Presentation on GNB's music by Lalitharam, Raga Sudha Hall, 01/May/2018

[SrinathK]

It has been 53 years since he passed on, far too soon, but the music of Sri GNB has a timeless appeal that does not cease to enthrall rasikas (and musicians) of all ages even today.

I dash across the road and run in, not even able to answer the people outside who asked me if I needed tea or coffee, for as I just park my scooter, I already hear the strains of the kAmbhOji viruttham from Shakuntalai (ennai marandu) -- it lasts just 1 min and 55 sec, but for almost 80 years now, no mention of GNB goes without saying something about it. It's everything you need to know about GNB in a nutshell - the super-manueverable agility of his voice, the rakti and raga bhava, the effortless range, the packaging and imagination, the ability to bring out the whole essence of the raga no matter how short or long the time frame, and the ability to send fans into raptures and waves of applause. The 'nAn mayangina' line at the end was actually meant for the fans.

The presentation went on to talk about the opposition and skepticism of GNB's abilities in his early days, his concert in Thanjavur as an example, only for him to bowl over and bulldoze every critic and doubt as soon as he got going. And then the incident of the sAvEri that sent Prof. Sambamoorthy into such a trance that he could only talk about it the next day in another concert, or how GNB even on days of illness managed to venture up into the topmost notes. Or the kind of domination that GNB for a period of 30 years exerted over the CM world that even other concerts were cancelled, and trains stopped for one more encore.

GNB and the discussion of the ideal human voice for Carnatic music are two topics that can't be separated -- at his peak, in tone, range, capability, weight, power and all the other characterstics of a good voice, one can always find an example from GNB. Simply put, his voice could do anything his imagination commanded in his prime. A clip of him hitting the upper Sa in Shanmugapriya had rasikas gasping as they would have done in his live performances. TNR himself has said that GNB at times surpassed even the nagaswaram with the range of his voice. GNB adopted the flowing phrases and brighas from the nagaswaram like a fish taking to water, his voice capable of expressing anything that was possible with it.

As for the lack of false voice, IMHO, I always felt GNB used a good mixed voice (but never a falsetto) for the uppermost notes - he did start out as an old school mikeless singer. In his recordings though, by the tail end of the concert, his voice opened up enough to hit them in chest register itself. GNB's voice was a work in progress. Examination of GNB's recordings from the 30's, 40's, 50's and 60's would show just how much his chest voice gained weight and power over time. One thODi excerpt from the 60s actually caused a few people to gasp after hearing dArini from an old plate in the 30s. He never really lost his range, but physical weakness in later years did make it difficult to access it.

A tragedy in Carnatic music history is the sheer lack of recordings of a musician who sang so prolifically. There are fans who are still around who've heard GNB in his prime who swear that anyone going by GNB's recordings hasn't heard the real GNB at all. Many songs in the 1940s like kailAsanAthEna, tatvameruga taramA, sArasamukhi, mAkElara, nagomOmu, etc. or ragas like dhanyAsi which he sang elaborately back then were no longer in vogue by the 50s, which is where most of his recordings date from. Regrettably, even AIR doesn't seem to have preserved his music. And so the irony is that after exploring everything out there on the net, I have twice as much of Brinda Mukta's music as I have of GNB's.

However, every recording of GNB that we do have today is CM gold standard.

GNB created new ragas - shivashakti, amrtabehAg (and I think even vandana dhArini) and set many popular songs to tune which made up his post main segment, while changing the tunes of some songs like vAsudEvayani (the famous 78 rpm was played) and adding swarAkshara sangathis in sAmaja vara gamana only where relevant, as per his aesthetic sensibilities.

Chembai has said once that rAga means GNB and Lalitharam played 3 different recordings of tODi to show how GNB altered his phrases for different krithis. He saved his most elaborate ladder approach for ragas in RTP (a beautiful excerpt of his prowess in singing kalyANi was played). No mention of GNB is complete without his pantuvarALi and his patented phrases (he brought out different shades of the raga by using different landing notes). Prof TRS's presence was sorely missed (there is another listening session on GNB where TRS and Calcutta Krishnamurthy had a field day exploring his 'neo-classical' music). I will try to find and post that one up here.

