Mridangam: Arun Prakash
List:
1. Sri Janaki Pathe- Kharaharapriya, Adi, Papanasham Shivan (Swaram)
2. Meenakshi- Gamakakriya, Adi (2), Muthuswami Dikshitar (Ragam, Neraval, Swaram)
3. Smarane Sukhamu- Janaranjani, Adi, Thyagaraja
4. Vadasiyati Kimchidapi- Mukhari, Khanda Chapu, Jayadeva (Ashtapathi) (Ragam, Neraval, Swaram)
5. RTP- Kalyani; Chaturshra jathi Rupakam; with swarams in Kalyani, Begada, Sahana, Dwijavanthi, Neelambari, Ananda Bhairavi, Athana, Darbar, Shri, Brindavan Saranga (?)
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(I left at that point- someone please fill me in!)
TMK started by acknowledging Pt. Ravi Shankar's presence- who was in the first row as always- and said he was honored to sing in front of him. He then asked the audience if they wanted him to announce the ragas, and sure enough, people said yes, but only after each song. TMK smiled, agreed, and then said it was a "trick question" that "every city falls for"- I'm not sure what exactly the trick was, nevertheless his interaction with the audience felt nice.
TMK started with sri janaki pathe in Kharaharapriya. It was stamped with his style all over: the slow, unhurried pace laced with tremendous bhavam. One word: sowkhyam. It felt uplifting, literally. The alapanai at the word "charana" was fantastic. But as he finished the line at "sakala", he suddenly paused for what felt like more than a minute. We were wondering what was on his mind- RKS was filling in and TMK just looked like he was in deep contemplation about something. These things are probably a result of completely losing oneself in the music. He restarted and finished the song in style though. The swaras at janaki pathe were brilliant, and RKS- my, what a violinist! Brilliant replies throughout; and I'm sure I'm going to run out of words for him by the time I finish writing this. TMK's first speed swaras were lovely with nothing flashy. Those of you who've seen him live would know how animated his body language is, on stage- and just as I was thinking how he was literally caressing the swaras so beautifully, he was actually moving his hands like he was rocking a baby or something
It had very interesting prayogams and the trademark kharaharapriya Gr (tarastayi) Nd Gr phrase came out wonderfully. Something worth mentioning perhaps, is that TMK gets completely immersed in RKS's playing every time- he closes his eyes and appreciates him immensely. After the first speed swaras, he sang one elaborate swara in the second speed (stopping each line at Da)- it was a grand flourish of swaras and a fitting finale to the piece. TMK then started an alapanai in what seemed like Purvikalyani (PK). But a few minutes into the ragam, I was thinking that it sounds more like Gamakakriya (GK), and he announced that it was indeed Gamakakriya: said earlier on there might not have been a distinction between PK and GK but today, there is a slight distinction. If I'm right, I think GK is PK in Dikshitar's school- it seems to be just Gamanashrama without Ni in the arohanam (as opposed to the vakra PDPS of PK; although these days people are generous in their use of GMDS-like phrases even when they claim to sing PK, but they would only be in addition to PDPS). His mandara stayi was a delight to hear. Throughout the alap, he was having an animated "conversation" with RKS- with eye contact, vigorously shaking his head etc..- it all only added to the mood and excitement! It was commendable that he went all the way to the anumandara stayi Da (although it didn't sound very pleasant to the ears). RKS responded brilliantly as expected. Both TMK and RKS seemed to use NMPD and DMPD a few times and I was kinda wondering if it was conscious- if the avaro allows all swaras, I was wondering why (what seemed to me like) an emphasis on pa varjya phrases- or may be they were just casual prayogams. TMK started Meenakshi. Again, TMK style all the way: the second or third piece is always ativilambakalam in his concerts, and so was this one. I'm not a huge fan of this extra-extra slow pace but may be due to my bias for the raga, I did enjoy this one for the most part. May be it's just me, but I felt like TMK was not sustaining the line endings (both in alapanai and in the song) much- it was a bit disappointing at times, since every single swara in the line would be so beautifully sustained and at the very end, the last note would not be- I was wondering if it was a breath issue; a result of singing at this extreme slow pace. He sang neraval at "Madhumada mohita": started with mandara and slowly went higher. At this point, his voice seemed to show a slight crack and strain. But the sarvalaghu sangathis in the second speed neraval were amazing. The words were indiscernable, but that's probably inevitable at that pace and especially when you're stressing so hard on every letter and syllable... In the second speed, I felt the kalapramanam suddenly increased as he was going higher and higher, especially in the climax- that really surprised me.But overall it was great, no doubt and the piece ended without kalpana swaras. Smarane sukhamu was the next piece and was sung in an apt, medium pace. No frills, no fancy, and everything seemed right about it- thoroughly enjoyable. So far, so good.
