Balaji Shankar

Carnatic Musicians
prashant
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Post by prashant »

tulasammA - dEvagAndhAri - http://www.sendspace.com/file/kbib4g

prashant
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Post by prashant »


rbharath
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Post by rbharath »

thats awesome prashant...

waiting for the rest..

prashant
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Post by prashant »


prashant
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Post by prashant »

A rollicking AbhOgi. shrI mahA gaNapatE - http://www.sendspace.com/file/0e5ufd

prashant
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Post by prashant »


ragam-talam
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Post by ragam-talam »

Wow, thanks for all the wonderful music uploads of Balaji, Prashant.
The Abhogi piece is especially delicious.

Here are a couple of video clips of DKJ where you can see a young Balaji Shankar providing vocal support for the maestro:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29Q9dqFSVyA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtlPDY0Wouo

rasaali
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Joined: 05 Feb 2007, 10:08

Post by rasaali »

vijay wrote:Balaji's was one of my first (in fact my first) carnatic concert and deserves a fair bit of credit for winning me over to CM althogh I had already been hooked to a few records by then. This was at the Tamil Sangam in Delhi, summer 1998 - I had actually gone to attend Sudha's performance - Balaji's concert was more of a curtain raiser - but the fantastic Kambhoji (I was too much of a greenhorn to remember krithi - in fact in those days I used to get bored after the alaapana!), managed to eclipse Sudha that day.
Vijay
If you are referring to the concert held in Tamil Sangam on April 4 1998 the main was Sri Raghuvara Prameya in Kamboji. Just to jog your memory this particular concert started with Neelayadakshi in Parasu and he also sang Parandamavati (Dharmavati). Does that ring a bell? Are we talking about the same concert?

prashant
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Post by prashant »

Enjoy the tAnam - pallavi tomorrow - http://www.sendspace.com/file/5ifec3

prashant
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Post by prashant »

Kal kya hoga, kisko pata - abhi zindagi ka le lo mazaa. Ergo, here is the pallavi - good night all! Will be back tomorrow with a few more goodies. Sadly, will run out of stock very soon,

http://www.sendspace.com/file/4k6bkt

vasanthakokilam
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 00:01

Post by vasanthakokilam »

Thanks Prashant. Great stuff. His voice especially on the Kharaharapriya pallavi is so smooth and effortless.

1) Is the thala of the Ranjani pallavi Misra Chapu?

2) In the Kharaharapriya pallavi, I counted 25 for one avarthana and I can fit that with Khanda Eka. I have not heard any pallavis in Khanda Eka before so I do not know what the convention for the Arudhi position etc. for that thala is so I am not sure. If I go with arudhi on the first beat of Khanda Eka the eduppu is on the third beat. Enough of my speculation, what is the thala for the Kharaharapriya pallavi?

Thanks.

rshankar
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Post by rshankar »

prashant wrote:Kal kya hoga, kisko pata - abhi zindagi ka le lo mazaa
Reminds me of a small part from one of those inspirational poems that are usual parts of the curriculum in schools:

kAl karE so Aj
Aj karE so ab
pal mein parlay hOyEgI
bahuri karOgE kab?

(Should there be (hOyEgI) a deluge (pralay/parlay) this very second (pal mein), when (kab) will you complete (bahuri karOgE) your tasks - So, please finish (karE) what is scheduled for tomorrow (kAl karE) today (Aj), and what is slotted for today (Aj karE), immediately (ab)!)

Should be the mantra for people like me who have advanced degrees in the science and art form of procrastination! :)

Prashant, thanks (anantakOTi thanks) - in the comments section of the ranjani pallavi track the tALa is mentioned as chaurAsra jhampa (khaNDa gati) - Please explain!

Ravi

vasanthakokilam
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Post by vasanthakokilam »

Thanks Ravi for mentioning about the comments section of the mp3. I did not notice it before.

I can see now count wise why both misra chapu (7) and chathusra jathi jampa (7), khanda gathi (5) = 35 fits. Prashant, now I am also curious why it is the latter and not the former. Thanks.

I latched on to misra chapu since it fit the count and also felt comfortable with the built-in layam matching with the misra-chapu stutter step pattern. But I felt that something is not right since it took 5 avarthanams of Misra chapu to complete the line which is unusual.

After I learnt about the khanda gathi, now I can comfortably keep the thalam in khanda chapu as well. There are enough stresses in the song to fit both khanda and misra chapu pattern and also work in the thala structure of chathusra jathi jampa, khanda gathi. Quite amazing. The number 35 provides a convenient way for all these three to meet in a natural way.

