Yesterday, I attended a concert by T M Krishna at the Nehru Centre, Worli. TMK was accompanied by Hemalatha on violin and Prasad on the mridangam.
The concert was interesting at various levels. Krishna began the concert with a Kedaragowlai alapana and I wondered if he would really sing Sami dayajuda( way too staid a way to begin for him). But he did not disappoint. He started with Saraguna Paalimpa, the 2 kalai, Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar krithi, which I had learnt a while back. It is always so much more interesting when you are listening to a song you have actually learnt, rather than just familiar with. And if you can actually remember all the sahithya, so much better. I feel it enhances my enjoyment of the process. So there we were beginning with a nice heavy piece. The neraval at shatadrutha poojitha had a number of variations in the mandara sthaayi.. which sounded different and good
He followed this with a Lathangi alapana which moved into taanam I was a bit nonplussed at this point and wondered if he would go into a RTP, this early in the game. But no worries.. he began Aparadhamula( Patnam Subramaniya Iyer). And this piece was lovely as well.
After this, Hemalatha began an alapana moving into taanam and I thought " Well that is democratic.. why should raga delineation always start with the vocalist?" Hemalatha was followed by Krishna's tanams which moved through a number of ragas so quickly that I could not figure out the individual ragas. Nor could my teacher, sitting next to me, who has been teaching and performing for over 50 years. So it was not just a function of my limited musical knowledge. The last taanam ending in Gowlai moved into Dudukugala. And my mind went " Whaaat.. Really? I am travelling 3 hours to listen to Duduku." But then I told my mind to shut up and be with his Duduku, which needless to say was also excellent... at least one variation hat I had not heard before with the ku as 3 perfect superfast upward moving spirals.And while I did sit back, there was just this little seed of inner discontent.
This was followed by Minalochana( Dhanyasi, Misra Chaapu, Shyama Shastri).. No alapana or taanams .. just a virutham preceding it.
After, this piece he started asking the organisers, who were seated in the auditorium well, if he could sing one more piece. And since it was just 9.15 and we had not started till well after 7.30, I was a bit surprised. But I resigned myself to the fact that the concert was maybe going to be one of those smaller affairs. Even though, it had been billed as One evening, One Maestro leading to expectations of a longer duration concert by the one artist.
And while we wondered if it would be Sindubhairavi or Madhyamavathi or maybe even a Hindolam, he started an alapana which sounded like Shankarabharanam. The alapana grew more elaborate and culminated in Dakshinamurthe( Dikshithar, Misra Jhampe).
Every one of the pieces Krishna sang was beautiful. It was melodious, tone perfect, flawless in every respect. The accompanists were of an extremely high calibre. The 5 pieces were individually like 5 perfectly polished high carat diamonds, which for some strange reason when strung together were resulting in a less than perfect ornament.
And I could not understand why. I have attended concerts of artists of a much lower calibre, where I have left the auditorium feeling replete and content. And yet, I was leaving this auditorium feeling incomplete in some way.
The concert was interesting at various levels. Krishna began the concert with a Kedaragowlai alapana and I wondered if he would really sing Sami dayajuda( way too staid a way to begin for him). But he did not disappoint. He started with Saraguna Paalimpa, the 2 kalai, Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar krithi, which I had learnt a while back. It is always so much more interesting when you are listening to a song you have actually learnt, rather than just familiar with. And if you can actually remember all the sahithya, so much better. I feel it enhances my enjoyment of the process. So there we were beginning with a nice heavy piece. The neraval at shatadrutha poojitha had a number of variations in the mandara sthaayi.. which sounded different and good
He followed this with a Lathangi alapana which moved into taanam I was a bit nonplussed at this point and wondered if he would go into a RTP, this early in the game. But no worries.. he began Aparadhamula( Patnam Subramaniya Iyer). And this piece was lovely as well.
After this, Hemalatha began an alapana moving into taanam and I thought " Well that is democratic.. why should raga delineation always start with the vocalist?" Hemalatha was followed by Krishna's tanams which moved through a number of ragas so quickly that I could not figure out the individual ragas. Nor could my teacher, sitting next to me, who has been teaching and performing for over 50 years. So it was not just a function of my limited musical knowledge. The last taanam ending in Gowlai moved into Dudukugala. And my mind went " Whaaat.. Really? I am travelling 3 hours to listen to Duduku." But then I told my mind to shut up and be with his Duduku, which needless to say was also excellent... at least one variation hat I had not heard before with the ku as 3 perfect superfast upward moving spirals.And while I did sit back, there was just this little seed of inner discontent.
This was followed by Minalochana( Dhanyasi, Misra Chaapu, Shyama Shastri).. No alapana or taanams .. just a virutham preceding it.
After, this piece he started asking the organisers, who were seated in the auditorium well, if he could sing one more piece. And since it was just 9.15 and we had not started till well after 7.30, I was a bit surprised. But I resigned myself to the fact that the concert was maybe going to be one of those smaller affairs. Even though, it had been billed as One evening, One Maestro leading to expectations of a longer duration concert by the one artist.
And while we wondered if it would be Sindubhairavi or Madhyamavathi or maybe even a Hindolam, he started an alapana which sounded like Shankarabharanam. The alapana grew more elaborate and culminated in Dakshinamurthe( Dikshithar, Misra Jhampe).
Every one of the pieces Krishna sang was beautiful. It was melodious, tone perfect, flawless in every respect. The accompanists were of an extremely high calibre. The 5 pieces were individually like 5 perfectly polished high carat diamonds, which for some strange reason when strung together were resulting in a less than perfect ornament.
And I could not understand why. I have attended concerts of artists of a much lower calibre, where I have left the auditorium feeling replete and content. And yet, I was leaving this auditorium feeling incomplete in some way.
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