Prince Rama Varma

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 27 May 2019, 12:55

All India Radio concert.
Prince Rama Varma, S.R.Mahadev Sarma and Nanjil Arul.
All India Radio concert from 9:30pm to 10:30pm on Monday
the 27th of May.
Please click on this link
http://allindiaradio.gov.in/
go to Live Radio and click on Malayalam to tune in

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 29 May 2019, 21:59

AIR recording
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... k1HPxs6I0C

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 20 Jun 2019, 19:20

Concert at Udupi Sri Krishna Temple for their Raja Kalashotsavam.
June 9th, 2019.
Prince Rama Varma
S.R.Vinu
B.Harikumar

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... lymer=true

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 04 Aug 2019, 15:47

There will be a two day teaching session by Prince Rama Varma on
August 10th and 11th and concert on August 13th, at
Saptaparni,
Plot number 21,
Road number 8,
Banjara Hills,
Hyderabad.

The concert is free for all.

Those who would be interested to register for the teaching session are welcome to contact
Ms.Sunitha at 040 66667707, 7981389167 or Ms.Jyosthna at 9989780160.

Here are a few videos from the concerts and classes from previous occasions.

Sri Rama
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bIymEqBlu0

Jaya Jaya Devi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxBH5QxzRgc

Dasavatharam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI2Z2scr6_I

Ada Pogona Baro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOWTxGTbSIA

Nandavanathil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf741cbmrUo

Eashwarajna Emo Theliyadu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnhbXQtYoio

Shankarabharanam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfZafc6FnWI&t=10s

Kapi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbwdIHj1ufA

Kamboji
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUmx8djtpz4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFQq6YjZToI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7hHvj12oRM

Please feel welcome to share the information with your music loving friends.

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 23 Aug 2019, 00:33

Sri Krishna Jayanthi Offering by Varma ji.

A rare and beautiful composition by Prof.Sreenivasan/Kaladasan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yh-IwKyKu8
and a beautiful playlist of songs on Sri Krishna
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... lymer=true

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 28 Aug 2019, 22:39

Inaugural concert of the Kerala Musicians Series by Parampara
at Arkay Convention Centre, Mylapore, Chennai, titled "God's Own Music."
August 31st, Saturday, 5:45 pm.
Inauguration by Dr.T.V.Gopalakrishnan followed by a concert by
Prince Rama Varma
Sri S.R.Vinu
Sri B.Harikumar
Sri V.Suresh

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 03 Sep 2019, 15:45

Concert at Sreenivasa Sasthri Hall at 6:00pm on Friday, the 6th of September.
Organized by Chennai Fine Arts as a tribute to Kalaimamani Dr.Saraswathy Sundaresan.

Prince Rama Varma, Sri S.R.Vinu and Sri B.Harikumar.

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 04 Sep 2019, 11:18

Writeup about Hyderabad concert
https://www.thehansindia.com/featured/s ... 6hEHj1f0TQ

Webcast of Parampara concert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8vnysZ6pS0

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 14 Sep 2019, 00:27

Two Day teaching session by Prince Rama Varma
on the 21st and 22nd of September. (Saturday and Sunday)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4imSQQsX9io

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 21 Sep 2019, 20:34

Thillana from Varma ji's teaching session
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4WSWOW7Eq8

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 27 Sep 2019, 21:42

Varma ji's tribute to his guru Prof.K.S.Narayanaswamy's birth anniversary.