Now, while on the gathi bandwagon, I have to go back to the Kharaharapriya pallavi and put in the possibility of Misra Jathi Jampa, Khanda Gathi as a better fit. It fits nicely with the arudhi stress falling on the usual fulcrum point of the thala and also the built-in layam of the pallavi matches the thala structure.

prashant
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Post by prashant »

Let me try my hand at explaining and let's go with the ranjani pallavi first.

As per what I have learnt, pallavis should not be sung in misra CApu since there is no arudi to the tALam. Therefore, vasanthakokilam, what you mention here as misra CApu is actually tisra rUpaka [misra gati] here. Let me post the calculations of the pallavi:

'paramEshwari kripAkari shankari pAhi mAm, ranjani niranjani'

pa - 1 ra - 1 mE - 2 shwa - 1 ri - 2 [1 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 2 = 7]

kri - 1 pA - 2 ka - 1 ri - 2 [1 + 2 + 1 + 2 = 6]

shan - 2 ka - 1 ri - 2 [2 + 1 + 2 = 5]

pA - 2 hi - 1 [2 + 1] = 3

mAm - 4 [arudi] = 4

ran - 2 ja - 1 ni - 2 [2 + 1 + 2 = 5]

ni - 1 ran - 2 ja - 1 ni - 1 [1 + 2 + 1 = 5]

Total aksharas = 7 + 6 + 5 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 5 = 35

Therefore, as correctly mentioned by vasanthakokilam, this can be sung in tisra rUpaka [misra gati] i.e. [3 + 2] x 7 = 35 or chaturAsra jhampa [khaNDa gati] i.e. [4 + 3] x 5 = 35

Why I feel this is in the latter tALa [apart from a few places where the beats fall exactly as per this :-)] is that the eDuppu comes 1 aksharam before samam in this structure [atIta eDuppu] which gives a nice feeling of 'tautness' in the pallavi structure. If you sing this pallavi in tisra rUpaka [misra gati] the eDuppu is at samam from the laghu and does not have the same 'taut' feel to it.

That's only my personal feeling however, and of course it is eminently possible to sing in this tALa!

Sorry for the overly long [and possibly redundant :-)] explanation!
Last edited by prashant on 30 Jun 2008, 09:43, edited 1 time in total.

prashant
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Post by prashant »

kharaharapriyA:

vasanthakOkilam - you are spot-on! This pallavi is in tisra rUpaka [5 - kaLai] where the arudi falls on the first beat of the drutam. Let me post the calculations:

'mA pazhanimalai magapatiyE nI vA, vEl mayiluDanE'

mA - 2

pa - 1 zha -1 ni - 1 ma - 1 lai - 1

ma - 1 ga - 1 pa - 1 ti - 1 yE - 1

nI - 1

vA - 5 [arudi]

vEl - 2

ma - 1 yil - 1 u - 1 Da - 1 nE - 1

Total = 25 aksharas

Therefore the eDuppu will be on the 3rd akshara in the laghu [each beat = 5 aksharas] and arudi will therefore be at the first beat in the dhrutam.

As Sri Balaji Shankar sings, this can be reduced to tisra rUpaka [khaNDa gati] and further to tisra rUpaka [khanDa laghu - perhaps incorrect terminology - maybe Balaji Sir or sankIrNam can correct].
Last edited by prashant on 30 Jun 2008, 09:44, edited 1 time in total.

vasanthakokilam
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Post by vasanthakokilam »

Prashant: Thanks very much. You are a great teacher. This is the kind of elaboration that is needed for interested rasikas like me.

This thisra rupaka with a non-chathusra gathi opens up a lot of possibilities. I am catching up.

A question. Arudhi stress normally falls on the anga somewhere near the mid point of the thala avarthana and not samam, right? ( that may be a wrong assumption ). If that is the case, the structure of the ranjani pallavi is 3+2 ( misra gathi ) rather than 2+3 (misra gathi ). Rupaka is traditionally drutham followed by laghu ( 2+ laghu count), being the only one to start with a drutham. That may be another reason to go to chathusra jampa, khanda gathi.

prashant
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Post by prashant »

vasanthakokilam wrote:A question. Arudhi stress normally falls on the anga somewhere near the mid point of the thala avarthana and not samam, right? ( that may be a wrong assumption ). If that is the case, the structure of the ranjani pallavi is 3+2 ( misra gathi ) rather than 2+3 (misra gathi ). Rupaka is traditionally drutham followed by laghu ( 2+ laghu count), being the only one to start with a drutham. That may be another reason to go to chathusra jampa, khanda gathi.
I agree on arudi as well as the 3 + 2 (misra gati) structure of ranjani pallavi.

vijay
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Post by vijay »

Hi Rasaali - thanks for jogging my memory...I arrived only when the kambhoji was being sung, maybe towards the end of the alaapana...it was definitely April 98...also it might have been Hyd Sisters after Balaji and not Sudha...

