T.M. Krishna, Hindu Temple Of Greater Chicago, 10th Oct 2014

[vasanthakokilam]

T.M.Krishna Vocal
RK Shriramkumar (violin)
Arun Prakash Krishnan (Mridangam)
Hindu Temple Of Greater Chicago,
10th Oct 2014

I mentioned in jest in a different thread a few days back that if this concert was a regular one I will be disappointed.
Well the verdict is... I was not disappointed.

Let me quote the lady who spoke quite eloquently at the end giving vote of thanks
"unpredictable, unconventional… and this concert is unrepeatable”

That was indeed true. This is my first TMK live concert and all my prior knowledge about his concert is from the reviews of our members. I knew going in about the unconventional aspects. Once that is accepted, unpredictability is par for the course for a first timer.

The lady also said "unimaginably brilliant, his musical genius is unquestionable”
I think there were ample evidence of that give or take a few degree of superlatives.

TMK's voice was in good form. His voice was a bit low in volume initially but it co-operated very well. I have heard that he sometimes goes low to mandra sthayi and high in tara sthyai. He did not do much of that, though there were some fleeting madra sthayi prayogas. Shriramkumar was just brilliant, beyond words. Shadowing TMK where needed and taking complete control of the stage when offered. Arun Prakash played his part wonderfully with his minimalistic playing. Given the tempo of the entire concert was slower than the normal, his pauses followed by the cascade of strokes provided just the necessary dynamics without drawing too much attention to himself. These three form a great team, no doubt about that.

The concert was well attended. There were 300-350 people in the audience ( my rough estimate )

Instead of a song list let me just describe the concert. I will add a few observations later on in a separate post.

Concert opener was 'shrI guruNA pAlitOsmi' in pADi. The song sounded familiar to me, but not the name of the raga. TMK announced at the end that it is pADi and not pahadi. It was sung in slow tempo in a relaxed fashion with niraval and swaras. That went 20+ minutes. Unconventional, but no problems for me. Anyone who would have expected the usual coddling with some smaller pieces to set the mood etc. would have wondered what was going on when, in the middle of this song, things really slowed down. This is the first song after all. I can see such people thinking 'kutchery kaLai kattalayE' (translation?). They probably went home with that impression for the overall concert itself.

Next was a short alapana in Sahana and seamlessly merged with a beautiful Vandanamu. Again a slow rendition but it worked very well. I remember thinking that things are getting predictable.

Then a grand Varali alapana. One thing about the TMK alapana I like is it typically goes Vocal-Violin-Vocal-Violin-Vocal-Violin rather than Vocal-Violin. Not just for this song but that is a pattern he kept for all the songs where there was a big alapana. That breaks the monotony a bit without sacrificing the overall build up and shape of the alapana. We hear other musicians do this in RTP. The alapana was quite elaborate. I have never noticed before that in some fast paced varali prayogas there is a bit of Subhapantuvarali feel. That of course disappears once the Varali jeeva prayogas are deployed.

Then he started the thanam in Varali. Hmm.. that is interesting. I was too quick to think things were getting predictable.

They took turns of course and the thanam was very well done.

Thanam was coming to an end, Arun Prakash started readying his mridangam when TMK told Shriramkumar "vAsi, edhAvadu vAsi" (play, play something ). That was odd. Shriramkumar is probably used to this but may be he did not expect it. He paused a bit, thought about what to play and then started a wonderful kApi alapana. It was fairly elaborate. He ended the alapana in the usual tapering fashion. Now what? He looked at TMK and TMK said 'vAsi'(play!). Shriramkumar launched into Intha Sowkya. TMK joined him after quite a few sangathis were played and after that he was a full partner in that song. This was a big piece with niraval and kalpanaswaras and Arunkumar played a very sedate but interesting thani that just suited the mood that prevailed. I know the thani is complicated mainly because for quite a while his strokes were syncopated and only joining on the beat after several rounds. Someone with better rhythmic grasp can explain what was going on there.
This whole thing from Varali alapana, Varali Thanam, Kapi alapana, Kapi song and thani took an hour plus.

