Palghat Raghu
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Kuchi and kappi are varieties of mridangam, involving a slight change in right-hand head. You would have to look very closely to see any difference, but there is a noticeable difference in sound, the kutchi mridangam having more vibration, and the kappi being closer to the sound of tabla.
Kutchi mridangam has small slivers of reed inserted radially under the top-most layer of skin. These give a slight snare effect, hence the vibration. Kappi has the two layers held slightly apart by tiny particles of grit.
Kutchi mridangam has small slivers of reed inserted radially under the top-most layer of skin. These give a slight snare effect, hence the vibration. Kappi has the two layers held slightly apart by tiny particles of grit.
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There is no majority, but each mrudangist will have their own individual preference. Raghu sir used to use kucchi in the 60's and 70's and switched to kappi sometime in the 80's. Palghat Mani Iyer only ever used kappi, as did Thanjavur Upendran sir. Karaikudi Mani also only uses kappi.
UKS sir used to use kappi, but now only uses kucchi. Sankaran has only used kucchi, as far as i know.
This should help get some orientation as to what kappi and kuchi mrudangams sound like.
UKS sir used to use kappi, but now only uses kucchi. Sankaran has only used kucchi, as far as i know.
This should help get some orientation as to what kappi and kuchi mrudangams sound like.
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Dr T K Murthy too uses Kappi only if I am not mistaken.sankirnam wrote:There is no majority, but each mrudangist will have their own individual preference. Raghu sir used to use kucchi in the 60's and 70's and switched to kappi sometime in the 80's. Palghat Mani Iyer only ever used kappi, as did Thanjavur Upendran sir. Karaikudi Mani also only uses kappi.
UKS sir used to use kappi, but now only uses kucchi. Sankaran has only used kucchi, as far as i know.
This should help get some orientation as to what kappi and kuchi mrudangams sound like.
Last edited by cienu on 07 Dec 2008, 21:29, edited 1 time in total.
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Yes, cienu you are right.
Vijay, most artists will take kuchi mrudangams with them when they come on foreign tours, since kuchi mrudangams are more forgiving to wear and tear on the valanthalai. If one or two pieces of the black "saadam" fall out, the overall nadam is not disturbed much. But in kappi, if one piece even starts vibrating a little bit, the nadam will be disturbed and extraneous noises will come (like a faint rattling or "ssssh" sound).
Vijay, most artists will take kuchi mrudangams with them when they come on foreign tours, since kuchi mrudangams are more forgiving to wear and tear on the valanthalai. If one or two pieces of the black "saadam" fall out, the overall nadam is not disturbed much. But in kappi, if one piece even starts vibrating a little bit, the nadam will be disturbed and extraneous noises will come (like a faint rattling or "ssssh" sound).
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8-Dec-8
Dear Mr. Coolkarni:
I listened to the RTP Thillai of SSI uploaded by you. In my view as someone who has followed Raghu for many years it is close to Raghu, but not him it seems. Sollus are sounding close, the nadham(Kattai) is also close but the fingering differs. The Korvai ignoramus talks about is played by many leave alone Raghu. By the way he is a genius and not an ignoramus. I request ignoramus to upload the SSI-TNK-Raghu-92-Navarathiri-AIR Excerpts if he has or anyone has. In my view SSI would not have relished Raghu as Raghu's talam keeping is deadly and the main artist has to sweat it out making it not comfortable. That is/was Raghu. Only musicians like KVN/DKJ/MDR/Ramnad Krishnan/S.Balachandar can gel with Raghu. Raghu's famed thani in 1967(KVN-MSG-Raghu-Bangalore Manjunath-MA) is Kuchi and only he can do such thrikalams. Any mridangam player is capable of thrikalams, but in the third speed/kalam it is Raghu who will show the way. God bless Raghu sir and all the members of this forum.
