போங்கு பாகவதர் உருவான கதை

சங்கீத சாம்ராட் வேணு ஸாஸ்த்ரிக்கு மகன் பிறந்திருப்பதாக அறிந்து நானும் என் நண்பரும் மருத்துவமனைக்குச் சென்றோம்.

அங்கு வேணு ஸாஸ்த்ரி எங்களை அழைத்து, “ ஓய்!! என்னோட ஆலாபனையை விடும். குழந்தை அழறது கூட ஆலாபனை பன்றாப்ல இருக்கு!! கேட்டுப் பாருங்கோ” என்று அவர்களை குழந்தையின் அழுகையை ரசிக்கக் கோறினார்.

“இது என்ன ஆரபியா? அடானாவா? எப்படி ஓய் கேக்கறது?” என்று நண்பர் இழுக்க, அவரை மடக்கி, “ஸாஸ்த்ரியிடம் அப்படி பேசாதீங்கோ!! அவர் பேரை சொல்லித்தான் நாம பலபேர்கிட்ட மரியாதை வாங்கிக்கொண்டு இருக்கிறோம். ஒரு நிமிஷம் கேட்டுட்டு போயிடலாம்!” என்றேன்.

அந்தக் குழந்தையும் சொல்லி வைத்ததுபோல் அழ, ஸாஸ்த்ரி “ கேட்டேளா?” என்று பெருமிதத்துடன் கேட்டார்.

பொறியில் மாட்டிய எலியின் சத்தம் நினைவுக்கு வர, “குழந்தை நல்ல பாடகனாய் வருவான்” என்று கூறி வெளியே வந்துவிட்டோம்.

அப்போது உள்ளே வந்த வேறு இருவரிடம், “ ஓய்!! என்னோட ஆலாபனையை விடும். பையன் அழறது கூட அலாபனை பன்றாப்ல இருக்கு!!” என்று அவர்களையும் குழந்தையின் அழுகையை ரசிக்கக் கூட்டிச் சென்றுவிட்டார்.

“வருங்கால சங்கீத சாம்ராட் வாழ்க” என்ற வாழ்த்து வானை இடித்தது.

சில போங்கு பாகவதர்கள் எப்படி உருவாகிறார்கள் .என்ற உண்மை அப்பொழுதுதான் விளங்கியது.

Quick Review - Bharat Sundar and Ramakrishnan Murthy

Concert of Bharat Sundar and Ramakrishnan Murthy in NGS mini hall. Very satisfying concerts. 

Bharat sang Chandrajyoti (Bagayanayya) as sub main and Thodi (Dasukovalana) as main. Ananth in violin did justice to both the alaps. Although i felt the mike for mridangam spoiled the playing of Balaji to an extent. Despite that it was good enough. And the thani in misra jampa (esp the last korvai was apt for the eduppu - "sowmithri tyagaraju")

It was RKM's birthday and he did start with Endaro Mahanubhavulu (after the wishes) and then went on with Sowrashtram (Sooryamurthe). Main piece was Shankarabharanam (Sarojadhalanethri). Charumathi in violin was equally good. Anatha R Krishnan reminds Palghat Raghu in his style and playing (ofc hez the grandson as well). Guruprasad matched him well in the blitzkreig thani. Very unfortunately had to leave after the thani for some personal reasons and missed the RTP.

Despite all these it was so frustrating to see quite a few agnanavadhis leaving out during thani. (400 periyar vandhalum thirutha mudiyathupa  )

CARNATIC MUSIC - DECEMBER SEASON 2013 PREVIEW

This year has seen great losses in the field of carnatic music. Legends like MSG, Lalgudi, TRS, V Subramanyam have left us and there is no doubt that every musician and rasika will be inspired by their contribution to the music world. Hopefully the coming year doesnot bring in a similar fate to any vidwan.

With the advent of technologies, the events which are predominantly in Chennai can be viewed from anywhere in the world through webcasts and live streamings. A new organisation, a web channel on culture and music named "Parivadini" have started telecasting various concerts already and more importantly they have also organised a series of lecture demostrations on rare topics by eminent personalities like Dr BM Sundaram, Dr Jayanthi Kumaresh, Dr SAK Durga, Dr Kalaikovan among others and concerts of great artists like Malladi Suribabu, Injikkudi Subramaniam, also promoting youngsters.

