Song of Surrender
Thursday, 30 November 2017
Wednesday, 29 November 2017
One more feather in his cap
By S. Sivaramakrishnan
The title Chitravina Nada Jnana Mani was conferred on vidwan
N. Ravikiran by violin maestro Sangita Kalanidhi M. Chandrasekharan, on behalf
of Charubala Mohan Trust on 19 November 2017 in Chennai. Narasimhan, President
of Asthika Samajan, Thiruvanmiyur presided over the function. It was followed
by a grand chitraveena concert by Sangita Kalanidhi designate N.Ravikiran.
V Govindasamy Naicker centenary celebrations
By S. Sivaramakrishnan
The birth centenary
of violin vidwan V. Govindasamy Naicker was celebrated at P.S.
School, Mylapore, Chennai on 18 November 2017. The chief guest Sangita
Kalanidhi A.K.C. Natarajan recalled his long association with the violin
maestro, and spoke about the gurukula system and the music of yesteryear.
Srimushnam Rajarao and Sirkazhi Sivachidambaram also offered their
felicitations.. A vocal concert by the talented
great-granddaughters of Govindasamy Naicker--Srutipriya and Neehaara--was
widely appreciated.
Parassala B. Ponnammal
Birthdays & Anniversaries
Veteran singer Parassala Ponnammal rose to stardom after her
maiden concert at the historic, hallowed Navaratri Mandapam at Tiruvanathapuram
in 2006, when she was well into her eighties. (The place is by now globally
talked about as a ‘made-for-music venue’ with its special indigenous acoustic
set up. Her guru Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer created a record of sorts by
performing there for about 60 years).
Veteran singer Parassala Ponnammal rose to stardom after her
maiden concert at the historic, hallowed Navaratri Mandapam at Tiruvanathapuram
in 2006, when she was well into her eighties. (The place is by now globally
talked about as a ‘made-for-music venue’ with its special indigenous acoustic
set up. Her guru Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer created a record of sorts by
performing there for about 60 years).
At her maiden Chennai concert a few years ago, Ponnammal
sang Irayimman Thampi’s pada varnam Amba Gauri (Arabhi) raga with such ease
that many a rasika found it difficult to believe that it was in tisra triputa
tala. When she sang Sreepatey Sreenarayana of Keerikattuthopil Gopala Pillai,
another in the audience exclaimed he was listening to ‘Mukhari of a lifetime’!
Dayapayonidhey in Jaganmohini.
When Parassala B. Ponnammal – ‘the grandma of Gaanakairali’
– rose to receive the prestigious T.T.K. award at the Madras Music Academy on
New Year’s.
Tuesday, 28 November 2017
Monday, 27 November 2017
T. Rukmini
Birthdays & Anniversaries
 |
| 27.11.1936 |
T. Rukmini has been one of the most preferred violin accompanists in
the Carnatic music scene for years. The reasons are not far to seek: her
decided skill with the instrument, deep knowledge of the lakshana of raga-s,
adeptness in quickly grasping what the main performer is doing, and willingness
to follow the main performer as a true accompanist should. Not
for her an overbearing attitude and one-upmanship. Her views on the role of an
accompanist are clear and firm and she strives to play this role wholeheartedly
and succeeds admirably. In her career, spanning decades, she has played as
accompanist to stalwarts as well as upand- coming musicians of many generations.
audiences not only with her vidwat and the way she has played her part as an accompanist,
but with her stage presence and the pleasantness which always seems to surround
her.
Rukmini's first performance as accompanist in a proper recital hall—
and for her the most memorable and significant one— was at the
Town Hall in Bangalore when she was just 16 years old. She accompanied T.R. Mahalingam
(Flute Mali) in a benefit programme. By then she had already taken part in some
concerts presented by the same organisers and earned a name as a competent
accompanist. She had also attended many of Mali's concerts and longed for an
opportunity to play with him, As for Mali, apparently he had heard about
Rukmini as a talented violinist but had not himself heard her perform. In the
event, he agreed to have her accompany him in the concert after she played one
song for him, a sampler.
