M.S. Subbulakshmi

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 15 Sep 2013, 12:10

Ramasubramanian M.K wrote: I was talking to VKV the other day about Kalki gardens and I had sounded him about running a series in the forum about the Comings and Goings in Kalki gardens- over 3 decades of fond memories-he suggested it was an excellent idea and I had sounded you about it to get your Mom to contribute to the Musings .
After your return to Bangalore run it by your Mom.Thangamma can contribute a rich lode of the early days--by the way she attended my father's centenary function and stayed throughout--amazing for a woman over 85!!!

Dear Ramesh Mama,
Will surely coax Amma to share some of her memories of Kalki Gardens. Due to the circumstances under which my Grandparents had to leave from there in 1977, the memories are not always very pleasant to recollect. But nevertheless there are so many happy memories to share too.
Many years back I remember a person asking my Grandfather Sri T Sadasivam rather brusquely about his memories of Kalki Gardens and whether he was not nostalgic at leaving such a palatial bungalow. Quick in his repartee, my Grandfather replied that time and space are a thought process of the mind. "Mela Aakasham, kizha bhoomi". When there is so much where is the question of regret, he replied, much to the surprise of the questioner !
Dear Rajesh
Thangamma is my Grandfather's Niece. (Sister's daughter)
She was the back bone in managing the affairs of Kalki Gardens on the home front.
A great task master and manager with the focus on getting things done.
A welcoming host to the many who stayed there.
And the person behind the successful organisation of the famous lunch and dinners of Kalki Gardens which my Grandparents used to host.
Please find below a picture of Thangamma talking to Nalli Chettiar in Dec 2011 at Brahma Gana Sabha after my mother's and Aishwarya's concert.

venkatakailasam · Post by **venkatakailasam** » 15 Sep 2013, 20:46

Smt. MSS 97th birthday Falling on 16th Sep 2013-A small Tribute to the Legend...
In a rare Raga sindhu kannaDa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af6eH74fpfg

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 16 Sep 2013, 00:19

Sep 16th 2013:
Yaad Aave Yaad Aave - Vrindavan Ki Mangala Leela .
On the 97th birthday of the "Queen of Music"

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 16 Sep 2013, 01:32

Ah.. what a great picture, so appropriate for this occasion (MSS's 97th birthday). Thanks Cienu.

venkatakailasam · Post by **venkatakailasam** » 16 Sep 2013, 02:10

Meera (1947): Yaad aavey, Brindavan ki mangala leela ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tzC1Ci4NAM

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 16 Sep 2013, 02:31

Cienu - thank you for sharing...what an amazing picture!

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 16 Sep 2013, 09:02

Superb picture, Cienu.
andha nALum vandidAdO? (and I don't mean Krishna in Brindavan).

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 16 Sep 2013, 09:20

What a picture, Cienu!

VKailasam,
Thank you for the clip. yAd AyI, yAd AyI!

Mahavishnu,
You can imagine--for some of us here, your longing for 'anda nATkaL' (good old days) are doubled in years

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 16 Sep 2013, 10:04

Here is something from indha nAL.
Today's google doodle.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 16 Sep 2013, 10:10

Thanks. Would have been hot from the press for me, had I not seen srkris's post with it in The General Discussions first!

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 16 Sep 2013, 12:45

A link from today's "Times of India" - "Google marks M S Subbulakshmi's 97th birthday with a doodle ! "
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech ... 617400.cms

Rsachi · Post by **Rsachi** » 16 Sep 2013, 15:04

Fellow MSS bhaktas,
Trust Google to do the right thing in line with public sentiment!

I want yo say one thing though. If there is a survey of the number of times different people around the world think of ONE MUSICIAN round the year, everyday, who do you think will be the top most name? The queen of melody MSS. I think the largest number of people in the world, for the largest number of days in any year, will be cherishing her name.