Mridangam wizards Trichy Sankaran and KS Kalidas, disciples of the Legendary Pazhani Subramaniam Pillai are giving lecture demonstrations on Mridangam and Layam. Also Lalgudi duo and Trichy Sankaran have a special connection which we can once again experience at the Music Academy this season.

U Shrinivas is accompanied by Umayalpuram Sivaraman in Krishna Gana Sabha. This is probably a very rare combo treat for any listener. And it does look like U Shrinivas is going to join hand with a veteran every year at KGS. Hopefully :)

TM Krishna is performing in the mornings just like last season and Karaikudi Mani and N Amrit are accompanying him in Narada Gana Sabha on the Christmas eve which is again a rare combo treat for TMK fans. Sanjay Subramanyan is up once again with his regular team and is performing in almost all the major sabhas. Particularly his Brahma Gana Sabha concert will be even more special given the timing of the concert (6-9 expected) and even more so for the veteran Mannargudi Easwaran is accompanying him on the mridangam.




It is very happy to see numerous concerts for Veena artists like N Ravikiran, Jayanthi Kumaresh and Nirmala Rajasekar (whose Shanmugapriya Pallavi last time was jaw-dropping) compared to previous seasons. On the other hand, it is also sad to see that E Gayathri has been left out once again. I am not sure whether it is the artist who doesn't want to perform in public anymore or the organisations who only crave on ticket-sellers, which she is. No matter what, my favorite veena artist aint gonna participate yet again :( .

Unlike Veena, Nagaswaram is yet to be in the preferential list. Not sure when will the organisations and rasikas start listening to divine music instead of 'over-hyped' why this kolaveri di - like performers. -_-




Abhishek Raghuram and TNS Krishna once again are in the must-listen list alongside the likes of Saketharaman, Bharat Sundar, Ramakrishnan Murthy, Sandeep Narayan, Prasanna Venkatraman and others.

In the juniors list - there were 2 new talents i got introduced to last season. Kamal Kiran (Violin) and Guhan Venkatraman (Veena). Definitely worth listening to these talents.







I was totally spell-bound with the performance of Sri. TN Seshagopalan last season and had written my 'feeling' about that in this blog itself. It was a totally surprising package proving the law of DMU wrong. Surely not gonna miss him this time as well. Also veterans such as A Kanyakumari, TN Krishnan, Guruvayur Dorai and Kadri Gopalnath are a treat to listen anyday.

Now to what i expect - NO REPETITIONS. As you could observe that my first article in the blog itself was about the existing trend of repetitions of same ragas. I can only hope that artists will start trying to sing vivadi and other rare ragas.

Secondly, a request to the fans to start 'trying' to understand the beauty in percussions and not leave to canteen for their own thani avartham rounds of coffee during the percussion solos.