To read
full story, visit sruti.com and buy Sruti 182
T. T. Krishnamachari
Birthdays & Anniversaries
Tiruvellore Thattai Krishnamachari was born on
26 November 1899. Graduating from Madras Christian College, TTK began his life
as a businessman and went on to lay the foundation of the hugely successful firm T.T. Krishnamachari & Co. in 1928 in
Chennai. Later, TTK felt there were issues in the arena of politics and that he
should turn his attention to it. He was initially elected to the Madras
Legislative Assembly as an independent member; later he joined the Congress. In
1946 he was made a member of the Constituent Assembly at the Centre.
 |
| 27.11.1899 - 1974 |
TTK started taking interest in
the affairs of the Music Academy by enrolling himself as a patron in 1936.
However, it appears he kept himself away from it from 1942 for personal reasons.
He returned to it in 1950, and was elected as its Vice President. Next year he presided
over the sadas of the music conference.
From its inception in 1927 the Academy
had been holding its annual music conferences and concerts in specially erected
pandals or halls available in the city. It had acquired a plot on Mowbrays Road
to construct its own building. However no progress could be made for want of
funds. The building project gathered momentum after the Academy invited TTK,
then Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, to inaugurate its Music
Conference in 1954. TTK “pulled off a coup” and got Prime Minister Jawaharlal
Nehru to lay the foundation stone on 5 October 1955. M.S. Subbulakshmi gave a grand benefit concert to raise funds for the building;
the Prime Minister sat through the concert till the end. MS presented a series
of concerts for the purpose in the coming days.
Saturday, 25 November 2017
Friday, 24 November 2017
Wednesday, 22 November 2017
Monday, 20 November 2017
Ram Gopal
 |
| 20.11.1912 - 12.10.2003 |
Birthdays &
Anniversaries
Bissano Ram Gopal was born in Bangalore on 20th November 1912, to a Burmese mother and Rajput father. His year of birth remains a mystery because when Ram was 60, he joked he was 40 (and looked it too!) and when he died at 90 plus he felt he was only 70! But two or three of his contemporaries like Guru U.S. Krishna Rao and dance partners like Mrinalini Sarabhai and M.K. Saroja are good references to arrive at a precise year of birth which turns out to be 1912. Guru U.S. Krishna Rao knows for a fact that Ram was 40 days older than him and Guru Rao was born on December 31st 1912, so Ram was born on 20th November 1912. When M.K. Saroja was five years old Ram was 24 and she was born in 1931. As he was born on 20th or 'Bees' in Hindi, he was named Bissano, as a term of endearment, by his beautiful Burmese mother from whom he got those chiselled features with high cheek-bones and shapely eyes. His robust Rajput father gave his body the finest of manly "cuts" and rippling muscles. Thus, Nature had itself conspired and inspired forces to sculpt a beautiful body and a beautiful face to go with what he was meant to do— dance!
Bissano Ram Gopal was born in Bangalore on 20th November 1912, to a Burmese mother and Rajput father. His year of birth remains a mystery because when Ram was 60, he joked he was 40 (and looked it too!) and when he died at 90 plus he felt he was only 70! But two or three of his contemporaries like Guru U.S. Krishna Rao and dance partners like Mrinalini Sarabhai and M.K. Saroja are good references to arrive at a precise year of birth which turns out to be 1912. Guru U.S. Krishna Rao knows for a fact that Ram was 40 days older than him and Guru Rao was born on December 31st 1912, so Ram was born on 20th November 1912. When M.K. Saroja was five years old Ram was 24 and she was born in 1931. As he was born on 20th or 'Bees' in Hindi, he was named Bissano, as a term of endearment, by his beautiful Burmese mother from whom he got those chiselled features with high cheek-bones and shapely eyes. His robust Rajput father gave his body the finest of manly "cuts" and rippling muscles. Thus, Nature had itself conspired and inspired forces to sculpt a beautiful body and a beautiful face to go with what he was meant to do— dance!
To say Ram was a born dancer is
stating the obvious. There was no dance in his family circle, although Ram was artistic
from his childhood. Although his family house— The Torquay Castle— in Benson
Town, was a lavish affair with tennis courts and swimming pool, befitting the status
of his rich barrister father, Ram spent more time with musicians and artists.
His friendship with U.S. Krishna Rao, who once ended up playing the mridanga
for Ram when he had to dance impromptu at a tea party hosted by the then
Yuvaraja of Mysore, established a lifelong relationship with dance. Ram was
lucky to find a royal patron and a loyal friend.
