Parur M.S. Anantharaman

Sam Swaminathan · Post by **Sam Swaminathan** » 06 May 2007, 14:02

I am an ardent fan of the Parur family. I have been following the Parur brothers since I was eight years old when I started playing the violin. I have attended the concert of the brothers when they were accompanying their father Pujya Sri Sundaram Iyer. Many splendid evenings have been spent listening to them at the Thiagraja Swami Samajam in Mylapore.

I picked up the attached picture from Chennaionline site and I got a pleasant shock ! Am I missing some thing here?

I would be very pleased if rasikas in our org could throw light on this

Thanks and regards

Sam

Sathej · Post by **Sathej** » 06 May 2007, 14:38

The picture is evidently a mirror image. There can be no other reasonable explanation.Shri MS Anantharaman does not play left handed.
Shri MSA is an extremely presevering man with a great spirit.He is one of the few senior violinists today who still accompanies vocalists who are by far his juniors.By the way,I am learning to play the violin from his son Shri MA Sundareswaran.
Sathej

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 06 May 2007, 15:29

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 06 May 2007, 15:31

Two of sons , in a famous group photo

Sam Swaminathan · Post by **Sam Swaminathan** » 06 May 2007, 15:49

By the way, any one thinking that I am pulling a fast one.....

here is the actual link to the chennaionline site...

http://chennaionline.com/music/Carnatic ... usic15.asp

Cheers........................Sam

Sam Swaminathan · Post by **Sam Swaminathan** » 06 May 2007, 15:57

Coolji

Lovely photo....I can see lalgudi Sir and of course the brothers.....do I see Balachander sir in the background at the last row? By the way, who are the other violinists incl the lady in the front ?

cheers

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 06 May 2007, 16:05

Kandadevi AlagiriSwami to the right of Lalgudi.
Yes that is Balchander indeed.
Behind MSG, It must V Thyagarajan(bespectacled)
The lady ... a tough one.

T Rukmini if I have to go by the bunch of Kanakambara flowers
or was that Lalgudi Srimathi ??

B Rajam Iyer is there , too.To Kandadevi's right.

jayaram · Post by **jayaram** » 06 May 2007, 17:04

Sam - here's definite proof that MSA is not a southpaw...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKChNl0tSqo[/youtube]

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 06 May 2007, 22:30

I wanted to get in and out of that youtube link just to check out the handedness, but got sucked right in. What a spirited and bright beginning to that song!! Thanks Jayaram for the link..

Also, it is fascinating for me to see the violinist to our left keeping the thala with his leg through out the song like a metronome. That too keeping steady with the Misra Chapu uneven beat intervals while his hands are moving at different speeds for the song..I will be glad if I can walk and chew gum at the same time

Sam, your observation is astute and spot on. Chennai online had their pictures in that page flipped horizonatally. The other clues are, the shirt buttons are usually to the person's right side and also the way he wears the dhothi ( though I do not know if natural left handers will flip the dhothi wearing mode.. do they? ).

Here is one with the flip corrected.

Sam Swaminathan · Post by **Sam Swaminathan** » 07 May 2007, 01:20

VK

Great job....My younger brother wears the dhoti as a lefti and he wears directly the opposite way right handers do.....( like I do)

I still do not understand how they flipped the photo? You mean deliberately?

Sam

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 07 May 2007, 01:32

I still do not understand how they flipped the photo? You mean deliberately?

I would not think so..mainly because I can not think of a reason for them doing that deliberately. It is probably a mistake when they were post processing the digital pictures for that page, though I do not know why they would be experimenting with flip as part of post processing. I have emailed editor@chennaionline.com alerting them about this.

Sam Swaminathan · Post by **Sam Swaminathan** » 07 May 2007, 02:46

Jayaram

I am only getting a blank page ( size of a large photogrpah) on your posting....may be some thing wrong on my side. Could you please post the link only ? Thanks and regards

kalgada78 · Post by **kalgada78** » 07 May 2007, 03:44

Here are the links to the video Jayaram has posted :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKChNl0t ... ed&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFn-NgAW ... ed&search=

Sarma.

jayaram · Post by **jayaram** » 07 May 2007, 04:07

Also, it is fascinating for me to see the violinist to our left keeping the thala with his leg

VK - MSA is accompanied by his two sons, MA Sundaresan and MA Krishnaswamy (the one who is keeping the beat with his leg)

Sarma-ji, thanks for posting the links.