Next was Marivere in Anandabhairavi. Again the slow pace it deserves. There were swaras also in addition to the built-in chitta swaras in that song.

At this point I was not sure where he will go. RT of RTP is already done. I was even thinking may be he will get into the thukkada portion. Well, I thought wrong.

He started a Kambhoji alapana. He announced it as Kambhoji as he was singing the alapana. It was a grand kambhoji indeed, quite a few different facets of kambhoji put together well. Here also, vocal and violin took turns. (When he first started it, he sang it like how bilahari is typically sung in the descent using the jantai pattern. I do not know what that was about, if at all any.)

Then came the pallavi "tha dhi mi tha dheem enru kanaka sabhayil Ananda naDanam Adinar" in trisra triputa.
It is the usual pallavi style of singing. I do not think he did any of the laya technicalities like anuloma, pratiloma etc.

Then something interesting happened. He switched to Kalyani singing the same pallavi line and handed off to Shriramkumar. He played kalyani for a while and changed raga to nAttai. TMK on his turn sang nAttai ( the pallavi line not swaras ) and.... as you may have guessed changed the raga.

This is how it went.
kambhoji, kalyani (TMK)
kalyani, nattai (Shriramkumar)
nattai, begada (TMK)
begada, saranga(Shriramkumar)
Saranga, sindu bhairavi (TMK)
Sindu bhairavi, surutiti (Shriramkumar)
surutti, kambhoji (TMK)

After this there was a mini thani ( just some farans and a korvai ).

Next was kELanO-hari-tALanO - kalyani, a purandara dasa composition. He gave it a fuller treatment and not as a thukkada.

At this point I was thinking that he has sung quite a few major ragas today. Bhairavi is left out, will he go there? I told myself it is a low chance since we are nearing the end.

Next TMK sang a viruththam that started with 'Thantai thai'. It also had the words "arutporum jyothiye... thayumanavan ...antham adiyar tham..... perumane". I am just providing some words I heard so someone can identify what poem this is.

I can sense a definite change in the timbre of his voice for the viruththam.

It was in Ragamalika. I think it started with Shankarabharanam and then Behag ( not sure of these two ) bhairavi and shankarabharanam. At the very end, he took a long pause closing his eyes. Shriramkumar and Arunprakash kept completely silent. It was just the sound of the tanpura. And then he sang a few more words of the viruththam and seamlessly launched into Dakshinamurthe in Shankarabharanam. The whole thing was incredibly serene. He sang the full song but no niraval or swaras. It felt like he decided to sing that song when he took that long pause.

He tapered down Dakshinamurthe to indicate the end of the song is coming and seamlessly transitioned into "mangalam-kOsalEndrAya mahaNeeya guNAthmanE" sung in shankarabharanam to the same rhythmic setup of Dakshinamurthe. That was the end of the concert.

We all know that Ariyakudi sang quite a few major ragas in his concerts. This concert, though far from the Ariyakudi mould, had that thing in common, there were quite a few major ragas featured today. All the songs were sung in a relaxed fashion, I do not think any of them would be considered a thukkada. The number of items were less than usual but each one was quite elaborate.

It was a very enjoyable and meaningful concert. Leaving varali hanging there with just the alapana and thanam was odd but we quickly got over it due to the delicious kApi that followed. Other format changes were all perfectly fine. There were quite a few things that I felt are different from a usual concert, not just in the format. I will write about that tomorrow, if I remember them.

I will proof read this later. In the mean time, if any of you have the missing details please provide them. Also please provide any corrections that are needed.

[VK RAMAN]

Good narration of the concert. Thanks for highlighting TMK's bANi.

[arunk]

I also enjoyed the concert a lot, once I successfully abandoned expectations/pre-conceived notions of what an artist should/ought to do. I also realized that is good self-betterment life lesson He also helped me get there that by announcing early on (after apologizing) that his music has changed a lot over years (thus implying dont expect me to do what I used to)


I thought it was hamir-kalyani instead of Saranga. Also not sure about behag - but possible (cant remember all of the ragas now)

Arun

[arasi]

VK,
I am glad you could hear him in person, after all this time! I like the way you blend your impressions with what you have heard about his current style of singing in a concert. I wonder if the texture of the concert will change if he has accompanists on stage other than Sriram Kumar and Arun Prakash.