My earliest memories related to classical music are the concerts I used to attend at the Navarathri Mandapam in Thiruvananthapuram when I was a child.The concerts would start at 6:00pm sharp and finish at 8:30pm sharp, after which

there would be a short Aarati, followed by a really delicious meal.My great grandmother, the formidable Amma Maharani would see to it that members of our family were served the same fare that the artists were, so that she could keep an eye on the quality of the food.She would be physically present at the Mandapam a little before 6:00pm every day, so that she would not miss a single note performed by the musicians. Other members of the family would reach the Mandapam closer and closer to 8:30pm in time for the meal, depending on their decreasing levels of interest in music.Until Amma Maharani's time, there were only male, vocal concerts at the Mandapam. She was the one who introduced (male) veena artists to the festival,

with Venkatadri Bhagavathar, M.A.Kalyanakrishna Bhagavathar (who was one of the few artists to have given Two concerts during the Same festival.....one vocal and one veena), M.K.Kalyanakrishna Bhagavathar and Prof. K.S. Narayanaswamy. Over the years, usually more or less the same set of musicians were invited again and again and the audience behaviour remained more or less the same too.

The biggest crowds came for concerts of Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and for theconcerts where Palghat Mani Iyer played the mridangam......usually for Alathur Srinivasa Iyer and Palghat K.V.Narayanaswamy. The veena concerts drew the

minimum crowds. The sheer electricity and tension that was generated by the presence of Palghat Mani Iyer was just unbelievable and had to be experienced to be understood. As a striking contrast remained the tranquillity generated by the

veena concerts. I don't remember M.A.Kalyanakrishna Bhagavathar much. But M.K.Kalyanakrishna Bhagavathar used to play super fast phrases with minimal gamakams and shake his head vigourously too, which never ceased to make the children in the family burst out into fits of giggles. Amma Maharani had affectionately nick named him "Thalayaattu." (Head shaker).

K.S.Narayanaswamy Sir however, was a classic study in restraint, repose, poise and dignity. He initially used to give veena duets with his brother Sivaraman and later, with my first veena guru Trivandrum R.Venkataraman Sir.

Though my heart was always in violin, I started veena lessons with Venkataraman Sir who used to come to my house to teach my father. After a few months with Venkataraman Sir, I started understanding why many instrumentalists spoke of certain vocalists in a dismissive manner...that he or she "Was just a singer!' implying that the person in question did not have a deep and proper understanding of the placement of the notes and even more importantly, about the subtleities of the oscillations, ornamentations or Gamakams. (Many vocalists similarly laugh at instrumentalists who don't have a clue about the lyrics of the songs they play and say that they would play just the notes. Pa Dha Ni Paa Ma Gaa for Brova Bhaarama for example.)

Venkataraman Sir had absorbed a lot, from sources as varied as certain Naadaswaram giants, from Veena legend S.Balachander, from his association with Lalgudi Jayaraman and N.Ramani as part of the "Veena, Venu, Violin" trio,

(called "Violin, Venu, Veena" by Lalgudi fans and "Venu, Veena Violin" by Ramani fans.) from his times at the Swathi Thirunal College of Music at Thiruvananthapuram, where he studied music from a host of legendary gurus, like Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, G.N.Balasubramaniam, K.R.Kumaraswamy and others....and finally from K.S.Narayanaswamy Sir.

During my lessons with him, various shades and colours and insights would be on display, but at the end of the day, it was mostly the points that he imbibed from K.S.Narayanaswamy Sir that would impress me and attract me the most. Because of this, I had already developed a great amount of respect and reverence for him from afar, even though I had not interacted with him directly at the time.

Once K.S.Narayanaswamy Sir had attended a private veena recital of mine in the morning, at the Navarathri Mandapam. When I met him somehwere, almost one year later, he asked me, without any preamble "Can you sing the charanam of Paripalaya Maam?" (In the raga Reethigowla) I was really surprised, but I started to sing "Thaamarasaayatha Lochana". Then he smiled and said "But this was not how you played it on the veena that day, at the Navarathri Mandapam!"

I was completely Zapped! The thing is that, I have always been Obsessed with M.D.Ramanathan and his music. My beloved Guru, Vechoor Hariharasubramania Iyer Sir would get exasperated from time to time and say "My shishya is singing well, but from time to time, he gets MD Attacks!''

