a manodharma swaram- A manodharma chittaswaram. Neraval was done at the lines Kalyani Kanchi Kamakshi Nee padame dikku Raave. His elaborate trade mark neraval completed the song. There was no swaram though. The entire song took 25 minutes.

Tanam in Kedaram was done elaborately for 8 minutes. Such an elaborate tanam in Kedaram is very rare and he did that with elan. Rama nee pai tanaku followed and swaras at Thyagarajuni hridaya was icing on the cake.

Athana was the first ragam taken up for elaboration. The raga was presented exploring the wholesome beauty of the ragam- some unexplored areas also visited. The masterpiece of his Guru Semmangudi- Mummoorthulu was presented. (I have not heard this song from any other vidwan of that era.) Neraval done at Rosamuto Raghuramuni gunamula and left at that. But Athana was not left there. He went on to sing another piece in Athana- now a padam of Ghanam Krishna Iyer- Thiruvotriyoor Thyagarajar and decorated with some exquisite swarams at the pallavi.

Now it was time to visit the other half of the Melakarta chart- pratimadhyamam. Kalyani was the obvious choice. He chose to explore only the mandra sthayi- the unexplored vista by the other musicians. He spent about 5 minutes meandering in the mandra dha- pa -ma area and also presented tanam in the same areas which also consumed a solid 10 minutes. Now he looked at Akkarai and she asked whether she will take up another ragam- TMK happily agreed and she took up Sahana for exploration. (Even if she did not take up Sahana, TMK would have taken up the same) TMK followed up with the kriti Rama ika nannu brovarada. But he decided to go alone in this journey. Akkarai and Arun Praksh formed part of the audience in enjoying this meditative journey which was much appreciated by the audience. But when TMK sang swaras for the song, the accompanists played their role with diligence. This was followed by Sree Ramam and a brief Tani by Arun Praksh for about 5 minutes.
(To be continued)

[CRama]

(Continued)
After the tani, at 8. PM, TMK started Thodi- yes Thodi again - but suddenly he realised that he has already had a sojourn with Thodi- though that does not prevent him from venturing again. But good sense prevailed and he shifted to Dhanyasi. After a brief alapana, he took up Meenalochana brova of Syama Sastri with neraval at Chandrakaladhari Neeradaveni Meenalochana brova. Now at 8.15 he took up Harikambodi. I wondered till what time the concert will go knowing fully well that this can be the last song also. He gave a splendid alapana for 10 minutes and took up Dinamanivamsa which seamlessly merged into Mangalam Kosalendraya in Harikambodi. Who said Mangalm should be sung in Madhyamavathy or Suruti or Sourashtram. TMK’s choice today was Harikambodi. The audience thoroughly enjoyed each and every song and gave a fitting standing ovation at the end.

TMK gave me lot of surprises in this concert which I happily welcome. He did not sing stand alone ragams or tanams. There was no Varnam in the middle preceded with a ragam or tanam. The concert did not start with a Mangalam or end with Vathapi. Dinamanivamsa at the end is OK for me. I will be too glad to receive such surprises in future concerts also. I liked his selection of songs in this concert. Good that he took up Swarajati in Thodi instead of the oft repeated Bhairavi. Mummoorthulu, Rama ika nannu brova, Dinamanivamsa etc I can hear any number of times and he has done full justice to the raga bhavam, sahithyam and manodharma elements. All the songs were rendered very leisurely which enabled us to savour each and every phrase in the sahithyam which many time we tend to skip through in other concerts. The alapanas of Athana and Harikambodi and the elaborate tanam in Kedaram stood tall for his abundant manodharmam. But the alapana of Kalyani looked incomplete to me and was a dampener. That was the only major ragam he chose to sing and he did not present a wholesome picture of the ragam. Only the mandra passages were sung. But that is TMK. He is not like any other musician. He has reserved the remaining areas for some other concert.
Akkarai Subbalakshmi’s violin sang along with TMK. Accompanying TMK is also challenging for they have to follow the same pace. For instance, in the neraval for the Thodi swarajati, there were many turns, but never slipped to mel kalam. She also followed like a shadow. Her returns, raga solos were a class in itself. Arun Praksh was his usual self. He was very soooft at many places which suited the style of TMK but played with force at many places which did not come in the way of the manodharmam of TMK, but enhanced the overall impact of the concert significantly. It was a free concert on a Sunday evening with no other good concert. The huge hall in Krishna Gana Sabha was full. An evening of excellent soulful music for two and half hours.

