Balaji Shankar

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 01 Jul 2008, 06:37

arasi wrote:rasaali,
Another vidvAn among us! Your 'vidvat' is out of the bag now !

And that too in the Vidwans and Vidushis' thread - how apropos?

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 01 Jul 2008, 07:01

Haha! You and I have not just met, KVSV. A very nice rEvagupti reply comes to mind!!!

Nice to see you here.

rasaali · Post by **rasaali** » 01 Jul 2008, 08:25

Prashant - The Suddha Seemantini you sang is still fresh in my memory.

Ladies and gentleman, this was a house concert in Boston where our felow rasika Prashant sang with accompaniment by yours truly and his uncle Pravin Sitaram, an excellent mrdanga vidwan in our area.

Arasi-ji: I dont know about this vidwat stuff. Just enjoy music and feel fortunate to have the opportunity to appreciate it.

Punarvasu: Smt. Gnanambal passed away relatively young almost 20 years ago. Sri BDM is now touching 80. He is continues to live in Chennai and mostly play in the radio. Occasionally he steps out to play with some of his advanced students. Here are a couple of clips of a concert last year, posted by his student Chidambaram Badrinath, a young up coming violinist cum engineer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZSVEyNLfF4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvUf8PCX ... re=related

I have only one radio recording of the duo which I will try to post sometime.

If anyone in the rasikas forum has any other music by either of them I would be very grateful to get copies. My uncle has played with every senior artiste both in AIR and in public but we have very few recordings available.

Thanks!

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 01 Jul 2008, 11:41

Sri Dakshinamurthy still performs. I recently saw some concert of his listed in the Hindu recently...

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 01 Jul 2008, 14:20

vinay(rasaali)
Are you also related to shri T. K. Jayarama Iyer , violinist who received sangeetha kalanidhi in 1960.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 01 Jul 2008, 15:11

Good to have another vidwan in our midst Vinay! Far from putting me off, the sound of the violin was so fascinating that I promptly showed up for MC's violin concert which was scheduled at the end of the festival. Subsequently I was even motivated to enrol for violin classes at the Sangam under Mr. VSK Chakrapani...alas, I had to relocate to Bombay after only a few classes, leading to a long, tumultuous but completely unproductive relationship with the instrument!

rasaali · Post by **rasaali** » 01 Jul 2008, 16:10

rajeshnat wrote:vinay(rasaali)
Are you also related to shri T. K. Jayarama Iyer , violinist who received sangeetha kalanidhi in 1960.

Rajeshnat - I am his grandson.

Vijay- There is probably no shortage of teachers in Mumbai of all places. It is a great place to learn CM

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 01 Jul 2008, 19:18

Rasaali, thanks for the info. I wish I could attend a concert of Shri B.Dakshinamoorthy in the near future.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 02 Jul 2008, 00:29

Sure is Rasaali - one has only to note all the Bombay prefixes floating around in the Chennai circuit! But my divorce with the violinist is complete and total!
BTW, the ma Ramanan is fantastic, even though truncated! To think what films songs have now descnded to!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 02 Jul 2008, 00:41

Vijay,
You mean, the 'violin', don't you?!

sbala · Post by **sbala** » 02 Jul 2008, 07:49

vijay wrote:leading to a long, tumultuous but completely unproductive relationship with the instrument!

Waiting for the season to begin for such language lessons!

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 03 Jul 2008, 13:30

Ah...I am waiting too! Especially in these times when one barely manages to fit in a concert every 2 months

malavi · Post by **malavi** » 05 Jul 2008, 21:14

Recently heard BALAJI SHANKARS one hour concert in the Arangaisai at 7.30 a.m. That too twice within 3 0r 4 months.kalyani was the main item. this was in Chennai AIR.
There is a recording of Sri.DKJ full of papanasam sivans songs starting with the Danyasi pada varnam Nee inda mayam.
Sri.Jayaraman.has let Balaji sing ragam niraval swaram etc. His kalyani is superb.The song Unnaiyallal with niraval and swaram at Neeye meenakshi kamakshi isreally excellent. it is really a pity balaji has stopped giving concerts

Priya_s · Post by **Priya_s** » 10 Jul 2008, 18:22

Just heard shri Balaji Shankar's kutcheri today morning. His Begada and Kalyani were simply superb!!!
I actually have a few recordings of Balaji Shankar(Kalavardhini), which I listen to almost everyday, but since I copied the tracks from one of my friends, I didn't know the name of the artist. It was only today that i realised it.(after listening to the radio concert).