Really felt good to go back to that concert after all these years...many thanks!!

rasaali
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Post by rasaali »

vijay wrote:Hi Rasaali - thanks for jogging my memory...I arrived only when the kambhoji was being sung, maybe towards the end of the alaapana...it was definitely April 98...also it might have been Hyd Sisters after Balaji and not Sudha...

Really felt good to go back to that concert after all these years...many thanks!!
Vijay,

You're welcome. It was indeed a good concert. Was a special one for me too. :)

vijay
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Post by vijay »

Yeah...10 years back...whew! Really whizzed past!

rasaali
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Post by rasaali »

vijay wrote:Yeah...10 years back...whew! Really whizzed past!
Indeed! Anyway, I pressed submit halfway through my post. The concert was spl for me as I had the privilege of providing violin accompaniment to Balaji Shankar.

prashant
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Post by prashant »

Wow!!! It's a privilege to have you here, rasaali. That's incredible that you accompanied Sri Balaji. Would definitely like to know more about you and your musical journey if you do not mind posting here.

rasaali
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Post by rasaali »

prashant wrote:Wow!!! It's a privilege to have you here, rasaali. That's incredible that you accompanied Sri Balaji. Would definitely like to know more about you and your musical journey if you do not mind posting here.
Prashant- Time to let the cat out of the bag, I suppose. You and I have met. And I am a regular chota-mota (pun intended) aadmi, an amateur violinist and fellow rasika. :) As for my "musical journey", it started in Delhi and continues (by God's grace) on the weekends in the US now.

I learnt violin from Smt Vanaja Aravamuthan, Sri V. Janakiraman (guru of Delhi Sunderarajan) and continue to learn from my uncle Sri Kovai B. Dakshinamurthy of AIR Chennai.

The concert in question was organized by Music Education Trust's Delhi chapter and Vijay's repeated references to the same motivated me to provide more details as it was special for me to accompany an artiste of this calibre.

Fortunate as I was to hear the good Kamboji from close quarters, I guess I should also feel happy (lucky??) that I did not do sufficient damage on stage to put our friend Vijay off from CM for life. :) :)

Best,
KVS Vinay

PUNARVASU
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Post by PUNARVASU »

Rasaali,
I have heard Kovai Shri B.Dakshinamoorthy long back and also his sister Kovai B.Gnanambal(I hope I remebered the name right.) Of late I have not heard them;was wondering about it. I used to like thier music.
Last edited by PUNARVASU on 01 Jul 2008, 04:05, edited 1 time in total.

arasi
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Post by arasi »

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

Ravi,
Wish I had heard and followed the wisdom in the verse a long time ago. At this point in my life, how much more meaning it carries!

rshankar
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Post by rshankar »

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
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Post by prashant »

Haha! You and I have not just met, KVSV. A very nice rEvagupti reply comes to mind!!! :-) Nice to see you here.

rasaali
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Post by rasaali »

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
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Post by rbharath »

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

rajeshnat
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Post by rajeshnat »

vinay(rasaali)
Are you also related to shri T. K. Jayarama Iyer , violinist who received sangeetha kalanidhi in 1960.
Last edited by rajeshnat on 01 Jul 2008, 14:24, edited 1 time in total.

vijay
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Post by vijay »

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
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Post by rasaali »

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
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Post by PUNARVASU »

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

vijay
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Joined: 27 Feb 2006, 16:06

Post by vijay »

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
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Post by arasi »

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

sbala
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Post by sbala »

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
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Joined: 27 Feb 2006, 16:06

Post by vijay »

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

malavi
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Post by malavi »

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
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Post by Priya_s »

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
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Joined: 03 Jun 2005, 08:55

Post by rajeevsid »

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
Posts: 92
Joined: 03 Jun 2005, 08:55

Post by rajeevsid »

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
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Post by rajajisrinivasan »

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
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Post by sureshvv »

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
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Joined: 06 Aug 2006, 08:26

Post by Ahiri »

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.
Last edited by Ahiri on 14 Aug 2008, 18:14, edited 1 time in total.

jayaram
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Post by jayaram »

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
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Post by cienu »

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
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Post by pgaiyar »

Mr. Jayaram:

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

Regards

Guru
24-01-09

rasaali
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Joined: 05 Feb 2007, 10:08

Post by rasaali »

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
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Joined: 23 Sep 2006, 05:08

Post by vpadmana »

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
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Post by vijay »

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

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