Regards
Guru
Dear Mr. Coolkarni:
I listened to the RTP Thillai of SSI uploaded by you. In my view as someone who has followed Raghu for many years it is close to Raghu, but not him it seems. Sollus are sounding close, the nadham(Kattai) is also close but the fingering differs. The Korvai ignoramus talks about is played by many leave alone Raghu. By the way he is a genius and not an ignoramus. I request ignoramus to upload the SSI-TNK-Raghu-92-Navarathiri-AIR Excerpts if he has or anyone has. In my view SSI would not have relished Raghu as Raghu's talam keeping is deadly and the main artist has to sweat it out making it not comfortable. That is/was Raghu. Only musicians like KVN/DKJ/MDR/Ramnad Krishnan/S.Balachandar can gel with Raghu. Raghu's famed thani in 1967(KVN-MSG-Raghu-Bangalore Manjunath-MA) is Kuchi and only he can do such thrikalams. Any mridangam player is capable of thrikalams, but in the third speed/kalam it is Raghu who will show the way. God bless Raghu sir and all the members of this forum.
Regards
Guru
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dear pgaiyer
can you elaborate on the fingering which makes you doubt it is not PR? it sounded pretty close to me. dont want to argue , but i have not heard too many people play the korvai which i mentioned. not sure whether it was the 2nd round, the final korvai too is almost closely his, especially the improvisations in the 2nd and 3rd repeats - just asking. by no means argumentative.
can you elaborate on the fingering which makes you doubt it is not PR? it sounded pretty close to me. dont want to argue , but i have not heard too many people play the korvai which i mentioned. not sure whether it was the 2nd round, the final korvai too is almost closely his, especially the improvisations in the 2nd and 3rd repeats - just asking. by no means argumentative.
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Dear All Laya aficionados:
I listened to 116 and the Kanjira player could be the late V.Nagarajan sir. Again the treble/cut i.e., salangai nadham which was/is unique to VN is not there. VN's muthaipu/theermanam is legendary and it is also not there. I still am not sure whether the player is Raghu sir. Raghu's fingering is something different from the whole lot and the akshara suddham is also different. In mridangam parlance it is called adaichu vasikkaradhu, something Pazani Anna is/was famous for. Raghu's kalam is also legendary. If you listen to his playing for the Pallavis the way he play Tisram. The Thom of Raghu is also cast in the Pudukkottai school. In sum it could be Raghu sir but it may not be also. I have checked many times with PSN and he always opined Raghu sir's accompaniment to SSI????, well I don't recollect any of them. Only Raghu can identify. God bless you all.
Regards
Guru
I listened to 116 and the Kanjira player could be the late V.Nagarajan sir. Again the treble/cut i.e., salangai nadham which was/is unique to VN is not there. VN's muthaipu/theermanam is legendary and it is also not there. I still am not sure whether the player is Raghu sir. Raghu's fingering is something different from the whole lot and the akshara suddham is also different. In mridangam parlance it is called adaichu vasikkaradhu, something Pazani Anna is/was famous for. Raghu's kalam is also legendary. If you listen to his playing for the Pallavis the way he play Tisram. The Thom of Raghu is also cast in the Pudukkottai school. In sum it could be Raghu sir but it may not be also. I have checked many times with PSN and he always opined Raghu sir's accompaniment to SSI????, well I don't recollect any of them. Only Raghu can identify. God bless you all.
Regards
Guru
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Coolji,
With your permission, I will come to your place when you are free and listen to it at leisure. I was just able to listen to it intermittently with you the other day and do not have access to rapidshare to download the clips you uploaded. Though it is difficult to sometimes distinguish the Tanjavur school maestros, especially during the early years of their playing, there are (almost always) places that reveal the identity of the player.
Thanks once again for sharing these gems with us. May your tribe grow by leaps and bounds.
Ram
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May be this is question late by a year or so? I didn't know if you have seen it.
Did anyone see the Palghat Raghu Documentary released after the music season of 2007-08? It has videos (yes videos) of chembai vaidyanAta bhagavathar with MTC and MMI (video from the 40s, I guess), KVN with MC and PR (video from the 80s) and g nA bAlasubrahmaniam with LGJ and PR (video from the 60s). Amazing stuff. LGJ looks very handsome .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ4NiMWAWzc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Mm6dHgY ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsDD_I8g ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzZorUCb ... re=related
Did anyone see the Palghat Raghu Documentary released after the music season of 2007-08? It has videos (yes videos) of chembai vaidyanAta bhagavathar with MTC and MMI (video from the 40s, I guess), KVN with MC and PR (video from the 80s) and g nA bAlasubrahmaniam with LGJ and PR (video from the 60s). Amazing stuff. LGJ looks very handsome .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ4NiMWAWzc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Mm6dHgY ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsDD_I8g ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzZorUCb ... re=related
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Chembai: Along with ARI (still haven't seen a video of him) were the two artistes, whom I wanted to see (& listen) him sing. . I love the kuDumi of chembai mAmA.bilahari wrote:Particularly enjoyed Chembai. Do his grandsons perform regularly?
abhIshEk raghurAman performs often! I don't know about the mridangist grandson, ananta R. kRSNan.