M.D.Ramanathan would sing the same song differently every time....the tempo, the place where he put swarams....and sometimes even the lyrics would change a bit now and then! But he mostly sang the notes Dhaa Dha Ni Dhaa Ma Ma for Thaamarasaayatha, while ideally it should be Dhaa Dha Ni, Ni Dha-Dhaa Ma Ma, with a touch of Pa between the two Dhaas in Ni Dha-Dhaa. When I play veena, the MDR imitation is less obvious, because the vocal intonation is absent. But K.S.Narayanaswamy Sir had not only caught the single MDRlike phrase that I had played, but had also Remembered it more than half a year later! He gently said "There is nothing Wrong if you play a plain Dha there, but that phrase Could be Sriranjini too, while if you play Dha Dha with a touch of Panchamam, it could Only be Reethigowla and there would be absolutely no

room for ambiguity!" I grinned sheepishly and admitted that I was just playing an MDR phrase.

Though his personality was extremely gentle and mild, the points he made, never failed to make the deepest possible impact. I had the privilege of learning from him for a decade. Many many times, he would be sitting on his cot and I would be sitting on the floor and the hours would fly by so quickly that his daughter inlaw would come to the room, switch on the light and ask, "Why are you sitting in the dark?"....and neither of us would have realized that night had fallen, being so engrossed in our music related conversation.

There is a saying in Latin, "Ars est celare artem" which means "Art lies in concealing art." I found a living example of this in K.S.Narayanaswamy Sir.The modern American policy is "If you got it, flaunt it!" These days this seems to have been stretched further, to "Even if you Haven't got it, try and make out as though you Have, and flaunt it!" During such times, K.S.Narayanaswamy Sir represented certain values that were hard even to Imagine, leave alone, to put into practice.

What came through during his concerts would be less than 1% of the vast, vast, Vast reservoirs of music that he embodied. He revealed a lot more during his truly phenomenal lecture demonstrations. We find people who express themselves forcefully, who shout and punch the air and so on.....and we find people who are so mild that they don't make much of an impact, even when they are saying something with a lot of content. K.S.Narayanaswamy Sir was one of those rare and blessed people whose talks would be unfailingly replete with content, who spoke softly and gently, always enveloped with a sheen of quite self assurance and conviction that never went anywhere near aggression.

He treated the great compositions by the great masters as sacred. Ehi Annapoorne in Punnagavarali, Emani in Mukhari, Amba Neelayatakshi in Neelambari and so on, for example. On the one hand, he would lament about so many of these kind of songs getting performed less and less during concerts these days and on the other hand he was kind of possesive about sharing some of them too! But he was totally generous about sharing his insights about musical subtelities in general. When one asked him a really insightful question, he would be thrilled like a child and explain the point enthusiastically.

When so many so called gurus are either stuck in deep rooted prejudices or are totally non committal, K.S.Narayanaswamy Sir was a rare exception. If one were to ask him "Can one sing the Ga in Thodi like this?" he would not only say "Yes" or "No", but also back it up with dozens of illustrations of how Sri Thyagaraja used the note in question, from many of his compositions!

All this was long before the internet was invented and his brain seemed to be even more powerful than google!

Many people have the unfortunate habit of being dismissive about the greatness that others embody and I have often heard great artists being reduced to single line caricatures.

M.D.Ramanathan - Sang slowly and at a very low pitch.

G.N.Balasubramaiam - Sang fast brikas

Madurai Mani Iyer - Sang swarams a lot.

Balamuralikrishna - Broke tradition.

and so on.

But K.S.Narayanaswamy Sir filtered out the best from Any musician he listened to.....be it a great veteran from the past or a young, upcoming musician...and enriched his music further.

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 27 Sep 2019, 21:42

They say that love is blind. At times love can be Deaf also and like most normal people, I would sing certain phrases the way some musicians I loved sang them, without caring much about whether they were correct, grammatically speaking, or not. It was K.S.Narayanaswamy Sir with his consistent and gentle observations who helped me shift my loyalty more to the truth in the music itself than to one singer or the other......one of the many things I thank him for on a daily basis.

