T M Krishna, Ayodhya Mandapam

T M Krishna - R K Shriram Kumar - Srimushnam Raja Rao - Vaikkom Gopalakrishnan

Sri Rama Samaj and Sri Krishna Sweets

Ayodhya Mandapam 25th Aug 2005 7:00 pm

valaci - navarAgamAlikA varNam
nI bhajana - nAyaki - Adi - T (RS)
mEru samAna - mAyAmALavagauLa - Adi(2) - T (RNS)
mariverE - Anandhabhairavi - misra cApu - SS
anupama guNAmbuthi - aTANA - kaNDa cApu - T (S)
saraguNa pAlimpA - kEdAragauLa - Adi(2) - rAmanAtapuram srinivAsa iyengAr (RS)
taniyAvartanam
sabasya kausalyA - jOnpuri - Adi
ranga bArO - mAND - Adi - PD
naDanda kAlgaL - sindhubhairavi - Adi (tisra gati)
mAmava paTTAbirAmA - maNirangu - misra cApu - MD
mangalam kOsalEndrAya - maNirangu

The concert started about half an hour late, thanks to the pseudo voiced girl who was singing earlier and the west mambalam traffic and the unseasonal rains which had the artists arrive a bit late.

Amidst the traffic on Arya Gowda Raod, Srimushnam Raja Rao's beating the mrudangam and also thanks to the sound system guy, not to talk of Acoustics at Ayodhya Mandapam, one could bearly hear Krishna thro' the concert, lets not ask much for the violin.

The concert started with a brisk rendition of the popular navarAgamAlikA varNam followed by a short and crisp sketch of nAyaki showing just the essentialities of the ragam. The kriti and the swaram which followed were good.

The first elaborate AlApanai was mAyAmALavagauLa. It was a very detailed elaboration, showing the beauty and grandeur of the ragam, which unfortunately is not all that often sung. The mEru samAnA kriti, was rendered with a lot of bhavam. The neraval and svarams at 'gaLamuna shObhillu kanaka bhUSaNamula' in both viLamba and dhurita kAlams which followed were that one could never forget. It was just amazing.

mariverE was well rendered as usual of krishna. anupama guNambuthi came in as a chit was passed requesting the same. It was nice to note that Krishna carefully avoided the popular svara prastharams for aTANA.

The main AlApanai of the concert a very enjoyable, elaborate and unhurriedly rendered kEdAragauLa. The AlApanai almost left nothing much of the rAgam spanning thro' three octaves. The kriti was rendered very well with sparkling cittai svarams and kalpanai svarams at 'shata druthi poojitha'.

The post tani part had a jOnpuri kriti and a nice mAND dEvarnama. The end was a moving rendition of mAmava paTTAbirAma and mangalam in maNirangu.

Shriram Kumar was his usual best following Krishna like a shadow in all parts of the concert. Every AlApanai of Krishna almost seeemed to be exhaustive and left one wondered what could the violinst play. Then came Shriram Kumar's reply which will only show the beauty of the ragam with sancharams that Krishna did not sing. His AlApanais, neraval and svara passages were very good for all kritis.

Srimushnam Raja Rao on the mrudangam was on aggressive mood all the concert. He played in mel kAlam almost all thro' the concert, even for vilamba kAla kritis. His playing thro' the concert accompanying the kritis left much to be desired, as it would have been more enjoyable if he had played according to the pace of the kriti in some instances. The tani was good and enjoyable, though loud. The alternating keezh kAla - mel kAla korappu they adopted was good.

Vaikkom Gopalakrishnan provided good assistance to Raja Rao in the percussion department giving fittig replies and keeping upto him all thro' the concert. On the whole, the two tALa vadhyams were tooo loud to comfort, the sound system guy had kept both their microphones in full volume, while the vocalist and the violinst had only half of that.

What was nice to note was the ambulance which passed thro' during the tani sirened in Adi tALam beat. The bus horn which went on the sudhdha madhyam during the kEdAragauLa AlApanai in unison with krishna. And another bus horn which was at the thAra shadjam, during the jOnpuri kriti.