Vairamangalam Lakshminarayanan

gavati · Post by **gavati** » 26 Oct 2006, 07:52

Please count me in for the "Vairamangalam trust"

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 26 Oct 2006, 08:15

Gavvati,
Welcome, and thank you for sharing such private moments. Please do post the mp3 files. We have wizards here who can clean up any track...
Ravi

Radhakrishnan · Post by **Radhakrishnan** » 26 Oct 2006, 08:33

gavati, welcome to the forum!
Thanks a lot for sharing the experience.
Yes,he used to sing dayalEni often,but if you have O ranga sAyi,do u/l. It used to be his master piece.

gavati · Post by **gavati** » 26 Oct 2006, 08:49

yes Radhakrishnan, I have his O Rangasayee ....i have that only as a class lesson (he teaching me) and not a solo rendition...I will defy post them once they are ready...its good to note that you guys can clean it up...my dad tried his best, but he couldnt...

jayaram · Post by **jayaram** » 06 Nov 2006, 19:44

What a lovely forum this is...so many shishyas of Vairam posting their anecdotes. Truly music to my ears. How I wish I could have gotten to know him better. Based on just the few minutes I spent with him that evening in Trivandrum, I could tell he was a wonderful human being.

Such vidwans, nay even people, are hard to come by these days.

kumaran.nadesan · Post by **kumaran.nadesan** » 06 Nov 2006, 20:30

Can someone please re-post the video clip of Vairamangalam's darmavati?

Radhakrishnan · Post by **Radhakrishnan** » 11 Nov 2006, 08:02

kumaran.nadesan,nramya,vs_manjunath,jayaram
requested video files

http://rapidshare.com/files/2713914/vai ... a.mpg.html

http://rapidshare.com/files/2720322/vai ... e.mpg.html

http://rapidshare.com/files/2846610/vai ... i.mpg.html

http://rapidshare.com/files/2856036/vai ... a.mpg.html

Radhakrishnan · Post by **Radhakrishnan** » 12 Nov 2006, 07:05

second part

http://rapidshare.com/files/2978444/vairam.rar.html

kaumaaram · Post by **kaumaaram** » 28 Nov 2006, 16:38

Radhakrishnan,

I am looking for the RTP - Dharmavati-Gunavati..... rendered by Vairamangalam. Do you have that with you? Similarly Tripurasundari in Bhairavi?

Kaumaaram

Radhakrishnan · Post by **Radhakrishnan** » 28 Nov 2006, 17:15

Kaumaaram,I have heard that dharmavathi RTP rendered by him, unfortunately I donâ€™t have it.He used to sing another RTP in amritavarshini& ananda bhairavi which goes like AnandAmritAkarshini amritavarshini paramEswari Ananda bhairavi.
I was planning to visit Chennai in January to meet some of his disciples who possess plenty of his concert CDs,but due to some other commitments I am not in a position to go to Chennai,but shall surely go and get the CDs later in 2007.
Hope you have downloaded his concert from sangeethapriya,with lalgudi and trichy sankaran.That concert should be in 60s or 70s,when he was at peak.Valaji is excellent.

kaumaaram · Post by **kaumaaram** » 29 Nov 2006, 14:17

Radhakrishnan, I have read the reviews of The Hindu about Vairamangalam's concerts. I have not seen any form of criticism but only tons of praise from the senior reviewers, SVK or MN. To that extent this artist deserved something more! I have started hunting for his recordings and let me see how far I succeed.

Radhakrishnan · Post by **Radhakrishnan** » 29 Nov 2006, 14:55

Not even a single commercial recording is available and he was not a person to make an effort himself.
Later in his career,he struggled with his voice(which was pretty bad for an year or so in late 80s) I remember one such concert at music academy mini hall , one disappointed rasika told him â€˜koncham ghana sArIram kElKalAmNu pAthEnâ€™
And some people come just to meet him, one concert at shastry hall, B.V.Raman and Lakshman came and told â€˜uNe pAKarutuKu tAn vandEnâ€™
I have seen the photograph in which he receives junior musician award of M.A from chembai(tambura was the prize) and he himself used to recall that concert,dharmavathi was the main and subbudu wrote â€˜vairamangalam sang perfect dharmavathiâ€™
Please give me more time,I shall surely collect some of his concerts.
He has toured US in early 80s and those recordings should be available with somebody.

kaumaaram · Post by **kaumaaram** » 30 Nov 2006, 13:21

Radhakrishnan, may I request you to kindly upload the audio files once again. These appear in the first page of the thread.

