These days on Fridays , I check http://www.buzzintown.com/ and look at events for the next week/month/weekend. That's how I found a few weeks back T M Krishna's concert on July 3rd concert at Chowdaiah hall, Malleswaram. The event description and subsequent ads in TOI said 'Grand Carnatic Nite. Starts at 6.05(!) pm.'
Needless to say, I nagged hubby dear and booked the tickets two weeks back and started the countdown. If anyone from Chennai is reading this and raising eyebrows about all this fuss for a simple carnatic concert - we at Bangalore are like that only! Concerts are becoming a rare phenomenon here.
So we braved the Sunday evening traffic and reached the hall at 5.50 sharp, in time to see TMK's tambura being taken in by one of his disciples. Even after 10 minutes past 6.05(!) pm the doors to the auditorium were not opened. And finally after TMK settled down after monitor/mike adjustments he opened the concert aptly with 'Thera theeyakaradha' in Gowlipantu.
Few things struck me as interesting:
- TMK's designer kurta. Very nice indeed!
- The sishya group size sitting behind him on stage has grown to 4. :-)
- His conferring with the disciples in between singing has increased too!
I do not know the names of the accompanying artists. But it was clear after the first piece that the sole responsibility of the concert lay on T M K's shoulders. And he fulfilled it splendidly. It definitely must have been a good learning experience for the supporting artists.
He embarked on Thodi with 'Paavi ezhai indha' by Gopalakrishna Bharathi. TMK's voice and bhava magically transported us to the time and space where we relived Nandanar's anxiety and frustration at the Nandi blocking the Shivadarshanam. At the end of it TMK offered to the audience : 'Do you want me to talk about the kritis and raga?'. After receiving an enthusiastic 'Yes' he went on to talk about the composer and Papanasam Sivan who set the tune to this song in Thodi for the movie 'Nandanar'.
I couldn't help but think Chennai audience might have taken offense to such an offer! :-) But on the other hand, I think it is commendable that senior artists like TMK take effort to demystify carnatic music by such small steps. It is an accepted rule that serious carnatic listeners must have a curious, knit-eyebrows expression at the beginning of a song , then wear a smug expression after deciphering the raga and/or thala!
Sahana (Rama ika nannu - Patnam Subramanya iyer) and Hari Kambhoji (Undedhi ramudokkade - Thyagaraja) followed by RTP in Shanmugapriya. The only kannada tinge in the concert was the pallavi 'Neene Anaatha bandhu , Dhaya sindhu'. Despite a not-so-intuitive violin support TMK built it beautifully. During the ragamalika he dutifully mentioned each raga during the violin elaboration - Bahudhari, Charukesi - He said 'Charukesi I think' to muffled laughter from the audience - Tilang , Neelambari.
Then another Tamil kriti followed - 'Nadanda kaalgal nondavo' pasuram from Tiruvaimozhi. TMK said it was set to Sindhubhairavi by T K Rangachari. It is a pleasure to hear TMK sing in Tamil - with perfect pronunciation and an obvious love for the richness of the language!
This song was haunting me since then! I wanted to listen to it again so badly - in Sindhubhairavi . After multiple combinations and tricking google I finally found it here : http://www.hummaa.com/music/song/Nadanda+Kalgal/102692
After obtaining permission from the audience to sing two more songs (Someone in the hall yelled - 'as many as you want saar!') TMK presented 'Gayathi vanamali' and 'Vande meenakshi' . I have not heard this nottu swaram by Dikshitar in any concert. It was a perfect end to the perfect concert.
After the inevitable standing ovation , the screen operator started drawing the curtains . An amused TMK quipped 'enna avasaram.. let it be open' and went on to give a good round of claps to the artists on the stage.
He was there posing for photographs and signing autographs for another 15 mins. I heard a fan - beaming with a triumphant smile, holding an autographed paper - mentioning to someone 'He has signed it T M Kris'! In preparation for the US tour ?
It was a Grand Carnatic Nite alright!
Needless to say, I nagged hubby dear and booked the tickets two weeks back and started the countdown. If anyone from Chennai is reading this and raising eyebrows about all this fuss for a simple carnatic concert - we at Bangalore are like that only! Concerts are becoming a rare phenomenon here.
So we braved the Sunday evening traffic and reached the hall at 5.50 sharp, in time to see TMK's tambura being taken in by one of his disciples. Even after 10 minutes past 6.05(!) pm the doors to the auditorium were not opened. And finally after TMK settled down after monitor/mike adjustments he opened the concert aptly with 'Thera theeyakaradha' in Gowlipantu.
Few things struck me as interesting:
- TMK's designer kurta. Very nice indeed!
- The sishya group size sitting behind him on stage has grown to 4. :-)
- His conferring with the disciples in between singing has increased too!
I do not know the names of the accompanying artists. But it was clear after the first piece that the sole responsibility of the concert lay on T M K's shoulders. And he fulfilled it splendidly. It definitely must have been a good learning experience for the supporting artists.
He embarked on Thodi with 'Paavi ezhai indha' by Gopalakrishna Bharathi. TMK's voice and bhava magically transported us to the time and space where we relived Nandanar's anxiety and frustration at the Nandi blocking the Shivadarshanam. At the end of it TMK offered to the audience : 'Do you want me to talk about the kritis and raga?'. After receiving an enthusiastic 'Yes' he went on to talk about the composer and Papanasam Sivan who set the tune to this song in Thodi for the movie 'Nandanar'.
I couldn't help but think Chennai audience might have taken offense to such an offer! :-) But on the other hand, I think it is commendable that senior artists like TMK take effort to demystify carnatic music by such small steps. It is an accepted rule that serious carnatic listeners must have a curious, knit-eyebrows expression at the beginning of a song , then wear a smug expression after deciphering the raga and/or thala!
Sahana (Rama ika nannu - Patnam Subramanya iyer) and Hari Kambhoji (Undedhi ramudokkade - Thyagaraja) followed by RTP in Shanmugapriya. The only kannada tinge in the concert was the pallavi 'Neene Anaatha bandhu , Dhaya sindhu'. Despite a not-so-intuitive violin support TMK built it beautifully. During the ragamalika he dutifully mentioned each raga during the violin elaboration - Bahudhari, Charukesi - He said 'Charukesi I think' to muffled laughter from the audience - Tilang , Neelambari.
Then another Tamil kriti followed - 'Nadanda kaalgal nondavo' pasuram from Tiruvaimozhi. TMK said it was set to Sindhubhairavi by T K Rangachari. It is a pleasure to hear TMK sing in Tamil - with perfect pronunciation and an obvious love for the richness of the language!
This song was haunting me since then! I wanted to listen to it again so badly - in Sindhubhairavi . After multiple combinations and tricking google I finally found it here : http://www.hummaa.com/music/song/Nadanda+Kalgal/102692
After obtaining permission from the audience to sing two more songs (Someone in the hall yelled - 'as many as you want saar!') TMK presented 'Gayathi vanamali' and 'Vande meenakshi' . I have not heard this nottu swaram by Dikshitar in any concert. It was a perfect end to the perfect concert.
After the inevitable standing ovation , the screen operator started drawing the curtains . An amused TMK quipped 'enna avasaram.. let it be open' and went on to give a good round of claps to the artists on the stage.
He was there posing for photographs and signing autographs for another 15 mins. I heard a fan - beaming with a triumphant smile, holding an autographed paper - mentioning to someone 'He has signed it T M Kris'! In preparation for the US tour ?
It was a Grand Carnatic Nite alright!
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