Sam Swaminathan · Post by **Sam Swaminathan** » 07 May 2007, 04:18

Thanks Kalgada and Jayaram

thamizhisai_paithiyam · Post by **thamizhisai_paithiyam** » 07 May 2007, 05:22

i am really enjoying this thread being an unmitigated fan of the parur style. the clips and the photographs especially from a former era are priceless! thanks much for the effort involved in uploading them.

mahakavi · Post by **mahakavi** » 07 May 2007, 06:22

As for the handedness inversion, there is an explanation (iDa vala mARRam in Thamizh). If the original photo was in a slide format and if a print is made (without knowing which is the front side) by turning the slide 180 degrees, then right-left inversion would occur. This happened once before in Encarta (Microsoft encyclopedia) where they printed Cidambaram Nataraja with the right foot raised rather than the left foot (although mythology records that in Madurai the Lord did the opposite at the king's request).

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 07 May 2007, 07:16

mahakavi wrote:although mythology records that in Madurai the Lord did the opposite at the king's request).

Arasi,
Your friend ANDavan pitcai has composed a beautiful song tuned in kuntatavarALi on this theme-
P:
kAl mAri ADiya kanakasabhESA,
un mEl kAdal konDEn ayyanE ghanatuyyanE...
A:
mAn mazhu Endiya mangai naTam puriyum
Ananda TanDavanE naTarAjanE
C1:
pAdam varundum yenru pAnDiyam vEnDiDa
vEdan mAlum kANA vimala malar pAdam
nI dayavuDan tUkki nirtanam ADiDa
mAdhava muni, patanjali, puli pAdar kUDa
C2:
Sakti SivakAmi nittiyam unnuDan ADa
bhaktiuDan nandi tALamattaLam pODa
muktiaLitta pEyammai uDan pugazh pADa
tat dimi tOm tOm yenru tAN malar tUkkiyE

'mukti aLLittA pEyammai - is she referring to herself here?

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 07 May 2007, 07:58

Thank you Ravi! I did not know this song of ANDavan Pichchi.
pEyammai? I don't know. You say this because she is singing his praise? Another wild guess is: pEyam=water . Could it be gangai? She 'sings' after all when she flows. If I have any idea about what kind of a person the composer was, she would not have included herself in the august assembly. Surrendering, yes. As for my other 'friend' Ambujam Krishna, in her kalyani composition 'sundarESwarar sEvaDi paNindAl', she refers to him as 'mannanukkAgak kAl mATRi ADiya'. Nice to know today as to WHY!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 07 May 2007, 08:01

Another wild guess, Cool. I thought of T. Rukmini too at first. There used to be a violinist called Kanakambujam. Looking at the picture again, somehow that name popped up. Two wild guesses in a row? Mmm...

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 07 May 2007, 09:08

Arasi,
Since mukti aLitta did not fit with gangA, I thought she meant herself...

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 07 May 2007, 09:09

Why mukthi 'aLiththa?'

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 07 May 2007, 09:11

Since He liberated her from worldly life and she became ANDavan piccai?

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 07 May 2007, 09:17

I still don't know.
mukthi aLiththavan Aiyan. So, if 'nI mukthi aLiththa' were there, I would gladly say yes. 'pEdai' as a reference to herself is more convincing to me.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 07 May 2007, 09:21

nI mukti aLitta (koDutta) (nAn) pEyammai, (un) uDan pADa..(appozhudu)
mAdhava muni, patanjali, etc etc...

Anyway, I thought that the kAlmARRi ADiya kOvil is not the sundarESwarar kOil, but a smaller one on the outskirts of madurai?