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New website about Sri Palghat Raghu at http://www.palghatraghu.org/
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The problem with all these websites is they never get updated. Once would expect newer audio clips to be added, or some videos. It could be that the creators do not get the time to keep revisiting and adding content. But the site started with a big bang and got me all excited, and then kinda tapered off and became dormant with no activity. Raghu Sir is a scarce commodity when it comes to digital listening !!!.
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hello to all fans of SRI RAGHU SIR,
iam hearing raghu sir since 35 years. His accompaniment is superb especially to varnams. FOR swara prastharams in keerthanas his anticipassion is something special.especially for KVn s vocal his accompaniment is excellent
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ABout 10 years back i heard a concert may be at krishnaganasabha where KVn sang with CHandru sir on violin and raghu sir on mridangam.The concert statrts with begada varnam ,Seshachala nayakam, Samajavarada submain is Prakkal nilabadi and the main item is Amba nannu brova ve in Todi if any one is having that great concert please please upload.
iam hearing raghu sir since 35 years. His accompaniment is superb especially to varnams. FOR swara prastharams in keerthanas his anticipassion is something special.especially for KVn s vocal his accompaniment is excellent
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ABout 10 years back i heard a concert may be at krishnaganasabha where KVn sang with CHandru sir on violin and raghu sir on mridangam.The concert statrts with begada varnam ,Seshachala nayakam, Samajavarada submain is Prakkal nilabadi and the main item is Amba nannu brova ve in Todi if any one is having that great concert please please upload.
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ignoramus.
Thank you very much for the information. I got the recording from my friend who is chennai. It is an marvelous accompaniment by Sri Raghu sir, EVen the thani is thrilling covering almost all ythe gathis in Adi talam. Thank you very much. One more request I already have one cd of lalgudi garu'ssolo along with raghu sir, In which Kapali is mail item can anyone has another kutcheri with lalgudi garu's solo concert.If yes please upload the same
yogeesh
Thank you very much for the information. I got the recording from my friend who is chennai. It is an marvelous accompaniment by Sri Raghu sir, EVen the thani is thrilling covering almost all ythe gathis in Adi talam. Thank you very much. One more request I already have one cd of lalgudi garu'ssolo along with raghu sir, In which Kapali is mail item can anyone has another kutcheri with lalgudi garu's solo concert.If yes please upload the same
yogeesh
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Ignoramus, yes it is a commercial release. But somehow, I felt it was not the maestros at their best. Probably, when lgj's style was seeking a different kind of laya support. lgj-krm seems to be the dream combination. There is another concert of lgj with PR and GH - starts with asAvEri varNam and has EtAvunnarA - kalyANi.
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I will look at the tape and let you know. Forgotten. It is a 3-tape releaseignoramus wrote: Do you know the recording company by any chance?
When you listen to them, you will know what you have been missing. There are any no: of tapes in the stores. There was a series of (4 or 5) tapes of lgj's with KRM and THV. One of them having simhEndramadhyamam rtp. There is another tape with only a nATTaikkurinji rtp.I am yet to hear any of the LGJ-KRM combos, will look forward to it.
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A detailed article on Sri Raghu is available at http://www.vijayalakshmysubramaniam.com ... traghu.htm
I think this appeared in Sruti and is written by Dr Vijayalakshmi Subramaniam.
I think this appeared in Sruti and is written by Dr Vijayalakshmi Subramaniam.
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Another great loss of mridangam maestro and great vidwan, who represented the past generation and was known for training current generation mridangam vidwans. An unassuming vidwan for all his years of service. He will always be remembered for his style, his gentle strokes, that tocuhed many souls. He was an ideal accompanist and every senior musician that I know had high regards for him. May his soul rest in peace. May his teachings and his style will live for ever.