I was wondering. If there were any northern rasikAs in the concert who are a bit familiar with CM, this concert would have appealed to them a great deal.

As for the CM rasikAs, once they get used to the unpredictability of Krishna's pattern of presentation, it may all be fine. Let's say, a band of devotees wanting to go to a particular temple wait at the terminal for the bus to take them there. They are told that they could board this particular bus but the destination could be any temple--tirupathi, tiruthaNi, pazhani or Srirangam.

Time will tell if such a thing will also become 'not a big deal'--this unpredictability of one's destination, so long as it leads to any puNya kshEtrA

Arun,
I was wondering if you were at the concert. Just came back and see your post! Hope we get more feed backs

[Rsachi]

Guys c'mon.i almost hear the voice of Satya Nadella saying it's good karma if a TMK concert works for you.

I would say about TMK's twists and turns in a concert what PG Wodehouse wrote about a nubile maiden:
"She had as many curves as a scenic railway".

[mahavishnu]

Very nice, VK. Thanks for much for writing about this concert in such detail!

"I am glad you are not disappointed", is such a weird thing to say after such a concert experience.
I think folks who dismiss TMK are missing out on this unbelievable roller coaster ride.

[Lakshman]

Vasanthakokilam wrote:
Then something interesting happened. He switched to Kalyani singing the same pallavi line and handed off to Shriramkumar. He played kalyani for a while and changed raga to nAttai. TMK on his turn sang nAttai ( the pallavi line not swaras) and.... as you may have guessed changed the raga.

This is not new. MLV and Kanyakumari used to do similar things years ago.

[rshankar]

The vidushi MLV-Kanyakumari practice was actually considered to be a lesson on stage between guru and Sishya.

[arasi]

Lakshman,
Kanyakumari started playing for MLV when she was middle-aged? In her younger days, it wasn't so. She also let Sudha sing quite a bit as she got older (shows both her generosity and her wanting to rest her voice during a concert). Her concerts certainly did not have an unpredictability element as we now have in young TMK's concerts.

[vasanthakokilam]

I wrote some follow up but due to some forum software issues that did not survive and it is now lost.

Alright, I am not going to retype all that, here is a recap of that. Probably a blessing in disguise

What did not work for me?

Speaking just for myself, these format changes are fine but I draw the line when it subtracts something significant even when it might add something.

The case here is asking Shriramkumar to take the lead on a song. That is a great gesture indeed, acknowledging the mammoth vidwath of the violinist. And in one sense, he became part of the audience as the violinist played a wonderful kApi. But what was odd for me is when TMK joined in the middle of the pallavi of Intha Sowkya, it felt like he is crashing the party. Also, I was not sure if his entry was temporary or not. That feeling of TMK being the main man and not the main man persisted in my mind for quite a while. After all, the song choice was also Shriramkumar’s.

I think he has two choices if he wants to go this route. Tell the violinist in an audible manner to start the song and that he will join. That would have prepared me. Second, which is even better, make Shriramkumar the lead for the entire song, play second fiddle through out, join in Niraval and Kalpanaswara where they can take turns. This is something he has to iron out, IMHO.

I asked Shriramkumar after the concert if he chose kApi on the spot or it was planned. He said it was taken at the spur of that moment, the choice depended on the mood that prevailed at that time. Given that Arunprakash was getting ready to play the mridangam after Varali thanam when the switch happened, I do not think the accompanists knew this was coming at that time, though the possibility of that always existed given the past experience with TMK.

I also asked him about the choice of ragas for the pallavi. He said they were also chosen at that time. One did not know what the other is going to choose as the buddy raga of the pair and Shriramkumar said that the choice is based on musical and aesthetic aspects that have something to do with the relationship of the gamakas of the two ragas. He is such a personable gentleman easy to approach and talk to because he is so much at ease with strangers like me, welcoming such interactions with a big smile.

So what other things can be considered different?

