During the December Season 2005, we again got Music Academy tickets, thanks to our neighbour. By then, Carnatic music had become a passion to me and my sister and we wanted to attend as many concerts as possible. My sister had her semester holidays and I had my semester exams at that time! But that didn’t stop me from going for concerts! I took my book along if I had to study something.
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The year 2002 is special since it was only in September 2002 that I first went for a concert of Sanjay Subrahmanyan at Siddhi Buddhi Sameta Sri Karpaga Vinayagar temple in R.A.Puram. I am not sure but I think he sang some song in Ananda Bhairavi (Marivere?) in that concert. I liked the concert and that was all.
During the December Season that year, his concert was at R.R.Sabha at 10 (or was it 10:30?) on a Saturday morning. The fact that the concert was in the morning made my sister and me go for it. We both went in our cycles to that concert. How I used to hate riding my cycle in the ever-congested Mada Streets of Mylapore! Reaching the venue, we came to know that his concert was earlier scheduled on some evening but it was later changed to a morning slot since Sanjay was to receive some award in Bombay on the scheduled day of the concert. If I remember correctly, there was a Bhairavi, Mukhari, Todi and the song Haridasulu Vedale sung in that concert. (Am wondering if he really sung all those!) Apart from that, I don’t remember anything at all about the concert except for the fact we really liked this concert of his too! Nithyasree’s at R.R.Sabha was the only other concert that I went to during the season that year. The sounds of dosa vaatthufying and other sounds coming from the canteen used to always be a constant accompaniment to all the concerts at R.R.Sabha. 😉
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TMK’s program is being broadcast on radio now and guess what he is singing?? Todi!! I am so happy that I am not listening!
Since I now seem to be on a blogging spree 😛 , let me quickly post just the songs list of the concert of T.M.Krishna’s also that I went to a couple of weeks back.
Accompanists:
Akkarai Subbalakshmi – Violin
J.Vaidyanathan – Mridangam
B.S.Purushottaman – Khanjira
Where & When? – Sivagami Pethachi (on the occasion of the silver jubilee celebrations of ‘Shruti’ magazine) on 18th October
Concert Duration: 2 hrs
Songs List:
(Not the full songs list since I had to leave after the main)
1. Varnam – Narayanagowlai
2. ninne nera nammi – Pantuvarali – alapana, neraval at vedashastra, swarams
3. nenarunchinaanu – Malavi (This is the first time I heard him sing the chittswarams for this song)
4. Ksheenamai – Mukhari – alapana, neraval & swarams at eti jesina
5. Yochana – Durbar
6. O Rangasayee – Kambhoji – alapana, neraval & swarams at Bhooloka – tani Avartanam
It was great listening to TMK’s O Rangasayee after a really long time. Loved the Kambhoji alapana!
Violin: R K Shriramkumar
Mridangam: Umayalapuram Sivaraman
Khanjira: Sree Sundarkumar
1. Varnam – Reetigowlai
2. Tulasidala – Mayamalavagowlai
3. Kamakshi – Bhairavi
4. Ee Vasudha – Sahana
5. Chesinadella – Todi
6. Gopa Nandana – Bhushavali
7. Raagam Taanam Pallavi – Kedaragowlai
Pallavi – Sarasa daLa Nayana Hare Krishna,
Swarams in Varali, Sama and Hamir Kalyani
8. Marubaari – Khamas
9. Varugalamo – Manji
10. Mangalam – Sourashtram
11. Mangalam Kosalendraya – Surutti
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I went to a concert of T.M.Krishna yesterday, after a long time. Do I even have to say how it was? 😉 This being the only concert of his this month in Madras, it’s going to be a long wait before another TMK’s concert! Sigh!
I got this album (released by Rajalakshmi Audio last year) of T.M.Krishna last month. This has Muthuswami Dikshitar’s Krithis on Lord Rama. Check out the website of Rajalakshmi Audio for the list of krithis in this album. This has many not-so-often-heard raagas like mAhuri, kOkilAravam, rAma kali. T.M.Krishna has sung all the krithis with so much bhava! R.K.Shriramkumar plays the violin in this album, K. Arun Prakash the mridangam and V. Anirudh Athreya the kanjira. Everyone knows what a great combo TMK, Shriramkumar and Arun Prakash make. I would rate it as one of the best albums of T.M.Krishna till date!
The first song that I got hooked onto in this album is santAna rAmaswAminam in raagam Hindolavasantam. Every time I start listening to it, I listen to it atleast for a couple of times before moving onto the next song. The Nottu swarams in sankarAbharanam are very nice to listen to (rAmachandram is my current favourite Nottuswaram). I have only one complaint with this album: It would have been nice if T.M.Krishna had sung raaga alapanas for raagas like Hindolavasantam, nArAyanagowlai, mAhuri etc.
This one is a must-buy for all the T.M.Krishna and Dikshitar Kritis fans! If you haven’t got it yet, get it soon!
I went to a concert of T.M.Krishna after more than a month. The concert was at Nageshwara Rao Park, Mylapore, held as part of the ‘Chennai Sangamam’, a cultural festival aimed at highlighting Chennai’s cultural ethos (as ‘The Hindu’, had called it), that started yesterday. Though it was only a 1-hour concert, T.M.Krishna made sure everyone enjoyed every moment of it!