Ram went through the grind and
learnt from two venerable guru-s of Bharatanatyam: Guru Muthukumara Pillai of Kattumannarkoil
and Guru Meenakshisundaram Pillai. Bharatanatyam is not the only form he learnt
or mastered, as has been erroneously stated in some writings. He learnt
Kathakali from Guru Kunju Kurup under Vallathol Narayana Menon's supervision
when he set up the Kerala Kalamandalam and he learnt Kathak from Guru Jailal
and later Guru Sohanlal.
Saturday, 18 November 2017
Friday, 17 November 2017
Thursday, 16 November 2017
Wednesday, 15 November 2017
K. V. Narayanaswamy
Birthdays & Anniversaries
 |
| 15.11.1923 - 1.4.2002 |
KV Narayanaswamy (1923-2002)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZG-7G2p19k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g7ArtC_ZIU
The late Sangita Kalanidhi KV Narayanaswami was and
continues to be a role model for young vocalists in Carnatic music, for the
sheer purity of his voice, his exquisite sruti suddham, and his mastery of raga
and tala. The most complete and best known of Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar’s
disciples, KVN had the extraordinary ability to move his listeners with the
emotional appeal of his chaste rendering of a wide repertoire of songs by a
whole range of composers across languages.
It was said of his music that he became “immersed in his music, thoroughly forgetting himself and thereby providing a divine experience for the listener.” His career as a performing musician was in two parts, his strong vibrant vocalisation in the first phase being replaced after a major illness by an altogether mellower, softer style of singing, still based as much on complex, precise swara singing as nuanced rendering of alapana and niraval. His delivery of kritis was impeccable, too.
KV Narayanaswamy was born in the village of Chandrasekharapuram in Palakkad district in a family of considerable musical ancestry on an auspicious Friday, 16 November 1923. He was the second child of Kollengode Viswanathayyar, an accomplished violinist, and Muthulakshmi Ammal.
KVN started learning varnams and kirtanams under his father and grandfather at the age of five, joined school at Palakkad and studied there until the fifth form. He then continued his studies at Coimbatore. Around the age of twelve, he became attracted to theatre and cinema, playing the part of young Kannappan in the movie Kannappa Nayanar, a box office disaster that put an end to the lad’s acting ambitions.
KVN continued music lessons under Palghat Mani Iyer, C.S. Krishna Iyer, and Papa Venkataramayya. He was particularly fortunate in the interest Mani Iyer took in his progress. KVN’s mastery of the laya aspects of music in his adult years owed a great deal to this solid foundation. Not only was Mani Iyer a genius in the art of mridangam he was an accomplished vocalist as well. He taught KVN many songs, accompanying the boy on the mridangam during his practice sessions. What a marvellous preparation for a future as a concert musician!
When KVN started performing on stage, Mani Iyer accompanied him often, but an equally significant contribution by him was to introduce the young vocalist to Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, whose principal disciple KVN was to become in the years that followed. To the end of his life, KVN treasured the years he spent in gurukulavasam with Ariyakudi.
KVN made his bow at the annual Tyagaraja aradhana festival at Tiruvaiyaru in 1940. He learnt a great deal by keenly observing Ariyakudi’s stage performances. Each concert was a learning experience for him.
In 1946, a short while after KVN joined Ariyakudi, he was drawn to the freedom struggle inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s leadership and left his guru for the ashram at Wardha, Maharashtra, but fortunately for Carnatic music, the inmates there persuaded him to return to music and Ariyakudi.
In 1947, he made his debut at the Madras Music Academy during its annual December season. The quality of his music that day impressed one and all into accepting him as a worthy successor to Ramanuja Iyengar.
Joining the Music College of Madras in 1962, KVN taught there for the next twenty years, before retiring as professor of music. He also taught and performed in the USA, where he first went to Wesleyan University in 1965 and later, in 1984, to San Diego University. He was the first Indian to be awarded a Fulbright scholarship for music.
Losing his wife Annapoornam in 1963, KVN later married Padma, his student at the Music College. After his retirement from the Music College, KVN took on a number of students whom he taught at home in a modern form of gurukulavasam. Many of them are carrying on the musical values he imparted with great affection.