Ramasubramanian M.K · Post by **Ramasubramanian M.K** » 16 Sep 2013, 18:28

Dear Cienu: I fully appreciate/respect your comments/sentiments on the Kalki gardens narrative. But at the same time it is my feeling that the World--especially our forumites ought to know what kind of a benevolent,charitable and epoch-making household it was and how the inhabitants spread over several generations contributed to the hustle and bustle.perhaps it is best I draw up an outline for you and your Mom touching upon various aspects of daily living--that was so unlike any of the celebrity households I have been fortunate to visit or read about.

Ofcourse pics would be ideal.

HOW your Thatha and Patti helped the hordes of relatives and friends(our family included) and friends-turned adversaries without expecting any reciprocity and without the conventional and natural concern for their own children by way of bequeathing riches to the progeny--is something that the outside world rarely knows about.

YES I can very well understand how your Mom would feel about the post 1977 era. But I can assure you to this day neither she nor your late aunt Vijaya have ever bemoaned not inheriting riches nor have they ever commmented about the perfidy of so-called "friends" and wellwishers. My mother to this day feels that Thatha could have and should have done more for your Mom.To me that kind of magnanimity in this day and age is unprecedented.

If Thatha had willed it you and Sekhar would be sitting today on a vast real estate empire surrounding Kalki Gardens!!!

venkatakailasam · Post by **venkatakailasam** » 16 Sep 2013, 23:02

E SWARA 172 concert MSS VVS karaikudi mani V Nagarajan A three hour concert..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0q9PbeT25k

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 17 Sep 2013, 18:36

Please find below 2 links which appeared in “The Hindu” and “The Times of India” with regard to the function organized by Sri Krishna Gana Sabha on the occasion of the 97th birth anniversary of Smt M.S.Subbulakshmi to felicitate my mother Smt Radha Viswanathan. (Sep 16th 2013)
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/che ... epage=true
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 642475.cms
Kindly also find below some pictures with my comments. I was delighted to meet amongst our Rasikas members Mrs and Mr Nageswaran and also Nick accompanied by his wife. Sri Y Prabhu Gen Secy of SKGS was unfortunately indisposed and could not attend the function.

Welcoming the Governor of Andhra Pradesh , Sri E S L Narasimhan and his wife Smt Vimala Narasimhan as they arrive at Sri Krishna Gana Sabha.

S.Saundarya sings the invocation “He Nutan”

Saundarya is thrilled to receive a memento from the Governor of Andhra Pradesh as Dr Nalli, Sri Sundaram and Aishwarya are all smiles

Sri T K Murthy gave a “from the heart” speech about Sri Sadasivam, Smt MS and Smt Radha. There were some anecdotes too delivered in his inimitable style which had the audience in splits.

Amma and His Excellency the Governor of Andhra Pradesh

Honoring Amma – The Honorable Governor presents the citation

Cleveland Sri V V Sundaram reads the citation

Sri V Ramnarayan being honored by Nalli Chettiar

The Governor of Andhra Pradesh and his wife Smt Vimala Narasimhan share their thoughts with Amma

Shri E S L Narasimhan , Governor of Andhra Pradesh delivers his Presidential address.

A view of a section of the audience

Cleveland Sri V V Sundaram and I compliment His Excellency on his wonderful speech.

S.Aishwarya’s concert followed the felicitation function She is supported by Sri V V Ravi, Dr T K Murthy, Sri A M Harinarayanan, Sri Anirudh.V.Athreya and Sri Balaji & Sri P Manjunatha on Tambura

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 17 Sep 2013, 19:00

It was a long function, about 1.5 hours, in fact, but, because of the quality of the speeches and the powerful feelings of the speakers, beautifully delivered, it did not drag at all. I was particularly moved by Sr Ramnarayan's speech.

Aishwaryia gave a great performance. It seems that it is two years since I last saw her, and she has moved onwards and upwards to greater heights. I would, simply, use the word "more" ...of everything!

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 17 Sep 2013, 19:09

Cienu...thank you! Amazing pictures!