Though in the beginning, one might be advised to accept what one's guru says, as one progresses, a questioning mind is always encouraged and one does best by finding one's own individuality and identity rather than by being a clone of anybody else. One would be surprised by the number of musicians who sing a wrong phrase and say "I can't change a single line or a dot from what my teacher taught me!" While loyalty to one's guru is generally a good thing, it would be nice to invest some of this loyalty into the compositions of people like Sri Thyagaraja that one sings, as well as to the Ragas in which they are sung.

K.S.Narayanaswamy Sir had an incredibly rich life. He was one of the earliest South Indian Classical musicians to tour other countries. He cut a disc with Narayana Menon, Palghat Raghu and Yehudi Menuhin in England. He cut another disc with Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer for UNESCO.

During the many years that he spent in Bombay, he got to mix and move with the cream of cream of Hindustani music and even got to listen to many recitals of popular musicians like the Great Kundan Lal Saigal. Being a hard core Saigal Devotee myself, talking about Saigal with K.S.Narayanaswamy Sir was sheer Paradise! We would take his songs, note by note, phrase by phrase....including the background music and discussions about what instruments were used.....and analyze them for hours together like two children going through a box of chocolates, delirious with joy! Even after he shifted to South India, he would listen to the Hindustani Music related programme on All India Radio called Sangeet Sarita every single day and had an abiding interest and deep knowledge of this wonderful system of music; a love that I continue to nurture even today.

I heard about so many unique and beautiful Hindustani ragas like Sree, Bhatiyar, Chayanat and so on for the first time, from him. Among all the musicians that he spoke about, when Surshri Kesarbai Kerkar's name popped up, his eyes would twinkle like stars and he would smile and giggle like a teenager! I never got to ask him what his equation with her was.

He spent his share of time with great Carnatic legends too. My M.D.Ramanathan love was treated affectionately and indulgently by him because he himself was very close to M.D.Ramanathan and his guru, Tiger Varadachariar. There was hardly ever a conversation with him that didn't feature the names Tiger or Sabhesha Iyer, with whom he worked at Annamalai University. Many who were associated with him just saw the little that he revealed during his concerts and had absolutely no idea about the sheer range and depth of his artistic vision.

I remember an amusing incident that happened once. A lady who was very close to him, had given a concert the previous day, which I had attended. Among the many songs that she had played, she had played Ananda Natam Aaduvar in Purvi Kalyani by Neelakanta Sivan. But when Narayanaswamy Sir asked her what she played, she just said "Purvi Kalyani." Then he asked her "What song?" and she answered "Parama Pavana Rama!" I was really surprised and when I looked at her, she glared at me, indicating that I should shut up. Then he asked me "Have you heard a song called Ananda Natam Aaduvaar

in Purvi Kalyani?" I nearly burst out laughing and answered "Yes! In fact I heard it very recently too!" Then he revealed the fact that he had set the music to this really beautiful and extremely popular song, during his project at Annamalai
University, when he tuned several songs of Neelakanta Sivan and others. I hadn't known this until then and obviously the lady hadn't either and she apparently equated "Popular" to "Cheap"....and now it was too late to tell him
that she had indeed, played Ananda Natam Aaduvaar!

Though he stuck to his sedate and low key style of music all his life, he was never critical of others who resorted to virtuoso techniques that were calculated to impress. He used to tell me "If you only sing or play the way I do, you will have an audience of a small group of really old people who would come and tell you after the concert that your music was very Sampradayam or Traditional .....but you would never be invited again to that place to sing or play!' He would add "When a great musician does certain things for popularity, we can allow a margin for that"......then he would pause and add gravely "It is not that we Can allow....we Must allow a margin for that!" The same went for fingering techniques too. He was happy if one could produce the correct notes using whatever way of fingering that suited one, unlike some gurus who insist that a particular phrase Had to be played only this way and not any other way.