Accompanists:
Amritha Murali – Violin
Manoj Siva – Mridangam
Umashankar – Ghatam
Songs list:
1. Thoadudaiya – GambhIraNattai
2. Kaalai Thooki – Yadhukula Kambhoji
3. Aazhi Mazhai KaNNa – Varali
4. Nattakurunji RTP – (A quickie RTP – Surprise of the concert!)
5. Chinnanchiru KiLiye – Raagamalika
6. Suttum Vizhi – Raagamalika
7. Senthamizh Naadenum – ? (don’t remember)
8. Irakkam Varaamal – Behag
9. Eppo Varuvaaro – Jonpuri
10. Vaazhiya Senthamizh – Madhyamavati
Highlight of the concert:
Of course, the Nattakurunji RTP! I least expected him to sing a RTP in this concert. Though it was a quickie, Nattakurunji being my favourite raaga, I just loved it! He sang the pallavi ‘nAttakurunji enbaar engaLadhu sirandha’ in two other raagas too (Mohanam and the other one I forgot 🙁 (HamirKalyani?)).
Then, the way he sang Chinnanchiru kiLiye with bhava was too good. After that, someone asked him to sing Suttum Vizhi and he said he was not sure whether he remembered the lyrics! When the girl said that she knew it, he asked her to sit in front of him and tell him if he forgets the lyrics somewhere! If I am not mistaken, it was after the line, ‘vaalai kumariyadi’ that TMK sang ha-ha-ha-ha in a beautiful way instead of the word ‘kaNNama’ twice, before singing the word ! Irakkam Varaamal is yet another song that I like hearing T.M.Krishna sing.
On the whole, the concert was excellent as any concert of T.M.Krishna will be. By the way, it was a nice to hear the concert sitting in the park, surrounded by trees with a surprisingly cool breeze blowing.
T.M.Krishna’s concerts
I went to 9 concerts of T.M.Krishna in the past one and a half months. I initially thought if I should even write about some of them since it’s already very late and many of you must have read about these concerts. But I am finding time to write it only now (Am not that busy and all but blame it on my laziness). Anyway, this is going to be a long post. Read it if you have the patience.
In TMK’s website, in his profile it is written, “His renditions of vilamba kalam (slow tempo) compositions are soaked with bhakthi (devotion) and bhava (emotion) are a treat to every listener.” In almost all the concerts he proved it. I just love it whenever he sings a slow song with bhava.
On 16th December, at Asthika Samajam, TMK started the concert 15 minutes late since it took him a long time to tune the Tamburas. Many got impatient. In fact a person sitting behind me said loudly, ‘Paadu pa’ (Not sure if TMK heard it). But, when he started singing, the audience was in for a treat. Starting off with Tanavaari Tanamuleda in Begada, he then sang Nagumomu in Abheri and Mokshamu Galada in Saramathi for nearly 40 minutes each with Maakelara in Ravichandrika raaga in between the two songs. I am sure not even a single person would be there who wasn’t moved by TMK’s singing on that day. Well, I got so moved by the concert that I couldn’t stop myself from going to his concert the very next day even though I wanted to go to Sanjay’s concert. The next concert was at Bharat Kalachar. There he sang Janakipate in Karaharapriya as the main piece. In this concert, the ones that I loved were the Mukhari and Karaharapriya alapana, Swarams in Manavyala in Nalinakanti raaga and Tillana in Poornachandrika.
The next concert that I went to was at Music Academy. After reading the review of this concert at Hindu, I actually feel happy that I don’t have in depth knowledge of Carnatic Music. It was written that he didn’t sing Todi alapana in the usual way it is sung and also he sang Anandeshwara in Ananda Bhairavi a bit too slow and there was an exodus of audience after he started singing both these. But, I thoroughly enjoyed both. But more than these two, I liked the RTP in Saraswathi, Brocheva in Khamas and Adineepai in Yamun Kalyani even more.
At Dakshinamoorthy Auditorium on the 29th December, TMK sang O Rangasayee in Kambhoji as the main piece. It was superb. But the highlight of this concert was Enna Thavam in Kapi that he sang in a very slow pace soaked with Bhava. This one is the best rendition of Enna Thavam that I have heard.
The next one happens to be the last concert that I went to in 2006 on the 31st at Jaigopal Garodia School (Rasika Fine Arts). It was just a 2-hour concert. There was a very good selection of songs in this concert: Ekkalatthilum in Nattakurunji, Padavini in Karaharapriya, Nannupalimpa in Mohanam (the main piece), Vishweshwar Darshan in Sindhu Bhairavi, Karapooram Naarumo in Khamas and Sri Ramachandra in Yamun Kalyani.
The first concert of TMK that I went to in 2007 was on 5th January at Vidya Bharati (Sri Bhairavi Gana Sabha). In this concert too another superb Mukhari alapana followed by the Tyagaraja krithi Ksheenamai with neraval and swarams at the line Etijesina Jagannathudu Shriramuna. The raaga chosen for elaboration in this concert was my favourite Sahana! The song was the Tyagaraja kriti, Giripai. M.A.Sundaresan played the violin for this concert. Sometimes, it was difficult to say whether it was Sundaresan’s violin or TMK’s singing that was better! The surprise in this concert was the Kambhoji Raagam Taanam Pallavi. The Kambhoji raagam and taanam were awesome.
The last concert that I went to was on 6th January at Raaga Sudha Hall that was conducted by T.N.Krishnan Foundation. TMK started the concert with Deva Deva in Mayamalavagowlai and then sang Kripajoochutaku (Chayatarangini raga) and Sumasaayaka (Karnataka Kapi). He was about to start singing RaamachandreNa in Maanji when T.N.Krishnan asked him to sing the raga alapana. So after an alapana of Maanji, he sang the song. Here’s what I liked the most in this concert: Maanji and Surutti alapana, his rendition of the songs Kripajoochutaku, Ramachandrena and Sapashya in Jonpuri. The main song of the concert was Endukku Pedale in Sankarabharanam.
Today, I am going to the launch of the book, ‘Voices Within Carnatic Music’ written by T.M.Krishna and Bombay Jayashri with Mythili Chandrasekar. There is going to be a ‘unique music presentation’ by the two of them according to the ads. Let me see how it is.