TMK - H K Venkataram - Srimushnam Rajarao - G S Ramanujam

[srikant1987]

T M Krishna - H K Venkataram - Srimushnam Rajarao - G S Ramanujam (Ghatam)
Gayana Samaja,
31 Oct 2010

Before beginning the concert, T M Krishna announced that it's SSI's death anniversary, and that he was therefore dedicating this concert to him. He also announced that some people had asked him for tODi, some had asked for shubhapantuvarALi and some had asked for varALi, and he had to disappoint two of the three since they wouldn't fit in the same concert. However, I've heard of a concert where he sang shankarAbharaNa and nIlAmbari back to back.

dEva dEva - MMG - rUpaka - ST (N @ jAtarUpa, S)
sanAtana - phalamanjari - Adi - T (S @ pallavi)
jagadAnandakAraka - nATTai - Adi - T (RN @ OMkAra pancarakIrapurahara)
narasiMha - mOhanam - cApu - MD?
mAyamma nannu brOvavamma - nATTaikurinji - Adi - SS (R, S @ pallavi, presumably T)

As he began the dEva dEva, I thought, yes, it's going to be a Semmangudi concert, and had my mind set waiting for songs like kShINamai tiruga, mummUrtulu, mAru palkaga, etc.

Anyway, the neraval had some long, long rounds, which I found boring and tiring. And then the swarams were formred with an overuse of dATus -- yes, MMG permits them, but to handle it as if it's a mOhanam or haMsadhwani isn't proper imho.

It was nice of him to announce phalamanjari, because I was feeling tentative whether it was kAnaDa and decided against that later during the pallavi. It was odd to listen to a filler-ly rAga like phalamanjari, because while the MMG had very long neraval and swaram, it was brisk, whatever else it was. And then again, there were swarams for this phalamanjari too -- so even the kriti-manOdharma balance could not be cited as a reason.

I dislike nATTai, but patiently sat through the -- long -- AlApanai (oh yeah, he hit the atimantra pa and all, but still nATTai is just nATTai). The violinist's AlApanai was thankfully not that long. And then he sang the already long jagadAnandakAraka, at a SLOW kAlapramANam. It's remarkable how much like bhajanai jagadAnandakAraka can feel when slowed down appropriately. And then, there was a neraval on it, in OMkAra pancarakIrapura. It being a madhyamakAla song, a neraval obviously couldn't contain a lot of rhythmically intersting rounds, and the rAga being nATTai, the melody is also hardly something I'll enjoy. Oh, by the way, SRR played very nice tIrmAnams at the end of all songs, and that compelled me to clap at the end of each piece!

This narasiMha is a rare kriti I think -- it has it's pallavi line ending in a ga ri, which gives a fresh feeling, like kAruvelpulu (of kalyANi) does! I enjoyed the song, but was surprised to hear "guruguha" in the madhyamakAla ... it didn't sound like an MD piece somehow!

An over-reacting audience around you is irksome, but I had patiently sit through that ... BUT for the nATTaikurinji, it was getting to my nerves, because TMK suddenly dropped his volume for the rAga and became barely audible over all the noisy over-reactions. He sang a reasonably good and elaborate nATTaikurinji ... the violinist's AlApanai here sounded extremely stretched, and the style adopted for this was very Lalgudiish and overemotional and I literally had to bite my teeth through it. But WHY was I doing that? Because TMK'd said it's a Semmangudi dedicated concert and had also begun with dEva dEva -- and I was waiting, waiting with bated breath and biting teeth ... for manasu viShaya nata.

After you've sit through a lot of music not to your taste, you want something not only to your taste, but also brisk, fast to convince you that things are getting better. I do love mAyamma, but it's a little slow (as compared to manasu viShaya) -- and was further slowed down here (ARGH!) I gave it all my patience, and eventually I was finally feeling happy to be there in the concert. I was planning to leave either after the song alone or the neraval-swarams.

After finishing the song and coming back the pallavi he sang "mAdhavAdivinutE" again. I got up and marched down. I thought it was going to be a neraval there again (having seen a neraval at OMkAra pancarakIrapurahara already), but as I was halfway down, having negotiated many chairs in the audience, I realised he was just repeating the swarasAhityam, and he'd started singing swarams at the pallavi.