The duration of his alapana, his thaanam playing, his swaram sessions.....the extent of oscillation of the gamakams he used.....everything was measured and in perfect proportion. One would never find an excess of any one thing in his music.

His life follwed the strange but familiar pattern that many other greats before him had gone through. One where he was showered with the highest honours to start with and one where in the end, very few people even knew that he was still alive.

His wikipedia entry gives details about his birth and demise as follows.(27 September 1914 - 1999)

This is because not many people knew when he passed away...and when the news slowly started to appear in the media, many people were surprised to know that he had still been around all these years. But it was a choice that he himself had consciously taken and he was completely at peace with the results too.

Rather like what K.S.Narayanaswamy Sir delivered during his concerts, this article on him too, reveals hardly 1% of what all I learned from him. If there is a life after our life here, then I am sure he must be up there with his beloved Tiger, Sabhesha Iyer, Musiri Subramania Iyer, Kesarbai and others, making music that is fit for the Gods. I feel eternally grateful and blessed to have shared what I have shared, with this great, great, great, Great man!

Endaro Mahanubhavulu! Andariki vandanamulu!

Rama Varma

ramavarma.yolasite.com

Excerpts from a lecture on him at The Madras Music Academy during his Centenary celebrations
https://youtu.be/8Lbv4Jj9VMU

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 29 Sep 2019, 09:17

Concert at Navarathri Mandapam, Trivandrum.
6:00pm to 8:30pm on Monday,
September 30th.
Navarathri 2nd Day - Kalyani Main.

Prince Rama Varma,
Sri S.R.Vinu
Sri B.Harikumar
Adichanallur Sri Anilkumar
Thirunakkara Sri Retheeth

Navarathri First Day song by Varma ji.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1ADaLKdHX4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3or19bwufXU

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 03 Oct 2019, 23:40

Nine songs for Nine nights
https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/ ... OnFu9IrsCE

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 05 Oct 2019, 11:45

Paripalaya
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJafkEQyNaI

Bhavati
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l1Pj-pxgPY

Paramapurusham
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6LqpAQQCaA

Kamalanayana
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFCQTjMoX2M

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 22 Oct 2019, 01:01

Episode on Maharaja Swathi Thirunal in the Pride of India series by Zee Hindustan, aired on October 12th, 2019.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfbGjkm ... e=youtu.be

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 06 Nov 2019, 01:38

From a concert at Trivandrum on October 31st

Sundara Vinayaka - Ragavardhini - Dr.T.V.Gopalakrishnan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNaKlxz ... dex=3&t=0s

Parakelanayya - Mohanam - M.D.Ramanathan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jSKe9c ... dex=4&t=0s

Sada Tava Paada - Shanmukhapriya - Dr.M.Balamuralkrishna
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yHGx3S ... dex=5&t=0s

Reena Madanuta - Behag - Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYlteRR ... dex=8&t=0s

Thillana - Sindhubhairavi - Srimushnam Raja Rao
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR6OThe ... ex=15&t=0s

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 18 Nov 2019, 10:47

Prince Rama Varma
Sri S.R.Vinu
Sri B Harikumar
Dr.S.Karthick
Concert today (November 18th) at 6:45pm, at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, near Kapaleeshwarar Temple, Mylapore

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 21 Nov 2019, 23:14

Teaching session and concert by Prince Rama Varma at Prayog Studio,
Banashankari, Bangalore, organized by Abhigna.

Teaching session on November 30th and December 1st.
Concert on December 7th.

Live webcast available all over the world and the videos of the entire session
and concert would be available at least for One Month, for those who register.

