T.M.Krishna @ Parthasarathi Swami Temple, Chennai (12 May 20

ram · Post by **ram** » 13 May 2007, 00:48

Venue: Parthasarathi Swami Temple, Triplicane, Chennai

Date: 12 May 2007

Organizer: Arulmigu Parthasarathi Swami Temple & Parthasarathy Swami Sabha

Vocal: Vid. T.M.Krishna (TMK)

Violin: Vid. V.L.Kumar

Mrudangam: Vid. Poongulam Subramaniam

Ghatam: Vid. S.Karthick

List of songs:

1) rAju veDale - tODi - rUpakam - tyAgarAja (NS)

2) srI rAmam - nArAyaNagauLa - Adi - muthuswAmi dIkshitar (O)

3) vADinEn vADi (viruttam) - varALi - tirumangai AzhwAr

Azhi mazhai kaNNA - varALi - Adi - ANDAL (S)

4 ) manavyALakin - naLinakAnti - Adi - thyAgarAja (A)

5) rAma bANa - sAvEri - Adi - thyAgarAja (ANT)

6) jAnaki ramaNa - kApi - Adi - vAnamAmalai jeer (O)

7) tirupati vEnkaTa ramaNA - sindhubhairavi - Adi - purandaradAsa

8 ) karpUram nArumO - khamAs - kanDa chApu - ANDAL (O)

9) mangaLam kOsalEndrAya (slOkam) - suruTTi

10) nI nAma rUpa mulaku (mangaLam) - saurAshTram - Adi - tyAgarAja(Key: O=raga outline, A=raga alapana, N=neraval, S=kalpana swaram, T=taniavartanam)

When was the last time I heard TMK live? Can't recall. Blame it on the cricket fan in him and/or his concerts abroad (and/or my poor memory), his absence from Chennai for quite a long time ensured that I rushed to Parthasarathi Swami Temple today to listen to his comeback concert (if you could term it so) despite my having been bedridden with high fever. The moment TMK started singing, I had this joyful feeling of having recovered back something dear to me that had been long lost.

TMK's first song "rAju veDale" brought back memories of the days when I used to, at the risk of getting beaten by people around me, play multiple times, an audio cassette of his that had the song. Neraval/kalpana swarams were done/put today at "sEvanu gani surulu virulacE prEmanu pUjincaga" to some explosive accompaniment on the mrudangam. varALi flowed in TMK's version of Tirumangai Azhwar's "vADinEn vADi" from Periya Tirumozhi, especially in the phrases "ODinEn ODi" and "nArAyaNA enum nAmam" which TMK elaborated a lot. Sri V.L. Kumar played some good sacharas on the violin during his reply for the viruttam. This was followed by a heart moving rendition of Andal's "Azhi mazhai kaNNA" with kalpana swarams at "vAzha ulaginil ... ". The slow speed swarams were especially very impressive. TMK touched the nishAdam of the upper octave while singing them.

Next came a short raga alapana of naLinakAnti. When his turn came, Sri V.L. Kumar probably imagined himself in the hills of Uttaranchal among the locals and the effect showed. A slow rendition of "manavyALakin" was followed by a detailed raga alapana of sAvEri. If TMK touched nishAdam of the upper octave in varALi, he touched shadjam of the lower octave in the sAvEri alapana. Just when I was wondering how clear his voice was even at this note, he took a jump and landed at dhaivatam of the octave below the lower octave for a second before springing back again to shadjam of the lower ocatave and rounding up the alapana. I was just left gaping at the amazing range his voice could traverse. Sri V.L. Kumar started his alapana by almost playing "kari kaLAbha mukham". TMK did neraval at the line "tammuDu baDalina vELa ... " with some nice endings played by Sri S. Karthick whenever he got the chance. TMK then signalled for taniavartanam which was played in the catusra and tisra naDais. Since TMK had to rush to catch a train for a concert in Coonor tomorrow, he sang 2-3 more songs before wrapping up.

Now for the "kOrvai of the day"... this one was played by Sri S. Karthick in the tisra naDai:

pUrvAngam:

12 aksharam pattern x 3 times = 36 aksharams = 6 beats

uttarAngam:

tha ; dhi ; ki ; Na ; thom ; (15 aksharams)

tha, dhi ;, ki, Na, thom, - 2 times (instead of the usual 10 aksharam pattern "tha, dhi, ki, Na, thom," that usually comes here, play 12 aksharam one two times to get 24 aksharams)

tha, dhi, ki Na thom - 3 times (21 aksharams)

Total aksharam count for kOrvai = 96 (=16 beats = 1 avartanam of Adi tALam, 2 kaLai)

Though it looks simple to say/play, what an intelligent use of patterns of 5, 6 & 7 ..... and it sounds quite nice on the ghatam too !!!!