[arasi]

CRama,
Thank you for your objective review which is neither touched by prejudice nor extreme admiration. Sounds like a treat of a concert from what you say was the response from the audience.

Above all, it is refreshing to hear about TMK in a concert mode rather than in a verbal contradicting mode

[HarishankarK]

Order of the songs is not important as long as every song is presented well, which TMK does.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Thanks CRama for a different kind of report that would benefit many who could not attend the concert(like me). It's obvious TMK has succeeded as usual in keeping rasikas on the 'edge of their seats' thro'out the program.

I felt TMK could attempt the following innovation with regard to Kalyani :
Render aalaapana in the 3 distinct sthaayi- s but at different 'places' in the concert. And a pallavi in the same raga -say at the end of the concert.
Needless to say, Rasikas have become real 'think tanks!

[pattamaa]

there was a concert - err... sorry music program by same artist in asthika samajam yesterday... may be, he sang remaining part of kalyani there !

if you remove kalyani, and bring up harikamboji up the order, it would have been great "concert" :claps:

[CRama]

From what I heard about yesterday's concert, it conformed to his present day music offering fare- which he avoided in KGS concert. Hence I liked this concert. In this concert, there were no tukkadas, normally irakkamal varamal is a sure shot. In this concert, the entire two and half hours utilised to present heavy items. Even though I am not against tukkadas, this also appealed to me, as I am not a fan of irakkamal varamal.

[kvchellappa]

I am also not a fan of 'irakkam varamal'. 'Irakkam vanthal' than nallathu.

[grsastrigal]

Nice review. Costly miss for me. One more thing I observed, he would make one or two rAga alapanas more impressive in his whole concert. Like here, Athana and Harikambodhi.

[harimau]

I am also not a fan of 'irakkam varamal'.

I shall devote my efforts to composing a song that may be more to your liking: urakkam varamal!

[rupavathi]

It was a free concert on a Sunday evening with no other good concert...

Wrong! Hyderabad Seshachari gave a very fulfilling SOLO concert at Raga Sudha the same Sunday evening. 2.5 hrs of pitch perfect old-style classicism. The Sankarabharanam alapana preceding the rupaka talam rtp was easily the piece-de-resistance. And no, there weren't three tamburas AND a sruti box around him...

[CRama]

Rupavathi. Kindly post a review of Seshachary's concert. Why Raghavachary was absent? Hope this was an isolated concert and they will together continue to enthrall rasikas.

[harimau]

Rupavathi. Kindly post a review of Seshachary's concert. Why Raghavachary was absent? Hope this was an isolated concert and they will together continue to enthrall rasikas.

Sri Seshachary said that his brother had cataract surgery just 5 days earlier.

The concert was attended by musicians such as S. Sowmya, Bharath Sundar, Neyveli Venkatesh, among others.

I was thinking that it was too bad that the Hyderabad Brothers' career peaked when several senior vidwans were still waiting to get the Sangeetha Kalanidhi award and so they were necessarily put on some imaginary waiting list.

[harimau]

Wrong! Hyderabad Seshachari gave a very fulfilling SOLO concert at Raga Sudha the same Sunday evening. 2.5 hrs of pitch perfect old-style classicism. The Sankarabharanam alapana preceding the rupaka talam rtp was easily the piece-de-resistance. And no, there weren't three tamburas AND a sruti box around him...

The excellent alapana of Malayamarutham and the Keeravani alapana that scaled new heights! Wow!

And the padams at the end that were requested by Mannargudi Easwaran!

[CRama]

Thank you Harimau, I am eagerly waiting for their padams and javalis. Hope I will get to hear their concert soon. Somehow their name never came into the orbit of SK. People thought they may have to wait for some time as seniors like OST, THV, VVS are aleady waiting for long.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

TMK has led us to Hyderabad! .