And now after reading this thread I'm just unable to digest the fact that he isn't into concerts.......
What went wrong?!!.

rajeevsid · Post by **rajeevsid** » 20 Jul 2008, 09:12

Thanks for sharing such wonderful renditions by Balaji Shankar. The ranjani Pallavi has been deleted by the server of yousendit. Can someone please re-upload please?

rajeevsid · Post by **rajeevsid** » 07 Aug 2008, 14:28

Guys!! SO as to not sound impertinent or impatient , I have held on ( rather impatiently ,given my nature) for some tim enow to re-request for a repost of the ranjani pallavi. The link for some reason is dead and a reupload in sendspace or any such would be nice IMHO..

!!!
(Never thought I could use some many re's in one post.. he he !!)
Thanks

rajajisrinivasan · Post by **rajajisrinivasan** » 09 Aug 2008, 06:44

Vinay: You're fortunate to have an uncle like BDM. I vivdly remember a TNS concert I attended at Vadapazhani temple in the late 80s. When TNS did an elaborate alapanai on a rare ragam, BDM followed on the violin like a shadow and performed a fitting solo response much to the delight of the audience and TNS himself. Later in the swaraprastharam, BDM's response to TNS' kanakkus were mind-blowing (according to other nadaswara vidwans attending the concert and per TNS' reaction - 'bale's and 'sabhash's).

I was fortunate to listen to his rendering of the mohana-varnam when my parents invited him to our house to teach my brother and I to play the violin. Now my relationship with the instrument is same as vijay's to his.

sureshvv · Post by **sureshvv** » 13 Aug 2008, 23:57

prashant wrote:... and here it is: http://www.sendspace.com/file/43ywpx

Such a beautifully sung pallavi - first popularized by Sri Balaji's great Guru Sangita Kalanidhi Sri DKJ.

what talam is this in? can someone please provide the notation, if possible?

Ahiri · Post by **Ahiri** » 14 Aug 2008, 17:29

An attempt :

M,,, P, D, N, <NDDP> M, G M G R R, <R,GM> <RGS,> RN
mA Pa zha ni ma.. .......lai ma ga pa thi yE ni

S,,,, (5- aruthi) P,,, MG GR <R,GM> <RGS,> RG
va ................... vel ma gi lu da ne

P.S : i have edited this post after
seeing prashant's caluculations
Earlier i understood MA and Vel as having spaces 3.

jayaram · Post by **jayaram** » 23 Jan 2009, 18:22

Dear friends,

I am happy to share this priceless recording with all you.

(Finally!) I managed to get the 1989 Shanmukhananda Hall concert of DKJ digitized, and the excerpt below is where he introduces Balaji Shankar as his 'kuTTi Sishyan'. And Balaji goes on to render a brilliant alapanam in Kalyani.

In a sense, this seems to be Balaji's arangetram of sorts.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/qk97m5

Hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

Jayaram

ps. Vijay, I can see the smile on your face already!

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 23 Jan 2009, 19:19

Dear Jayaram.

Thanks a ton for this great and nostalgic tape

How wonderfully DKJ introduces Balaji who in turn rewards his Guru with a superb Kalyani.

pgaiyar · Post by **pgaiyar** » 24 Jan 2009, 07:37

Mr. Jayaram:

Can you please upload via MediaFire if convenient to you sir. God bless you/family.

Regards

Guru
24-01-09

rasaali · Post by **rasaali** » 01 Feb 2009, 10:16

Vijay (and all other Balaji Shankar fans)

Here's something else I stumbled upon purely by accident

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeAmAW-I ... re=related

vpadmana · Post by **vpadmana** » 24 Feb 2009, 10:38

Due to matters strictly personal, he gave up singing. He's OK now, married and happy but in order to get back into concert-level singing, it requires way too much dedication and practice which he is supposedly not ready for at this stage in his life. A great loss to us rasikas no doubt.