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 17 Sep 2013, 20:04

Excellent pictures! Thanks, Cienu.
glad that that function went off well. Look forward to hearing more about Kum. Aishwarya's concert!

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 17 Sep 2013, 21:28

Thank you Nick, Ravi and Ramesh for your comments and wishes.

mahavishnu wrote:Excellent pictures! Thanks, Cienu.
glad that that function went off well. Look forward to hearing more about Kum. Aishwarya's concert!

Kindly find attached the concert list. Had to truncate the initial plan quite a bit due to time overrun in the first part...

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 17 Sep 2013, 22:29

Kindly find attached link to V.Ramnarayan's speech as part of the Sep 16th 2013 function reproduced in the Sruti blog.
http://srutimag.blogspot.in/2013/09/mee ... l?spref=fb

Ramasubramanian M.K · Post by **Ramasubramanian M.K** » 17 Sep 2013, 23:30

Cienu: Great pics--very much wished I was there!! Ramnarayan's speech is very touching and heart-felt.
Kudos to you for this initiative and nice to see you emulating Thatha's relentless pursuit of what needs to be done and how well it should be done.
May God give Aishwarya HIS blessings for keeping the "torch" alive and ablaze!!!

thanjavooran · Post by **thanjavooran** » 18 Sep 2013, 00:46

shri Cienu,
Excellent pictures! Many thanx Shri Cienu. Happy to note that the function went off well. Really missed this great occasion.
With wishes,
Thanjavooran
17 09 2013

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 18 Sep 2013, 00:57

Great pictures Cienu. Thanks.

From Sri. V. Ramnarayan's speech: "...Cheenu, who is now more and more like Sadasivam, his grandfather,...."

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 18 Sep 2013, 02:31

Excellent speech by Sri Ramnarayan. Very touching.

venkatakailasam · Post by **venkatakailasam** » 18 Sep 2013, 04:16

Brilliant ....everything...Aum..Sairam..

Maha periava's hand is there in every thing we do..

pattamaa · Post by **pattamaa** » 18 Sep 2013, 08:28

glad the function was grand success..

How aptly titled - Meera's Radha !

very touching... may MS Amma bless all of us..

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 18 Sep 2013, 09:52

Speech by ramnarayan is wonderful.Thank you for the sruthi article link. Song selection by S Aishwarya is very nice.

vs_manjunath · Post by **vs_manjunath** » 18 Sep 2013, 12:33

Cienu-Excellent Pictures.Glad that function went off very well.

CRama · Post by **CRama** » 18 Sep 2013, 13:55

Happy to read that the function was grand and memorable in many ways. The pics are so nice. The radiance and shine in the eyes of your mom is something very special which defies her physical condition. I am sorry I could not attend. As my tickets were not confirmed, I could not reach Chennai on Sunday. I reached only on Monday night. It is my bad luck. Waiting to hear clippings of Aiswarya's concert.

Aditto · Post by **Aditto** » 18 Sep 2013, 20:25

Cienu Sir - So nice to see the pictures and the details.

A small request. Its been many days since a video of MS is uploaded in paramparaa1916. And if I am not wrong, Swaralaya Puraskaram is the only end-to-end video concert of MS. Can you plan for a commercial release of any MS live video (With Sankarabharanam

) ? Is it planned already? I am pretty sure that the rasika world will be enthralled to have such a video CD in their archives.

Regards,
Aditya.

raghavt · Post by **raghavt** » 20 Sep 2013, 00:28

Excellent pictures and write-ups... thanks cienu sir for the pictures. Missed this event

Ramasubramanian M.K · Post by **Ramasubramanian M.K** » 20 Sep 2013, 08:53

Cienu: Re; Your post #701 pic with Thangamma and Nalli Sir. Is the person in the background your brother Sekhar?

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 20 Sep 2013, 09:37

Yes indeed.. He is talking to Gopalkrishna Gandhi who is not fully in the frame.

venkatakailasam · Post by **venkatakailasam** » 20 Sep 2013, 21:58

A deviation...

