kunnakudi balamuralikrishna@kotturpuram on April 23rd,2011

[rajeshnat]

kunnakudi balamuralikrishna@nAyaki(kotturpuram)on April 23rd,2011
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Vocal : kunnakudi balamuralikrishna
Violin : Anayampatti AG Venkatasubramanian
Mrudangam : B Sivaraman
Kanjira : Nerkunam shankar

Concert duration/Day : 2 hours and 10 mins/ Saturday

1. nera nammiti - KAnadA - poochi
2. vallabha nAyakasya (S) - bEgaDa - MD
swaras for 2 mins
3. mAravairi ramaNi(R) - nAsikAbhooshani - T
5 mins alApanai and 4 mins violin return

4.dhanyuDevvaDO(RS,S) - malayamArutham - Patnam
swaras for 8 mins
5. inta sowkhya - kApi - T
6. mA rAmanan - hindOlam - psivan

7A. pankaja lOchana (R N S T)- kalyAni - ST
13 mins alapana and 9 mins violin return
neraval in "Brindaavanaantha Krutha Vividha Sukha Vihaara " for 7 mins
9 mins swaras
7B. tani for 13 mins

8. samayamidhE rA rA - behAg - patnam
9. shobanE - pantuvarAli - T
10. nee nAma roopamulaku - sowrAshtram - T

I have heard KBMK a lot during the last 4 to 6 years . He had always presented chaste sampradaya music and he had a gifted voice in general . But yesterdays concert was bit way off , not the usual KBMK that I have heard before. He started with a brief alApana of kAnadA and what I noticed quite distinctly was his voice was bit too rough and had a difficulty in adjusting to a bit faster kAlapramAnam. More to my personal annoyance, his delivery of sangathis was bit contrived and convoluted for almost all the krithis.

The alApana in KAnadA gave way to the popular varnam of poochi . There was a little excessive gamakam shake in his varnam presentation and with that heaviness the varnam was bit not a loosener for the concert but became a showcase of the rigidity that persisted from there on . Begada had his voice showing a touch of more hoarseness and was not gelling with the percussion.

The first detailed alApana was nAsikAbhooshani, and it was quite good and I would have loved it better if there was bit more expansiveness. The pick of the day was his malayamArutham his swaras were very good and there was a bit of steam in only this krithi . There were two krithis sung as fillers as though it was a televised programe where it was measured with a 5 minute duration, kApi and HindOlam went quite convoluted and with no detailed neraval or swaras, the concert remained as a showcase of lack of perceptible excellence.Till the beginning of #7 , there was no neraval , the alApana and swaras was bit there and not there and in general with a dose of contrived sangathis ,the concert was not that great.

Hope was there for the main . The main was in kalYani , the alApana was a standard fare , I just remembered what Lalgudi Shri Jayaraman used to say about kalyAni. He loosely said singing kalyAni is like taking the right bite at the right point in a mango, as only few select points have that taste.KBMK did not find much of those great spots and with pankaja LochAna , I would say he was in the same treaded path of a semmangudi mamA sangathis , it just hovered exactly there with a touch of neraval it just came quite close to that zone of tried and tested sangathis of kalyAni. The neraval was just one and it was not that high to excite me , the swaras in kalyAni were quite good did spot a bit of exhales and inhales into the mike.

The tukkadas could have had a viruththam or a slokham and a jump from kalyAni to behAg kept up the drowsyness bit more. THe last utsava sampradaya was really well done liked his shObanE which was well sung bit too late for the concert . THere was no viruththam , slOkham or a RTP .

THe violinist AGV was just good , he neither pepped it up or brought it down . B .Sivaraman is the mridangist who follows beautifully and preserves the TAnjore TK Murthy style , the formations of his beats are very good and has the TKM style , but what SivarAman lacked was the stamina ,at times the beat did not have that much sound. OUr forumite nerkunam shankar played very well his tani had a very distinct nAdham especially in the tani and he teamed up well.

Few points in general that I did not like about KBMK in this concert:
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1. Every vidwan takes a paddantaram and models on many yesteryears vidwans which is always excellent. But if vidwans should take that approach for only a significant portion of a concert and also bring exclusively their own dose of creativitiy for every concert so that it just becomes significantly more appealing . KBMK had so much touch of yesteryears vidwans especially I could sense a lot of touch that borders a bit of mimicking . In this concert the touch of ramnad krishnan was there,Semmangudi mama in kalyANi and mannerism of KVN in inta sowkhya and mA rAmanan.

He has to bring his musical touch which I am sure he will bring it soon, but certainly this concert did not have his touch. With his voice being bit abrasive and not reaching comfortably the higher octaves and more importantly with lot of contrived sangathis,the concert just did not bring much dose of excellence.

2. His voice is showing bit of hoarseness and hopefully he corrects the same.Possibly if he brings a bit of fast sangathis ,less of gamakam and more of flat note that too in the early concert that would bring more briskness.There was not much brisk krithi renditions in this concert.

3. Neraval was not that rounded in this concert it was just a quick pass and did not appeal that well. The concert could have had a pallavi or a viruththam and it was a saturday night in a nice sabha , but musically not that highly satisfying.

Came with a feeling that KBMK got bit caught with law of averages for only this concert , but certainly look forward to hear him in the future with significant drop in contrived and convoluted sangathis with his own personal and distinct touch . Overall a good concert for 2 hours and 10 mins.

[Ranganayaki]

What a nice review. Looks like a nice song list.

Rajesh, I like your tone, and your ability to focus on the music and your impressions in your criticism. I enjoyed reading this, and your positive bent (Arasi drew my attention to it) comes through here too. Thank you!