But no, it isn't fair. It isn't fair -- our patience shouldn't be tested SO much! And it was also reasonably late and I wanted to get back home too. This is just not fair. He might've sung tODi and a rAvE himagiri kumAri for all I know, but let him! If he can dedicate a concert to Semmangudi and sing a dEva dEva ALONE, he could have also sung pantuvarALi after the other announcement. I trusted him too much for manasu viShaya nata, I didn't want to hope for any more. He could sing an ultra slow tODi, kindling my hopes and followed it up with tAyE yashOda, couldn't he?

I was already in an irritated mood because yesterday's S Shankar concert was listed for 4 15 on the newspaper and was held at 6! I would have attended it if I'd known the timing correctly! But today's concert was listed as T R Krishna's (and all of them are told of as "and party" -- I'd merrily assumed RKSK-KAP or something like that).

[gardabha_gana]

Following Tani:
* Shubha PantuVarali RTP - Pallavi in Chatusra Jhampa (?)

Pallavi Ragas: Begada, Manirangu
Swaras in Kanada, Behag, Kapi

* Ranga Baro Panduranga Baro
* Slokam: Maunam Ganga followed by Visweswara Darshanam
* Ka Va va - a little boy's request nice of TMK to honor his request
* Mangalam

Srikant - Pls see http://kpjayan.wordpress.com/upcoming-c ... bangalore/ for concert timings and see the sabha's websites/call. You can also call me for confirmation. BTW there was an excellent veena concert by Veena Jayanthi Kumaresh in the morning. I will send you an email w/ my number privately.

[squims]

Pallavi Ragas: Begada, Manirangu
Swaras in Kanada, Behag, Kapi

As far as I could tell, it was Begada, Sri, Nalinakanti.
Swaras in Kanada, Hamirkalyani, Kapi.

And Srikant, why are you so bitter? I thought it was an excellent concert. How does it make it a bad concert because he didn't sing songs to your taste? The concert was technically sound and aesthetically pleasing(to me atleast). I just came on here to write a review for this concert, which would have been a polar opposite of anything you've said. Anyone else that attended the concert that felt it was really good?

[rshankar]

* Slokam: Maunam Ganga followed by Visweswara Darshanam

mauLava gangA

[vasanthakokilam]

srikant, You have given strong clues to those people at the gates to one eternal destination what raga to play, if they get the chance to "welcome" you there j/k

I just came on here to write a review for this concert,

squims, please go ahead. Diversity in opinions can not be bad, especially in matters relating to subjective taste and appreciation of music.

[srikant1987]

Was the pallavi a mixture of three (or four) ragas SP, bEgaDa and either maNirangu or shri and naLinakAnti, or was there a ragamalika tanam? Begada, Kanada and Hamirkalyani would have been nice to hear. But though it's been a while since I've heard SP, I don't miss it still!

srikant, You have given strong clues to those people at the gates to one eternal destination what raga to play, if they get the chance to "welcome" you there j/k

What harm have I done you? ;(

And Srikant, why are you so bitter? I thought it was an excellent concert. How does it make it a bad concert because he didn't sing songs to your taste? The concert was technically sound and aesthetically pleasing(to me atleast). I just came on here to write a review for this concert, which would have been a polar opposite of anything you've said. Anyone else that attended the concert that felt it was really good?

Please do say what you liked about the concert! I want to know how gardabha_gana sir found the concert too. If you both enjoyed it, very good! Did I anywhere say it was a bad concert?

[vasanthakokilam]

srikant, that was meant as a joke, playing on your expressed dislike for nATTai. I actually liked how you expressed it and found it a bit humorous as well. No offense meant, of course!!

[gardabha_gana]

I may(more likely) be wrong with my ragams. I am not an expert by any stretch. I forgot to take a pen and had a tough time entering the list on my phone and was quite distracted.

srikant, don't "sir" me I am neither an expert nor old, at least that i what I would like to think (regarding the old part)

Re: concert - in recent times I have mixed feelings after a TMK concert. I like parts of it very much - parts of which go over my head. I am unable to appreciate the ultra slow rendering of krithis, like the one in natakuranji y'day and also liked the latter part of the alapana more than the former. Also - I enjoy more the popular format of concerts starting with varnam and ending with tillana rather than a medley. Well, someday I will be able to appreciate.

