By Dr. Padmavathi Narasimhan
T.M. Krishna sang on the tenth day of Ramabhyudaya Sabha’s Ramotsava at Alamma’s Choultry. He was accompanied by Akkarai Subhalakshmi on violin, K.V. Prasad on mridanga and Vazhappally Krishnakumar on ghata. As a vocalist, T.M. Krishna has courted controversy by making a large number of innovations in the style and substance of his concerts. But, however, much to the satisfaction of the conventionalists present, the present concert did not deviate much from tradition except that he combined two compositions of Tyagaraja in the beginning of the concert. The first was ‘Badalika Dheera’ in Reetigowla in Vilamba Adi which was rendered in royal speed that suited the lyrics of the composition, focusing a neraval at ‘Sarvabhowma Saketa Rama’ and swaras which took a lively turn with ragamalika for Kambhoji gliding onto ‘Ma Janaki,’ a madhyamakala composition, rendered energetically with all the expected sangatis in the pallavi and anupallavi sections. Swaras to this composition brought back Reetigowla winding up with the composition sung before.
