I attended an ‘eventful’ TM Krishna concert at Odakkattur Mutt Bangalore on Feb 27th. Good Sunday evening break for me and a quite time for my husband as he watched the India-England ICC world cup match. I learnt later that teaching cricket to our 4 year old daughter eases the baby-sitting process! Well, good for him J But I am digressing here.
The concert started at 6.25pm after multiple rounds of mike adjustments , base and sharp tweaks for TMK and also Sriram Kumar , Arun Prakash and Guruprasad (Violin, Mridangam and Ghatam respectively).
The videographer standing right in front of the stage took some more time – TMK wasn’t happy with the ‘flood lights’.
Those aside, what a concert it was! He started with the Bhairavi swarajati and it was a beautiful change from the norm when TMK asked SRK to play the lead for the charanam’s , gesturing him to pause at the right points to sing the kriti.
Next twist came in the form of Sahana alapana. I was hoping for ‘Giripai’ after a soulful violin follow-up. Instead, he started ‘Sri Nathadi Guruguho’ in Maya Malava Gowla to many raised eyebrows. After duly conferring with SRK, TMK said if anyone was wondering, that there’s no connection between Sahana Alaapana and MMG kriti. ‘Adhu thani , idhu thani’. It was interesting I must admit. I cannot comment on the techniques like Kalam and kanakku. For me Carnatic music still remains the inner experience.
‘Kana Kann Vendum’ in Kambodhi was the master piece of the evening. The photographer thought this was the right time for a good capture and stood in front of the stage. TMK paused, posed and gestured ‘is it over?’, the photographer nodded, moved away and Kambodhi resumed its flow. Only to be interrupted again, when the photographer went up the stage, stood next to the musicians’ platform and started clicking pictures of the audience. The incredulous look on TMK’s face was priceless and did evoke a good laughter in the hall! The elaborate neraval at ‘Adhikara nandi sevai’ received a richly deserved thundering applause.
In perfect diction TMK sang ‘Sabhabathikku Veru Deivam’ in Abhogi. A virutham with Anandbhairavi , Desh , SindhuBhairavi and Behag followed and continued with ‘Irakkam Varaamal’ in Behag. By then the Thukkada requests had started from the audience. TMK asked ‘Devara nama venuma , Dasara kriti venuma ? Correct-a sollungo. Till now whatever I sang were Devara namas’. I think the audience settled on Dasara Kriti. At that point some familiar mami must have re-entered the hall. TMK said ‘Oh mami thirumbi vandhuttela, thappichennu nenachen ‘. Some more laughter in the hall.
Closed the concert with the Tiruppugazh ‘Nadavindhu kaladhi’ in Chenchuruti. Does TMK need to refer to a notebook for a popular tamil composition like this?
These days TMK’s concerts are memorable not just for the musical bliss but also for the ‘scenarios’ during the concerts. I have not seen SSI perform in person, but most of the audio recordings have him getting the audience to laugh or some pricky comment about the fan or the mike! Like guru like sishya I suppose!
I bought the Tamil translation of the coffee table book co-authored by TMK and Bombay Jayashri titled ‘Voices within’. The Tamil version was from Veeyesvee. Made for a good and easy read , with some rare pictures of the doyens of Carnatic music.
Bhairavi swarajati and Kambodhi lingered on in my mind for a long time!
Note: After I returned home, I found hubby dejected at India’s inability to defend a good score and were going through the losing game. But tides turned in favour of India with 2 quick wickets. Coincidence ofcourse! J
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