Madurai TNS krishnA@hamsadhwani on March 19th,2010

[rajeshnat]

Madurai TNS krishnA@hamsadhwani on March 19th,2010
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Vocal : TNS KrishnA
Violin : V V Ravi
Mrudangam : B.SivarAman
KanjirA : mAyavaram sOmu
Concert duration : 2 hours and 15 minutes

Many musicians have taken a lot of style from vidwan TNS sir. To a great extent his son TNS krishnA appears to groom himself as quite a successful musician . This is the second concert of his in full though one or two concerts I heard him in the last few songs before the start of the following concert in season.

TN SeshagOpalan and TV SankaranArayanan in late 1980 and 1990's was a big shift to me away from maharajapuram santhanam who was the only musician whom I heard for many years. In particular there are few rAgas which TNS has taken to himalayan heights and looking back TNS was musically very creative with the musicians a generation behind did not achieve this kind of excellence in those rAgas.THose rAgas are atleast subhapaNtuvarAli, hamsAnandi and hamsanAdam etc... In particular I just love subhapantuvarAli, to me TNS and subhapantuvarAli are inseperable for excellence .

Two numbers stood out:
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TNS krishna appears to almost get the excellence of TN seshagopalan atleast when he sings this subhapantuvarAli. In this concert the main was in subhapantuvarAli.THe alApana was just stunning and extremely satisfying . Like his father's voice his voice opened with lot of lung power , staying in lot of akaram with very very minimal breath control, lots of sangathis that stayed with emote base but still hovered in that slight and little aggression that this subhapaNtuvarAli demands.

The main krithi was ennAlu oorakE and the krithi was sung very well , the neraval was well done though I could spot here that TNS krishna has got a long way to go to match TNS of 80 and 90's. THe swaras were well done , there was little too much of math kanakku which appeared slightly excess which is at times the style of his dad too, but after a dose of kanakku he came out with lovely swara prasthAnam, very long patterns and very very satisfying main.

There was another number a thillAna towards the end , the mudra was shankara dAsan(TN SeshagOpAlan) and I think it was the rAga chandrakauns , it was a beautiful and expansive thillAnA , I just loved the rendition.

How about the rest?:
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The build up till the main was not that consistent . THere were moments of excellence and moments not that well done .At times one just feels TNS krishnA is rushing too much , for even a rasika like me who is not that interested and keen in lyrics unlike rAga bhAvam, I did find at times he does not get the right finish of lyrics , some times I wonder TNS krishnA has to do with learning the technique where as a singer he needs to adequately swallow the saliva (just hypothesis , I may be wrong here just a guess based on observation). It was just too difficult to catch the lyrics of guharanjani and SS's kalyAni. Also the Ananda bhairavi krithi which is a number that TNS has perfected did not match that well , neraval had a bit of a slip here and there.

There is also a preemptiveness where in he tries to sing many sangathis in one go with very few breathing pauses at times he appears as a victim of his own over ambition in not giving adequate spacing.Like his dad,he excels a lot in presenting viruththams and slokhams, every drop from kalyAni , candrakowns and the bhAgeshri on hanuman were all gripping and really well done.

The accompanists:
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I did feel they both could have played better to lift the concert.WHile VV ravi had his responses to be little slow at times , the mridangist just did not gel well with the vocal exuberance of TNS krishnA .Certainly the mridangist has to manage with a more fitting kalapramanam for every number. mAyavaram sOmu at his age played adequately and gave a good finish.Their tani was just good. VV Ravi was just good , bit too slow in returns.

1. varnam???
2. shree mahAgaNapathE ravatumA (?,S) - gowlai - MD
swaras for 5 mins
3. sadbhakthiyu (R N S) - Anandabhairavi - Poochi
6 mins alApana, 4 mins violin return
4 mins neraval in bhAnukOti
4 mins swarams

4A. slokham "nAdhE naradA thumbAdhi viNutE" - kalyAni -??
4B. rAvE parvatarAjakumArI - kalyANi- SS

5. IkanE tAlajAalanura- guharanjani - HMB
6A. eNNalu OOrakE (R N S T) - subhapaNtuvarAli - T
16 mins alApanai , 6 mins violin return
neraval in "??sadbhaktha sarimatala??" for 7 mins
swaras for 15 mins
6B. tani for 8 mins

7A. slOkham "AnjenEyam" - bhAgeshri -???
7B. sanjeevi malai yai konardavan - bhAgeshri- ??
8A. viruththam "yAnai mukhOthOnai" -??
8B. thillAna "tOm tri thiranani??? + gaNapathi surapathi??" - candrakauns?? - TN SeshagOpAlan(mudra shankaradAsan)

9. nagumOmu galavAni - madhyamAvati- T
9B. pavamAna mangalam

All said and done , TNS krishnA gave a very satisfying concert, perhaps little more pakkavaAdyam aggression would have lifted much more.Atleast for subhapantuvarALi and that unidentified candrakowns thillAna this concert was worth every paise(it was a ticketed concert).In short a very good concert

[kssr]

"to me TNS and subhapantuvarAli are inseperable for excellence "

Have you heard the TNS Kambaramayanam cassettes? The subhapantuvarali to express grief of Ravana's death is unparalleled. Another artist whose subhapantuvarali impressed me in recent times is one Miss Amrutha Venkatesh from Bangalore. You can visit her concert and make a request for the raga.

[sivapriya]

Very often ,many say that TNS is all about speed and brighas. Yes it may be true because his musical approach is built that way. He has the necessary ammunition , well honed up to live to the demands of that exercise. But its not just that.

TNS is great with bhava - gamaka laden, slow kalapramana songs too. A Brovavamma or a padam like Mohanavalli or a Chittam Irangaadhadhen in Sahana - (to name a few), all take such wonderful shape in full form. His unhurried singing brings out the beauty of both the raga and lyrics in good proportion.

Even while in jet speed, the lyrical content does not suffer or the swara sthanas dont shift. In his presentation its precision all through with tala, swaras and lyrics. Also every raga is explored maximum during the alapana and neraval, with so many hidden possibilities of expressions being unearthed !

[malavi]

T.N.S.Krishna has to develop his own style rather than imitate his father.The subhapanthuvarali alap was too long and cannot be compard to TNS s subhapanthuvarali.
He sang ragam for anadabhairavi and subhapanthuvarali.instead he could have chosen some other gana ragam. For kalyani he sang a virutham in place of ragam.V.V.Ravi s kalyani sounded better.
He shouts a lot and many slips were there.
rajesh, tillana wasnt chandrakauns i think. i heard panchamam in that.anyhow will find out.