Contact details given below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_oioFwAbxM&t=8s

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 23 Nov 2019, 01:54

Varma ji remembers Dr.Balamuralikrishna on his 3rd death anniversary.
Swathi Sangeethotsavam 2008:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... -kEj00jXWV

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 29 Nov 2019, 00:49

Writeup in Bangalore Mirror before Varma ji's camp and concert.
https://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com/ ... 265777.cms

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 29 Nov 2019, 23:23

25th remembrance day of Prof.Vechoor Hariharasubramania Iyer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvNSHR4 ... c1b-d9_W81

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 05 Dec 2019, 20:02

Concert by Prince Rama Varma with Sri S.R.Vinu and Sri B.Harikumar at
Prayog Studios, Banasankari, Bangalore. Organized by Abhigna.
6:00pm, Saturday the 7th of December.
https://www.eventshigh.com/detail/banga ... rama-varma

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 17 Dec 2019, 21:16

Prince Rama Varma teaches Dr.T.V.Gopalakrishnan's Behag Thillana to
Telugu speaking music students at Warangal, Telangana.

The Thillana
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tll0Mq07Q5k

A scene from the lesson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unwb5R4cQGs

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 19 Dec 2019, 07:28

Prince Rama Varma,
Sri S.R.Vinu
Sri B.Harikumar
Dr.S.Karthick
to perform at Parthasarathy Swami Sangeeta Sabha at 4:00pm today.

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 23 Dec 2019, 19:14

Prince Rama Varma to give a lecture demonstration on compositions
of other composers, set to tune by Dr.M.Balamuralikrishna, at 8:30am
at Parthasarathy Swamy Sangeetha Sabha on December 25th.

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 31 Dec 2019, 14:11

New Year's Eve concert by
Prince Rama Varma,
Sri Mathur Srinidhi
Sri Bangalore Praveen
and
Sri Bharadwaj
at 6:30pm today
(Tuesday, the 31st of December) at
Sri surabharathi Sanskrit and Cultural Foundation
9 th C main
HRBR layout 1st Block,
Outer Ring Road,
Next to BWSSB water tank,
Kalyan Nagar
Bangalore.
Phone numbers
080 25452773 and
9448075833

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 01 Jan 2020, 22:48

Varma ji's invite to the Swathi Sangeethotsavam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKbvRGJkC34&t=108s

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 05 Jan 2020, 14:19

Prince Rama Varma, Sri S.R.Vinu, Sri B.Harikumar, Dr.S.Karthick and Payyannur Sri Govindaprasad to perform at
Kuthiramalika Palace, East Fort, Thiruvanathapuram for the Swathi Sangeethotsavam at 6:00pm today.
Sunday, the 5th of January.

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 10 Jan 2020, 02:47

Audio interview with The Hindu
https://www.thehindu.com/podcast/the-hi ... 484733.ece

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 18 Jan 2020, 14:14

Informal Concert by
Prince Rama Varma with
Sri S.R. Vinu on the Violin
Sri B.Harikumar on the Mridangam
Dr.S.Karthick on the Ghatam
Payyannur Sri Govindaprasad on the Morsing
and
Sri Ananthapadmanabhan on the Tanpura at
The Levee Hall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVhFEG9wFPw
Opposite Priyadarshini Hall,
next to Sunil's Wax Museum,
East Fort,
Thiruvananthapuram,
at 6:00pm on Sunday the 19th of January.

Videos from a few previous editions.
2019
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... QpyW5xS3DL

2018
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 70MYocNvWN

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 23 Jan 2020, 12:34

Prince Rama Varma with
Sri S.R.Vinu and Sri B.Harikumar,
to perform at 6:00pm on Saturday,
the 25th of January, at The Indian Music Experience,
Brigade Millenium Road,
J.P.Nagar, 7th Phase.
The event is organized by Visesha Fine Arts.
Phone number(s) +91 9902213050, +91 9902269976