GNB excelled in singing any rAga and his alApanas in kiranAvaLi (clearly separating it from keeravANi in the opening phrase), jayantashree, gAvati, mALavi are available on record, fortunately (all were played). His mALavi was praised by Mazhavarayanendal Subbarama Bhagavathar, who was renowned for his skill with that raga. Sri Trichur Ramachandran commented that even unusual forays and phrases when studied did not depart from rAga lakshaNa -- he once sang kAnaDA with unusual phrases landing on the M1, which however had in fact been explored by Mysore Vasudevacharya.

GNB invited controversy for introducing graha bhEdam and the debates raged on back in the day. Interestingly, Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar has composed a varnam in mOhanam exploring graha bhedam on all 5 notes, while GNB's father himself had written a piece roundly criticizing musicians who used shruti bhedam, and this became ammo against him. (In this regard there is a very technical thread in rasikas which studied graha bhEdam and the 22 shrutis and concluded this was not only valid, the technique being the origin of the 22 tones, but also head and shoulders above equal temperament and the most accurate form of tonal shift that mathematics would allow).

GNB's skill in neravals is well known - he took up different lines and would elaborate the entire line (like tathapraya nipuNa in subramanyAya namastE or rAmA yani brahmamunaku pEru). And equally innovative were his kalpanaswaras, where he never ran short of new endings (e.g. rAga sudhA rasa or paralOka sAdhanamE manasA) and it was he who came up with the art of poruttam patterns matching the rhythmic pattern of the line (LGJ later developed this skill to a whole other level, and today musicians like Abhishek Raghuram liberally toss it around). In this I can recall that he had the skill to even end his kalpAnaswaras while doing koraippu itself (he did this in kAmbhoji and it took me by surprise when I first heard it - I still haven't heard anyone else do that today).

GNB's tAnam (whatever little I have heard of it) was in madhyamakala. It had many 'standardized' phrases and on record he stuck mostly to the madhya sthAyi, seldom exploring the upper octave. He saved some of his brighas for the tAnam. However, noting his accompanists' capabilities and style, he would introduce phrases that he knew was his accompanists' speciality (as an example, the tAnam for the nATakurinji pallavi with M S Gopalakrishnan).

GNB even sang rAgas like dEvamanOhari, reetigowLa and Ananda bhairavi for RTP. His pallavis were in simpler tAlams, tuned for their neraval potential (GNB's neraval in pallavis was special, especially his ability to negotiate the gap between the 1st and 2nd parts of the pallavi, and sing for avartanams upon avartanams on end). He could also sing 4 kALai pallavis, though trikAlam was a rarer sight. He also explored other naDais and often did naDai bhedam in RTP kalapanaswaras, which also featured rAgamalika swaras and sometimes cleverly brought in the rAga name into the pallavi line. For e.g. in the dEvamanOhari pallavi, he introduced dEvamanohari, naTabhairavi, gowrimanOhari in succession (this is the only recorded instance of singing these rAgas).

And then there was his shlOka singing, where he took up rakti rAgas like pAdi, bEgaDa, nAyaki, gAvati, sAvEri, kannaDa, kEdAra gauLa, sindhubhairavi, suruTTi, kharaharapriya, dhanyAsi, rishabhapriya, ranjani, hamsAnandi, paras, etc. (these are all available on record) and eventually launched into rAga alapana after each line. I think there is even a rAgEshri in one shlOka.

Muttiah Bhagavatar was a great influence in his singing, composing and even his devotion to dEvi (he had been gifted the 'Bharata' tambura by HMB). His ishta dEvi was named nAda roopa sundari. His composition mama kulEshwaram actually sounds like Dikshitar composed it. GNB's compositions were spontaneous and other than parama krpA sAgari, he never sang them in his own concerts or even noted them down himself. So only about half of them are available today.

