MUSIC - Deccan Herald

Deccan Herlad, Bangalore

Monday, May 03, 2004

MUSIC

Homage

Sri Rama Kala Vedike had arranged a musical evening to pay homage to late Ramachandra Yavagal, wherein many senior and young artistes gave vocal and instrumental concerts.

Haunting melody
‘Soukyam' synonymous with south Indian classical music was sumptuously served by T M Krishna at Rama Seva Mandali, Fort High School grounds. His core capability is the articulation of this aspect laced with erudition and gesticulation.

In rendering kritis, Krishna stresses the Sukhabhava. He caresses them and his handling of the sangathis is gentle. He does not flaunt his technical dexterity, but uses it to produce musically satisfying performance. Every song he rendered served to reveal the commitment to the values of carnatic music and the creative talents he displayed in each of them individually were indeed most impressive.
The neraval for the kriti Ramani Samana at Paluku Paluku was melodiously improvised. There was a steadied presentation of the characteristic feature of Dwijavanthi followed by Muttuswamy Dikshitar's infrequently heard chetasri rendered with devotion and good diction. His singing of Brovarada Shri of Mysore Vasudevacharya was full of lovely cadences.

Krishna's elaborate alapana in Shankarabharana for Swararagasudha was replete with the grand sancharas of the raga rendered mostly in a leisurely manner bringing out the raga bhava effectively. However, during swara prasthara the koraipu ending on the note 'Ga-Ga' suggested the singer had gone 'gaga' over them.

After the tani, one decides to settle for a half hour session of lighter songs, but Krishna surprised the audience by taking up Ragam Tanam Pallavi in Ananda Bhairavi. The presentation of melodic variations of the line was splendid, full of raga bhava and marked by strong grip over laya. The response of the violinist Vittal Ramamurthy was enriching. The laya phrases by Arun Prakash (mridanga) was gentle and full of clarity, he was well assisted by V S Purushottam (kanjira).

Jagadha Kumar