No kOrvai for any songs from TMK ( I do not think ). No ‘ga ri.. ga ri sa ni da pa’
He did not employ the usual dynamic aspects (from a rhythm pov) of Kalpanaswara singing. I am not sure if he even ventured into double speed.
No thukkada section to speak of
Ending it with a big song like Dakshinamurthe is indeed different. But it worked for me. The timbre of his voice changed providing the right bhava and serenity for the virutththam and the song. That was indeed the highlight for me.
He stuck to mostly non-scalar ragas. I guess that is his thing which suited my tastes. One exception may be pADi, it sounded scalar to me but that may be due to my lack of familiarity with the raga.
Same tempo prevailed throughout the concert. ( more or less ).
I do not think TMK considers mixing things up with small and big songs a necessity. So even songs that would have acted as fillers were given non-filler treatment

Arasi, I like your analogy with the pilgrimage. That also speaks to the built in expectations on the form. I can see why that can be unsettling.

Any predictable unpredictability erases the unpredictability ( in the meta sense ). So may be TMK needs to throw in a predictable concert to preserve the unpredictability!

[arasi]

"The choice depended on the mood that prevailed at that time", SRK said. Yes, he is very friendly.He is a good communicator too. What he meant by the prevailing mood goes with the rest of the conversation you had with him, I'm sure.

Was it the mood that prevailed on the stage, among audience, or both? Proficient as he is, he can get past the unpredictability state and quickly produce a rAgA and play it comfortably--until another surprise awaits him before he puts his bow down! Arun Prakash can be 'zen' with his laid back playing--so it might not affect him that much.

With a singing duo for instance, unless they have planned on who is going to sing which rAgA in a concert, it may not work out that well on stage. A sudden decision right there on stage to sing tukkaDAs on seeing chits
is different and easy, for sure.

Before the concert, does TMK give any idea to the violinist about the rAgAs he's going to sing that evening--which would prepare him/her at least mentally to play it on stage in the role of the main performer? Seasoned artistes may think,'it's no big deal'.

How do evena competent violinists who are new in accompanying TMK feel when asked to manage the concert in a major way unexpectedly? Do they find it refreshing, though it's a challenge? Or, are they on tenterhooks?
It's going to be interesting, hearing about the rest of his concerts in the US...

[mahavishnu]

He stuck to mostly non-scalar ragas. I guess that is his thing which suited my tastes. One exception may be pADi, it sounded scalar to me but that may be due to my lack of familiarity with the raga.

This is a very interesting observation, VK. Thanks for pointing this out.

TMK has long insisted that scalar ragas do not provide the same scope for expansion as more traditional pre-scale ragas like kambhoji, bhairavi/mukhari or todi. The fact that prayogams from simhendra madhyamam can be transposed to shanmukhapriya and vice versa is, in his opinion, the reason that they do not provide the same effect on the performer/listener complex. Not that they don't have any unique aesthetics or intellectual appeal.

TMK makes a very articulate argument for it here and in the subsequent lectures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15UnZMT ... C3&index=8

I think people that have knee-jerk reactions to TMK's music, could perhaps spend some time educating themselves on this POV. And then any negative opinion/argument/critique will at least have an informed basis.

[mahavishnu]

Here is a recording of Smt Kalpakam Swaminathan performing sri gurunA pAlitOsmi: https://archive.org/details/SriGurunaPalitosmi
I would consider this as a gold standard for pAdi.

It is quite scalar and Dikshitar uses these steps to construct a beautiful edifice. There are other versions that are also wonderful available commercially; Prof. S. Ramanathan's is highly recommended.

[VK RAMAN]

"implying dont expect me to do what I used to" - may be true with many artists as time passes, unless they rehearse one day before the songs they want to sing.

[thanjavooran]

Shri Vasanthakokilam Avl,
ThanQ very much for the beautiful review. Very nice.
with wishes,
Thanjavooran
12 10 2014

[Rsachi]

Vasanthakokilam and Mahavishnu,
Let me jump out of my present mood for silliness and join in the fine discussion.