TMK's range of voice is excellent. His rendering of the kid's request was touching.

I attended KSG, Sanjay, Sikkil Gurucharan and TMK this year at the gayana samaja, with a triple dose of madhyamavati. I liked KSG and Sanjay very much. Sikkil Gurucharan holds a lot of promise. He sang Kokilapriya as the main.

[rajeshnat]

srikant1987
I personally dont like that mayammA in nAttaikurinji , I have heard few artists rendering that , none of them got that muse of any other nAttaikurinji krithi, so possibly you were in the same boat. Not only for its speed but has a karudu moradAna lines . BTW when I just read the song list , I was assuming that you being a big fan of SS should love the rendition of this nAttaikurinji.

garbhagana or squims
Pallavi line please.
Maulava ganga is by appiah dikshitar. Finest slokham

[squims]

Pallavi line please.
Maulava ganga is by appiah dikshitar. Finest slokham

Pallavi line was : nIra nI karE tArE, mAra sundarana
And Maulava ganga was lovely. TMK explained the meaning of the shlokam as well. Such a beautiful thought. The Lord does not feel cold despite the chilly mountains, the chandanam on his body, the Ganga flowing down from his head etc., because he is always in the warmth of the devotee's heart. Lovely.

@srikant: Hey I'm not accusing you or anything. This was one concert that I thought had something for all members of the audience. So I was just surprised to see you had been so disappointed. Besides, I might be slightly biased since the Shubhapantuvarali RTP was my request.


Anyway, here's a small opinion of mine on the concert:

The concert started with a bang for me. Right from the Mayamalavagowlai, I was hooked. The neraval was brisk as usual and some really nice swara patterns as well. And I actually loved the prayogams of datus. Didn't find them to be an overuse. Felt it was used in the right measure. Thouroughly enjoyed the piece.
The Phalamanjari was just a filler with very few swara phrases in the end. Nothing great. Adequate.
Then came the naatta. I have a huge soft spot for this raagam. I loved the aalaapanai. Quite detailed. HKV's reply wasn't as detailed(as has already been mentioned). Jagadanandakaraka was taken up in a tempo which was more to the slower side. I know a lot of people consider it a waste of time to sing a Pancharatna krithi in a concert. I was personally pleased though. I love this krithi and it's rarely heard in a concert. The neraval at 'omkAra panjarakIra' was decent.
Narasimha aagaccha in Mohanam followed. Just like Srikant, I was surprised to hear the raaga mudra for Mohanam and the 'guruguha' in the madhyama kaala sahityam. Definitely did not sound like a Dikshitar krithi, though it turns out it is. Filler.
The naattakurinji was excellent as far as I'm concerned. Extremely detailed aalaapanai, spanning every octave possible(there were a few slight shruti problems in the taara sthaayi though). I thought he structured the raagam really well as well. HKV's responses were lovely too. Srikant says that it was very Lalgudi-ish in nature. I can understand that. I think I agree with it, but I see it is a positive thing. The krithi was rendered well too. the lack of neraval didn't really bother me. The swarams were fairly detailed and his usual sarvalaghu patterns were aplenty.
The tani was excellent. Srimushnam Raja Rao and Ramanujam were in top form. Some of the tishra and khanda patterns are still in my head. And by Gayana Samaj's standards, very few people went out during the tani I must say.
Then came the part of the concert I was waiting for the most. The RTP! I'd been asking him to sing a detailed RTP in Shubhapantuvarali for the past 4 or 5 concerts that he'd been coming to Bangalore. Got my wish last evening, and how! I was scared of a shortened RTP because it was already quite late, but no disappointments. It was extremely detailed. No dilutions whatsoever. The raagam was just laden with bhaavam(I know, it's not that hard with this raagam, it is tailor made for the shoka rasam). I almost had tears in my eyes by the time he touched the upper Shadjam. Just beautiful. Again some, extremely high phrases in the taara sthaayi. And when he got to the mandara sthaayi, HKV just gave up and said 'I need a seven string violin to play what you are singing' in a light hearted vein. Really, I say this after every TMK concert, but that man's voice has unbelievable range. I really enjoyed HKV's aalaapanai as well. Again, completely brought out the bhaavam. Such a lovely raagam and executed to perfection by both TMK and HKV. The taanam wasn't shortened as well. For a change, the percussion joined in for the taanam. Srimushnam was excellent in matching what Krishna was singing in the taanam. It was a totaly bast.
The Pallavi was in chatushra Jhampa taalam. First, he did a raagamalika of just the sahityam in Begada, Sri and Nalinakanti. The transitions back and forth between the raagams were excellent, with it being done half way through the pallavi line some times. Then came the neraval and swarams. Again, really good. Raagamalika of swarams in Kaanada, Hamirkalyani and Kaapi, each ending with the pallavi in the corresponding raagams. The Kaapi swarams stood out for me. Those few phrases were so rich with bhaavam. Ended with the main Shubhapantuvarali pallavi again. A mini version of a thani(if a one minute long kuraippu and korvai playing can be called that) was there as well. Overall, this RTP was a total treat. This turned out to be one of my favourite concerts just because of this one piece.
It was quite late and I thought he'd wrap up. But he sang Ranga baaro in Maand. Again, it was unhurried and pleasing to the ears.
The Shlokam was really good too. Raagamalika in Anandabhairavi, Sahana, Dhanyasi and the last line sung in Sindhu Bhairavi leading to Vishweshwara.
Kaa Vaa Vaa was a request from a small boy. The boy said he was requesting it by himself and no one had asked him to request for it. And Krishna was really good to oblige and sing it for him. It was of course sung briskly.
The Sourastram mangalam concluded the concert, and I walked out of the concert with a distinct sense of having enjoyed one of the best evenings at a kutcheri.