Before taking me as a student, VLN asked me to sing the Arohanam and avarohanam in Kalyani. I struggled. But when he asked me to sing the raag in the form of a jingle, I suceeded. With that he understood that I had learnt only by "listening" and not by systematic training. The point is, those who brag that they know carnatic music would face impending embarrassment when they meet him. Without hurting you, he will put you in your place. He was generally averse to teaching students who either wanted to have a career in film singing or who had a stint in singing film industry.

There was one LP where he had rendered a devotional on Lord Narasimha. Is that available these days? Second, he was one among the singers in the LP containing the Pancharatna Krithis group singing released by HMV those days.

Kaumaaram

padren68 · Post by **padren68** » 30 Nov 2006, 13:53

Kaumaaram
Pls check your email for the link.
Let me know if u recd it.

Radhakrishnan · Post by **Radhakrishnan** » 30 Nov 2006, 14:35

True, he will put you in your place without hurting you.
Regarding film music,he used to enjoy rAga based songs,like entan nenjil nInkAda and sundari nIyum sundaran njAnum, and some old songs like pATum nAne bhAvamum nAne.
But as you said,he was generally averse to teach students with light music background or those sing for bharata natyam.As he used to say about dance â€˜ atu periya samAchAram,aPadIgrar,iPadigrAr..oNumE puriyAdu!â€™ he expected his students to reach the level of concert singing and sometimes he gets disappointed ,recalling one class,he was teaching RTP and that student was struggling to get the kanaKu.Vairam was to sing at a sabha later in the evening. â€˜yEnda,ange pOyi kathinA panamAvadu kidaiKum!â€™
Regarding pancharatna singing, he was a regular performer at Thiruvaiyar with his guru but he loved celebrating thyagarajotsavam at vidwat samajam,Mylapore.I remember one utsavam ,KVN,BMK,Bombay sisters,MSG were all present(BMK clad in traditional tAru) and the unity among the musicians was commendable. Even the sAPadu was delicious!!

kaumaaram · Post by **kaumaaram** » 30 Nov 2006, 15:35

padren68 wrote:Kaumaaram
Pls check your email for the link.
Let me know if u recd it.

Many thanks Padren68. Received.

Kaumaaram

kaumaaram · Post by **kaumaaram** » 30 Nov 2006, 15:41

Thanks, Radhakrishnan

jayaram · Post by **jayaram** » 01 Dec 2006, 00:18

Radhakrishnan - your reminiscences are music to this rasika's ears!
Btw, you mentioned he toured the US in the early 80s. Do you know which orgn sponsored his trip? I checked CMANA's homepage and they don't mention his concerts there.

Radhakrishnan · Post by **Radhakrishnan** » 01 Dec 2006, 06:42

jayaram,I dont remember the exact year or the organisation,but it has to be either in early 80s or late 70s April/May.Once he mentioned name of the organiser one Srinivasan(noy sure)never thought these things would be useful in future.But he has toured US, thats for sure, his only foreign trip

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 02 Dec 2006, 00:04

just bumped into this video of Vairamangalam Sri Laksminarayanan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux1taahZulw

meena · Post by **meena** » 02 Dec 2006, 00:58

shankar
radhakrishnanji u/l all those video clips on this thread

kaumaaram · Post by **kaumaaram** » 04 Dec 2006, 16:38

Courtesy, Raju Asokan and A.Badri, I have uploaded the following USA 1987 concert of VLN in my folder:

www.sangeethapriya.org/~kaumaram

song list:-
01. viribhoni - bhairavi varnam - pachimiriyam adiappayya
02. pranamamyaham - gaula - mysore vasudevachar
03. ananda natamaduvar - poorvikalyani - nilakanta sivan
04. brovavamma tamasa - manji - shyama sastri
05. narayana ninna - suddha dhanyasi - purandaradasa
06. sivanukku ilaya - hemavati - mayuram vishvanatha shastri
07. garuda gamana - nagaswaravali - patnam subrahmanya iyer
08. sri krishnam bhaja - thodi - muttuswami dikshitar (+ tani avartanam)
09. iti nyayama - malavi - patnam subrahmanya iyer
10. rtp - shanmukhapriya - khanda jati jhampai
"velavane kolahalane unadu padam tunaiye orarumugane arumugane"
swarams - nattai, gaula, arabhi, varali, sri
11. slokam (kasturi tilakam) - ragamalika [kambhoji, hamirkalyani, abheri]
12. gokula nilaya - abheri - mysore Vasudevachar
13. apaduruku lonaitune (javali) - khamas - pattabhiramayya
14. tillana - shankarabharanam - ponniah pillai
15. tiruppugazh (kadi modi) - bhavapriya - arunagirinathar
16. pavamana (mangalam) - saurashtram - thyagaraja

kaumaaram · Post by **kaumaaram** » 04 Dec 2006, 16:56

Radhakrishnan,

I have been saying "Tripurasundari" in Bhairavi. It is Maha Tripurasundari which is found in the concert of VLN uploaded in Sangeethapriya. Regret inconvenience.

