2018 April 20 T M Krishna Koodalmanikyam Nadopasana music festival

[sowmyamohan2005]

Vocal Vid T M Krishna
Violin Vid Akkarai Subhalakshmi
Mridangam Vid Mannargudi Easwaran
Ghatam Vid Udupi Sridhar

TMK is an experience. It was a magical evening for a concert-starved soul and all I could take back with me were moments of bliss that he crafted.

The evening was special as the concert was arranged just outside the Bharata temple in Irinjalakuda near thrissur. A picturesque setting with light drizzles and the typical Kerala temple background, I was waiting for TMK to unravel his musical gems for the day.

He began with Nagalingam bhajeham, of Dikshitar in Sankarabharanam. Setting the mood for the evening, with the difficult sound system was a daunting task for him. A brief neraval and he was all set for the magnificent sahana next. Giri Pai was the kriti. And Akkarai's returns were just moving. An elaborate sahana rendition was followed by a TANI. Yes, a tani. But ya, as expected, so we took it as it came.

Then came the Varnam of the day. Now, this was a potpourri of cuisines in a bowl. He started with kedaram alapana and I was sure it will be navaragamalika as he had done with the first edition arts series recently. Followed by tanam in violin, and skipped a couple of ragas and there was tanam in violin in begada. Then came alapana of yadukula kambhoji, TMK's tanam in bilahari and tanam in violin again. Sri ragam was followed by tanam backwards till kedaram.
The Varnam started now and he interspersed the speeds and this I would say, was the star rendition of the evening.

Followed by brovamma tamasamede of Shyama sastri, and the arabhi kriti of Tyagaraja, chalakallanaadu gonna. This began with tanam in the violin and ended with TMK's tanam. Interesting swara patterns at Chala kalla.

No one would present a Deva gandhari after aarabhi but TMK will! Sita vara Sangita gnanamu, a thyagaraja kriti followed. Neat rendition.
He signalled Akkarai to start and she started playing desh ragam. The kriti that followed was peramude varuga, devathaye varuga. I don't know the composer. Again followed by a Tani.

By now, he remembered that it is Swati festival and announced that he completely forgot about it. And that he sang whatever came to his head. Pahitarakshu (not sure of the exact words) in Ananda bhairavi and pancha sayaka janakan in neeleambari followed as the last pieces.

Though there may be lack of cohesiveness and structure, I liked his sahana, varnam, and the Aarabi renditions. A very good concert for close to three hours.

[rajeshnat]

sowmyamohan
Roughly how many folks are attending these concerts in bharata temple? Roughly what time did the concert start? Thank you for your review.

[sowmyamohan2005]

Around 500. Floating crowd. Started by 7.

[ganeshdorai]

Hello Laxman Sir,

Need Swara Notation for Nagalingam bhajeham raagam: shankarAbharaNa

Help to Send to my Email Id.

Thanks
Ganesh D

[HarishankarK]

Wow - Irinjalakuda - this is where my dad was raised.
This temple is the only temple of Bharatha.
This temple also has a annual rich Pooram festival different from Trichur Pooram. Lots of elephants in the pooram festival.

[HarishankarK]

Koodalmanikyam Temple is the only ancient temple in India dedicated to the worship of Bharata, the third brother of Rama, however the idol is that of Vishnu. "Sangameshwara"(Lord of the Confluence) is another name associated with the deity at Koodalmanikyam. The temple is one of four in Kerala state that form a set called "Nalambalam",[2] each temple dedicated to one of the four brothers in Ramayana: Rama, Bharata, Lakshmana and Shatrughna.