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 25 Jan 2020, 10:02

Chinese New Year - January 25th, 2020

https://youtu.be/TinDGwaN4BE

RSR · Post by **RSR** » 27 Jan 2020, 08:50

@sweetsong
Dear Sir,
I have gone through all your posts in this section. Really impressed by the achievements of Prince Rama Varma.
I belong to old generation of 1935-1965. Most would agree that those two decades had very fine musicians written about so lovingly in the book 'Carnatic Summer'.
To mention a few names, we had Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iengar, Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, Musiri Subramanya Iyer, SemmangudiSrinivasa Iyer, Madurai Mani Iyer, GNBalasubramanyam, Dandapani Desikar, VVSadagopan, Saathoor Subramanya Iyer, Smt.MS, Smt.DKP, Smt.NC Vasanthakokilam, Smt.MLV and many great Instrumentalists like TNRajarathnam Pillai, Flute Mali, Palladam Sanjeeva Rao, Karukurichi Arunachalam, AKC Natarajan, Emani Sankara Sastry , Karaikkudi Sambasiva Iyer, Gottuvadhyam Narayana Iengar, Chowdaiya, and many lesser known musicians of great merit.
Unfortunately, their music is locked up either in AIR archives or private tapes or 78 rpm records.
Great veterans like Raju Asokan, UKSharma3 and APKoil N Saptha Gireesan are placing all those 78 rpm treasures in youtube.
We must remember that so far as vocalists are concerned, their voice quality matters as much as their knowledge and for that reason, since all the above musicians were in their best phase, the 78 rpm records are precious.
Luckily, youtube is allowing those records to be shared publicly and are doing a great service.
For the second generation 1965 to 1995, and the third and current generation 1995 to 2020, we have great facilities like live streaming, CD recording ( private and commercial) and such.
Thus, it is most important to share the old records in youtube and not from any private archives. So many of the links mentioned in this section are dead ( send space, rapidshar etc).
We can have a website for our favourite musicians. and place all the materials there. ( I do). and occasionally make some posts here giving links.
May I suggest that we make any post on a single artiste not more that once in a week, so that visibility to posts on other artistes is not hampered?
I am not a moderator . Just a rasika like many other interested in SHARING the Old Gold.
Do consider my submission.

Pratyaksham Bala · Post by **Pratyaksham Bala** » 27 Jan 2020, 10:27

... May I suggest that we make any post on a single artiste not more that once in a week, so that visibility to posts on other artistes is not hampered? ...

What a bizarre suggestion !
@sweetsong
As is being done by you for the last ten years, please DO CONTINUE to post all relevant information concerning Prince Rama Varma. There are hardly five or six posts every month, and all are quite informative and relevant. Please do not cut down your postings.

RSR · Post by **RSR** » 27 Jan 2020, 11:16

On Prince Rama Varma
------------------------
posts by sweetsong
============================
@329 on 22-9-2018
@330 on 6-10-2018
@331 on 9-10-2018
@332 on 18-10-2018
@333 on 9-11-2018
@334 on 11-11-2018
@335 on 18-11-2018
@336 on 24-11-2018
@337 on 24-11-2018
@338 on 27-11-2018
@339 on 4-12-2018
@340 on 18-12-2018
@341 on 23-12-2018
@342 on 27-12-2018
-------------------------
@343 on 1-1-2019
to
@402
( 39 posts)
===========================
@404 to @408 in jan-2020
************************************************************************
1) There are some noteworthy points here about the posts.
a) All the posts are consecutive.
b) some give speeches by the artiste, some about events, and a few about music links.
These are ideal for a blog.
----------------------------