It's a tribute to TM Krishna that a concert of his starts here such a profound discussion and interaction on musical history, presentation formats, manodharma, types of ragas and so on. These are hallmarks of classicism and aesthetics.

The lines which give a clue to the TMK approach are

I asked Shriramkumar after the concert if he chose kApi on the spot or it was planned. He said it was taken at the spur of that moment, the choice depended on the mood that prevailed at that time. Given that Arunprakash was getting ready to play the mridangam after Varali thanam when the switch happened

I get a feeling that he and the accompanists have spent considerable time "doing" music onstage and offstage. They can create for themselves a musical space like a "musical adda" where they just soak themselves in it. They come with ideas, responses, experiments. All within the framework of classicism but stemming from spontaneity rather than "rehearsed" music.

I have been sitting in some such addas sometimes. They turn out to be just wonderful. The experience is like walking in a valley of flowers rather than a well-tended Moghul garden.

I have a feeling TMK is trying to give all of us an experience of the "musical adda". That's indeed great. But to pull it off well, it calls for an absolute musical mastery for all three or four on the stage, and that's also a given for his team.

About scalar ragas, I feel the king of the scalar is BMK and him follows the prince too.

[arasi]

Sachi,
Hope we get enough reviews to know how many are Valleys of Flowers kind and how many the moghul gardens type. Wish VK posts a picture of the concert for us to know what the sometimes bearded, designer-kurtA clad 'moghul' (with glasses these days), looks like in this concert tour

[vasanthakokilam]

Wish VK posts a picture of the concert

Here are a couple of grainy pictures taken with my phone. Arasi, the second one speaks to the items you asked about!!

I forgot to mention one tidbit. Shriramkumar and Arunprakash sat at a 45 degree angle. You can see that in the pictures. Is it common, or is it one of those TMK things? I forgot to ask the organizer.

When the team came on stage, my first impression was TMK looked leaner than I imagined. Funny, one lady who seemed to know TMK remarked to him during the post concert chit chat that he had lost weight. TMK said with a smile that he is the same in the past few years, only the age is different!! (well, that and his music as he himself mentioned at the beginning of the concert )

[rajeshnat]

VK
This aspect of vocalist singing A ,B ragas then violinist Singing B,C and then violinist C,D (What LJi says even MLV - AK used to do) appears good when you hear once . I have personally heard TMK -RKSK doing that in swara ragamaliga in skgs . But the drawback is there is overall less quotient of sangathis in that particular raga .
Is the concert held in lemont temple , was this a paid one and how long was the overall concert.?

[VK RAMAN]

TMK was wearing a sun-glass during the concert?

[vasanthakokilam]

Rajesh, what you say is true especially for the latter ragas. I think TMK did a few cycles of the pallavi line in Kalyani and the rest were probably one or two rounds. But the fun was that both got to change ragas and they utilize different techniques for the transition. I think SRK did a much better and smoother job of that which elicited a good response from the audience. As I wrote above, he shared how he chooses the buddy raga.

The concert was for 3 hours. It was a paid concert at the Lemont temple. The tickets were $50, $25 and $15 . The $25 area was quite full and the $15 was half full.

[arasi]

VKR,
It looks like a picture with fans around him.

[Ranganayaki]

Thank you, VK for the great narration, thanks to Arunk too.

I think I would have loved this concert, I love the unpredictability, the feeling of being shaken up as well as the heightened interest throughout the concert. I often feel disappointed and a little bored after the thani. I think I am bored of all the usual notions -hamsdhwani and nattai at the beginning, mangalakara ragas at the end, build up of the concert intensity to climax in the middle and then a general let down phase following predictably. The post thani usually feels like a long good bye.

I like TMK's approach of an almost equal interaction between accompanist and main artist. I think it is great that he hands it to RKSK. I think it is fine that he does not join in till the end of the pallavi of the kaapi song and it's ok that he is not the main man in the full sense. I think he remains the main man and trusts his accompanist's calibre. He remains in control though, it all happens only when he says. He is the main man. I would not like it though if he was temperamental and just didn't feel like singing and shifted the responsibility to RKSK. It seems that was not the case.