[KSJaishankar]

I completely agree with Squims's review. I thought it was a brilliant concert, more so because I love all the three ragas taken up for elaboration! TMK's voice range is beyond belief. I have regularly heard him hit the atitara sthayi Sa, but he managed to hit the atitara sthayi Ri yesterday. Yes ... there were a few tense moments with the sruthi alignment, but overall a great effort. What I really like is the way he moves away from the mike for the upper sthayi passages and comes closer for the lower sthayi ones.

A crib with the audience though ... we should resist clapping in the middle of the alapana, when he is executing a soft passage in the mandra sthayi ... the effect is lost to a large degree.

Missed all the other concerts at the Samaja. Could someone post a song list?

[squims]

I only attended the Sikkil Gurucharan concert. Here's the song list for it:

1.Varnam (don't remember the name) - Hamsadhwani - Adi
2. Vanthisuve Vaadiraajake [R]- Naatta - Rupakam
3. Vaadelaripu manasa [N @Pratyodanaanvayamu, S]- Pantuvarali - Adi
4.Alakalalla [RNS] - Madhyamaavathi - Rupakam
5. Sri Raama paadame - Amrutavahini - Adi
6. Dasharathe [[email protected]] - Kokilapriya - Adi
7. RTP [Guruvaai varuvaai arulvaai, mayilmeedu amarndhu] - Ranjani - Tishra Triputa
8. Ezhumalaimeedu - Senjurutti, Bilahari, Kharaharapriya - Adi
9. Suneri maine - Sindhu Bhairavi - Eka
10. Mangalam Kosalendraaya followed by Sri Rama Jaya Mangalam - Madhyamaavathi - Adi

I heard that there was an overdose of Madhyamavathi this season though. KSG played it, and Sanjay sung it at his concert as well. I heard something about a khanda nadai taanam during Sanjay's concert. But do not know any details.

[arunk]

I personally dont like that mayammA in nAttaikurinji , I have heard few artists rendering that , none of them got that muse of any other nAttaikurinji krithi, so possibly you were in the same boat. Not only for its speed but has a karudu moradAna lines . BTW when I just read the song list , I was assuming that you being a big fan of SS should love the rendition of this nAttaikurinji.

- well as a big fan of this krithi, I guess I must defend because I actually think the strength of this krithi is its lyrics - or their spacing! IMO it flows quite nicely - there are no odd points of squeezing stuff unevenly across tala.