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 07 May 2007, 09:21

You are a treasure house of purANAs, unlike me. Don't you have any reference to gangai giving mukthi to anyone?

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 07 May 2007, 09:27

'tol vinai agaTRum AlavAyinil kal yAnaikkuk karumbaLiththavar' is the line in Ak's kalyani composition before the one mentioned earlier. What story is that? Learning a lot in my class today...

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 07 May 2007, 09:47

tOl vinai is usually leprosy - isn't the lake in the temple of Kuzhikkarai (the temple for viSwanAtha and visAlAkshI that MD immortalized in annapUrNe visAlAkshI) supposed to cure leprosy? Did not know that the poRRAmari kuLam in madurai (ALavAy) also had the same properties...

kali yAnaikku: the episode doen't come to mind now...maybe it is the episode where Siva converts a mad elephant into the yAnaimalai near madurai?

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 07 May 2007, 11:53

When was the last time MSA and MSG played together?

jayaram · Post by **jayaram** » 07 May 2007, 13:45

I have heard that MSG and MSA gave a violin duo concert at the Royal Palace of Nepal. Would be good if someone has the recording.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 07 May 2007, 20:07

Ravi,
thozhu nOi is leprosy. thol is old (as in thol kAppiyam).
CML, can religious frenzy be called thozhu nOI as well?

So, AlavAy is poTRAmaraik kuLam?
Did a kal yAnai come to life and eat the sugarcane? When, I wonder. If any one of us gave karumbu to a kal yAnai (stone elephant), we would get stares!

mahakavi · Post by **mahakavi** » 07 May 2007, 21:12

rshankar wrote:muktiaLitta pEyammai uDan pugazh pADa
tat dimi tOm tOm yenru tAN malar tUkkiyE

'mukti aLLittA pEyammai - is she referring to herself here?

No, ANDavan piccai is not referring to herself here.

I seriously doubt the word "pEy" here. In the Amudam booklet they distinguish between "e" and "E" sounds by leaving the letter "e" as such for the kuRil (short sound "e") and accenting it on top to indicate the neDil (long sound; "E"). In this case they do not accent the "e". Hence it is not "pEyammai" but "pey ammai". Also the two words are not joined.

Viewing it from this perspective we have to find who this "pey ammai" is. "mukti aLitta pey ammai" has to be taken as is. This pei ammai is the one who confers mukti. She sings along Siva's praise. We already have SivakAmi mentioned earlier;hence it is not pArvati. Thus it leaves only one possibility--that is Gangai. Here is the logic.

In Thamizh one meaning for "pey" is "rain down" --mazhai peydadu (it rained). Gangai came down from the heavens to redeem the 60000 sons of..... (fill in the blank here with the mythological episode) upon Bhageerathan's heroic penance. That confers "mukti" on those 60000 souls. So Gangai is the one who confers mukti.

jayaram · Post by **jayaram** » 07 May 2007, 23:22

Trying to steer back to the topic-at-hand:
Are there any recordings of Parur Sundaram Iyer's music available?

http://www.chennaionline.com/musicseaso ... eason4.asp
This article on Parur Sundaram Iyer has the following reference:

Once in a concert Panditji sang Anumandra Panchamam and Sundaram Iyer immediately responded by adjusting the Anumandra sadja string and played the Anumandra Panchamam.

What is Anumandra panchamam?

Sam Swaminathan · Post by **Sam Swaminathan** » 08 May 2007, 09:09

I echo Jayaram's sentiments and request any of the rasikas having any recordings of the father and sons together in a concert to u/l it in the forum. I have also sent an appeal to Sri Sundaresan thru my brother to come out with any family collections they might probably have.....let us hope for the best.....cheers.....Sam

shanks · Post by **shanks** » 08 May 2007, 17:47

I think it would be quite a task to get a recording of Parur Sundaram Iyer playing by himself. There are a few AIR recordings of Parus Sundaram Iyer with MSG and MSA floating around however. I have one such recording from 1975 - will post it out later today; with three of them playing, it is only in the alapana & swaram passages that one can hear Sundaram Iyer perhaps based on the weak tonal quality that i would attribute to his age.

shanks · Post by **shanks** » 08 May 2007, 18:07

Here is the link for a recording with Parur Sundaram Iyer with MSG for sure and MSA (unsure)

http://download.yousendit.com/CF47A62C029C2C0B

Shankar

jayaram · Post by **jayaram** » 09 May 2007, 01:53

Shankar, thank you for that.