( Mod: Edited )

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 08 Mar 2009, 16:41

Sorry missed this thread entirely...many thanks Jayaram and Rasaali! A huge smile no doubt - arangetram performance - wow! Fortunately the link is still alive

ragam-talam · Post by **ragam-talam** » 21 Mar 2009, 02:38

http://www.hummaa.com/music/album/23236 ... ji+Shankar

The Pantuvarali is brilliant.

vpadmana · Post by **vpadmana** » 05 Nov 2009, 22:12

His is a sad story. He was such a promising young man. The death of his guru, Shri DKJ affected him a lot, I think. He was learning from Pattammal for some time but then made the inexplicable decision to go learn from BMK. Talk about a 180 degree change in paddhati, baani and paadaantharam.

There were also some personal problems which I shall not discuss here. This led to a period of disillusionment during which he gave up on music completely and went to New Delhi to pursue his software profession.

His personal problems sorted out and at peace at last, he returned to Madras but did not want to take up music again as I believe he felt, it would be too much of a mountain to climb to prominence as there were already many established artists of his generation.

It's such a waste though. DKJ mama encouraged him so much and had high hopes for him.

jayaram · Post by **jayaram** » 26 Nov 2009, 04:34

Dear friends, and fellow-fans of Balaji Shankar,

It seems many of these stories going around about Balaji may be incorrect after all. Recently I received the following email from an artiste friend of mine (we have a growing mailing list of London-based rasikas):

"Just wanted to update on Balaji Shankar. Balaji is very good friend of mine and is doing fine working with HCL in Chennai. Married for 4 years now, he has son who is 2, and as always in great spirits.

He had a problem with his voice which went worse after a surgery, due to incompetence of the ENT 'Specialist', which has forced him into a musical silence. Lets pray his son makes up for it."

I plan to be in Madras for the season 16th to 31st of December - will be staying at Woodlands hotel (near Music Academy).
I am hoping to meet up with Balaji. If anyone else is interested, we can have a joint get-together with him. Do let me know. Who knows, we may even get to hear him sing for us...!

sbala · Post by **sbala** » 26 Nov 2009, 07:54

I'm tired of all the stories and rumours about this gifted singer. If there is a meeting and the man himself is coming, I would love to attend.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 26 Nov 2009, 08:21

I am interested and definitely would like to meet this mesemerizing and melliflous balaji shankar.

Sundar Janakiraman · Post by **Sundar Janakiraman** » 15 Dec 2009, 00:32

Sir, I am interested in the meeting with Balaji Shankar(Dec 09). Kindly let me know if any arrangement has been made. my email is is cjsundar@yahoo.com

ragam-talam · Post by **ragam-talam** » 08 Nov 2010, 06:21

Another lovely video clip of this gifted singer: http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Z0 ... small#t=57
Pranatarthi Haraya in ragam Samantha.

smala · Post by **smala** » 11 Jan 2011, 11:16

Whatever happened to the planned meeting with Balaji Shankar - did it materialize? Please provide follow-up news. Something exciting is proposed and then, abruptly nothing further about the matter! Strange!

Found a blog-piece 2008, on B. Shankar sightings.

http://samanth.blogspot.com/2008/07/sea ... ankar.html

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 11 Jan 2011, 12:09

shyama-priya wrote:Whatever happened to the planned meeting with Balaji Shankar - did it materialize? Please provide follow-up news.

jayaram from UK who was there for the 2009 season proposed , few of us were looking forward . It did not materialize in 2009, let us hope jayaram comes for 2011 season or beyond ,as jayaram knows balaji shankar as a friend.

VISHNURAMPRASAD · Post by **VISHNURAMPRASAD** » 11 Jan 2011, 17:11

Am sure Balaji shankar is singing in AIR as he had arleady got B High spot which is a permanent contract given by AIR for atleast 5-6 concerts a year. I am sure he must have even got A grade keeping his age and experience. Once I heard his AIR concert a couple of years back, having heard him live and many times in AIR, i was sure that it was Balaji (ofcourse I could find some voice related issues here and there in the AIR concert. To my surprise the announcement said some other name like Shankar Raman or something like that. I felt he wanted to hide his identity due to the voice issue, but his passion for music was as ever. K.V. Prasad or some other AIR staff artists might know better about this.

krishna32 · Post by **krishna32** » 29 Sep 2011, 13:27

Hi Guys

I need to break the ice here.
Sri Balaji Shankar works in HCL Technologies as a Manager in Chennai.
I met him couple of months back while i was working with HCL.
Hope is still in HCL.