However, it does have a somewhat varnam like feel with the pallavi and anupallavi parts since the # words in those sections is much less compared to the relatively long length of the tala cycle in 2-kalai Adi. The pallavi spanning 2-cycles is simply: mAyammA nannu brOvavamma | mahA mAyA umA, The anupallavi (again 2 cycles) is satyAnanda sAnanda | nityAnanda Ananda (ambA).

Maybe some find that somewhat odd in that just like with varnams if one just concentrates on the syllables of the words while listening to the rendition, one could feel things are "overstretched". If on the other hand one focuses on how the raga contours shape the words then it is a different expereience. The caranam part with the "madyamakala" (well relatively) portion with swara-sahitya is like say a dIkshitar krithi like gait (i.e. not varnam like), and IMO quite beautifully set.

My reference point is Gayatri Venkatraghavan's commercial release "Janani" (Charsur) with Patri Satish Kumar doing a phenomenal job with soft, subtle accompaniment.

On a related note, for some reason, I also have not found TMK's expansive naTakurinji not that much to my liking the one time I listened in the past where he did a fairly slow (i.e. much slower than what I had heard before) version of ekkAlattilum unai maRavEn of ramaswamy sivan.

Arun

[rshankar]

Pallavi line was : nIra nI karE tArE, mAra sundarana

I am trying to make sense of this pallavi. I wonder if this was 'nIra nikara tArE, mAra sundarAngA' (the handsome one who rows us across the worldly sea)...

[VRV]

I heard something about a khanda nadai taanam during Sanjay's concert. But do not know any details.

Squims,

Khanda Nadai Tanam or Pallavi. Would be very interested in knowing about a tanam in khanda nadai. Did he sing it with thalam or did the mridangist keep the nadai gowing.

Tanam only has a pulse as opposed to a ragam.

Vinod Venkataraman

[gardabha_gana]

I only attended the Sikkil Gurucharan concert. Here's the song list for it:

1.Varnam (don't remember the name) - Hamsadhwani - Adi
I heard that there was an overdose of Madhyamavathi this season though. KSG played it, and Sanjay sung it at his concert as well. I heard something about a khanda nadai taanam during Sanjay's concert. But do not know any details.

Varnam was Jalajaksha
Yep - triple delight of Madhyamavati - 2 palinchu kamakshi by KSG and Sanjay, and Alakalla by Gurucharan.
Re: my earlier post - looking at the subsequent posts - I have miles to go in appreciating carnatic music
I will post Sanjay's concert details shortly.

[squims]

I am trying to make sense of this pallavi. I wonder if this was 'nIra nikara tArE, mAra sundarAngA' (the handsome one who rows us across the worldly sea)...

That does make more sense. I guess you're correct then. I must be mistaken.

Khanda Nadai Tanam or Pallavi. Would be very interested in knowing about a tanam in khanda nadai. Did he sing it with thalam or did the mridangist keep the nadai gowing.

Tanam only has a pulse as opposed to a ragam.

Yup, I am aware of that, that's why the Khanda Nadai taanam sounds interesting. I didn't attend it, just read it on some blog, and I can't remember which one it was now.
gardabha_gana, can you clarify this?

[suma]

TMK suddenly dropped his volume for the rAga and became barely audible

He did this in Chicago when he sang Ksheenamai. Thankfully, the violin was audible.

[arasi]

Suma,
Perhaps he was 'really' tired that day when he sang, 'ksheeNamai'!

This thread can as well be renamed Gayana Samaja Concerts since we have Gurucharan's concert list and are going to have Sanjay's too. Would be nice if Sankar's concert and of others get reviewed as well!

[squims]

Again, didn't attend Shankar sir's concert, but a friend did. He doesn't have the entire list, but as far as I can recall, he mentioned a small Maanji piece, a Kamboji sub-main (O Rangashaayee), Hindolam and Shanmukhapriya RTP.