A rare image..With Chinmya..

kvchellappa · Post by **kvchellappa** » 21 Sep 2013, 09:42

A saint and a swami.

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 21 Sep 2013, 10:59

Kindly find below a link in today's "Indian Express" regarding the statue of MS Amma being unveiled by the West Bengal Governor Sri M.K.Narayanan at Shanmukhananda.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/m-s-s ... y/1172084/

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 22 Sep 2013, 07:34

Thanks.
Trust the ceremony went off well.
They are doing creditable service to CM in memory of MS.
Will appreciate pictures..

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 22 Sep 2013, 12:36

writeup of the unveiling of the statue of MS amma
http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday ... 154701.ece

Writeup of recent skgs function of 97th birthday celebration
http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday ... 145574.ece

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 22 Sep 2013, 20:38

Thanks Rajesh!
Grand though it is, the statue has failed to capture the divine grace that was eternally in MS's face!
Of course no sculptor can ever capture that unforgettable grace in a statue!

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 30 Sep 2013, 01:02

CRama wrote:Happy to read that the function was grand and memorable in many ways. The pics are so nice. The radiance and shine in the eyes of your mom is something very special which defies her physical condition. I am sorry I could not attend. As my tickets were not confirmed, I could not reach Chennai on Sunday. I reached only on Monday night. It is my bad luck. Waiting to hear clippings of Aiswarya's concert.

Dear CRama,
Missed you at the function/concert..
As requested by you I have uploaded 2 clips of S.Aishwarya on Youtube for which I have given the links below.
1)Ethavunara in full followed by Thaniavarthanam by the legendary Dr T K Murthy and his disciples Sri A.M.Harinarayanan on Mridangam and Anirudh Athreya on Kanjira.
2) Kaa Vaa Vaa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIV3vRIM5Zo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kiSnWnD ... e=youtu.be

thanjavooran · Post by **thanjavooran** » 30 Sep 2013, 01:41

Shri Cienu,
Thanx for the link. excellent rendering. Enjoyed the thani of Dr TKM and his assciates. Kindles my earlier days memories. Blessings to Aishwarya
Thanjavooran
29 09 2013

raghavt · Post by **raghavt** » 30 Sep 2013, 08:11

Thank you Cienu Sir for the clips. Kalyani is impressive. Great to see TKM sir playing with gusto @ this age.
Just a quicker - The review that came in The Hindu about this concert - Not sure whether the reviewer listened to these songs. His review is a total contrast to the contents of these clippings.

Thank you.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 18 Oct 2013, 02:02

I need a recommendation. First a bit of the backstory. Couple of my (non indian) colleagues showed some interest in ragas etc and somehow that conversation led to me using them as an experimental subject to see if a morning raga ( as perceived by majority of Indians ) is perceived as morning raga by non-indians. This was more a spur of the moment thing and so my experiment was not too rigorous but it was all for fun. I played them three songs, one of them was bowli and the other two were Kambhoji and Shankarabaranam. There was no real reason for picking these two. Whatever youtube showed me I just used. At least in this small sample, both of them got it right, though one of them sort of vacillated between bowli and kambhoji.

Alright, what does this all have to do with M.S., you may ask. Good question.
The song I happened to pick for Kambhoji was O Rangasayee by M.S. I only played like 30 seconds and I stopped it so I can go to the next one. They exclaimed 'Hey, why did you stop that? It sounds so good, I can probably listen to that for hours'. But of course, I have to do what I have to do to finish the experiment. Now they want to buy some good recordings of M.S. that has that 'gently swaying' song in it.