Some Notable Concerts:-
             

Date	Time	Artists	Place
4th	6.30 PM	Vijay Siva	Nalinakanthi – MGR Janaki College
5th	6.45 PM	Madurai TN Seshagopalan	Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
6th	3.45 PM	Guitar R Prasanna	Brahma Gana Sabha
	6.30 PM	M Chandrasekar – Mysore Srikanth – Guruvayur Dorai – Uzhavoor Babu – Trichy Murali	Arkay Convention Centre
7th	6.45 PM	Abhishek Raghuram	Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
	7.00 PM	OS Thiyagarajan	Tattvaloka
8th	9.30 AM	KS Kalidas Lecdem on ‘Mridangam techniques and thani avartanam’	Tag Centre
	6.30 PM	Sanjay Subramanyan – V Sanjeev – Trivandrum Balaji – G Guruprasanna	Kathik Fine Arts – Narada Gana Sabha
9th	11.30 AM	Ramakrishnan Murthy	Meenakshi College
	3.45 PM	Prasanna Venkatraman	Brahma Gana Sabha
	6.00 PM	Gayathri Venkatraghavan	Ragasudha Hall
	6.00 PM	AKC Natarajan	Meenakshi College
10th	6.30 PM	Trichur Ramachandran – Guruvayur Dorai	MFAC
11th	6.30 PM	OS Thiyagarajan	Srinivasa Sastri Hall
12th	4.00 PM	S Shashank	Kathik Fine Arts – Narada Gana Sabha
	6.30 PM	Jayanthi Kumaresh	MFAC
13th	9.30 AM	TM Krishna – K Arunprakash	MFAC
	6.00 PM	Sanjay Subramanyan- Mannargudi Easwaran	Brahma Gana Sabha
	6.15 PM	A Kanyakumari – V Sanjeev – KV Prasad – V Gopalakrishnan	Ragasudha Hall
14th	6.30 PM	S Sowmya – K Arunprakash	MFAC
15th	10.00 AM	K Bharat Sundar	Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
	4.00 PM	Ganesh Kumaresh	Narada Gana Sabha
	6.15 PM	TNS Krishna – Trichur Narendran	Srinivasa Sastri Hall
16th	8.30 AM	Neyveli Santhanagopalan Lecture Demonstration “Guruguho Jayati - Sangeeta Rasanubhavam of Muthuswami Dikshitar's compositions”	Parthasarathy Swami Sabha
	4.00 PM	Jayathi Kumaresh – Patri Sathishkumar	Narada Gana Sabha
	4.30 PM	U Shrinivas – U Rajesh – Umayalpuram Sivaraman	Krishna Gana Sabha
	6.30 PM	N Ravikiran – Trichy Sankaran	Parthasarathy Swami Sabha
	7.00 PM	Madurai TN Seshagopalan	Narada Gana Sabha
	7.00 PM	Ramakrishnan Murthy	Krishna Gana Sabha
17th	12.15 PM	Guhan Venkatraman	Karthik Fine Arts - Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
	4.30 PM	S Saketharaman – KV Prasad	Krishna Gana Sabha
	6.30 PM	Malladi Brothers – Trichy Sankaran	MFAC
19th	5.00 PM	Nirmala Rajasekar	Ganapathy Sachidananda Ashram
	7.00 PM	A Kanyakumari – Embar Kannan –Patri Sathishkumar	Music Academy
20th	8.05 AM	KS Kalidas Lecture Demonstration “Some aspects of Laya and an insight into Laya Vinayasam”	Music Academy
	4.00 PM	TN Krishnan – Sriram Krishnan	Parthasarathy Swami Sabha
	6.15 PM	Jayanthi Kumaresh – Rakesh Chaurasia	Mudhra
	6.30 PM	Gayathri Venkatraghavan	Parthasarathy Swami Sabha
21st	8.05 AM	Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi Lecture Demonstration “Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman's music and his compositions”	Music Academy
	8.30 AM	PS Narayanaswamy Lecture Demostration “Alapana and how to develop manodharma sangeetham”	Parthasarathy Swami Sabha
	9.15 AM	OS Thiyagarajan – Trichy Sankaran	Music Academy
	12.00 PM	K Bharat Sundar	Music Academy
	4.30 PM	Sandeep Narayan	Narada Gana Sabha (Mini)
	6.30 PM	Ganesh Kumaresh	MFAC
	7.00 PM	N Ravikiran	Music Academy
22nd	8.05 AM	A Kanyakumari Lecture Demonstration “Innovation of 7 ragas”	Music Academy
	8.30 AM	Trichy J Venkatraman	Narada Gana Sabha (Mini)
	9.00 AM	Trichy Sankaran Lecture Demonstration “Chaturasram & trisram from the historical and modern perspectives”	Music Academy
	9.15 AM	R Vedavalli	Music Academy
	10.00 AM	Nisha Rajagopalan	Parthasarathy Swami Sabha
	10.30 AM	Suguna Purushothaman Lecture Demonstration “Grahabhedam”	Indian Fine Arts
	12.00 PM	Swarna Rethas	Music Academy
	2.00 PM	K Bharat Sundar	Narada Gana Sabha (Mini)
	4.30 PM	Ramakrishnan Murthy	Narada Gana Sabha (Mini)