Sam Swaminathan · Post by **Sam Swaminathan** » 09 May 2007, 02:04

Shankar

I cannot thank you enough for this wonderful gift. The recording while not very clear, conveys the sheer brilliance of the father son trio sufficeintly and gives immense glimpse in to their vidwat. To-day is bound to be good day for me, for, I have had a auspicous beginning to the day by listening to my manasiga guru Sri Sundaram Iyer.....

I am sure there is more out there....please guys, come out with it....thanks

shanks · Post by **shanks** » 09 May 2007, 07:35

Two download links - both AIR recordings:

This is a short one with the bulk of the concert missing.

http://rapidshare.com/files/30277864/21 ... G.mp3.html

Complete recording of the earlier one that i had uploaded - 54 minutes

http://rapidshare.com/files/30278161/243_MSG.mp3.html

These are the only recordings i managed to collect with Sundaram Iyer.

Needless to say i am an ardent listener of MSG. Have been for more than three decades now.

Shankar

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 09 May 2007, 07:38

Needless to say i am an ardent listener of MSG. Have been for more than three decades now.

Not only that- spreading the good stuff around too-To hungry ears like Cool's. Thanks you Karthik and Shanks.

ksrimech · Post by **ksrimech** » 09 May 2007, 07:49

shanks wrote:I think it would be quite a task to get a recording of Parur Sundaram Iyer playing by himself. There are a few AIR recordings of Parus Sundaram Iyer with MSG and MSA floating around however. I have one such recording from 1975 - will post it out later today; with three of them playing, it is only in the alapana & swaram passages that one can hear Sundaram Iyer perhaps based on the weak tonal quality that i would attribute to his age.

This recording ought to have been prior to 1964 because of he died in December of that year. Then any recording with parur sundaram iyer is a very old recording. Thanks a ton Shanks. Got to hear PSI for the first time.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/2001/10/0 ... 050708.htm states

Now this style is well established and is followed by his son, Parur M. S. Anantharaman and grandsons M. A. Sundareswaran and M. A. Krishnaswamy.

Doesn't MSG and MN also follow this parur style?

Sam Swaminathan · Post by **Sam Swaminathan** » 09 May 2007, 09:06

Shankar.....you are the MAN!!

Ksrimech.....both MN and MAS are brilliant violinists. I have heard both of them in different concerts but cannot differentiate in terms of skills and knowledge. Their style of playing, fingering technique are the same having been initiated into this art by their grandfather in the initial instance and further trained by respective fathers.

Once in Botswana, some 18 years ago, where MSG Sir played along with Gurvayoor Dorai Sir, I asked MSG Sir as to the future of Parur style. He replied, "there is plenty out there where it came from.......our progeny will ensure that"....prophetic !!

ksrimech · Post by **ksrimech** » 09 May 2007, 22:40

Their style of playing, fingering technique are the same having been initiated into this art by their grandfather in the initial instance and further trained by respective fathers.

Samji,

My question was about sangIta kalAnidhi MSG and not his nephew, MAS. Anyways, I will conclude that The Hindu has inadvertently (or what ever reason) left out MSG and MN's name?

I asked MSG Sir

When all of you say you got to interact with such carnAtaka isai stars, I feel as if I'm living in a forest (by name Boulder,CO) with out any communication facilities.

thanjavur · Post by **thanjavur** » 09 May 2007, 22:48

Sangeethapriya (M S Anantharaman) links

MSA & sons

contribution - TVG

with MSG (contribution - Raju Asokan)
1 Viriboni - Bhairavi - Khandajathi Ata - Pachimiriyam Adiappayya
2 Ninne Bhajana - Nattai - Adi - Thyagarajar
3 Raghuvamsha Sudha - Kathanakutuhalam - Patnam Subramaniya Iyer
4 Ninnuvinaga Mari - Purvikalyani - Chapu - Shyama Shastry
5 Entavedukodu O Raghava - Saraswatimanohari - Desadi - Thyagarajar
______________________________________________________________

Sam Swaminathan · Post by **Sam Swaminathan** » 10 May 2007, 01:30

Boulder...Hoover Dam? Been there....beautiful place....