We had lots of valuable discussions about his guru Sri D.K.Jayaraman.

Regards
Krishna

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 20 Apr 2016, 08:40

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5SbFsHjx2Co
Govardhana Gireesham recently recorded at his home by Balaji Shankar
Let us hope that this is a small first step to his comeback to the stage

Sundara Rajan · Post by **Sundara Rajan** » 20 Apr 2016, 08:57

I did listen to his recording. I do not detect any flaw in his voice. It is the same as I heard him in NY and NJ some fifteen years ago. I guess he is ready to reenter prime time. Other rasikas also should encourage him to get back into the concert circuit.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 20 Apr 2016, 09:24

O gosh what a great first step , lovely voice and throw . Let Lord Balaji grace this balaji shankar to make a comeback.

sureshvv · Post by **sureshvv** » 20 Apr 2016, 11:59

Hoping to see him on stage soon.

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 20 Apr 2016, 22:57

Thank you Cienu ji for this wonderful update!
Here is a vintage clip of him with his guru,
singing Kalyani alapana with Sri M.S.Gopalakrishnan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_388L_XWbM

It would be totally wonderful to see him back
in action.

varsha · Post by **varsha** » 25 Sep 2016, 09:55

https://www.mediafire.com/?g4b67n9auz5zsnb
95 vintage

CRama · Post by **CRama** » 27 Sep 2016, 10:18

Varsha Thanks a lot for the concert. I enjoyed it.

Vocalist · Post by **Vocalist** » 14 Mar 2017, 18:56

Friends, I am so pleased to provide good news in this thread. Balaji Shankar performed a live concert on stage in October last year in Tokyo (Japan) for the MSS Centenary Celebrations. That's right folks; his comeback to the stage has already happened (while many of you were keeping quiet or looking the other way it seems)!

Vocalist · Post by **Vocalist** » 14 Mar 2017, 19:16

cienu provided an audio link above to a lovely recording of Balaji Shankar singing Govardhana Gireesham in Hindolam without accompanists. That was uploaded in April 2016.

I am pleased to now provide a video link of Balaji Shankar singing another Dikshitar gem, Purahara Nandana in Hameerkalyani, with accompanists. This video was uploaded in October 2016:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL5B5MwiKcw

I will leave it to the experts to provide an English translation of the conversation which can be heard between Puvanur Viswanathan Iyer (mridangist) and Madurai Balasubramaniam (violinist) at the end of the video.

rsrini · Post by **rsrini** » 17 May 2018, 21:59

Vocalist wrote: ↑14 Mar 2017, 18:56 Friends, I am so pleased to provide good news in this thread. Balaji Shankar performed a live concert on stage in October last year in Tokyo (Japan) for the MSS Centenary Celebrations. That's right folks; his comeback to the stage has already happened (while many of you were keeping quiet or looking the other way it seems)!

Here's a link to some clips of the Tokyo concert.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nAEE8O7HKo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL5B5MwiKcw

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 17 May 2018, 22:46

So nice to hear this extra ordinary musician , you made my day -rsrini . I am assuming his IT work pushed him to Tokyo may be he will come back to chennai and start performing soon.

Gayathri rama · Post by **Gayathri rama** » 17 Nov 2018, 01:08

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=170fxEtrcMg

Bagayanaiyya in chandra jyothi. This is the latest clip from Dec 2017. Yes Dec 2017. Perfect alapana.
This was part of a lecture demonstration in avinashilingam university in Coimbatore

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 17 Nov 2018, 10:01

thank you gayathri rama. We had few posts here and there to indicate that this great vidwan has made a comback ,now with your visual assurance it is really great . Hope Balaji Shankar makes a concert comeback, what artistry he still has with clean sangathis and sancharas.

aravindan mudaliar · Post by **aravindan mudaliar** » 05 Jan 2019, 21:41

Guys what happened to balaji shankar , it's amazing to see thread starting from 2009 going great , I don't know why I get tears listening to him and seeing you guys posts,gr8 guy with extraordinary gifted voice

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