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 28 Jan 2020, 13:45

There is no rule here that we all should read every post that appears here. Of everyone's every single post! That would be some exercise, considering the volume of the posts each day! Actually, there are so many interesting posts that I go without reading

because of insufficient time. It also is a pity when a thread might be of interest in parts, but the volume of it scares you away.
As for Rama Varma's thread, he is a welcome happening in CM's recent history. In the early days, he was a member and participated often. Some naysayers perhaps put him off.
We hear more ST's songs because of him, get familiar with them because of the lyrics, Sangita Kalanidhi Sri. Govinda Rao's translation, and recordings of different artistes singing them. Moreover, I like him, his zeal and work in propagating his ancestor's music. How many in musical families have gone about doing thatas a mission?
Well, if you have wealth (and the Travancore rulers have always been Padmanabha dAsAs, so, not that much of wealth there either). He is humble, friendly, loves music in all its forms, brings it to children, makes his two festivals grander every year, accommodating more and more young artistes. The Saraswathi idol , Kamban's gift makes me wonder--if Kamban's days had seen the internet, would we fuss over bringing to the web his verses?
Above all, do not mind threads which don't interest you or which for some reason you are averse to

I have to confess--I ignore many a thread that way, and sometimes overlook relevant ones too:(

RasikasModerator2 · Post by **RasikasModerator2** » 29 Jan 2020, 18:42

@arasi, we haven't really paid much attention to some sections due to lack of activity in general. Once upon a time this section used to be the club of the place!

In these musicians threads, we would not want each and every concert event announcement of Prince Rama Varma ji get announced here. One can open a thread in event announcements exclusively for Prince Rama Varma ji. These threads in this section are for the music and the musician. So @sweetsong is requested to take event announcements to the respective section and mark one post with a link to that thread over here. We may make that sticky for redirecting.

Video clips or audio or interviews or classes we have no issues, though as time progresses, the numbers are just exploding everywhere. Once upon a time we were struggling to find even 1-2 recordings and now we are wondering if the internet might crash at this rate along with the electricity grid. Don't be surprised if humanity may run out of real estate for all the servers! If 10 FB live videos of every concert turned into 10 posts by 10 rasikas here, just imagine the day! That time we will think about a post limit.

Now whether this will drown out the yesteryear musicians threads, right now we don't think so. As such we get only a couple of posts here a month. We can always bump up any old threads if they go down.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 29 Jan 2020, 19:03

VK,
Thanks for your input. Yes, a separate thread in Events Announcement about upcoming concerts is a good idea. This way, those who might want to hear him when he sings in their vicinity can easily find the venue and the date of the concert instead of looking for the announcement in this long thread because they are not that visible for ready reference.

RSR · Post by **RSR** » 30 Jan 2020, 10:20

@arasi
Actually, if we are to go through all the posts , in all the sections, even 12 hours per day for one whole year will not be enough. ( Leave alone broken links to audio and images). especially in this section.
While I do not spend much time in other sections, I spend considerable time in composers and musicians section. and try to read through each and every post on them., right from the beginning. as I am a student eager to learn from seniors in the forum. Occasionally, I make my own posts on my favourite musicians mostly as links. There are just too many in the musicians section. I too do selective reading only .
Want of time. and other factors too.
I would very much like to know about as many composers and musicians as possible. There is so much to learn. But, my preference is definitely for the Golden period.
The Admin can surely provide three subdivisions here,
(a) 1930-1965 (b) 1965-2000 (c) 2000 and later
If that is done, posts on the First set will get visibility. I found that in a single day, from 10am to the next 10am, there were six posts on different musicians. Every new post should be given 'visibility' for at least 24 hours. No? It is a problem for admin.

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 30 Jan 2020, 14:06

Point taken, Rasikasmoderator2. Thanks, Pratyaksham Bala and Arasi.

sweetsong · Post by **sweetsong** » 01 Oct 2020, 15:25

A few playlists of home videos by Varma ji from the lockdown period, covering a wide range of music related topics.

Veena clips
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... Z7Au7hrO6q

Western Nottuswarams
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... TgeETRJ_H0

Illustrated talks on Endaro Mahanubhavulu, Bhavayami, M.D.Ramanathan + more
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... fsgP3Nx1YI

Voice and Veena Clips
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaMQkZe ... AvD3G9NpRD

World Music + Raga Music related Quizzes
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... bgfxqAoH3k