TMK then started alapanai in Mukhari and I was disappointed to say the least (high time I get out of my raga biases I guess, but not able to help it). I didn't write down much in my notes here. I can say that it was a brilliantly done alapanai though- had all the elements of the raga and RKS was, needless to say, amazing too. Once again as in the first piece, TMK stopped in the middle, rubbed his eyes and took his time to resume (my friend next to me was wondering if it was jet lag!) But none of that affected his brilliance. He sang vadasiyati, a Jayadeva asthapathi. Again it was at quite a slow pace and the thalam seemed to drag a little here and there- I thought to myself that when you sing THIS slowly, it's probably hard to maintain the thalam...Neraval and swaram were sung at smaragana... One interesting thing in the swaram was TMK stopping in turn at tara, madhyama and mandara ri both in first and second speeds- he had some very interesting patterns there. Again, when he finished and the thani started, the thalam dropped in speed considerably- and this time I was quite sure; and my mridangist friend next to me vouched for it. Throughout the thani there was a nagging feeling that TMK was not maintaining a constant pace as he was putting the thalam and Arun Prakash seemed to be following him. Of course with these things you can never be absolutely sure, but that actually made me wonder why we don't have metronomes in Carnatic concerts! If you say layam is supposed to be naturally internal to us and that we shouldn't need an external source to aid us, then so is shruthi! When we can have a tambura/ shruthi box, why not a metronome/ tala meter/ tala box? Curious...
Next was an RTP in Kalyani. Again, the choice of raga didn't enthuse me much (yeah, I'm not a fan of the big five, especially Kalyani). But of course, he was nothing short of brilliant. The ragam was for 15 minutes and although it was nearing 10 pm there was no sense of hurry in him (he started around 7:20) and that made me very happy. The fast phrases were fantastic. The thanam was very good too- very typically Kalyani, very typically how a thanam usually is; but brilliant nevertheless. The pallavi was in chaturshra rupakam and went as follows: Brahmhaivamkhila satgurukripaya. I would only be repeating myself if I use any more adjectives here to describe the pallavi. When TMK started the ragamalika swaras I was thrilled! A beautiful Begada started and I was already convinced that the swaras would make up for my disappointment with Kalyani. What was particularly interesting was how TMK and RKS took turns and played different ragas (rather than the customary repeating of the vocalist's ragas by the violinist). I don't know if they did this for lack of time, but I don't care because it was great the way they did it! Defying the unwritten norm that similar ragas shouldn't be performed back to back, they did precisely that. RKS played Sahana after TMK's Begada, TMK followed up with Dwijavanthi; RKS replied with Neelambari, TMK did Ananda Bhairavi, RKS, Athana, TMK Darbar and RKS Shri. It was an intellectual exercise for those who get confused with similar ragas, to actually try and discern them and understand the exact differences since they were played back to back. It was interesting how after a raga by one of them, the other would initially play a few phrases of the same raga and then very gradually switch to the next raga: was quite tricky to note where the switch exactly happened. Especially after RKS's Sahana, TMK kept wondering what to sing next (or so it seemed) and kept singing Sahana for a few avarthanams- and in fact smiled and gestured to RKS asking what he should sing. I'm sure that only increased the excitement and curiosity of the audience about what was coming. And then slowly he introduced Ga2 and made the switch to Dwijavanthi. I had to leave after Shri since I had other engagements, but I thought I heard Brindavan Saranga and then Kalyani again from outside the auditorium- can someone please confirm? And also fill us in on what he sang after that?
RKS was superb and for me, what stood out was his Sahana. With a humble smile throughout, he's a pleasure to hear and watch. He brilliantly matched up with TMK, as always. Arun Prakash was very good too. Underplayed when he had to (during TMK's slow moments) and made his presence felt when he had to. The thani was very good as he alternated between tisram and khandam (what I learnt from my friend- I'm not entirely sure myself). His accompaniment for the swaras were very good and fit with TMK's patterns like hand in glove.
Overall, a wonderful and very fulfilling concert!
PS: Sorry, I tend to get carried away. Will aim at shorter updates henceforth.
