Venue: Sringeri Bharati Vidyashram

Date: 19 Mar 2007

Vocal: Sri T.N.S. Krishna (TNSK)

Violin: Sri Pudukkottai Ambika Prasad

Mrudangam: Sri B. Sivaraman

Ghatam: Sri N. Guruprasad

List of songs:

1) gnAnAnanda mayam (slOkam) – hamsadwani – vEdAnta dEsikan

2) jalajAkshA (varnam) – hamsadwani – Adi – mAnmbuchAvaDi venkaTa subbaiyer (S)

3) brOvabAramA – bahudAri – Adi – thyAgarAja (S)

4) shObanE – pantuvarALi – misra chApu – thyAgarAja (A)

5) veyyOn oLi (viruttam) – madyamAvati

alakalalla lADaga – madyamAvati – rUpakam – thyAgarAja (AS)

6) EtAvunarA – kalyANi – Adi – thyAgarAja (ANST)

7) vEndanai kandanai (viruttam) – brindAvana sArangA

kaliyuga varadan – brindAvana sArangA – Adi – periyasAmi thUran

8 ) dhIm tArE nArE nArE (tillAnA) – hamsAnandi – Adi – harikEsanallUr muthiAh bhAgavatar

9) nI nAma rUpa mulaku (mangaLam) – sowrAshTram – Adi – thyAgarAja

(Key: O=raga outline, A=raga alapana, N=neraval, S=kalpana swaram, T=taniavartanam)

Sri T.N.S. Krishna presented a cracker of a concert. He seems to have not only inherited much of TNS’ vidwat but also his hard work and this was apparent from the effort he put into each kriti he sang. The ragas just flowed. The way he sang the kritis was very impressive, especially the songs “shObanE” and “alakalalla lADaga“. I am hearing “shObanE” for the first time. “alakalalla lADaga” happens to be one of my personal favorites in madyamAvati and kalpana swarams were put in this song at “samayamuna tyAgarAja“. After madyamAvati came the show stealer. It was a 20 min grand alapana of kalyANi that brought out the beauty of the raga so well. The raga was developed step by step and all those exceptional patterns that TNS would probably sing were brought out by TNSK. The alapana just held me spellbound. Towards the end of the alapana, TNSK suddenly plunged into graha bhEdam with nishAdam as the base to sing sudha danyAsi.

Neraval and kalpana swarams were sung in the next kriti “EtAvunarA” at the first line of the anupallavi starting with “sItA gauri“. TNSK used a lot of calculations towards the end of the kalpana swaram in both slow speed and fast speed and the beauty of these calculations were that they, in no way, interfered with the melody. Sri Ambika Prasad kept watching TNSK like a hawk to note the place in the avartanam from where he started the string of calculations each time and I must say that he did a great job with his replies. It is difficult to sing those calculations without affecting the melody. An even more difficult task however is to follow the singer just by hearing him sing those once.

While singing the hamsAnandi tillANA, TNSK slipped in a graha bhedam with rishaba as the base to get hindOLam just after the anupallavi ended. It was done very quickly and in an excellent fashion. TNSK then quickly moved on to sing the charaNam.

Sri B. Sivaraman and Sri N. Guruprasad provided some explosive (and enjoyable) accompaniment. The taniavartanam they played comprised the chatusra and tisra naDais.

After the concerts end, there is a short puja in the temple where the temple people usually ask the artist of the day to sing a kriti. TNSK sang a moving “srI kAntImatim” in hEmavati without the use of mic and without any accompaniment. It was so nice to hear his natural voice as he did complete justice to the great composition.