Kaumaaram

srinidhi · Post by **srinidhi** » 05 Dec 2006, 16:43

Kaumaaram,

The link that you have given is not working. Any help?

meena · Post by **meena** » 06 Dec 2006, 00:24

PLEASE for sangeethiapriya issues check their yahoo gr.

Note: Posts not related to the topic will be deleted.thanku

jayaram · Post by **jayaram** » 06 Dec 2006, 04:36

kaumaaram wrote:Courtesy, Raju Asokan and A.Badri, I have uploaded the following USA 1987 concert of VLN in my folder:

kaumaaram - Many thanks.
By the way, the accompanists for the 1987 US concert tour:
Tirupparkadal Viraraghavan - violin
Ramnad Raghavan - mridangam
G. Harishankar - kanjira

Reference: http://www.imsom.org/events/19870517.html
(also has a picture of a very young Mandolin Srinivas!)

thathwamasi · Post by **thathwamasi** » 06 Dec 2006, 23:08

Hello all

I just read through the messages and thought of writing a few words about VLN mama as I am one of his students. I would say he is one of the best teachers you could find. Inspite of being an ocean of knowledge, he was so unassuming and humble. He used teach the same concept 'N' number of times just to make sure you understand it the right way.

Since I am a flautist, I used to sing in the same sruthi of my flute which is 3. 3 would be too high of VLN mama. But, he took a lot of trouble to teach me in the same sruthi I am comfortable with.

Many times, I shall understand something and play it perfectly, however would falter while singing (as flute is my main discipline). He used to patiently say " Nee nanna vaasikara..adha paadi keduthukaadha.."...lol

He used to share his wonderful experiences with the likes of Palghat mani iyer and Lalgudi G Jayaraman.

One more thing that used to amaze me is his keerthana knowledge. Any song u ask him, he would teach you. Once I asked him to teach me "Maa ramanan" in Hindolam and he said "Poda..enakku theriyadhu". I had a cruel sense of satisfaction to know that VLN doesnt know a popular song..but the same week, he sang it in Sasthri Hall and smiled at me..and taught the song to me the following week.

I feel that nobody else to could match the style with which he used to sing "Mahitha Pravrutha Srimathi - Kambodhi', "Dayaleni - Nayaki", 'Varanarada - Vijayasree", "Nija dasa varadha - Kalyani" etc...

May his soul rest in peace.
May his soul rest in peace..

toufiq · Post by **toufiq** » 17 Dec 2006, 09:42

during my three years at kalakshetra i learnt many songs from lakshimarayana mama. he was a great teacher and very humble too.

thathwamasi · Post by **thathwamasi** » 29 Dec 2006, 13:06

Kaumaaram Sir,

Amazing concert that was...please post if you have any more of vairamangalam USA tour concert...Its luvly to hear harishankar in such great flow...I haven't heard anyone play with such understanding of Bhairavi Varnam.

Radhakrishnan · Post by **Radhakrishnan** » 02 Jan 2008, 08:10

a concert of VLN at
http://mt.iadvaita.com/songs.php?albumid=80

kaumaaram · Post by **kaumaaram** » 07 Jan 2008, 18:10

Sorry Mr Thatwamasi. I happened to see your post only today. My hunt continues.
Meantime, thanks to Radhakrishnan for providing us this information.

vageyakara · Post by **vageyakara** » 07 Jan 2008, 19:23

A soft spoken Vidwan whose prowess did'nt receive the proper exposure it deserved.Even one of his disciples(a female disciple whose name I do't want to expose)seemed to be hesitant or averse to mention his name as her Guru.That is the way of the world.