L. Muthiah Bhagavatar
Birthdays & Anniversaries
 |
| 15.11.1877 - 30.6.1945 |
Harikesanallur L. Muthiah Bhagavatar was something of a Superman in
Carnatic music. His life is very difficult to condense into a short account for
there were so many remarkable achievements in it. He overcame adverse
circumstances to become a musician. He began his professional career as a
vocalist who had also specialized in playing the mridanga and the gottuvadyam.
He later switched to Harikatha and it was in that field that he acquired great
fame. He was the moving spirit behind great music festivals in two locations in
Madras Presidency for many years. He was a catalyst in the success of a series
of pathbreaking music conferences in Tanjavur for two years. Somewhere in
between he created new raga-s, imported several from Hindustani music and
composed many songs in many forms such as kriti-s, varnam-s and tillana-s.
He founded a music school, was the Principal of two respected
educational institutions and played a key role in bringing Swati Tirunal's
works to the forefront of the concert arena. He wrote a major treatise on music
which earned him the distinction of being the first musician to get a doctorate
(and a genuine one at that). He moved with kings and commoners with equal ease
all of whom loved him for his wit, his magnificent personality and his
erudition. He earned enormous amounts and spent them on a luxurious lifestyle. He
was also supremely generous, giving large amounts to causes that took his
fancy. In short he was truly magnificent and his life was one exciting roller coaster
journey. There was never a dull moment.
Tuesday, 14 November 2017
Monday, 13 November 2017
Saturday, 11 November 2017
Friday, 10 November 2017
R. K. Venkatarama Sastry
 |
| 10.11.1907 |
Birthdays &
Anniversaries
There is a school of thought that to be a great Carnatic musician, you need to be blessed with the serendipity of being born on the banks of the Kaveri in a pious family leading an austere lifestyle in the vicinity of a temple. A staple of vadu mangai and buttermilk and pazhaiyathu, or their Karnataka equivalent if you happened to wet your feet in the river closer to its origins, would help too, not to mention a strict regimen of sandhyavandanam three times a day.
There is a school of thought that to be a great Carnatic musician, you need to be blessed with the serendipity of being born on the banks of the Kaveri in a pious family leading an austere lifestyle in the vicinity of a temple. A staple of vadu mangai and buttermilk and pazhaiyathu, or their Karnataka equivalent if you happened to wet your feet in the river closer to its origins, would help too, not to mention a strict regimen of sandhyavandanam three times a day.
By all accounts, musician, Harikatha artist, playwright and
Sanskrit and Kannada scholar Rudrapatnam Krishna Sastry, who married singer
Sannakka, daughter of vainika-violinist Bettadapura Narayanaswamy, in the early
years of the 20th century, enjoyed just such a concatenation of
circumstances. His first son, Rudrapatnam Krishna Venkatarama Sastry, was born on
November 10th 1907 at Rudrapatnam, a stone’s throw from the
waters of the sacred river. Venkatarama Sastry — whose birth centenary
celebrations begin from 11th November 2007 with a music festival in Chennai —
showed early signs of musical talent which his father nourished by exposing him
to the best available training with distinguished guru-s.
(This Sanketi family from the Hassan district of Karnataka went on
to produce some nine more musicians at last count. For a detailed account, see
the R.K. Srikantan profile in Sruti 134, November 1995). After
spending more than a decade learning violin from Veena Subbanna and Mysore T.
Chowdiah, he moved to Madras in 1936, to join All India Radio when it was
formed.
Thursday, 9 November 2017
Parlandu Award 2017
Parlandu Award and Parivadini Series
By Samudri
Parivadini
continues its webcast services through its Youtube channel, with a focus on up
and coming talent and unrecognised artists.Some 18 concerts have been webcast
every month.
