Remembrance Day Of Kanjira Maestro G Harishankar

[n s sankar kanjira]

time
11 February 2011 ·
18:00 - 21:00
Location: RAGASUDHA HALL, LUZ,MYLAPORE.CHENNAI-05
Created by:
Nerkunam Sankar

More info
6:00PM PRAYER
6:05PM WELCOME ADDRESS
6:10PM TRIBUTE TO G HARISHANKAR BY GHATAM S. KARTHIK
6:30PM A/V PRESENTATION OF G HARISHANKAR
7:00PM G HARISHANKAR MEMORIAL AWARD TO GHATAM EXPONENT
SRI E M SUBRAMANIYAM
7:10PM ADDRESS BY CHIEF GUST DR. T K MURTHY
7:25PM VOTE OF THANKS
7:30PM GRAND RAGAM THANAM PALLAVI CONCERT BY
KUNNAKUDI M BALAMURALIKRISHNA -VOCAL
ACCOMPANIED BY
MULLAIVASAL G CHANDRAMOULI-VIOLIN
NEYVELI R NARAYANAN-MRIDANGAM
UDIPI S SRIKANTH-KANJIRA
DR.S.KARTHIK-GHATAM
All are welcome
for sponsorship contact :nerkunam.sankar@gmail.com

[mahavishnu]

Nerkunam Sankar: All the best for this wonderful event. I really enjoyed last year's remembrance day and the TMK concert that followed.

Do you have new videos of the maestro that you will screening this year?

[n s sankar kanjira]

Nerkunam Sankar: All the best for this wonderful event. I really enjoyed last year's remembrance day and the TMK concert that followed.

Do you have new videos of the maestro that you will screening this year?

thanks a lot sir ..yes ..some new videos added this year..

[semmu86]

Best wishes... Again sad, that it is falling on a working day...

[n s sankar kanjira]

6:10pm "Our HEARTS BEATS for HARISHANKAR"
A Musical / Rhythmical Offering to the Legendary Kanjira Wizard
Sri.G.Harishankar
Composed, Conceived and Conducted
by
Dr.'Ghatam' S. KARTHICK

Participating Guest Artistes
Kunnakudi Sri.M.Balamuralikrishna Vocal
Sri. K.V.Gopalakrishnan Kanjira
Sri. Nerkunam Sankar Kanjira
Sri. Aniruddh Athreya Kanjira
Sri. Udupi S. Srikanth Kanjira
Sri. G.Hari Hara Sharma Kanjira

[mahavishnu]

What a nice concept! All the best.

[n s sankar kanjira]

5 days to go....

[mahavishnu]

any reports of this event?

[Nick H]

OK, as no-one more learned has contributed, with the rider that this is just one of my completely subjective accounts, this is how it was for me...

There was an amazingly good turnout with few empty seats. Whilst I'm not very fond of orchestrated presentations, it was amazing to see the kanjira artists on stage playing as one and it was a bold and appropriate idea that the piece should be played by Kanjira artists only with just some vocal but no other percussion instruments. It would have been nice to see a round of solo playing, though: perhaps GHS's amazing tani responses could have been evoked in a short korraipu.

Initially, I found KMBK irritating. He is one of these dancing vocalists, and my friends will know that I find this most annoying. I also wonder what all this throwing around of the head, especially this looking down for the low notes, will do to the voice box over many years, but I am not a medical man, so this is just just surmise on my part. I was accompanied by my wife and Curtis Andrews. Curtis, very wisely, pointed out to me that I didn't have to watch, and should take advantage of the tall man sitting in front of me. With this thought, and with the fact that KMBK both warmed up and had his mic adjusted, I was able to warm to the performance and enjoy the RTP.

Of the other kind of "vocal performance," T. K. Murthy was king. His smile is so infectious that one smiles along with him and laughs along with him. I listened attentively to every word, despite not understanding even one of them. He just has that magnetism and charm.

It was nice to see Sri E. M. Subramaniyam honoured. The ghatam player's lot is a hard one. He knows that, with the exception of the solos, it is unlikely that his mic is adjusted properly for people to hear his contribution, but he makes it anyway. EMS has one of those quiet, supporting presences on stage.

Of course, this was not about whether any individual liked any aspect of the music or not. It was about Harishankar's greatness and genius, and about the determined effort of a few people to honour that with an annual event. The size of the audience bore witness to the success of that. The only thing that could please us all more would be to have Harishankar himself still living and playing for us today. It is sad to reflect that was born five years after me: it is one thing to loose the greats in their 90s, 80s, or even 70s, but to loose such a musician in his 40s is just pure tragedy for us all.

Hats off to those youngsters today, who remember him whenever they perform and who come together to remind us all with this event each year. Life permitting, I shall certainly be joining them over the years to come.

[n s sankar kanjira]

Thanks a lot to every one who make the remembrance day grand success... ai thank each and every rasikas and artists who came that day . And thank all the friends who helped me to make the event.. also thank all the participating artists.. Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna was fabulous on that day.. While playing the thillana and rtp concert.. thanks a lot to him..

[mahavishnu]

Nick, thanks for the report. I quite like KBMK; perhaps his voice took a while to warm up? From the last few times I heard him, it felt like he was just exploring the range of what was possible with his voice. When he finds his mojo, I think he will be an amazing singer.

Nerkunam Sankar: Keep up the great work in organizing this wonderful annual festival in honour of Sri Harishankar. Please post the new videos of the maestro if you can get the family's permission.

Congrats to Sri EMS for a well deserved honour!

[Nick H]

Please don't think that I am dismissing him, even for my taste. Yes, he has a most interesting voice, and I am sure that, as time goes by, he will use it in better and better ways. I'll be going to see him again, to see how he is doing that.

All performers and public speakers should watch out for the antics and gestures. 99% of them do not help, they only hinder. I learnt this from a drama workshop in my youth, and as it is increasingly forgotten, I see how true it is. It doesn't matter if it is a TV report, a sales presentation, or the carnatic stage: use gestures sparingly, and appropriately else your audience will watch you rather than listening to you. I should charge for this advice --- then maybe people would take some notice!

[mahavishnu]

Nick, good advice. I expect to be billed now!

[Nick H]

The invoice is in the post

[mahavishnu]

Just saw the Hindu's report on this:
http://www.thehindu.com/arts/music/article1464547.ece

[mahavishnu]

And a video of Karthick's composition that was performed that day:
PART 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYmgQz_BXVk
PART 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV6NMmJ9NHA