GNB has sung at crazy speeds as well as very slow speeds. I remembering reading somewhere (maybe here?) that once he surprised everyone by singing a slow padam which gave LGJ difficulties. Fun fact : His Raghuvara recording is at a blitzkrieg 125 bpm, 500 notes a minute, and even there he managed a few brighas, which at 2x speed mean he hit 1000 notes a min! On the other end, AragimpavE is at a very leisurely 60 bpm, which allowed him to sing some 8 notes / beat swaras.

GNB had a long list of illustrious disciples and many a sangeetha kalAnidhi award has gone to musicians from his shishya parampara.

His success did make some people around him envious and they sought to raise controversy over stuff like his education, his lack of gurukulavAsam, sruthi bhedam, his respect for Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (The latter had himself tried to return the favour, but GNB didn't allow it), or claiming that his singing style was detrimental to his health. Some stooped lower -- in later days there were even some hecklers in the audience waiting for him to falter. But dirt doesn't survive the test of time.

Another point that was refuted was GNB's music lacking in gamakas. In fact he was one of the heaviest gamaka singers (the level of gamaka increased as a trend across all musicians from the gramaphone era to the mid 20th century, and the recordings of GNB provide ample evidence for this) and that was what gave his brighas so much weight and power. LGJ has stated he's actually felt the stage shake from the weight of GNB's phrases. However, I'd like to add my 2 rupees here. 1) GNB introduced bullet like staccatos in his singing to suit the tempos he usually sang at and 2) He did go for plain notes for the very fastest of his brighas (in fact that's the only way to do it). A beautiful alApana of manji (for brOvavamma) was played to illustrate his command over the gamakas - not only did GNB sing it in line with the krithi, if you listen to the whole track, his rendition of the krithi doesn't differ from that of Brinda and Mukta except for a splattering of brighas).

The matter of GNB's shruti shuddam issues was dealt with fittingly. In reality, the problem was occasional and the stories were greatly exaggerated. He had no issues in his prime. From concerts in the 50s and even the 60s, there are recordings where he sang faultlessly from start to finish. The kiranAvaLi alApana played during the presentation was ample proof. If anything, it was this gold standard that he had set and which he maintained most of the time in his later days, that actually made the occasional slip up more jarring, like a few drops of ink on a pure white cloth. He never actually sang a note sharp, it was always a case of hitting it flat (which is impossible to disguise). In later days his voice sometimes had trouble settling into the upper octave or bridging a register, or reproducing what had come effortlessly in his prime, but once it settled in it went all the way. It didn't help that some trolls came to his concerts looking just for when he'd slip up.

The concluding recording was GNB's last available (unaccompanied) recording on tape, an excerpt of a remarkable hindOlam, recorded by some rasikas at his home in the end of 1964. His voice in fine form, betraying no sign of age or health, had the rasikas emotional. Sri Trichur Ramachandran then came forward to comment on how he had played the tambura in that recording, and how it had moved T.N. Krishnan to tears. Those who heard this recording and knew the maestro have said that GNB could explore ragas at home to another level that didn't make it to the stage, as a free spirit, singing his best music.

TVR also commented on the true extent of GNB's range, stating that he could go up to the Ati tara panchamam (it was 3.5 octaves) and that Chembai himself had declared that never since Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer had such a voice been heard in Carnatic music, or a kAmbhoji as great. Or that GNB never found fault in any one's music and encouraged his disciples to listen to all sources. He would often sing phrases of many past musicians like Tiger to demonstrate to his disciples and tear up in the process.

Now, the lack of time meant that not many recordings (including some of his best ones) could be played, but then again, it might take a whole thread out here and several days to satisfactorily explore whatever that is available - a mere 0.1% of all that he sang in his lifetime. However, at the end of the day the paucity of his music that's available on record is lamented as much as the brighas extolled, the rasikas of GNB ever hungry for more. And I'm amazed at the enthusiasm of some of the rasikas I met there. I totally forgot the tea or even water, drunk on the ambrosia of GNB's music.

The magic of GNB is as fresh as ever, the nostalgia even stronger, and invokes the same kind of rapture and applause today for every recording and excerpt played in the presentation as if it had been live, and will continue to do so time and again even centuries from now.

[kvchellappa]

A rich fare after a long absence.

