T.N.S. Krishna - Vocal
V.V.Ravi - Violin
Manargudi Easwaran - Mridangam
Ravi Balasubramaniam - Ghatam
One line to summarize the concert !!!
I would not be exaggerating if i stated that a musical encyclopedia was published yet again the form of a concert on March 29th 2008, at the Cleveland aradhana festival between 8pm and midnight !!!
Much to the despair of the audience the concert started late because of a delay in the program schedule of the day. Nevertheless, only one musician is capable of commanding such a mesmerizing control over his audience making them loose every awareness of such logistic inconveniences. And by control i dont mean for 5 min during the main raga or every time they change the pallavi line during the ragamallika swara rendition or during a 3 min blitz kreig paced swara rendition only, but from the very first song !!! With not a single lapse in energy or momentum through to the last note uttered from his divine vocals !!! (that should attract some anxious fans of the respective categories
)Varnam - Reethigowlai - Ata Thalam (R,S)
Nee Bhajana Gaana - Nayaki
Epaniko - Asaveri
Ninnuvinaga - Poorvikalyani - (R,N,S)
Ganamurthe - Ganamurthi
Ambaneelayadakshi - Neelambari
Emani Matladitivo - Thodi (R,N,S,T)
Slokam - Ragamaillika
VangaKadal - Thirupavai
Thillana – Sindu Bairavi
Mangalam
Some highlights of the Concert............
I am in no way qualified to comment on such great vidwath but was very discomforted by seeing that there was not a single comment on undoubtedly by far the best concert of the Cleveland Season this year !!!! So here is an humble attempt !!!
The Varnam was the definition of kalaprana shudham. it set the pace for the concert. many a times the varnam often considered more like a warm up item and is payed little or no attention by the artists and audience alike. But TNS proved otherwise....the grandeur of the varnam in the manner he presented it in its entirety and glory was no less than the effect than the main of the evening. The kizhu kalam and mel kalam swara rendition were a classic in their own right. the interwoven play of swara porutham and precision sarvalaghu was perfection at its pinnacle. Vidwans in the front row were litterally applauding on their feet !!! at the end of the swara rendition for the varnam.....
Nee bhajana gana in Nayaki to offset the mood to a more tranquil one Followed by a brisk Epaniko...in Asaveri......both depicting the classic veena style of presenting such ragas by imbibing the gamaka prayogas.....
Then a masterpiece........i could recollect the Maestros expert comment on misra chapu during the Music academy morning sessions...a simple yet profound justification for Syama Shastri to portray the krithi Ninnuvinaga in villoma chapu !!! His rendition just personified raagaanubhava and rasaanubhava portraying a new realm of greatness......precise perfection in the coalescence of sowkhyam and vidwath !!!! The swaras were elaborate with the usual vyavaharaam employed by TNS at his will.....It is as though nandi baghavan is waiting eagerly to leap to every dictate and command of the living legend. krishna followed his fathers shadow and ever so slghtly triggered the genius's mind by notching up the complexity of the pattern....i distinctly remember krishna involving a vyavaharam in thisra nadai and the whole vidwan ensemble on and off stage errupted in appreciation of the youngster.....then there was no holding back Sri. TNS, once the thisram was established he indugled himself in some kizhu kalam thisram swara singing, a rarity even in thani avarthanams these days. every one is so busy proving their physical dexterity in speed that they forget such elements of aesthetic appeal such as kizhu kaalam and ammuthal patterns. Krishna's korvai as a finale to this magnum opus composition based on the very same framework of Paanaga Bhoosha nudaina......was a classic.....such maturity is profound for a youngster of this day and age....
After an elaborate and captivating purvikalyani rendition he shifted gears to a pleasant and stimulating.....rendition of ganamurthe.....IMHO he is by far the only musician to have the distinct capacity to embellish any raga with the same grandeur that is deserved by a shankarabharanam, bairavi or kalyani. Not a single briga or flash was used in this raga presentation or during the krithi.....only embellishments of the raga swaroopa were presented..a starking contrast to the previous piece. Perfect Harmony !!!
