TK Govindrao

 I met TK Govindrao, sometime in the early 2000s. His daughter , who lived in the US, used to come down in the summer. She had a flat in Mahindra Gardens in Malad East and my teacher and myself would go visit him . And learn a few krithis. I have had the good fortune to learn a few from him.. Brova Bharamma ( Bahudari), Sri Narada and Sukhi Evvaro in Kaanada, Rangapura etc. And in everyone, there has been some small something that I have not heard elsewhere and has stayed with me. My teacher warned me that he did not like to be recorded so I have nothing except my memory of him singing something.

I have ofcourse long believed that the six books he might have written documenting rare varnams, and compositions of Trinity and Swathi Thirunal are a humongous contribution, which has been insufficiently lauded by the community at large. I refer to his books every single day. They have been bound and fallen apart many times. 

Today, I chanced upon a 1994 Musiri Chamber concert of his accompanied by VVS on the violin and Vellore Ramabhadran on mridangam. The 5th song here is Samukana Nilva in Kokilapriya. A song I have not heard in a ragam I have not learnt. So basically know zilch about this. It is indescribably evocative with a deep melancholy in various places. And the accompanists , VVS and Ramabhadran are sublime.

Now today afternoon, this extraordinary piece of music had zero views, no likes and no comments. Of course, it has just been posted. So maybe it will still build momentum. No problem. But at the same time, the current teen wonder singing a Thirupugal has 27,69,124 views with 33K likes in the past 15 months. Now do not get me wrong. The young lady sings beautifully and fully deserves the bright future that lies ahead. 

But it is just that while we are celebrating certain things, there are other precious rare presentations that are getting overlooked. In this 1974 concert, TKG's voice is certainly not cooperating. There are places it wavers and there is a brief pause in the middle when he is trying to get his breath or drink some water etc. Any vocal coach worth his salt would hear things like that and tell the singer to do pranayam, hum, sustain the shadjam etc etc etc. But what is absolutely and incredibly marvellous is the way the singer transcends his voice. The voice, the very instrument of the vocalist, is set aside and the music happens. And what incredible music at that. It is not a complicated song. One could learn it. Once upon a time, I would have taken out my book and tried to learn it immediately. But I am a bit wiser now. I will abstain from that. I can learn those notes. I can sing that composition. But I will not be able to produce the music that was there that day.  Below is the link. Go hear it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdQkO6wIcjo&list=PLpxlqf8i24EC1OHgQ8NCGIFxx3mdd1TG_&index=5