[rajeshnat]

srinathk
Keep it up . Actually yesterday night and today morning i wrote long post on this presentation.I could not complete what all I wanted to say as i had to be at work now . I am almost done 90% .I will go home and will add the last bit and publish it here either tonight or tomorrow morning. These posts are special diamond ring (kadukkan) treasures and i appreciate what you have done for GNB and lalitharam.

[rajeshnat]

GNB Lecdem by Lalitharam@Ragasudha Hall on May 01st,2018

GNB Lecdem by Lalitharam@Ragasudha Hall on May 01st,2018
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Lecdem : Done by Lalitharam whose name is ramachandran , also the founder of parivadhini
Occassion : Sruti Ramnarayanan english translation book on GNB, the translation was from lalitharam's thamizh book on gnb
Duration : 2 hours and 15 mins
Hall : Ragasudha, Luz
Obesiance : GNB death anniversary was May 01st, it is 53 years since the meteor and polestar moved on.

Parivadini founder with two ids namely gamakam and Lalitharam had different avatars in internet .His name is ramachandran and he gave an exemplary lecdem treating with his deep subjective insight of Great New Baani . There were sound clippings with absolute objectivity of one of his prime heroes GNB. Personally he is a great friend of me and incidentally there was one more great friend of me who sat next to me . The second friend who will give run for money is VishnuRamPrasad . I enjoyed the 99% lecdem with a critical 1% insight that only Vishnu Ram prasad can give which just went into only my ears . VRP is a madurai mani super paithiyam like me but he has extraordinary insight on a bunch of late bygone musicianas . One can say VishnuRamPrasad and Parivadhini are like grandsons of MMI and GNB but their musical insights will rival most of us in this globe . Let me refer the multi internet moniker ramachandran as just lalitharam from now on as gamakam will not suit GNB that much.

This writeup is long , rather very long , I am breaking roughly in the context and flow of presentation, wrote a lot in my notebook . I am kind of strugling to reproduce everything that was said , but will give a sincere ganakaladhara swara prasthana post facto touch to raga bhava GNB paithiyam lalitharam's brilliance.


Introduction with Ramnarayanan - Part 1
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#1. As stated the occassion was shri ramnarayanan translating lalitharam tamil book to english .Ramnarayanan motivation started when lalitharam released the thamizh writeup of GNB titled Isai vaseegaran and ramnarayanan worked hard to write this english translation. Ramnarayanan thanked a bunch of dignataries from trichur ramachandran, GN Balakrishnan(brother of GNB), HMV Raghu, TVG (sangeethapriya's prolific uploader who is related to GNB) and even a 5th generation young kid with her mother from GNB or TR Balasubramaniam family.Each of them received the book and he just gave the floor to Lalitha ram with zero wastage of time.


Early musical spark by GNB- Part 2
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#2A. Lalitharam took the stage and used the powerpoint . The powerpoint was not used as a tool to Obi adichufy but just point few critical points.As such the lecdem did not need his powerpoint .Lalitharam knowledge of thamizh is exemplary , personally he said he is very happy to talk before this elite intense rasikas in thamizh and performers like Trichur Ramachandran .Lalitharam did not go overboard in thanking many and wasting time . Lalitharam just said I have given this lecdem on GNB to students but not to this kind of audience. True to GNB style, it was a great concise introduction and it appeared as a sketch of brigha alapana sketch of gnb and it kept all of us hooked on for ever . Lalitharam moved on to early musical spark of GNB.

#2B. Cheeky hamsadhwani : He started first with a clipping of the famous navaroz alapana of GNB . The brigas of GNB were breathtaking and the gudalur narayanaswami balasubramaniam first tryst with music was ragam hamsadhwani. In very early days of GNB his musical family had a lot of discussions ,then at a point of time there was a discussion about Maha vaidyanatha Sivan . Conversations hovered around how maha vaidyanatha sivan used to sing hamsadhwani. GNB a kid or may be an early teenager just said i can sing hamsadhwani and just like that sang 7 or 8 avarthana swaras of hamsadhwani . That was cheeky hamsadhwani start.