	5.00 PM	TNS Krishna	Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (Mini)
	6.15 PM	TN Krishnan – Trio violin – Guruvayur Dorai	Ragasudha Hall
23rd	4.15 PM	U Shrinivas	Music Academy
	6.30 PM	S Shashank	MFAC
	7.00 PM	Sikkil Gurucharan – Umayalpuram Sivaraman	Music Academy
24th	8.30 AM	Trichy J Venkatraman Lecture Demonstration “A methodical approach to kuraippu and korvai in kalpanaswaram”	Parthasarathy Swami Sabha
	9.15 AM	Bhushany Kalyanaraman	Music Academy
	10.00 AM	Nirmala Rajasekar	Parthasarathy Swami Sabha
	1.45 PM	Ramakrishnan Murthy	Music Academy
	4.30 PM	Lalgudi Duo – Trichy Sankaran	Krishna Gana Sabha
25th	9.15 AM	TN Krishnan – Trio violin – Tiruvarur Bhaktavatsalam	Music Academy
	10.00 AM	Palghat Sreeram Lecture Demonstration “Laya for the Lay Man”	Parivadini
	10.15 AM	TM Krishna – Karaikudi Mani – N Amrit	Narada Gana Sabha
	6.30 PM	U Shrinivas	MFAC
26th	10.00 AM	Dr. BM Sundaram Lecture Demostration “Composers among Nagaswaram and Tavil Vidwans”	Parivadini
	1.45 PM	Nirmala Rajasekar	Music Academy
	4.00 PM	Guhan Venkatraman	Parivadini
	6.00 PM	U Shrinivas	Kalakshetra
	6.15 PM	Kadri Gopalnath – A Kanyakumari – Patri Sathishkumar	Mudhra
	6.15 PM	Injikkudi EM Subramaniam – Sanjeev - K Ashok	Parivadini
	7.00 PM	Abhishek Raghuram – Tiruvarur Bhaktavatsalam	Music Academy
27th	10.00 AM	Ghatam Karthik’s Heart Beat Ensemble	Parthasarathy Swami Sabha
	10.00 AM	HMV Raghu Lecture Demostration “Recording the Legends – Observation as a Technician and Musician”	Parivadini
	10.15 AM	TNS Krishna	Narada Gana Sabha (Mini)
	4.00 PM	Sanjay Subramanyan	Narada Gana Sabha
	4.00 PM	Anirudh Venkatesh – L Subramanian	Parivadini
	7.00 PM	S Shashank	Narada Gana Sabha
28th	10.00 AM	Dr. R Kalaikovan Lecture Demostration “Thalicheri Inscription on life and times of Dancers of Thanjavur”	Parivadini
	4.00 PM	Kamal Kiran	Parivadini
	4.15 PM	Sudha Raghunathan	Music Academy
	6.15 PM	Tiruvarur Girish – Nagai Muralidharan – Tiruvarur Bhaktavatsalam	Parivadini
	7.00 PM	Gayathri Venkatraghavan	Music Academy
29th	9.15 AM	Madurai TN Seshagopalan	Music Academy
	10.00 AM	Keshav Venkatraghavan Lecture Demostration “Experiments with Krishna”	Parivadini
	1.45 PM	Sandeep Narayan	Music Academy
	4.00 PM	Anahita Ravindran – Apoorva – Akshay Anand	Parivadini
	6.15 PM	Malladi Suribabu – Padma Shankar - Trichur Narendran	Parivadini
	7.00 PM	Lalgudi Duo – Trichy Sankaran	Music Academy
30th	8.30 AM	Trichy Sankaran Lecture Demonstration “An ideal approach towards structuring tani avartanam”	Parthasarathy Swami Sabha
	10.00 AM	Dr. SAK Durga Lecture Demonstration “Folk Music and its influence on Carnatic Music”	Parivadini
	4.30 PM	S Sowmya	Indian Fine Arts
	7.00 PM	Kadri Gopalnath – A Kanyakumari -  Guruvayur Dorai – N Amrit – B Rajasekar	Indian Fine Arts
31st	8.30 AM	Lecture Demonstration Reporting, reviewing, criticism: Panel discussion S.A.K. Durga P.S. Narayanaswamy VSV V. Ramanarayan Veejay Sai	Music Academy
	9.15 AM	Neyveli Santhanagopalan	Music Academy
	10.00 AM	Jayanthi Kumaresh Lecture Demonstration “Styles of Veena”	Parivadini
	4.00 PM	N Ravikiran – Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi – Mannargudi Easwaran	Narada Gana Sabha
	4.30 PM	Vijayalakshmi Subramaniam – Erode Nagaraj	Indian Fine Arts
	7.00 PM	A Kanyakumari – Embar Kannan – KV Prasad	Narada Gana Sabha
JAN
1st	9.30 AM	Lalgudi Duo	MFAC
	6.00 PM	KJ Yesudas	MFAC
	6.15 PM	U Shrinivas	Kalarasana
3rd	6.30 PM	N Vijay Siva – Trichy Sankaran	Astika Samajam

PS - I could not include many great artists in this list just coz, i dint want this to look like an artists directory. If you feel someone needs to be added on, please do so in trhe comment segment along with their schedule. Thanks.