T M Krishna, Music Club IIT Madras

T M Krishna - R K Shriram Kumar - T V Vasan - V Anirudh Athreya


Clasfest 2008. Music Club IIT Madras. Central Lecture Theatre.
11th August 2008. 6:45 pm

vanajAkshIrO - kalyANi - Adi - RSI (S)
vintAsuta vAhana - jayantasEnA - Adi - T (S)
ninnu sEvinchina - yadukula kAmbhOji - misra cApu - Subbaraya Sastri (RN)
brOvarAdA srI venkaTEsA - varuNapriyA - Adi - MV
upachAramulanu - bhairavi - Adi - T (RNS)
tani
vINAbhEri - AbhEri - Adi - MD (short sketch)
RTP - nATTai - Adi. 7/8 eDuppu, 7 akshara aridi.
paramapAvana pApamOchanA pavanAtmaja mAm pAhi
rAgamAlikA svarams in hamsadvani, dhAmavati, tODi
smarasundarAnguni - paras - Adi - DS (short neraval)
sapasyat kausalyA - jaunpuri - Adi
tungadIra virAjam - yamunAkalyANi - Adi - Kamalesha Vittala (R)
mAmava paTTAbhirAmA - maNirangu - misra cApu - MD
mangaLa kOsalEndrAya - maNirangu

It was one of those concerts which would always linger in your mind.

The beginning was normal with the kalyANi varNam and the jayantasEna with usual rounds of svarams. The yadukulakAmbhOji AlApanai was my pick for the day. Hearing yadukulakAmbhOji at two succesive concerts just a day apart and with 2 favourite rare kritis was indeed a great feeling. Hearing ninnu sEvinchina, would have a very soothing effect on any triplicanite, and i am no exception to this. The neraval at 'kanakAngi srI rukmiNi...' did bring back the images of the thAyAr standing right next to Sri Parthasarathy Perumal. The varuNapriyA kriti was well rendered.

The bhairavi was indeed an elaborate affair. For a bhairavi fanatic like me, it was just a grand treat to hear the bhairavi. The kriti was rendered with neraval and svarams in kIzhkAlam alone. The next in line was a short sketch of AbhEri and vINAbhEri was rendered with the required gait.

The RTP was a surprise when Sri Krishna began with the AlApanai of nATTai. It was an elaborate AlApanai done in stages and the tAnam was indeed very well rendered with the percussion team joining in. The pallavi set with intricate eDuppu and placings of the sAhityam was rendered with utmost ease. The anulOmam was done to 2 kIzh kAlams as mEl kAlam would not be possible for the eDuppu to which the pallavi was set. Even the kIzh kAla svarams had to be carefully structured to lead to the eDuppu of the pallavi. The mEl kAla svarams and rAgamAlikA were rendered beautifully.

The paras jAvaLi was rendered in a rather slow tempo and with some short neraval in the caraNam. It was also quite interesting to note that yamunAkalyANi and maNirangu were not rendered in madhyama sruthi.

Sri Krishna gave an awesome concert. In Sri Shriram Kumar, one could find a perfect accompanying violinst. His AlApanais were all top class and his neraval and svarams replies were all fittingly done. Knowing all the kritis, he played them like a shadow and hence added to the overall effect the concert created.

Sri TV Vasan, the mrudangist of the day, was energy personified. The way he embellished each piece and sangati was indeed amazing. I m also told, he played a few of the ghaTam patterns on the mrudangam making it all the more beautiful. (experts in the percussion department could elaborate and educate on what are the differences in playing mrudangam and ghaTam). Sri Anirudh was in good form and played well and gave good patterns from his playing. The tani they shared was very good as well.