#2C. Academy Competition : The music academy used to conduct competition in 1920s and 1930s . Then competition was open to all irrespective of age . THose days in the competition only krithis were sung . GNB got once gold medal and incidentally in one year when GNB got the gold medal vidwan S Rajam was the participant

#2D. Silver plate and first concert GNB very notably got a silver plate from raja annamalai chettiar. Incidentally first concert for gnb
was in mylai kapali temple . The year was 1927 , gnb had his concert when musiri cancelled his concert as he was bit indisposed

#2E. Lalitharam ended wonderfully and said GNB was a meteor and he raised so fast up. But unlike a regular meteor which falls as fast as its rise , GNB stayed as a polestar. This poetic side of narration was extremely impressive


GNB Gurus - Part 3
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#3. GNB musical gurus. GNB's two gurus who taught him early were karur chinnaswamy iyer and madurai subramania iyer. One of them even lived in the same house of GNB(forgot who that person between the two is). Incidentally GNB had a lot of ekalavya gurus , ranging from Harikesa muthiah bhagavathar , Tiger varadachari, Ariyakudi were his prime idols to learn music. GNB also joined annamalai university and did not complete any course. Tiger tutored GNB in chennai at teachers college in chennai.GNB and Tiger performed together in 1931, GNB was just 21

GNB early memorable megahits - Part 4
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#4A. His first early mega hit was narrated with a short story of GNB's success with movie world. There are totally 5 films that came into tinsel town with GNB, only one remains preserved and that is shakunthalai . For all practical purpose even though the movie shakunthala was a MS Subhalakshmi blockbuster , that one song in kAmbodhi of GNB giving voice was discussed . That one where GNB sings that immortal eNNai marandavan in KAmbodhi was played . The anecdote of one nayana vidwan tiruvarur veeruswamy pillai who goes to the theatre daily to listen to this song and comes out post this song was added.

#4B. GNB was not accepted by the raise an eyebrow rasikas of tanjavur . The tanjavur folks decided than that GNB is a talkie singer and his music was questioned by many. But one person forgot his name pushed GNB to sing in tanjavur which was equivalent to a slot in academy those days . That particular day when GNB sang in Tanjore it was a watershed moment . The clip of AndOlika alapana was played ,the crowd then did not get Andolika but the rage with GNB started as fire then

#4C. The famous anecdote of TNR - todi chakravathi praising GNB todi happened in one of the marrriage functions in the house of nadaswara vidwan needamangalam meenakshi sundaram pillai.

#4D. There was a famous Saveri concert of GNB. The anecdote is bit strange . The musicologist Prof sambadmoorthy got so much moved about one saveri rendition of GNB in a concert where he spoke one evening and then the next day he attended another vidwan concert .When sambamoorthy was asked , he said as I went home a day back , I got so much of saveri insights and he spoke about his previous saveri concert experience that he could not speak earlier in his next concert

#4E. Gnb was not feeling well when he went to thazhiyuthi?? (near tirunelveli). Lalitharam played the clipping of that thazhiyuthi and the raga alapana was kalyani (Personally RajeshNat me started liking kalyani alapana only after listening to GNB kalyani alapana)

#4F. The famous encore shout where in calcutta at the end of the concert all rasikas stood up and asked for one more concert in calcutta . This encore repeat was not for a song but for a whole concert. This incident was already shared in our forum .

[rajeshnat]

GNB Voice - Part 5
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This section had his astute acumen where Lalitharam understanding of GNB music came in full demonstrative mode

#5A. Lalitharam used 5 or 6 sankrit phrases from sangeetha rathnakara, i cannot figure out my fudged handwriting . He explained his voice texture,pleasantness, Depth ,smoothness, traversing 3 octaves and then came with roaring snippet of shanmughapriya alapana of GNB. I am assuming that particular alapana was his famous RTP ragam that I heard of his. The contextual snippet of shanmughapriya is one of a kind to demonstrate all the attributes that he discussed especially traversing over 3 octaves was very impressive.

#5B. Incidentally when Lalitharam collated all this data about GNB voice , he only got references where it was most of his later recordings . GNB early parts were not recorded and most of his old age rasikas who lived in that era have told lalitharam that you have not heard the actual voice of GNB. 90 percent of GNB recordings where post 1957 recordings of GNB , incidentally GNB had his first heart attack in 1957.