Radhakrishnan · Post by **Radhakrishnan** » 07 Jan 2008, 20:07

he has plenty of female disciples,some of them good enough to give concerts,like Jaya Krishnan,who should be proud to say that she is the disciple of Vairamangalam.
here is the review of one of her concert

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/2 ... 440400.htm

somebody commented about Jaya Krishnan's music as 'ore vairamangalam' and his response was 'ayyayyo,appo vairamngalam paattu?!' and that that man replied 'atu Rangachari!"

not sure whom vageyakara meant,but I remember one occasion, somebody asked him about one female disciple 'neenge thane solli kodithirukkar' and his reply was 'atu avar sonna than nannayirukkum!'

vageyakara · Post by **vageyakara** » 07 Jan 2008, 20:53

erroneously entered.Hence deleted

Radhakrishnan · Post by **Radhakrishnan** » 07 Jan 2008, 21:10

vageyakara sir,are you sure that gayathri girish has learnt from vln? I thought Vaigal Gnanaskandan is her first guru.
Sugandha Kalamegham has learnt from him,her rendition of O Ranga saayee has that vln stamp

vageyakara · Post by **vageyakara** » 07 Jan 2008, 21:49

deleted

vageyakara · Post by **vageyakara** » 07 Jan 2008, 21:55

I am sorry , I mistook , vaigal Gnanaskandan for VLN .Thank u Ramakrishnan' ji for pointing out the error.Please excuse.

ankita · Post by **ankita** » 08 Aug 2008, 11:42

rmdeer2000 wrote:i remember seeing mama the day before he passed away in the hospital and doing namaskaram...he tried saying something to me but was unable to, as his health had deteriorated that much.

truly a great and irreparable loss to the CM world; even though i only learned from him for a brief period of time, not a day passes without remembering classes with him, his humor, and his warm personality.

anytime i hear dayaleni in nayaki, mohanakara in neetimati, neerajakshi kamakshi, and many others songs, i am only reminded of mama and the remarkable way mama used to render them.

endarO mahAnubhAvu-landariki vandanamu

his parvatharaja in sriranjani, arul seyyavenum in Rasikapriya, iti nyayama in Malavi, thillana in behag, Mahatripura in Bairavi were real Vairams...happy to join "Vairamanagalam Trust" pl let me know...I miss him a lot...(was his student from 1988 - 2003)

Radhakrishnan · Post by **Radhakrishnan** » 08 Aug 2008, 15:14

ankita, welcome.
incidentally it is the 4th death anniversary of the master
Yes,he popularized vivadi rags like rasikapriya and neethimathi .But which is the behag thillana you mentioned? He used to sing sankarabharanam thillana often.
Here is a short behag by vairam
http://rapidshare.com/files/135767513/v ... g.MPG.html

ankita · Post by **ankita** » 09 Aug 2008, 06:58

Radhakrishnan wrote:ankita, welcome.
incidentally it is the 4th death anniversary of the master
Yes,he popularized vivadi rags like rasikapriya and neethimathi .But which is the behag thillana you mentioned? He used to sing sankarabharanam thillana often.
Here is a short behag by vairam
http://rapidshare.com/files/135767513/v ... g.MPG.html

Hi Radhakrishnan, yes, his fav was the sankaraparanam thillana...but the other thillana that he taught me was the one that (I guess) his guru used to sing..sorry for the typo...its thilang...not behag..i dont know who the composer is though ..i will find it soon and let you know...but it goes like this.." pallavi - uthanadeemtha thirana. nathruthillani thomthrudhani thadariathaani dirana...charanam - unthiruvadi nambinen amma umaye uvandhu varam arulvaaye ;painthamizhil padi adi kalithen sodari enai aadari...dhimdhim nadrudim mapanimanipamaga januthadeemtha nisagamapanipa nimathakanaka ...."

Radhakrishnan · Post by **Radhakrishnan** » 09 Aug 2008, 07:43

Ankita,the thillana you mentioned is in thilang,yes,Rangachari used to sing it.There is another thillna in chenjurutti which he used to sing in concerts.

Purist · Post by **Purist** » 09 Aug 2008, 12:48

Radahakrsihnan wrote:......Ankita,the thillana you mentioned is in thilang,yes,Rangachari used to sing it.There is another thillna in chenjurutti which he used to sing in concerts.

From what I know the 'Thilang' thillana was composed by Rangachari himself.

ankita · Post by **ankita** » 10 Aug 2008, 06:43

yes Purist, you are right...i just now found out from one my old music books, that the composer of tilang thillana is Rangachari...

