The intentional respite in the busy month must have energised T.M. Krishna. His concert was overflowing with it. With two rather normal deliveries, one of which was a Tiruppavai paasuram in Kalyani, the major part of Krishna’s concert was out to establish his brand of music that turned out to be a mixed bag of sound, fury and at times over soft or extra-subtle.
Manodharma seemed to be at its peak for Krishna that evening. But then he is also a great show man. He does not look at a kriti or raga, the normal way; that is rather mundane business for him. So he tried to delve deep into every line to tap the existing or non-existing nuances of a kriti like ‘Enda Vedu Kondu’ in Saraswathi Manohari. The song was extended in all possible forms. The line ‘Chinta Deerchuta’ was chosen for niraval with with the addition of swara kalpana.
Naari Ritigowla was presented in detail. Ritigowla with a tinge of Saramati sounded well as Krishna was following the normal style of alapana. But once he set his voice and mind on research, the path turned incredible. He offered a full analysis of the raga and his presentation of Dikshitar kriti ‘Sri Neelothbala Nayike’ carried an overdose of reverence.
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Mayamalavagowla was the next target. Here also the raga exposition was dramatic, full of extraordinary overtures on phrases from soft, subtle to to the loud in tara sthayee to abysmal depths of mandara and even anumandara sthayee. Well, Krishna’s range of voice and his ability to exploit it is admirable. But should it not be more organised and kept within acceptable decibels? Without of course, stifling or suppressing his manodharama.
The Tyagaraja kriti ‘Devi Sri Tulasamma’ started off at a very relaxed fashion including several sangatis embroidered. But that proved to be a brief respite. The niraval on the last line, ‘Sarievvare Tyagarajanutha Maha', to put it in a nutshell, was nothing but overkill.
Well, as mentioned earlier, Krishna’s brand of music goes down well with the eager audience that always looks for something novel. The vocal calisthenics, sudden explosions, deliberate voice modulations, surreal sangatis all attract his fans. The overcrowded auditorium and the applause he received for such over-statements were definite markers of his popularity. In which case, this sort of review/criticism would sound preposterous and subjective.
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Krishna’s constant companions - R.K. Sriramkumar (violin), K. Arunprakash (mridangam) and B.S. Purushothaman (ganjira) were just props in this one-man show.