#5c. GNB's mikeless voice of 78 RPM was also demonstrated . His sudda saveri alapana was demoed with few clips of dharini telusukonti krithi. GNB with his voice did not resort to brigas and did not overdo to get claps. (Rajeshnat makes a honest confesssion , thank god we had microphones otherwise all singers were aurally like MK Thyagaraja bhagavathar)

GNB follower of Kutcheri format - part6
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#6A. He strictly followed the Poochi Iyengar - Ariyakudi paddhati(rajeshnat prefers to give equal credit to Poochi then just saying ariyakudi as historically that is correct) . GNB followed and intense madhyamakala centric paddhati. The start was varnams with many times had a round of kalpana swaras , at times it had a flashy vathapi or maa kelara start ,at times a bit sedate ee vasudha in sahana to start .

#6B. Lalitharam referred GNB as neo classical musician in the words of my semi god TRS mama. As per TRS mama neo classical means some thing that is forgotten but again resurrected . The submain alapana with a sharp incisive start was demoed with that expressive pantuvarali alapana. HIs alapanas in krithis unlike RTP were different . In krithis it was more essence

#.6C. His RTP was one where R is long , T is short and P is more inbetweeen. Theere may be one durita kala krthi before RTP. His slokas and lighter tukkadas had the raga essence conveyed with great focus

#6D. GNB music was not kept aside by rasikas as a music that is far ahead of times . When Gnb sang ,his ideas were accepted by living fresh blood rasikas then and there at that time. His compositions, his tukkada tunes were all immediately accepted by the critical crowd. (This point of lalitharam assertion was profound and deep to rajeshnat )

GNB Alapana - Part 7
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Personally RajeshNat felt GNB music treasure of treasures is his alapana.

#7A. Lalitharam demonstrated his early 78 rpm alapana with his immortal alapana of kalyani prior to his 78 rpm recording of vasudevayani.His alapana crux was filled with brighas but there was no overusage of brigas . GNB always bought in an element of restraint and balance (Rajeshnat would like to respectfully disagree as I have felt there was a shade of slight overdoing but that is what his music especially his alapana and I am not cribbing at all )

#7B. TRS mama used to say about GNB alapana to Lalitharam. This was beautifully explained . The kalapramanam of the alapana should match with the kalapramanam of the subsequent krithi. Lalitharam played 3 todis and it was so evident of three differing kalapramana , the first was mahaganapatE vandE , the second emi jesithe and the third kadanuvariki. Even though he did not reveal the answer of which song was matched with alapana, I did spot it right and I checked with vishnuramprasad.

#7C.GNB used a lot of high speed vajra phrases . TRS mama used to say about GNB , that he had both adadA sangathi that had swirling brigas and also Ah Ah sangathi which had really clean landing of phrases of raga alapana.

#7D. In handling rare krithis and apoorva ragas his approach was very crisp. GNB kiranavali alapana and jayanthashree was played , both were heavenly

#7E. His approach Of Raga alapana in RTP was entirely different .His alapana in RTP atleast have 4 distinct stages , an outline phase , a second phase to move from sa to pa, then at times few distinct tara sthayee and attimes graha bedham was also used which was fleeting . The duration of silence progressively decreaases as GNB sketches the alapana. The kalyani alapana was played

[rajeshnat]

GNB Krithi and Neraval rendition- Part 8
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#8A.Once in thyagaraja aradhana one of his chief patrons Tanjore Ananda Lodge Kittappa and GNB sir had conversation . GNB knew about 138 krithis of Sadguru and he was kind of undecided which he has to sing among the 138 kritis. Lalitharam gave an opinion that his onspot manodharmam on krithi rendition was very disciplined and he prefered to stick to predefined sangathi. He rendered with reverance polished them in practice and repeated sangathis twice.

#8B. The famous vasudevayani krithi in kalyani was slightly changed or tampered by GNB .GNB wanted to bring in the kooval (calling ) expression and slightly changed the paddhati rendition of vasudevayani. He used whereever possible swarakshara.