Yes, MSG Sir and Narmada follow exactly same technique and so do MAS and MAK, to the best of my knowledge. As I have said, I have seen them and I cannot point to any significant differences. Got the opportunity to learn a few steps ( very basic) with MAS. MAA happened to be there at that time. He was curious about my fingering technique, ( he thought that was rather "restrictive") and pointed out the short comings my technique poses in terms of playing certains sangathis, particularly where one needs to present sangathis which need continuity of tonal quality etc.

I knew immediately that I can never reach their heights given where I was and realised the amount of "sadagam" that I need to do even to get 10% of their skills...

Yeah...continue what I do best.....financial control and management

As they say in tamil, aasai irrukku thaasil saiyya, adhrishtam irrukku maadu meyka !!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 10 May 2007, 02:04

Sam,
You being the 'nephew of gOpAlan' have the chance for 'mADu mEikkum' oppurtunity while some of us do what the saying, put in a different way, expresses it: adrishTam irukkiRadu kazhudai mEikka!

mahakavi · Post by **mahakavi** » 10 May 2007, 03:00

>>>Boulder...Hoover Dam? Been there....beautiful place...<<<

Wrong city, right dam!
Hoover Dam is situated near Las Vegas and Boulder City in Nevada (not in Boulder , Colorado). The dam across the Colorado river creats Lake Mead in Nevada (near the Arizona border). Beautiful dam and lake.

ksrimech · Post by **ksrimech** » 10 May 2007, 04:37

Yes there no Hoover Dam in Colorado. Colorado is mountainous (Rockies) and has lots of forest area. In reality, this is a forest area. nijamAvE idu kADu tAn.

arasi,
aDiyEnukku mAdu mEypadarkkum adruSTam kiDaiyAdu. adukku inda Uril ippozhudu license taramAtArgaL.

Sam Swaminathan · Post by **Sam Swaminathan** » 10 May 2007, 06:07

Arasi....your modesty and humility shames me. I am a no body compared to what you have achieved. But I do have the aspirations to achieve some thing which will "some what" emulate the likes of MSG/Parur style. I know I cannot achieve it in my life time. But no one can blame me for trying. Some days when I practice and I do not get the sangathi that I want, my fingers do not co-operate, where the body does not want to sync with the mind, I feel frustrated and want throw the violin down and step on it. Such frustration increases a thousand times when I hear MSG sir playing and realising that I will never get there !!

But I am grateful to Ambal Saraswathi and my parents for giving me atleast this much opportunity to own and play a violin and that too Carnatic music....I have to be grateful for such wonderful things in life...

shanks · Post by **shanks** » 10 May 2007, 07:08

Sam,
One of the key characteristic of parur style is the use of pinky (4th finger) very effectively and to reduce excessive movement of the hand up and down the fingerboard. Most of the other violinists barely use the pinky barring occasional use for playing the anuswarams. The other fascinating aspect their technique is simply the use of the first two fingers say a series of 10-12 consecutive notes on a single string. this is a very effective approach for playing the sangati in 'mAyAteetaswaroopini' where there is a sequence srgmpdnsndpmgmgrsn to be played on a single string.

H K Narasimhamoorthy a student of Sundaram Iyer and then MSG talked about these during his visits to Pittsburgh in the mid 90's. His son a disciple of MSG, is a pretty good violinist in the parur style.

On another note:
As Mallikarjuna Sarmaji has mentioned in some other thread - discouraging as it would be, i kind of agree with him that mastery over the instrument has to be reached by the age of 15 and after that the manodharma can be developed based on the mastery.

Shankar