Source: http://ramsabode.wordpress.com/2007/05/ â€¦ i12052007/

mahesh33 · Post by **mahesh33** » 13 May 2007, 02:16

Ram, I think its high time you started charging folks to read your reviews, thay r noteworthy, refreshing and so cheerful in tone, Get well soooooooon.....if TMK's concert hasn't completely cured u yet....

Sathej · Post by **Sathej** » 13 May 2007, 09:31

Really amazing ,Ram!I didn't see you doing much yesterday.But,what memory to write the Korvai by Shri Karthick.I should say you have a great memory.Nothing wrong with it!
Sathej

MANNARGUDIYAAN · Post by **MANNARGUDIYAAN** » 13 May 2007, 12:39

Dear Ram,

Why there is nothing about Pungulam?

He did not play well or do you think he is not a suitable pakkavadyam for krishna?

I am not a friend of him, but, just wanted to know why...

ram · Post by **ram** » 13 May 2007, 23:30

@mahesh33: Thanks for your wishes and for your appreciation.

@Sathej: I had actually noted down the kOrvai in rough

@MANNARGUDIYAAN: Sri Subramaniam played well

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 14 May 2007, 14:42

What a concert it was?
I am surprised that Ram missed out writing about the nArAyaNagauLa.

The concert began with a brisk rendition of rAju vEdalE (a kriti about Sri Ranganathar's utsavam) with some nice neraval and svarams. The short sketch of nArAyaNagauLa was very distinct and unambiguous. The kriti was rendered amazingly well. The pAsuram in varALi was rendered very beautifully, taking every enjoyable sancaram in varALi and weaving it into the pAsuram. The thiruppAvai was rendered with a round of svarams.

Personally, i was expecting a tani right after this

The naLinakAnti AlApanai, came next. The kriti was rendered well. The main sAvEri AlApanai was rendered very beautifully. Ram has explained more and i hence dont have much to add to what he says. The AlApanai demanded a kriti as heavy as rAma bANa or srI rAjagOpala to follow. It was rAma bANa, with our own Ram firing a few arrows in air, while TMK was singing. The neraval was done nicely in trikAlam. I would have personally prefered a round of svarams in sAvEri rather than the 3 tukkaDas which followed.

coolkapali · Post by **coolkapali** » 14 May 2007, 17:44

bharath, wat do u mean by neraval in three kalas...u mean, vilambham, madhyamam and dhrutha kalam? Tats a common feature isnt it?

coolkapali · Post by **coolkapali** » 14 May 2007, 17:47

Ram, if u are keeping track of the concerts in Chennai....do u mind posting them in the calendar section in this site....tat will be mighty useful

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 14 May 2007, 22:05

kapali, the sama kAla neraval is usually skipped by many artists. Sri Krishna did a couple of avarthanams of sama kala neraval.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 15 May 2007, 08:23

TMK has done well in grooming his SishyAs too, I hear.
A friend in Bangalore who attended one of TMK's ShishyA's concert in Banasankari was impressed. 'confident, good voice and powerful presentation', is what I hear. 'Only, the disciple's stage mannerisms remind us very much of the guru', says my friend. For one thing, the guru himself is very young and is very much around. This would make it difficult for the listeners to isolate the chElA from the guru and pay attention to his merits when he sings. A minor thing which the young musician can easily erase.
Why do I go on about it? The young man is none other than our fellow member gravikiran!

Ravikiran,
Congratulations on a very good performance...

ram · Post by **ram** » 15 May 2007, 09:54

Not sure whether I will be able to regularly update the calendar here but I do keep track of concerts in Chennai on my blog at http://ramsabode.wordpress.com/concerts-in-chennai/. Keeping track of something at multiple places is a bit difficult ... yeah ... you can blame it on laziness on my part

coolkapali · Post by **coolkapali** » 15 May 2007, 12:21

Thanks a lot Ram........i guess someday i will take the trouble of posting the list in the calendar. The source will ofcourse be Ram's Abode.
Cool Buddy. Thanks.