Parivadini's
annual Fernandes (Parlandu) Award of Excellence is being conferred on Paramasivam,
a tavil maker from Tanjavur. The earlier awardees have been Selvam (mridangam maker, 2013), Varadan (mridangam
maker, 2014), Raju (veena maker, 2015) and UVK Ramesh (ghatam maker, 2016))
The
schedule of the annual Parivadini concert series: Parivadini Series 2017
Venue:
Raga Sudha Hall
30
Nov
04.00
PM Thirumylai
Karthikeyan and Chitoor Devarajulu -
Nagaswaram
Mangalam
M.K.Aasan & Adayar G.Silambarasan
06.15
PM Aishwarya Vidya Raghunath - Vocal
Kalpana Venkat - Violin
R.Sankaranarayanan - Mridangam
Sunil Kumar - Khanjira
1
Dec
04.00
PM Heramba & Hemantha - Flute
Apoorva Krishna - Violin
N.C.Bharadwaj - Mridangam
Harihara Sarma - Khanjira
06.15
PM R.Parthasarathi - Veena
J.Vaidhyanathan - Mridangam
Dr. S.Karthick - Ghatam
2
Dec
10.00
AM Vijaykrishnan - Veena
Thanjavur Kumar - Mridangam
04.00
PM Ramana Balachandhran & R.Raghul - Veena/Violin Duet
Sumesh Narayanan - Mridangam
S.Krishna - Ghatam
6.15
PM Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna - Vocal
Akkarai Subhalakshmi - Violin
L.Subramanian and Akshay Anand - Double Mridangam
3
Dec
10.00 AM Parlandu Award of Excellence 2017 presented to Mr. Paramasivam (Tavil Maker)
10.30
AM Thanjavur Govindarajan - Lec dem on
"The majestic Thavil"
5.00 PM Madurai TNS Krishna - B.U.Ganeshprasad - Vijay Natesan and Sree Sundarkumar (4 hour concert)
For
contributions:
Parivadini
Charitable Trust,
Union Bank of
India
Account Number:
579902120000916
branch:
Kolathur, Chennai,
IFSC Code:
UBIN0557994
Donations to
Parivadini are exempt under Section 80 G
Chitresh Das
 |
| 9.11.1944 - 4.1.2015 |
Birthdays
& Anniversaries
Chitresh Das is a pioneer in
introducing Kathak to the United States of America. His dream is to break
through cultural barriers and ensure the continuation of the Kathak tradition
at its highest artistic level.
His mission began in 1970 when he
received a Whitney Fellowship through the University of Maryland to teach Kathak
even while he was studying Modern dance. A year later, he was invited by sarod maestro
Ali Akbar Khan to establish a Kathak dance programme at the renowned Ali Akbar College
of Music in San Rafael, California. While there, Chitresh Das created three
major dance-dramas in the Kathak idiom, with over 40 musicians and dancers participating—
the first venture of the kind in the Indo-American performing arts scene.
Das founded his own dance company
and school called Chhandam in the San Francisco Bay Area, in 1980. It now has additional
branches in Boston and Toronto.
Trained from age nine Mishra,
Chitresh was schooled in both major Kathak traditions and absorbed each in his artistry:
the graceful and sensual elements of the Lucknow school, as well as the dynamic
and powerful rhythms and movements of the Jaipur school. His performing career
was launched in India when he was invited by sitar maestro Ravi Shankar to
perform at the Rimpa Festival in Varanasi.
Wednesday, 8 November 2017
P L Deshpande
 |
| 8.11.1919 - 12.6.2000 |
Birthdays &
Anniversaries
Purushottam
Laxman Deshpande was born on 8 November 1919 in Bombay to Laxman and Lakshmibai
Deshpande of the Gaud Saraswat Brahmin community. Pu La did his schooling in Bombay,
went to Fergusson College, Pune, for undergraduate studies and did an M.A. from
Willingdon College, Sangli.
P.L. Deshpande, popularly known
by his Marathi initials ‘Pu La’, strode the cultural
firmament of Maharashtra
like a colossus for over four decades. He was a multifaceted genius –
illustrious Marathi writer, film and stage
actor, singer, harmonium player, music composer and director, and an orator.
He was also a noted philanthropist.
The
Department of Posts issued a commemorative stamp in honour of P.L. Deshpande
on 16 June 2002, his second death anniversary. The multicoloured
stamp in the denomination of Rs. 4, has perf. 13.5, and was printed on Matt
Chrome paper by photo offset process at Calcutta Security Printers.
The
stamp has a portrait of Deshpande, and in the background is a picture of him in
the role of Sant Tukaram in
his play Tuka Mhane Ata. The cancellation,
in the shape of a pen and a tambura, represents his writings and music. On the
First Day Cover are pictures of some of his roles on the stage
(see below).
To
read full story, visit sruti.com and buy Sruti 345
Tuesday, 7 November 2017
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