AmbaNeelayadakshi was the epitome of kala pramana shudham.....inevitably every musician i have heard today has a certain degree of variability in their kalapranam be it swara rendition or krithi rendition itself.....One musician who has kalapramana control at evry tip of his finger is Sri. TNS. the comfort with which this song rendered could have even put the lord to sleep. the accompaniment of sri. easwaran was particularly noteworthy is this piece.....
then came the raga the maestro is proclaimed for.......Thodi........no words can describe the majesty with which evry sanchara was presented....... the weight of evry flash and the depth of each gamaka.....was just unnerving....although there were signs of age taking over his stamina and determination were unstinted.....the power of his voice and his control over the open throated vocals were a treat to any true sangeetham rasika.......not a soul stirred an inch during the comprehensive thodi alapana...another great aspect of this genius's music is his 100% usage of aakaram and no other sounds and phrases......full throated powerful aakarams...The Tyagaraja krithi was rendered in perfect bliss, although the audience dwindled in number after the alapana due to the untimely hour of the day.......many of the true rasikas lingered to witness the genius at his best.....the gamakas and sancharas alike were so pregnant with the life and essence of the raga that it was just beyond an applause.....the audience were most definitely awestruck by the virtuosity and power of this musician. Beautiful heart warming and skin tingling composition......the bhakthi and bhava with which it was presented was as though he was one with Tyagaraja both emotinally and spiritually....like a thiruvizha elephant in all its splendour walking down the temple yards.....The swara patterns exchanged between TNS and Krishna patterned the misra koraippu structure. They exchanged their renowned play with karvai and pattern increment and decrement formations. To enjoy this one need not have looked too far, Sri. Easwaran was thoroughly enjoying every single pattern TNS sang and we witnessed him saying to TNS at a point "romba osathyya irukku !!!"..........Needless to say Krishna was on par with the vyavaharam and accrued mutiple affirmations from both his father and the fellow artists for his creativity...........
this was followed by a very short thani avarthanam easwaran (considering this was easwaran's 2nd concert of the day) and ravi..........sri easwaran inspired by the patterns involving thisra nadai and kala bedha prayoga employed by Sri. TNS....framed the enitre thani on those lines. unfortunately ravi balasubramaniam fell heavily short in his attempts...even his accompaniment was irritating; many a times intrusive even after several hints by the artists on stage to adhere to aesthetic accompaniment.......
This was followed by a brisk ragamallika sloka concluding with the thirupavai Vanga Kadal. The very art of singing a virutham is lost these days or usually taken for granted. everyone these days ends up saying the words of the slokam followed by merely highlighting the ragam. TNS on the other hand is a grand master in embedding the raga swaroopa in the slokam lines, the true art of slokam singing. the lines flow as seemlessly as the ragam being portrayed and vice versa. Following the thirupavai was a fast tempo Oothukadu thillana in sindu bairavi (even there TNS employed thrikala prayoga in the jathi patterns) and then the mangalam.
One of the highlights of the concert was that it involved every manodharma style in carnatic music distinctly in each piece (one of my friends was so kind as to point this out to me)
Varnam - sarvalaghu swaram patterns
Nee Bhajana Gana - Predominant Gamakam prayoga
Ninnuvinaga - Kanaku Vyvaharam in the form of patterns and thisra nadai
Ganamurthe - Sowkhyam Sowkhyam Sowkhyam
Thodi ragam - Briga, Gamakam, Nerithi pAdarathu or Ninnu pAdarathu, Flashes (all across the scale in every which way possible), Nadhaswaram phrases.You name it was there....If anyone is to witness the evolution of thodi over the past 100 years....all you need to do is listen to TNS's thodi once.......it has every prayoga or sanchara ever conceived by a human being.
Thodi Krithi - Kannaku vyavaharam in the form of a traditional koraippu followed by korvai
All in all one of the best concerts in Cleveland after a long time............
+ suffering from cold and cough) and so I was going to skip the late evening concerts. But a friend dragged me ty this one.