Rising to the occasion
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T.N.S. Krishna gave a scintillating concert in Delhi the other day, says VENKATESAN SRIKANTH.
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MUSIC RUNS in his genes. The two and half-an-hour concert of T.N.S. Krishna, under the aegis of South Indian Samaj and Ganesh Seva Samaj, Mayur Vihar, Phase II, Delhi, at their Karunya Maha Ganapathy Temple Hall, this past week, was not only impressive but also proved this point sufficiently.
Krishna began his concert with a neat presentation of the Kalyani raga Ata tala varnam "Vanajakshi Nine" of Pallavi Gopala Iyer. Some finely phrased kalpana swaras towards the end of this composition gave an indication of his manodharma music, at the very outset. He then presented "Sakthi Ganapatim Bhaje", a composition of Harikesanallur Muthiah Bagavatar, in the raga Nattai, set to tala Rupakam. In this song again, it was niraval of the phrase "Bhanu Kotti Sangashram" and some rich swaraprasthara that bore testimony to his manodharma music.
Sruthi bhedam
Tyagaraja's "yennalu Urake", in the raga Shubha Pantuvarali, set to tala Mishra Chapu, the next item, was presented with emotions associated with this raga flowing in abundance. Krishna also seemed to enjoy every bit of this composition while singing. Earlier, he presented an outstanding alap of the raga, delineating it in stages and bringing out the nuances. What enthralled many was, his use of the technique of sruti bhedam, through which he unfolded the raga Madhyamavati (a janya raga of Kharaharapriya, the 22nd melakarta raga) by fixing the note Shudha Rishabha of the raga Shubha Pantuvarali (the 45th melakarta) as the Shadja. His creative niraval of "Sathi Maatla Nalakinchi...", a phrase from the charanam of the song, and the subsequent swaraprasthara, added richness.
Rasikas were again treated to fine presentations of Dikshatar's "Ambaa Neelaaya Dakshi" in the raga Nilambari, set to tala Adi and Papanasam Sivan's "Thunai Purindarul" in the raga Shuddha Hindolam (also known as Varamu, which has notes similar to the raga Hindolam, except that it uses Shatsruthi Dhaivata unlike the Shuddha Dhaivata in the latter).
The next item was surprisingly a ragam-tanam-pallavi, composed in the raga Todi. Surprising because artistes who visit Delhi rarely treat the Capital's rasikas to these items in regular monthly concerts, though they do in music festivals. While some visiting artistes seem to be constrained by time, some seem to underestimate the capacity of Delhi rasikas to assimilate such forms. For a moment it occurred that Krishna had taken a plunge in presenting a pallavi, "Vikasita Mukham Subha Pala Pratham Hari Hara Sutam Sada Bhajeham", set to Khanda Jaati Triputa tala with the edduppu or point of starting at athitham or vichu - that is, starting before the sam. Apart from this, while presenting a fine alap of Todi, he also unfolded the raga Mohana Kalyani, again through the process of sruti bhedam. However, it turned out to be a delightful experience both for Krishna and the rasikas. Krishna might have been surprised by the assimilating capacity of the rasikas, who enjoyed the exposition thoroughly.
V.S.K. Annadurai on the violin and P. Jayabhaskar on the mridangam rose to the occasion and provided excellent support throughout the concert.
Krishna is the son and disciple of Madurai T.N. Seshagopalan and is in his final year of MBA from IIM, Lucknow.
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