Just a few days before T M Krishna’s concert, I was telling my friend how great it would be if Sanjay or TMK sings Ragam Tanam Pallavi more often in concerts. Little did I know that I would be rewarded with one so soon! 🙂 I loved the Latangi RTP 🙂 I would say the Latangi compensated for the main piece in Todi. Yes you read it right. Hey wait! I am not saying anything about the way TMK sang it! His Todi was excellent as usual! 🙂 Read the rest of this entry »
I went to a concert of T.M.Krishna yesterday, after a long time. Do I even have to say how it was? 😉 This being the only concert of his this month in Madras, it’s going to be a long wait before another TMK’s concert! Sigh!
Today, I got the recording of a concert of Sanjay Subrahmanyan held on 30th July, 2002 at SVN Music Academy, Bangalore. It had a 1-hour 5-minutes RTP in Kharaharapriya sung by Sanjay! What more can you ask for! In the RTP, he has sung the Pallavi ‘rAma nI samAna’ in raagas Kanada, Salaka Bhairavi, Darbar and Siva Ranjani. It’s too good! Sanjay had sung Raga Sudha Rasa in that concert. A 4-minute alapana of Andolika followed by the song is awesome! Can’t stop listening to it! (I am listening to T.M.Krishna’s and Sanjay’s Raga Sudha Rasa alternately now!) I am yet to listen to other songs in that.
Incidentally, today has been a day full of Kharaharapriya!
I listened to Chakkani Raja sung by Sri Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar, then, another 1-hour RTP in Kharaharapriya sung by Vedavalli and above all, the song I am learning now is Chakkani Raja! 🙂
I got this album (released by Rajalakshmi Audio last year) of T.M.Krishna last month. This has Muthuswami Dikshitar’s Krithis on Lord Rama. Check out the website of Rajalakshmi Audio for the list of krithis in this album. This has many not-so-often-heard raagas like mAhuri, kOkilAravam, rAma kali. T.M.Krishna has sung all the krithis with so much bhava! R.K.Shriramkumar plays the violin in this album, K. Arun Prakash the mridangam and V. Anirudh Athreya the kanjira. Everyone knows what a great combo TMK, Shriramkumar and Arun Prakash make. I would rate it as one of the best albums of T.M.Krishna till date!
The first song that I got hooked onto in this album is santAna rAmaswAminam in raagam Hindolavasantam. Every time I start listening to it, I listen to it atleast for a couple of times before moving onto the next song. The Nottu swarams in sankarAbharanam are very nice to listen to (rAmachandram is my current favourite Nottuswaram). I have only one complaint with this album: It would have been nice if T.M.Krishna had sung raaga alapanas for raagas like Hindolavasantam, nArAyanagowlai, mAhuri etc.
This one is a must-buy for all the T.M.Krishna and Dikshitar Kritis fans! If you haven’t got it yet, get it soon!
I went to a concert of T.M.Krishna after more than a month. The concert was at Nageshwara Rao Park, Mylapore, held as part of the ‘Chennai Sangamam’, a cultural festival aimed at highlighting Chennai’s cultural ethos (as ‘The Hindu’, had called it), that started yesterday. Though it was only a 1-hour concert, T.M.Krishna made sure everyone enjoyed every moment of it!
Accompanists:
Amritha Murali – Violin
Manoj Siva – Mridangam
Umashankar – Ghatam
Songs list:
1. Thoadudaiya – GambhIraNattai
2. Kaalai Thooki – Yadhukula Kambhoji
3. Aazhi Mazhai KaNNa – Varali
4. Nattakurunji RTP – (A quickie RTP – Surprise of the concert!)
5. Chinnanchiru KiLiye – Raagamalika
6. Suttum Vizhi – Raagamalika
7. Senthamizh Naadenum – ? (don’t remember)
8. Irakkam Varaamal – Behag
9. Eppo Varuvaaro – Jonpuri
10. Vaazhiya Senthamizh – Madhyamavati
Highlight of the concert:
Of course, the Nattakurunji RTP! I least expected him to sing a RTP in this concert. Though it was a quickie, Nattakurunji being my favourite raaga, I just loved it! He sang the pallavi ‘nAttakurunji enbaar engaLadhu sirandha’ in two other raagas too (Mohanam and the other one I forgot 😦 (HamirKalyani?)).