Radhakrishnan · Post by **Radhakrishnan** » 10 Aug 2008, 08:27

ankita,you learnt under vairam for 5 years,would like to know the standard please,to know how many are in the concert level.As he used to say about Rangachari bani â€˜ithu en vAdyAr vazhi;koncham kanKu,vyavahAram eLAm unduâ€™

thathwamasi wrote:Since I am a flautist, I used to sing in the same sruthi of my flute which is 3. 3 would be too high of VLN mama. But, he took a lot of trouble to teach me in the same sruthi I am comfortable with.

.

He used to do the same with mridangists in concerts,adjusting to their sruthi.He sings in oru kattai sruthi and later part of his career less than that.Once in KGS,he sang in one and a half,as requested by Mani Iyer,that too a mike less concert(avar mike use paNa mATAr,aPo pATukArar use paNarathu ePadi?!)
Thathwamasi sir,are you in concert level?
Some more points about the teacher and performer in him;
Usually he sings the same songs he teaches the students at that time.He saw the film swAthi thirunAl and remembered the song chaliye (antha padam pAthaPothu thAn jnApakam vantatu,en gurunAthar adiKadi pAduvAr) and that song was a regular item in many concerts followed.

ankita · Post by **ankita** » 12 Aug 2008, 09:28

Radhakrishnan wrote:ankita,you learnt under vairam for 5 years,would like to know the standard please,to know how many are in the concert level.As he used to say about Rangachari bani â€˜ithu en vAdyAr vazhi;koncham kanKu,vyavahAram eLAm unduâ€™
thathwamasi wrote:Since I am a flautist, I used to sing in the same sruthi of my flute which is 3. 3 would be too high of VLN mama. But, he took a lot of trouble to teach me in the same sruthi I am comfortable with.

.
He used to do the same with mridangists in concerts,adjusting to their sruthi.He sings in oru kattai sruthi and later part of his career less than that.Once in KGS,he sang in one and a half,as requested by Mani Iyer,that too a mike less concert(avar mike use paNa mATAr,aPo pATukArar use paNarathu ePadi?!)
Thathwamasi sir,are you in concert level?
Some more points about the teacher and performer in him;
Usually he sings the same songs he teaches the students at that time.He saw the film swAthi thirunAl and remembered the song chaliye (antha padam pAthaPothu thAn jnApakam vantatu,en gurunAthar adiKadi pAduvAr) and that song was a regular item in many concerts followed.

not 5 years Radhakrishnan...at least 15 years since 1988 - 2003..I started learning under Dr. S.Ramanathan when I was 3.. until he passed away ie 1988..and then I moved to Vairam sir when I was 11... .and yes, he took the trouble to touch me in my sruti 5...the more i think of those days the more I miss him...he was a master in Kanakku; when I was in my 5th/6th grade, he used to make sp chittaswarams for me for a lot of songs so I could win prizes in all those school level comptetions...

thathwamasi · Post by **thathwamasi** » 12 Aug 2008, 22:07

Radhakrishnan Sir

I am at concert level. Please check the following link.

http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=4772

However, I must say I don't know whether to classify myself under Vairamangalam Vazhi, because he constantly has advised me to listen to all stalwarts (Alathoor, ARI, DKJ, Ramnad, to name a few) as he felt that I need to listen to all these and try reproducing the bhavam, without sticking on to one style. May be he said that because I am an instrumentalist and not a vocalist.

I follow that rigourously till date and play based on my listening of these stalwarts.

Thanks
T

Lakshman · Post by **Lakshman** » 13 Aug 2008, 05:49

ankita:
Please send me an email message. Thanks.

Lakshman · Post by **Lakshman** » 13 Aug 2008, 21:18

ankita: I got your message but for some reason my response to it through my two different email servers bounced back.
I was inquiring about whether you have lyrics of S.Ramanathan's compostions. I do have some and I had included the list of these in my message.

Radhakrishnan · Post by **Radhakrishnan** » 13 Aug 2008, 21:33

Thathwamasi sir,he was a good rasika himself,used to appreciate even the new generation musicians and ask all his students to listen to other musicians to get kElvi gnAnam.
one incident,just before a concert he was chatting with a student ,he hummed bhairavi and recalled the way GNB used to sing swara at neela neerada .And Vairam sang an elaborate bhairavi in that concert.

ankita · Post by **ankita** » 14 Aug 2008, 08:36

Lakshman wrote:ankita: I got your message but for some reason my response to it through my two different email servers bounced back.
I was inquiring about whether you have lyrics of S.Ramanathan's compostions. I do have some and I had included the list of these in my message.

yes, I do Lakshman sir...I will send them to your email id...