I have seen concerts where the main artists are not prepared with any pieces and wing it on stage, and very often the concert, including the main piece, is filled with requests from the audience, many of them shouted out. I feel disappointed and let down when this happens. I feel artists owe the audience the courtesy of coming with a plan and not being led by us and accommodating requests if it would really heighten a mood or fit in with the original plan in some nice way. Here even if TMK had not come with a fixed plan, he does not relinquish control and that is nice.

I love this discussion and it is so nice that everyone is being -well- sane and we don't have the usual puerile put downs of a personal nature, questioning his motives, his sincerity. Thanks

[Ranganayaki]

TMK seems to have a very special relationship with music, he contemplates the music as he presents it, and it seems to tell him where to go.

Still I am mystified by the question of what it is if not a concert. Not a kutcheri? To me why not? Of course it is a kutchery.. Can someone explain why you agree that it is not one?

[arasi]

Ranganayaky,
Have you noticed how we use the word kacheri for multiple purposes? After going through them, we may perhaps understand why a sangItha (pATTu) kachEri is so called. We have kachEri where lawyers congregate (court of law), appaLa kachEri, araTTai kachEri (which is what we engage in).

Does it mean 'gathering together', and in this instance for music'? In which case, a jam session or a bhajanai session qualify too. VKR is listening, I hope...

[vasanthakokilam]

Arasi, yes that sounds right. A funny saying I had heard long time back 'enga aathukararum katcherikku pora mAdiri' ( I think I am messing up the ending , Google could not come up with the right saying either), there the default is indeed the court referring to someone who puts on the coat and other paraphernalia and goes to court but does not get any cases.

A related funny anecdote. The lady who gave the vote of thanks said in closing 'T.M.Krishna, you will have to come back again and finish that Varali pallavi' LOL I quickly checked TMK's reaction. He sat in the pose seen in the above picture 'Sitting straight up and head tilted down', so I could not tell. At least he did not show that he was amused.

My own take is, he is trying to set the expectations with the audience that it will not be like the other kachEris they are used to. I don't think the majority of the audience had kept track of these developments, so with out that they will be quite confused as to, say, why he did not sing the P after RT. The person who introduced him did mention his unconventional (but still classical) approach and his unique interpretations of music etc. But people may not grasp much of that, considering them as the usual platitude of introductory remarks.

I am also curious if not singing kOrvai in kalpanaswarams is part of his recipe. If so, that is another reason why it is not the usual kachEri.

I think it is worthwhile to ask TMK why he is calling it not a kachEri. He better answer that in a straight forward and clear manner.

[munirao2001]

One heartening feature of this discussions is a very good beginning of understanding and appreciation of the artists and quality of music. Artists also must have enjoyed sensing the serious listening and responses. The connectivity between artists and rasikas are established, quality of music is bound to be very good, if not the best. The personal friendship; internalized the high quality of aesthetics in Carnatic Music; sadhana on both the lakshya and lakshanam; special bondage developed over many years being the creative batch of young vidwans and members of YACM; long years of success as performers of great merits and recognition; the trust and comfort in each other to make the music a truly challenging and memorable; all contribute for the results revealed in these discussions and observations.
Highly intelligent they are and they have chosen to revive the 'freedom' and 'closeness' in the chamber concerts ('adda' to RSachi) and presentation taking the form of a 'unique discourse' style popular with religious discourses. Here the religiosity is with the glory of all the creative tools of manodharma sangita in a great form of Carnatic Music. It is not a cutcheri with the set beliefs of forms, structure-a beginning, a middle, end, opinions, images and established identities. It is artists and rasikas being in the states of minds in discovery and wonder at the auditory abstract creative ideas and also reveling at the edifice of the great compositions of Great Vaggeyakaras, in unity partaking the pleasure.
My request to the event managers in US of A. To establish best understanding of TMK, please arrange a panel discussion on his book-'Southern Music, Karnatik Music story' with participation of RKSRK , AP and also the discerning rasikas.

munirao2001

[keerthi]

The discussion of pAdi's scalarity triggered off this post. I posted it separately since it digresses, and goes beyond the discussion of this particular concert.