The Traditional and Classy TM Krishna

It was traditional and classy. It was marked by grace and grandeur. Thodur Madabusi Krishna presented a soulful concert for Narada Gana Sabha on the morning of the 23^rd of December, 2012, in the company of Guru Karaikudi Mani on the mridangam, Mysore V.Srikanth on the violin and V.Suresh on the ghatam.

The curtains opened to a big round of applause for the artist – perhaps the audience was portraying their excitement and their expectations from the artist.

Krishna was wearing an attractive coffee-brown kurta and the atmosphere inside the auditorium was cool. The concert began with ‘Amba kamakshi’ in Yadukulakamboji composed by Andavan Pichi. Though, at times he sneaked a peek into his book for the lyrics, the rendition was really appealing. The percussionists were also really smashing. Next, he moved onto ‘Chinna naade na cheyi’ in Kalanidhi, composed by Saint Tyagaraja. TMK was arresting when he made an elaborate alapana in this ragam, containing fast paced brihas. He sang the swarams in the charanam. The violinist, the percussionists and the audience – all of their mesmerized faced showed that they seemed to be enjoying the splendid rendition. Unlike his previous concert at the Mylapore Fine Arts Club, the concert seemed very energetic and Krishna himself seemed to be in an unusually good mood. When the song was over, Karaikudi Mani complained saying that monitor was not proper and it was very disturbing to play the mridangam.

He then moved onto the main in Saveri. The song was ‘Sri raja gopala bala’. The raga alapana went down to as low as the lower ‘M’ and as high as the higher ‘D’. He handled this raga with aesthetic beauty. He brought joy to the whole exercise, as he glided from one beauty of the raga to the other. The ragam received ear-splitting applause from the audience. But TMK politely refused them, saying that he didn’t deserve it. I remember him saying in an interview once, that applause and over-appreciation is unnecessary and that he sometimes gets irritated!! The violin was really excellent for this piece. TMK’s mother and wife were sitting in the second row and listening to the concert too.The brihas in the ragam were also very captivating. The mridangam artist hardly gave the ghatam artist a chance to play as he also played for the violin. The neraval was done at ‘Thaaraka divya nama narayana sri rukmini sathyabhama’. It was fantastic and went on for a long time. Karaikudi Mani was frustrated with the mike systems and started scolding the mike-incharge person. Poor man! He seemed so appaled. The neraval was done in the second speed too. The concert need not have had a ghatam at all! We had no chance to hear him. The mridangam artist was overpowering. After this came the thaniyavardhanam. Guru Karaikudi Mani was so thwarted with the mike systems that he refused to play the thaniyavardhanam! It was a very tense moment. After much persuasion, Karaikudi Mani agreed to play it short along with Ghatam V,.Suresh. After the short Thani was over, he moved onto a vritham – ‘Sri rama’ in which he transited from Begada-Bilahari-Ahiri-Kamboji. Following that, he sang ‘Oh ranga sayee’, another gem of a kriti of tyagaraja, in Kamboji. He sang the swarams in the charanam. They were really interesting. He then moved onto ‘Devi brova samaya’ in Chintamani, composed by Shyama Sastri. The ragam was exhilarating and he had amazing breath-control. Though, at one time he had to repeat the previous line to remember the next line, the rendition was awesome. Perhaps, he was in a bad mood because he concluded the concert soon. He ended the concert with the mangalam in the same Chintamani ragam. Overall, one could say that the morning was spent very soulfully.