T M Krishna – Vocal
Sriram Parasuram – Violin
Umayalpuram K Sivaraman – Mridangam
Sree Sundarkumar – Khanjira

Where & When? – Narada Gana Sabha on 2nd December

Concert Duration: 2 hrs

Songs list:
1. Varnam – Sri Raagam
2. Munu Ravana – Todi – Raaga outline – Swarams at Raja raja
3. Tyagarajaya Namaste – Begada – 7 min Alapana, Swarams at Tyagarajaya
4. Velaiyya Dayavillaya – Saveri
5. Upacharamulanu – Bhairavi – 11 min Alapana, Neraval at Kapata nataka (Main piece of the concert)
6. Modijesi Velara – Khamas
7. Sringaram (viruttam) – Ragamalika – Mayamalavagowlai (Veeram), Sahana (Karunyam), Hamir Kalyani (Hasyam), Atana (Rowdram), Jonpuri (Shantam)
Sapashya – Jonpuri
8. Nadandha KaalgaL nondha – Sindhu Bhairavi
9. Was a raaga outline of Surutti sung by TMK at the end??

I was expecting Sanjay to sport a new look/hairstyle as usual during the Season, but this year, I was surprised to see TMK sporting a new look.

The Concert Venue:
The sound system at Narada Gana Sabha left me wishing I had not gone for the concert in the first place! Sitting in the balcony, I felt as though I was sitting miles away from the stage since the sound seemed to be coming only from speakers kept afar. Despite being one of the most popular Sabhas, why was there such a bad sound system?! I was not able to enjoy the concert to the fullest because of this. This sound system was the reason why I chose to go to TMK’s concert instead of Sanjay’s last Wednesday.

The Concert:
It was just a week back that I had heard TMK sing the Sri Raaga varnam on FM Gold. I got to listen to him sing it again in this concert. I had been waiting to listen to a Begada alapana by Sanjay or TMK for a long time now and the 7 minute Begada alapana in this concert is enough to keep me satisfied for sometime. 🙂 The Bhairavi alapana was great too. I guess it has been quite sometime since I heard TMK sing the viruttam, Sringaram. I always enjoy the raaga transition he makes at the start of each rasa in Sringaram. Sapashya again, is a favourite of mine.
When the veteran Umayalpuram Sivaraman is playing, I don’t even have to say how the Tani Avartanam was. 😉 I don’t remember much about the violin, since the poor sound system made me lose my concentration here and there.

The Audience:
Quite a few people who had come to Sanjay’s concert on the previous day, seemed to have come to this one too. So there were no humming/singing along in this one too.
Halfway through the concert, I saw a few people in the last row sleeping!
There was one person who not only had left his mobile in the loud ringing mode, but he also went ahead and attended the call sitting right there and kept on speaking over the phone so loudly till someone went and asked him to speak slowly.

Overall I would have enjoyed this concert much more had the sound system been a little better!