Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna@Pallavi Darbar on June 17th,2022

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rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna@Pallavi Darbar on June 17th,2022

Post by rajeshnat »

Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna@Pallavi Darbar on June 17th,2022
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Vocal : Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna
Violin : Delhi Sundarrajan
Mrudangam : Anantha R Krishnan
Tambura : Shravan

Concert duration/Day : 1 hrs and 50 mins - 07:30 to 09:20 pm/Friday
Concert Type : Nirvana (no concert to follow)
sabha/Hall : Carnatica with Parthasarathi swami sabha /MFAC Hall
Occasion : Yearly Pallavi darbar is back after few years of covid break

0. Sashikiran introducing with a medlay of raga names giving choice to KBMK
1. varnam -vanajAkshi ninnE Kori - kalyani - Pallavi Gopala Iyer
2. ennaDO rakSincitE(R)- sowrashtram -T
min plus of raga alapana

3A. RTP in chandrajothi for 1 hour and 6 mins inclusive of 5 mins explanation and exclusive of tani
20 mins alapana and 10 mins violin alapana return
3B. 17 mins taanam with mrudangam

3C. Pallavi with swararagamaliga for 28 mins with 5 mins explanation of pallavi and talam
Pallavi line was KannA vA mani vannA kamala padam vaithu
Taalam entire count was 70
with 2 or 3 nadais mainly anchored in chatushra jathi jampa thalam
Swara ragamaliga was brief in chandrajothi + kannada + Ahiri + Darbar???
3D. tani for 12 mins

4. Theruvadheppo - Kamas -Neelakanta Sivan
5. Brief prize distribution for some one who asked this raga with vote of thanks by sashi


Carnatica has been conducting pallavi darbar for may be atleast a decade or so , it is nice that they have started after atleast 3 years of break with covid. I had a chance to attend the inaugral 1st day of total 3 days of pallavi darbar 2022 concerts. I came bit 20 mins late and thank god i did not miss the start of the evening 2 pallavi darbar concert

KBMK with mister Mrudangam along with the seasoned delhi sundarrajan were just settling with the great organizer Sashi kiran giving an introduction . Sashi read the list of raganames as given by rasikas, .It was a bit of 50 50 for me . It is evident that some insider did ask the chandrajothi ragam and KBMK has prepared for candrajothi and it was bit staged to me . KBMK picked up one ragam but one needs to appreciate the enthusiasm as sashi gives a prize towards the end of pallavi.Hence i say 50 50

KBMK started to warm up with a kalyani varnam,his voice has nice sareeram and this pallavi gopala iyer kalyani varnam adequately tests the fitness of the voice of that day and KBMK came without hiccups. A rare sowrashtram was quick and well done with he doing the brief alapana it was a good 2nd filler . Ok time is up is what i thought and kBMK opened with a distinct hueness of moonlight chandrajothi. Chandrajothi atleast to me was educated to me by S Kalyanaraman lovely rendition of a recording where he sangs a lovely bhagayanayya. Also few renditions of many particularly TNS is very dear to me

I am not sure if Chandrajothi ragam can be taken to say the status of ragams like say nattaikurinji or a more pallavi suited shanmughapriya. To an extent there is a bit of repetition when the scope of ragas is bit censored like mooonlighted chandrajothi. Pallavi raga alapana generally has repetition you can even hear that even with GNB. All said there is enough joy for me to hear moonlight ragam and particularly watch how gifted artists plan to sing a pallavi. KBMK took the first round with a bit more meditative keezh and madhyamakalam with not much briga shoots. Then stage 2 of excessive brigas bit reminding of greats like TNS or a GNB indeed came to my ears. There was Cute raga azhuttam filled patterns in madhyamakalam return by sundarrajan ,but in brigas i felt he could have played better in raga alapana return

What a lovely taanam it was and the team made it my day . The super spectacular Mark waugh alias Ananta Krishnan was awesome in taanam. KBMK and Delhi Sundarrajan kept it very methodical and it was a lovely exhibition of madhyamakalam tempo and moon light was a full moonnight for me. The spectacular play of Ananta was a super joy and he took it with a lot of gumkis in early taanam half and i enjoyed it a lot.

KBMK explained a lot about pallavi .I think he said for the purpose of anulomam and prathilomam he will traveerse two nadais and for vilomam he stated he will only sing in keezh kaalam and athi keezh kalam. I would not say i enjoyed every balti of his ,but post technical baltis he did enough pallavi raga bhaava neraval and then came up with a nice round of ragamaliga swaras . THey were not very exhaustive , the ragas were kannada and ahiri and the last hopefully darbar?? were bit shortened but it was well supported by the percussion with varied beats . He could have gone bit more in swaras especialy in the primary ragam of chandrajothi.There was one last thukkada and it was nilakanta sivan thamizh krithi and KBMK did solid justice to the last song and his voice was great with no commas or sag.

The intermediate 12 mins tani was simply fantastic . In my mind anantha krishnan is like say the best of UKS,Palghat Raghu or Trichy sankaran like status to me. Ananta does brings great right left balance and there is so much of mrudu naadam and controls a lot of the entire flow of the concert.He is a treasure and KBMK and Sundarrajan were just in safe hands . The vocal-violin interactive musical conversations had so much of layam that flowed as sunaadam to me.Thanks to mister mrudangam

One has to give it to the lovely team to present with such finess of a rare pallavi typecast ragam (moonlight chandrajothi)which has got a distinct hueness that has a bit of melancholy topping .I did get myself deeply involved in the experience of a live concert with this RTP .

Thank you sashikiran ,keep yourself charged and do start on time please, a delayed half an hour is ok yes , but at times i also land up with a second tani avartanam at home which is not ok.

Overall an excellent concert with the prime chandrajothi ragam tAnam pallavi.

arasi
Posts: 16774
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30

Re: Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna@Pallavi Darbar on June 17th,2022

Post by arasi »

Rajesh,
A ray of moonshine reaching here too, with your enthusiastic description of the evening :)
So, Sashi Kiran it was, who brought rays of (Kiran-s) the moon (Sashi). May his enthusiastic efforts find more expression in such events, now that the dark days of Covid are coming to an end.
Kunnakkudi BMK, with the support of the seasoned vidwan Delhi Sundararajan and the delightful rhythm of Anantha krishnan and Nerkunam would have given his best, I can guess. The ragA has such charm to boot.

AND, thanks for your never-ending enthusiasm in reporting. I can't wipe off the grin on my face generated by the thought of your 'second' taniyAvarthanam, a threesome (?) at home! May your love for listening never abate. May it be catching too, unlike other oTTuvAroTTi (easy to catch ailments)!

Doubly happy this morning to see ever-eager Thanjavooran's post too, about Perambur Sangeetha Sabha. RasikAs like you keep listening pleasure alive, reminding us that after all, we are rasikAs first, and that listening (whatever our level in understanding music) is what makes us come together here. Then of course, we have the enlightened and erudite ones who educate us here as well...

KKishore
Posts: 91
Joined: 31 Aug 2021, 07:19

Re: Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna@Pallavi Darbar on June 17th,2022

Post by KKishore »

Nice detailed write up sir. Thanks
Coincidentally "SashiVadhana" is a popular song in this chandrajyothi ragam and I had heard a good rendition of same by Dr Padma Sugavanam in it sometime back .

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