TM Krishna's second piece of the evening at the FEA-curated Karnatic Modern II concert in Afghan Church was a duet between him and Vidwan Vikku Vinayakram, uniquely improvising on the ghatam during Krishna's alapana in Raga Begada.
Oh. My. God. It looks as though no one else there. They are doing a jugalbandhi just between them. We are blessed and thankful to all those who have made it available for us. 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
First time I am listening to something like this and I really like it... TMK Sir is keeping the alapana as it should be..not restricting to any talam and Vikku Sir is playing flexible laya... Beautiful!!! Tanam part is a treat to eyes and ears!!
I am just watching accidentally on Sri Krishna ashtami 3/9/2018 night on my Internet.Sri TMK and Sri Vidwan VV took me to Sky.Immense happy and peace felt inside me .My Salutations .
A few rasikas have commented about the unusual and very rare playing of ghatam during alapana. Yes, it is quite unusual, but I think here it happened spontaneously. During the early part of the alapana, Sri Vinayakram played ghatam quite tentatively. In fact when he played the first beat, at precisely 2.41 in this video, and Sri TMK heard it, he was quite surprised. He actually stops for a second and a shadow of a smile appears on his face , a clear indication that he liked what he heard. Sri Vinayakram senses that and, emboldened, starts to play, gently at first, and more energetically as the alapana progresses. Yes, you are probably right, R A, that only a great vocalist of the caliber of Sri TMK could make it appear as if playing ghatam for alapana is not so unusual, after all. Playing bridangam or ghatam for taanam is quite common: That has happened during the RTPs rendered by Sangeetha Kalanidhis Sri KVN, Ariyakudi, Chembai Vaidyanatha Iyer, Alathoor Brothers, et al. But I must say that I liked it when I heard the ghatam the way sri Vinayakram played during the alapana. It was as if laya, usually lying dormant during alapanas, suddenly woke up from its slumber; as if a sleeping cobra woke up, spread its hood, and began to dance to Sri TMK’s music! The alapana suddenly sounded more lively, and it lit up the stage. Yesh Prabhu, Bushkill, Pennsylvania
@Mvs M Hi Mvs M. Sri TMK was singing Begada alapana. But because Sri Vinayakram played ghatam during the alapana, by bringing the laya to the forefront, he made it sound like taanam, which sometimes has a percussion instrument accompanying it. During alapanas laya is usually dormant or sleeping, but not here. Here laya was dancing on the stage. Yesh Prabhu
Singers use the rhythm of the composition for the alapana. Kambhoji alapana for maa janaki is faster compared to same raga alapana for O rangasayee. It does have rhythm. Maybe not as strict as the composition, swaras, neraval, but it is there.
ANSWER ME , What he has sung better than GNB ? Most of his aapana in any raga were repetition. Ofcourse it suits to the lame audiencew who do not understand the difference Kalyani and Kamboji. Forthem a continuous vibration is enough to praise any artist sky high.
In that sense, everyone's alapana is repetition. Even GNB's. The birth of a truly new phrase is rare. Also, it is very unfair to compare TMK's music with GNB's. Both are as different as they come.
No disrespect but music when sounds good to ear is a good music. I have no traditional music background, I wanted to listen to this as it brings clam to mind. Peace of mind. Consider me as one of the lame audience.
Hi Laxmipathi Iyer. Your comment, I think, is steeped in ignorance of what raagabhaava and raaga swaroopa is. Every raaga has certain phrases or sangatis that define that raaga. In fact, only when one hears those established sangathis can one identify a raaga. It is by listening to these raaga sanchaaras or raaga prayogas that one can distinguish between Madhyamavati and Sri Raga, for example. Unless a vocalist uses established raaga sanchaaras or prayogas one can not bring out the raaga swaroopa. So, in that sense, the prayogas and sangatis used in their alapanas by Sri GNB, or Sri Ariyakudi or Sri Chembai, KVN Sir or Nedunuri Sir are not original, but they are all part of the established grammatical rules constrained by the Arohana and Avarohana of a raga. So, please stop denigrating Sri TMK by comparing him with Sri GNB. The two are incomparable; they are in different classes: What gem is more expensive? Diamonds, emeralds, or rubies? Conventional wisdom says Diamond; but there are emeralds and rubies of a given carat that are thrice or four times more expensive than a diamond of the same size depending upon the color and clarity. A flawless emerald is priceless. So is a flawless ruby. I consider Sri TMK, with all his faults, a priceless gem. Yesh Prabhu, Bushkill, Pennsylvania
Funny ! Ghatam during alaap ! Alaap is a phase where the melody is presented sans rhythm . You should rather listen to purists like Sangita Kalanidhi Smt R Vedavalli . Hahaha only tmk can pull this off
Every alapana has rhythm (rather call it laya) whether it is explicitly presented or not. That’s the difference we perceive in different Alapanas of the same ragam.
Yesh Prabhu , Respected Yesh Prabhu sir , whilst nadaswaram vidwans play alapana , thavil vidwans don't interfere during the course of a raga phrase . Only when a phrase is completed do they sound a beat or two or maybe play a short rhythmic cycle. But here , ghatam is being played during the course of the raga , and I again reiterate the fact that alapana is a phase where the melody is to be exposed , as it is , raw . The phrases might have different kalapramanams , but overall , overt rhythmic sense must not show out .
Thank you for your comment, RA. On RU-vid, there is a video of Nadaswara vidwan Dr Sheik Chinna Moulana (v=ejgn8kP8MPw) playing Shree Thyagaraja krithi Jagadanandakaaraka, Nattai ragam. When he plays alapana, the Tavil player joins him, and the tavil can be heard during the alapana. It is a short video of 2.3 minutes. There is also a longer version of this alapana, followed by the krithi, in another video (v=EFosYdBg2bE). In both these videos, we can also hear the brass cymbals (also called Jaalraa or Manjiraa), which is a percussion instrument used to keep the taala, being played during the alapana. There is another video of two brothers (their names not mentioned in the video) playing Nadaswara at the Thyagaraja Aradhana (v=IDAuoh0cRg), Keeravani alapana, during which the Tavil is played. In the same video, Sri raga alapana for the kriti Endaro mahanubhavulu is very interesting because here the tavil is played more energetically, not just tentatively as if it was an afterthought. So it is quite obvious to me that at Nadaswara concerts, playing tavil during alapana is not so rare. I can find many such videos if I spend some time on the Internet looking for them, I think. If you Google “Playing mridangam during alapanas”, you will see many links, including a few leading to the Website “rasikas.org/forums”, where some have discussed this in detail. Yesh Prabhu, Bushkill, Pennsylvania