So which MSS cd or box set is the best in terms of recording quality which contains O Rangasayee? If you can send me the link, that will be great. ( it need not be a physical box set, it can be in iTunes. I checked iTunes, they do have quite an extensive collection of MSS recordings)

anandmurty · Post by **anandmurty** » 18 Oct 2013, 10:01

The Carnegie Hall recording features O Rangasayee. It's also got some other wonderful songs and ragas - of the top of my head - Gowla, Hamsadhwani, Jaganmohini, Saveri, Simhendramadhyamam, Pushpalatika, Kambhoji and more

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 18 Oct 2013, 21:46

Thanks anandmurty. I will go with that to start with.

Where is the best place to get the 'M. S. Subbulakshmi - Live at Carnegie Hall' ( 2 cd set )?
I am trying to get a link to the "official" release, either as a physical CD set or online.

Unfortunately, iTunes does not have the full set, I see an album with just three of the songs from the concert.

The other thing that concerned me is McComb's observation of this set:
http://www.medieval.org/music/world/cds/rpg47808.html

"..the program is chopped up to fit on CDs. Track #5 of CD1 contains an alapana for "Oh Ranga Sayee" immediately following the Suddha Dhanyasi kirtana, which then continues with the violinist's version on CD2 track #2.."

If it is just that the alapana is the last piece on cd1 and the second cd starts with violin alapana, that should be fine but what will be bad, of course, is if MSS's Oh ranga sayee alapana followed by 'Devi broka', 'bare panduranga' on CD1 and CD1 starts with violin alapana. I am not sure if that is what McComb means.

He is refering to the reissue in 1998.

cacm · Post by **cacm** » 19 Oct 2013, 04:14

Dear V, I attended the concert which was recorded by Rubin mama & was with him-I did not own one then!...His Nagra had to be operated using Batteries as power interuption occurred. Also his recorder had the ususal drag at end of tapes in those days due to the belt not being perfect. In addition the mikes being kept on the ground resulted in T.K.Murthy's Mridangam producing false base etc....I had worked to correct before anything was released but in those days hat was all that could be done. I knew Dolby & even his efforts produced what every one is hearing in the lp's or tapes etc. He clearly said wharever noise reduction he could do would AFFECT ALL ARTISTS & the major effort was to preserve MS'S VOICE....If you are interested I can send you in my copy if you write your address etc. Iam in nyc right now & will return to los alamos by end of this month. THERE ARE SIMILAR TECHNICAL PROBLEMS WITH UN CONCERT ALSO. Regs, VKV

venkatakailasam · Post by **venkatakailasam** » 19 Oct 2013, 06:12

vk..

I do not know whether this is the one you are looking for..

http://mio.to/album/10-classical_carnat ... all_Vol_2/

Ignore ..if not..

rangasayee is in this one running to 33+mts..

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 19 Oct 2013, 10:16

Thanks very much VKV and VKailasam. Yes,that is the right CD. In this version, the problem McComb cites about the 1998 re-release is not there. The alapanas for O Rangasayee are in the right order.

I am trying to give them a link to the official and original one since they wanted to buy it. That is proving to be difficult. Is the EMI one the original one? "EMI India CDNF 147808-09 (2 CDs)" is what I see for the re-release in 1998

venkatakailasam · Post by **venkatakailasam** » 19 Oct 2013, 12:02

If your interest only O Ranga Sayee....
and if it is not confined to the particular clip, there are others also which are brilliantly rendered by MSS...

there are 8 clips here ..

http://www.sangeethapriya.org/fetch_tra ... in_artist1

you may have to log in..to above..

http://youtu.be/iHI7qOX_fYY

anandmurty · Post by **anandmurty** » 19 Oct 2013, 16:01

Vasanthakokilam,

I now know what you might be experiencing. Bought the concert cassettes back in the late '90s and assumed the album would be easily available for a download/purchase at saregama.com. But even after one gets past the most inconvenient interface, the concert isn't easily located and at best one is able to spot Devi Brova, Rama Rama Gunaseema and the tail end pieces. The Kambhoji piece isn't included in the list displayed.

Have written to them in the Feedback section and asked for assistance and hopefully, will hear back soon. Meanwhile, will dig around and see if I can be of more help!

Anand