T M Krishna, Music Club IIT Madras

T M Krishna
Sriram Parasuram
Guruvayur Durai
Vaikkom Gopalakrishnan

Music Club IIT Madras, 18th August 7:15 pm

bruhaspatE - aTANA - tisra tripuTa - MD (S)
pari pUrNa kAmA - pUrvi kalyANi - rUpakam - T (RNS)
kAmAkshi - yadukula kAmbhOji - misra cApu - SS (R)
manavyAlaginca - naLinakanthi - Adi T
vanajAksha nivE - varALi varNam - chatusra jAti aTa tALam (RS)
taniyAvartanam
R T P - suraTi - chatusra jhampa tALam - "rAmachandra dayAnidhE srInidhE suguNanidhE" - rAgamAlika svarams in kAmbhOji, danyAsi, bEgaDa, pUrNashadjam, kalyANi by Krishna, in sAvEri, sahAnA, bilahari, shankarAbaraNam, simmEndra madhyamam by Sriram
smarasuda - paras - Adi - Dharmapuram SubbarAyar
jAnakI ramaNa - kApi - Adi - vAnamAmalai jIyar
anRu ivvulagam - sindhubhairavi - Adi - ANDAL tiruppAvai
nI nAma rUpamulaku - saurAshTram

Every music critic has his/her favourites; they would rave about them even on an off-colour day and denounce those on their hit-list even when they perform well! One has been witnessing this trend over decades of music criticism in the press. This critic, could, perhaps, be accused of backing the singer in question with a euology that he surpasses past masters in certain aspects such as a composite accomplishment of sAhitya suddham, sowkhyam and bhAvam. This concert started with a slow rendition of brihaspatE and nice svarams. The short pUrvikalyANi AlApanai was a fitting prelude to the fast paced kriti which he sung with good neraval and svarams. The exhaustive AlApanai of yadhukula kAmbhOji was well structured to show all the lakshnams of the ragam leaving nothing more. guruvAyoor Dorai's support on the mridangam for this kriti was arresting and eloquent. (One sorely missed these qualities at a couple of later programmes -- neyvEli nArAyaNan at nAdOpAsanA murdered the bhairavi swara jathi while rAjA rAo went 'bang bang' all through his concert at ayOdhyA maNDapam playing mElkAlam for all his slow numbers, with peak irritation in 'marivErE gati' (Anandbhairavi).) The kriti was followed by the fast naLinakAnti kriti.

When varALi AlApanai was started, it was more indicative of a very elaborate kriti, and it showed the gloring majesty of the rAgam. Krishna kept up his latest surprise package of airing a classic varNam in chatusra jAti aTa tALam. The grand varNam was well rendered and was a treat to hear. The svarams at the carNam in both kAlams were very beautiful. A few moments of whispering conversations between him and dorai led to another
exhilarating session of a taniyAvartanam in this twelve-beat cycle.

The Ragam Tanam Pallavi in surutti started off with an exquisite rendition of suraTi, followed by a brisk tanam to which the violinist responded well. The pallavi was beautifully crafted and portrayed the ingenuity of the vocalist. The swarams were the highlight of the piece where in the vocalist chose from a wide range of ragas leaving very little for the violinist, who brilliantly chose to play different rAgAs during the ragamalika, and did a good job at that. In all, it was a lovely piece where in the violinist too had some quality music from his end.

The tukkadas included a beautifully rendered javali in paras, with the special prati madhyamam to give great effect, a trade mark piece of the danam school. The fillers in kapi and sindhubhairavi were well rendered and the concert, dominated mostly by sampradaya sangitam, concluded by the mangalam in saurashtra.

Sri Sriram, spontaneous in his appreciation of the main artist, seemed a bit overwhelmed by krishna. However, considering his sruti suddham and tonal purity, it will be great if he joins in with a few long bow kArvais in bass and frees himself a bit during the AlApanAs. Sri Dorai nearly stole the show; "This is the quality of mridangam support you must get in every concert" he seemed to say! Sri Gopalakrishnan gave good support and coped well in the tani as well as in the pallavi.