TM Krishna’s Friends in Concert
Friends in Concert, a unique production featuring 13 well known Carnatic musicians, first aired digitally in 2020. A new, live production premieres on January 19th at The Music Academy. TM Krishna, the brain behind it, explains. “During the pandemic, musicians were putting out clips mostly by themselves. Music making, however, is a shared activity. Much bonding happens offstage, and what you see on stage is but an overflow of that friendship. I have travelled with so many in my musical journey and thought why not do something that brings everyone together.”
This article appeared in The Hindu dated January 9, 2024. Many thanks to Ramya Rajaraman of ArtSpire for coordinating communication with the artistes.
The musicians, Akkarai S Subhalakshmi, Anirudh Athreya V, Arun Prakash K, Bhaskar HN, Chandrasekara Sharma G, Guruprasad N, Hemalatha Dr R, TM Krishna, Poongulam Subramanian, Praveen Sparsh, Sangeetha Sivakumar, Shriramkumar RK and Sivaraman B represent many generations of artistes who have collaborated with Krishna through his career.
Standing (L-R): Akkarai Subhalakshmi, Poongulam Subramanian, HN Bhaskar, TM Krishna, G Chandrasekara Sharma, RK Shriramkumar, Praveen Sparsh, B Sivaraman and Anirudh Athreya.
Photo courtesy: Gowthaman Muraleedharan
Venue courtesy: Amethyst Wild Garden Cafe
Friends in Concert will showcase reimagined concert frameworks and presentations with different permutations and combinations of the 13 musicians, and all of them together too – with Krishna featuring in most. An example from the 2020 production is Krishna vocally ‘accompanying’ Bhaskar and Subhalakshmi as they played violin side-by-side with Praveen Sparsh. G Chandrasekara Sharma cherishes playing dual ghatam with N Guruprasad – his senior from the same school – for Krishna’s and Sangeetha Sivakumar’s vocals, without mridangam or violin. While planning the different sets for the programs, Krishna carefully took account of the artistes’ comfort levels and preferences.
Krishna stresses that this live program is a completely new production with different content from the digital version. “We are playing with the contrasts between digital and live while looking forward to interactive magical moments that happen only in live performances.” The production will feature classic compositions presented in a different manner and newer ones too, including some specially composed for this performance. “We will also bring in a whiff of memories from the previous production.”
Short of vAdya vrinda or pancaratna gOshTi gAnam, it is rare for practitioners of the same instrument to perform together, particularly if they are from different schools. Friends in Concert features four violinists (Akkarai Subhalakshmi, HN Bhaskar, Dr R Hemalatha and RK Shriramkumar) and four mridangists (K Arun Prakash, Poongulam Subramanian, Praveen Sparsh and B Sivaraman), all from different pATAntaram-s. This program will feature these artistes working side by side in interesting combinations. Subhalakshmi says, “Though we engage in a shared language of music, how we each navigate that music in our unique dialects is fascinating. The variations in pATAntaram, particularly evident in compositions, underscore both the unity and diversity inherent in our musical system. This experience provided me with a different dimension of this fact.”
The program is likely to offer glimpses of artistes doing things other than what they are best known for. K Arun Prakash, for example, best known as a mridangist, wore the additional hat of composer in the digital production, composing three pallavi-s in three different ragam-s, one each in 4 kalai, 2 kalai and 1 kalai talam-s– a memorable experience for him. Viewers can also expect some lighter moments of artistes having fun.
Venue courtesy: Amethyst Wild Garden Cafe
Friends in Concert – the name and the production – reflects Krishna’s view that music is collaboration. “Performing arts has somehow become a battleground instead of a sharing space. While we do not have to be friends to perform music, we need to be friends to share music. It has been heartening to see so many high calibre artistes with strong personalities share as well as take charge.” The hardest part was scheduling the rehearsals. “A nightmare”, he says. Multiple smaller groups have been meeting along with some meetings of all 13 including one rehearsal planned at The Music Academy itself. Directed by Rithvik Raja, sound is by MT Aditya Srinivasan. ArtSpire is the arts management partner.
Asked if he might perform with other such groups, maybe his own multi-generational students, Krishna says it is a good idea and could serve to send the larger message that teachers and students have to be friends too. He wonders if the production could serve as a symbol of togetherness and cooperation in the performing arts world and hopes other artistes will do Friends in Concerts of their own.
Related Links:
Arts Management in Classical Arts
RK Shriramkumar, RK Shriramkumar – Podcast
K Arun Prakash, K Arun Prakash – The Tunesmith, K Arun Prakash – Podcast