[PUNARVASU]

Pallavi line was : nIra nI karE tArE, mAra sundarana

I am trying to make sense of this pallavi. I wonder if this was 'nIra nikara tArE, mAra sundarAngA' (the handsome one who rows us across the worldly sea)...[/quote]

I think this is the first line of a PD composition(some people sing it in Desh raga).
I think, it talks about Krishna, and the first line means "O gopis, you go and bring that beautiful Krishna'.
The 'anupallavi' of the song goes 'gollara maneyoLagidhdha pAl mosara
mellane mellada' and so on ,meaning ' that krishna, who slowly ate up all the milk and curds in the house'.

Some one ,knowledgeable in PD compositions and Kannada, may kindly clarify.
Thanks.

[Sreeni Rajarao]

Ravi,
I was thinking on the same lines as what Punarvasu has written in post # 21.

[rshankar]

Lji - can you please post the lyrics of the compositon that Punarvasu and Sreeni refer to?

[ramakriya]

Pallavi line was : nIra nI karE tArE, mAra sundarana
.

That should read "nIrE, nI kare tArE mAra sundarana"

Meaning: "Oh girl, bring him, the one as handsome as manmatha"

It is actually the pallavi of a dEvaranAma of Purandara dAsa.

Here is a link to the sAhitya of the dEvaranAma (in kannaDa script): http://tinyurl.com/28hb68h

-Ramakriya

[ramakriya]

Here is a link to the sAhitya of the dEvaranAma (in kannaDa script): http://tinyurl.com/28hb68h

-Ramakriya

Here is the devaranama in roman script:


nIre nI karetAre mArasuMdarana
mArasuMdarana sukumArasuMdarana ||pa||

gollara maneyoLagidda pAlmosara
mellane melluva vallaBa SrI hariya ||

yAdavarella Adarisidana
vEdavEdAMtana yAdavapriyana ||

varagauripuradalli vAsavAgihana
varadapuraMdaraviTThalarAyana ||

[rshankar]

Ramakriya - thanks!

[squims]

Thanks for clearing that up!

[Lakshman]

nIre nI karatare mArasundarana. rAgA: dEs. ATa tALA.

P: nIre nI karatare mArasundarana mArasundarana sukumAra sundarana
C1: gollara maneyoLagidda pAl mosara mellane melluva vallabha hariya
2: yAdavaranella Adarisidana vEda vEdAntana yAdava priyana
3: vara gauripuradalli vAsavAdihana varada purandara viTTalarAyana

[barrakooka]

One small note on the point made in the original post that a lot of Semmangudi favorites were not sung. I think its upto the main artist to sing what they are comfortable with for that day. As Sanjay mentioned in his blog, the influence and popularity of the yesteryear vidwans make rasikas expect certain songs. However, the main artists could choose different pieces to make the concert a success depending on their mood, inclination to sing certain ragas/pieces.
http://sanjaysub.blogspot.com/2008/07/c ... qus_thread

[bilahari]

Barrakooka, you certainly have a point. However, when TMK announced he was dedicating the concert to SSI, one might reasonably expect SSI favourites to be sung.

[KSJaishankar]

Yes... I agree the expectation was there. But Deva Deva, Narasimha Agachha and Maulau Ganga did nod in that direction.

On the subject of the kalapramanam for Jagadananda Karaka being too slow, giving it a "bhajanai" like feel, I actually felt the kriti sounded much better! The fast paced rendering has lots of energy, but that is what sounds more mechanical to me, possibly because of the sameness factor, whoever renders it. The only version of this kriti that I have enjoyed more, is no surprises, MDR's rendition - no prizes for guessing - which was materially slower than even TMK's

[srikant1987]

I also think TMK was constantly singing "jagadhAnandakAraka" which is something MDR would not do.

[vasanthakokilam]

>It's remarkable how much like bhajanai jagadAnandakAraka can feel when slowed down appropriately

I am trying to get a feel for the connection between the bhajanai feel and the slowed down jagadAnandakAraka . I associate bhajanai usually with a few other parameters but not slow rendering..

[mankuthimma]

http://www.mediafire.com/?an20blxkr975g95

RK Srikantan sings this for radio.

[Sreeni Rajarao]

Kulkarni Sir,
You beat me to uploading R K Srikantan's nIre nI karetAre.
I was about to upload another version (also in Behag)

[shreyas]

Did anyone happen to record this TMK concert, or did he give explicit instructions not to do so? The Subhapanthuvarali seems to have been quite an experience...