T.N.S. Krishna’s brand of music is powerful and scores high on effort and self-challenge. Yet, the sparse audience seems to suggest that this style of music is considered an ‘outlier.’ This is beyond explanation.
In manodharma segments constructed around Purvikalyani, Sankarabharanam and Subha Pantuvarali (Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi), Krishna packed verve. None was better than his alapana of Sankarabharanam, with nuanced notes layered on soft expressions. He embraced a subtler voice to concentrate on the beautiful silhouettes. Thodi graha bedham was the surprise bit. ‘Sri Kamalambikaya’ of Dikshitar is not often heard in concerts and vindicated Krishna’s sense of paddhathi.
‘Ninnuvina,’ the great viloma chapu composition of Syama Sastri in Purvikalyani needs an intelligent musician to accentuate the laya intricacies. Krishna was up to the task, especially in the niraval and swarams at ‘Pannaga Bhushanudai.’ The creative use of the misra chapu beat was well-complemented by Delhi Sunderrajan on the violin. Tyagaraja got his reverence through ‘Yochana Kamala’ in Darbar, rendered at a lightning speed.
The seminal segments pushed the opening varnam in Hamsadhwani and ‘Heramba Ganapathe’ (Atana, Dikshitar) to oblivion. In Subha Pantuvarali alapana, Krishna focussed on the rakti senses producing a vilambit flavour. A second sruthi bedam traversed to a brief sketch of Mohanam. ‘Bhavaragatala Subha Pantuvarali’ in Adi (2 kalai) with anagatha eduppu looked like a meeker bid for Krishna’s range of capabilities, but he wasn’t going to do it without a challenge – as he unleashed about 20 ragams in one-avarthana swaras following the Pallavi in a rapid-fire round. There were times when Krishna’s concert looked like an amalgam of test, one-dayer and T-20 with bursts of high decibels and caressing touches. That seems like a deliberate concoction.
Krishna had excellent support from the seasoned Delhi Sunderrajan, Trichur Narendran and Ernakulam Ramakrishnan (ghatam). The percussionists deserve credit for composed play and keeping the thani crisp. Krishna has all the making of a top musician who revels in challenges. The management graduate will now need to market his music while keeping the audience quality high.
