T.M. Krishna at Shankara Mutt, Malleshwaram, Bangalore - Oct 17, 2015

[prahalad_rag]

Vocal - T.M. Krishna
Violin - H.K Venkataram
Mridanga - Kalladaikurichi Siva Kumar
Ghata - Chandrashekara Sharma

List:
Sari evvaramma - Bhairavi. Brief raga, N, S.
Soundararajam - Brindavana Saranga (R,N,S). G2 was sung as per Dikshitar's sampradayam
Saraswati Manohari - Saraswati Manohari (R,S). Again, alapana was as per Dikshitar's sampradayam as clarified by TMK.
Raga, Tana - Poorvi Kalyani by TMK
Raga, Tana - Begada by HKV
Lokavana Chatura - Begada (N at charana and pallavi lines, S)
Tani (very average stuff. I think the mridangist missed the korvai atleast 3 times).
Ilalo pranatarthi - Athana
Sagara shayana vibho - Bageshri
Mangalam in Bageshri

The slow paced singing was overdone a tad. Way too much time was spent in deciding what to sing, ill effects of not planning a concert. Having accustomed to listening to the likes of Sanjay who meticulously plans his concerts, this felt quite jarring. Long pauses while singing raga and even krithi takes away the energy from the concert.
Wish we get to hear the TMK of much earlier vintage soon. One can only hope. Underwhelming concert.

[Sindhuja]

Felt the same when I heard him last - he seems to overdo the "singing for (to?) myself" thing...

[kvchellappa]

If one sings for oneself, it cannot be unpleasant to others. The trouble is that it is contrived and not natural, not in the flow. There have been many singers who may want to sing more even after mangalam, that is an inner urge to sing; when you plan to do it, it appears cranky. If one has done an elaborate alapana bringing in several dimensions of a raga, it may appear superfluous to repeat it in a kriti, neraval, swara, once in a way. If you sing sankarabharanam for 5 minures and say you have exhausted the raga, you are joking.

[sais72]

I humbly disagree with the opinion of prahalad_rag . The other two above comments seem to be not about the concert in question and hence won't comment.

I felt the concert was very contemplative and i for one definitely smelt the roses along the way. The brindavana saranga alapana was very elaborate, spanned both low and high octaves extensively and the transition between non adjacent notes (pa and ri for eg...) was very melodic. The kriti that followed was very majestic. A beautiful voice with a good range of more than 2 and half octaves, nice selection of ragas/compositions, diversity in kalapramanas (there were several fast paced kalpana swaras in saraswati manohari, lokavana chatura etc.,), good accompaniment (albeit a slip or two in the tani) made the concert wholesome and enjoyable for me. I got the same vibe from several other people around me in the concert and they were not fanboys of TMK.

[HarishankarK]

Yes, the song list looks core classical fare. Saundararajam alone is such a marvelous song. Am sure TMK would have sung it very well in proper kalapramanam and with lot of bhavam.

[hnbhagavan]

I heard him a month back at IISc.i agree with sais72.He sings really with great manodharma.Leave matters like order of songs,then u can enjoy his concerts.

[munirao2001]

Art of listening is also based on the manodharma-manas in unity with the ideation, imagination and creativity of the performer(s) and dharma is mind in freedom from the past, past of memorized pleasure; minimal knowledge of lakshya and lakshana of art form; sense of mind not in distraction of desire of recall pleasure; sense of mind focused on the present happening creative moments-re creative and rare of the rarest original creative moment; enjoying the pleasure of aesthetic being established; subjectivity being objectified; artist's experiences being explained through movement to svaras and pada/akshara, both in delivery of the naada form; musical intellect and very musicality as centrality. Artist's intellect on unrelated issues to the performance in process and progress, not troubling the mind enables the good span of attention.
I attended this performance. I enjoyed it. I did savor the soundarya and rasa in raaga delineation and keertana renditions. He presented the Mudduswamy Dikshita compositions conforming to the Sangeeta Sampradaya Pradarshini notations, different from Bani patanthara of maestros. His approach to the each aspects-raaga alaapana; tana; niraval; svara kalpana was sincere (intent) and with Bhakthi to the form and contents. New experience was presenting niraval as svarajathi, melismatic form. Vilamba kaalam as primacy is his personal choice affording time and space for imagination and also exhibition of kala pramaanam self control. He eschewed giving tonal power, may be consciously.
In H.K.Venkatram, giving accompaniment on violin, artist is supported to the best of his ability be it on following or on solo interludes, in line with the style of the performer, never attempts at making forceful own statements of directions and revelations. TMK and HKV enjoy personal friendship and comradery, duly reflected in the performances, together.
Kallidaikuruchi Sivakumar on mridangam and Chandrashekar Sharma on Ghatam gave able support, winning the appreciation of TMK. Both are seasoned performers and their choice of sollukattu, teermanams and korvais was in line with the kalapramanam choice of TMK.

munirao2001

[badari]

Yes, the song list looks core classical fare. Saundararajam alone is such a marvelous song. Am sure TMK would have sung it very well in proper kalapramanam and with lot of bhavam.

Indeed.. the ati vilamba kAla for soudararajam extracted the essence of the song. It was indeed an enjoyable evening, irrespective of the slips by the percussionist.

Edurite audience was pretty sharp in recognising the slip. There was hardly any applause for the first cycle of his presentation.

[vasanthakokilam]

(The Mudduswamy vs Mutthuswamy discussion has been moved to http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=26315 )