Carnatica's Rasika Forum

Concert of Madurai TNSKrishna at the Naradagansabha and Madurai TNSeshagopalan at Nungambakkam culturals.


Two concerts in a day, one of master Seshagopalan and another of Seshagopalan the master and both were superb. Aho bhagyam rasikajanasya, who attended both.

Concert of TNS Krishna

The concert started with sreeragaa varnam which was viruttham on Rama in mayamalavagoula and Merusamana of Thyagraja in mayamalavagoula. Krishna sang marvelous svara for the krthi and Shertali Sivakumar who accompanied on the violin added more beauty to it.

The next was the raga Hindolam and it was a soft and masterly rendering bringing out the full grace of the raga, providing soukhyam. The krthi was ‘bajare gopalam,’ to which Krishna sang svara in the end which was in keeping with his alapana, being of the same caliber.

The ‘viruttham thadittha Or maganai,’ that followed and the arutpa ‘appaa naan vendudhal kEttu ,’ of VaLLalaar, was rendered beautifully with suitable bhava, in sahana.

After a brisk ‘ambavaaNi ‘ in keeravanai of Muthiah Bhagavathar to which Krishna also sang svara at ‘varaveena paani,’ the raga kalyani was started and it was superb with grahabhedha in Madhyamavathi which brought applause from the audience. The krthi was ‘ethavunara,’ of Thyagaraja. The neraval svara at ‘seetha gouri,’ was fantastic and the svara with abundance of shadja varja prayogas proved that master Seshagopalan is on his path to become a master. While he was singing the piece he received repeated applause from the rasikas.

Krishna sang a sloka on devi and ended the concert with the composition of Madurai GSMani, ‘paalimpa thaamasamaa,’ in misrasivaranjani.

Shertalai Sivakumar was excellent in his support on the violin and MSVaradhan accompanied on Mridhangam and T. Raja Ganesh on Kanjira.

Now we are coming to the concert of the Master.

Concert of Madurai TNSeshagopalan

The accompanists were SDSridhar on Violin, Trichur Narendran on mridhangam and Papanasam Sethuraman on Kanjira.

TNS started the concert with the varnam in saveri and then sang ‘vallabhanayakasya,’ of Dhikshithar in Begada/ Then he started the raga vachaspathi, of Swathithirunal. The raga spoke, true to its name, vachaspathi. In the svara prasthara, Vachaspathi svaras emanating from a vachaspathi were fabulous.

The next was the Hindolam of a master. The word Hindola means a swing. It especially denotes the swing festival in the month of Sravana when the idol of Krishna is carried on a swing as a procession. The raga sang by the master of ragas brought to mind the above picture and provided the same kind of joy. The krthi was ‘neerajaakshi,’ of Dhikshithar and the svara prasthara was at the end. The svaras had velvety smoothness giving a feeling of brushing against a velvety cloth. When TNS sings the svaras he fondles them as though he is patting them with a peacock feather and deposits them like deepas let down on a river of music. His svaras are mellifluous yet forceful.

After the thiruppavai of the day ‘kanaitthiLam kattrerumai,’ in kedaragoula and Thygarajkrthi in chandrajyoti, ‘bhagayabnayya,’ which word aptly describes the music of TNS too, TNS started reethigoula. It was in the reethi of TNS and was a reethi, a river flowing evenly with rippling waves encircling the field of the raga in entirety.

It was a RTP and the pallavi was sung in different nadais and the svara that followed was in ragamalika, comprising of hamsanandi, neelambariand Behag in different speeds. It was a remarkable experience to the rasikas especially as the raga was not heard in such elaboration for a long time.

Lastly TNS sang a sloka ‘krishnaaya vasudevaaya,’ in sindhubhairavi and the dasaranama of Purandara ‘devakinanandana,’ in ragamalika. The concert ended with that and mangalam, to the consternation of the rasikas who would ask for more. But the next programme being a play the preparations were going on around the stage and the concert had to close exactly at 7pm. Hearing TNS just for 2and a half hours is not at all enough for his rasikas.