Then, the way he sang Chinnanchiru kiLiye with bhava was too good. After that, someone asked him to sing Suttum Vizhi and he said he was not sure whether he remembered the lyrics! When the girl said that she knew it, he asked her to sit in front of him and tell him if he forgets the lyrics somewhere! If I am not mistaken, it was after the line, ‘vaalai kumariyadi’ that TMK sang ha-ha-ha-ha in a beautiful way instead of the word ‘kaNNama’ twice, before singing the word ! Irakkam Varaamal is yet another song that I like hearing T.M.Krishna sing.
On the whole, the concert was excellent as any concert of T.M.Krishna will be. By the way, it was a nice to hear the concert sitting in the park, surrounded by trees with a surprisingly cool breeze blowing.
Though there are many raagas that I like very much (In fact, there is nothing like a raaga that I don’t like), nothing gives me as much pleasure as listening to Sahana. I can say without any doubt that nobody can stop themselves from falling in love with Sahana. It’s such a beautiful raaga!
Sample this:
(The song ‘Indha Veenaikku’ from K.Balachandar’s old TV serial ‘Rayil Sneham’)
I remembered this song all of a sudden a couple of days back and what better site than youtube to search for it. You think of some song and you are sure to find it in youtube most of the times. By the way, I later searched for ‘Indha Veenaikku’ in Google and found that many bloggers had written about this one and Sahana in 2005/06. I don’t know how I missed reading those at that time.
Coming back to Sahana, incidentally Sanjay Subrahmanyan too has said in his interviews that Sahana is his favourite raaga. No wonder then, that he sings Sahana in many of his concerts, if not an entire song atleast a Viruttam or when singing a ragamalika in Raagam-Taanam-Pallavi. The same is the case with T.M.Krishna. Of course, I haven’t heard him say anywhere that Sahana is his favourite. But, he too sings Sahana in most of his concerts.
Even A.R.Rahman spoke at the Carnatic Chills audio release about an absolutely amazing Sahana played by Ganesh & Kumaresh that he listened to somewhere. I heard them play Sri Vathapi Ganapathi recently. Amazing of course, it was!
Some Carnatic songs in Sahana that are my favourites: Chittam Irangadha by Sanjay Subrahmanyan – You can listen to it here: http://www.musicindiaonline.com/music/carnatic_vocal/s/
album.2322/artist.107/ Ee Vasudha by Sanjay or T.M.Krishna (I have heard them both sing it in concerts) – You can listen to this song played by Guitar Prasanna here: http://www.musicindiaonline.com/music/carnatic_instrumental/s/
album.113/artist.184/ Rama Ika Nannu – You can find it here sung by Sanjay: http://www.sangeethapriya.org/Downloads/sanjay/toronto/
sanjaytoronto.html Tillai Ambalatthaanai – Sanjay has sung this song in his album titled ‘Tillai’. A 21-minute song in Sahana! Pure bliss! I especially love the fast-paced swarams that he sings at around 17.oo minutes in this song. Oho Kaalame by Sanjay – This composition by Vedanayakam Pillai is the one that Sanjay Subrahmanyan is, I should say, promoting nowadays.
Then, there are the songs Sri Vathapi Ganapathi, Vandanamu and Giripai.
Talking about film songs in Sahana, nothing can beat the old song, Paartthaen Siritthaen. All the lines end with words ending with ‘thaen’ in this song. Lovely!
Then, there is one of Rahman’s best compositions, ‘Azhage Sugama’ from Paarthaale Paravasam. I thought this one is in Sahana. But, someone told me that it is in Dwijavanti. Can someone please tell me if this one is in Sahana/Dwijavanti?
P.S.: Even if you are someone who doesn’t listen to classical music, I want you to listen to atleast one song that I have listed here. I am sure you will like it. After all, though it helps to have knowledge of Carnatic music to appreciate it, it is not a must that you should know it to enjoy it that too when listening to a raaga like Sahana.
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