#8C. Lalitharam said GNB music had viruviruppu (not sense of urgency but excitement) but did not have vegam (speed) and he took an extensive examaple of subramanyaya namaste to demonstrate

#8D. His heavenly no super heavenly rendition of Samaja vara gamanA in hindolam was played. (rajeshnat could not sleep yesterday after hearing this )

#8E. Gnb style of neraval is always take the full line of neraval and he used to take more meaningful and appropriate line .The line tApatraya nipuna for neraval in the immortal shree subramanyaya namaste , MD composition in kambOdhi was discussed. The clipping was also played ( rajeshnat would to put up a view point that singing way too many full length lines of neraval is not as musically intense but no big deal the verve of GNB was intense )

GNB Swarakalpana RTP and slokham rendition- Part 9
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#9A. GNB was a swara poruttam master of masters . His handling of telisiramA swara poruttam was explained. His heavenly andolika ragasudharasa with sa ri mA swara poruttam eas explained . His rare handling of swaras in malavi nenaruchirA was also explained.Passing reference to mazhaverandal subbarama bhagavathar was given on malavi .

#9B The most extraordinary and heavenly RTP creation in nattaikurinji was taken next .The violin player was MSG and mrudangam artist was CS Murugabhoopathy . Vishnu adds to rajeshnat that it was in mumbai shanmughananda sabha . RajeshNat wants to add few points here - taking RTP in ragas and singing alapana in say ragas like KAmbOdhi , kalyani and Todi are no mean achievements . But how did GNB get this many musical ideas in this raga nattaikurinji , personally the whole nadasswaram of TNR and karaikurichi is there in this RTP of nattaikurinji . He played this nattaikurinji clip

#9C. GNB has mostly taken RTP in mostly Aadhi tAlam . His famous devamanohari pallavi was taken next , this was the air recording . The manchi samayamu devamanohari was the pallavi line and gnb rocks with a lesser known accompaist . Vishnu tells the accompanist was RS gopalakrishnan in violin and kovai ramaswamy in mruduangam. The swara kalpana in natabhairavi and gowrimanOhari were extraordinary . No safe passage there and this clipping with swarakalpana was extremely engaging.

#9D. The slokham in rare gavati raga was taken next . Vishnu tells me the slokham was kalAmbOdhara. Heavenly rendition of gavati


GNB Myths and Contributions- Part 10
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10A. The critics or his contemporary musicians then used to say there was not much gamaka in his music . Our lalitharam referred gnb as gamaka no bar and played the alapana of manji alapana with lots of gamakas . Vishnu quips this alapana is before the brovaamma mAnji krithi. Rajeshnat feels there is an element of truth as gnb music is more and more brigas and less and less gamakas . Rajeshnat thanks god that GNB kept it that way, who wants a bowler(gamaka specialist)when you hit sixes like chris gayle with brigas


10B. GNB Brigha overuse myth was clinically destroyed by lalitharam . GNB even when he did shruthi bedham or a briga did not repeat it again to hear claps , for sure rajeshnat also felt that GNB never overused brigas.

10C. GNB music and sruthi adherance . This is just a way too complex topic for rajeshnat. I just did not pay that much attention to what gamakam said and I forgot to note it in my notebook .Shri gnb had more than one heart attack so if he had few shruthi lapse that is what it is . This is much ado about nothing.

10D. GNB had so much speed and no nidhanam. This was brushed .Rajeshnat personally feels since GNB only kept highest of high quality accompanist this speed factor of mismatch was well handled by accompanists . incidentally most of the recordings that were played were the heavenly triple sundae combination of GNB-LGJ-Palakkad Raghu

[rajeshnat]

GNB Musical contibutions as vaggeyakkara- Part 11
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11A. GNB was the first musician who earned a 1000 rupee note sanmAnam. He brought in so many new krithis and new ragas. His alapana building up methodology was so unique and one of a kind

11B.Having worked in AIR , GNB brought in lot of thematic presentations . Rajeshnat personally thinks even his devamanohari pallavi was one experiment going away from big 5 ragas .

11C. As a vageyakkara GNB has composed about 400 krithis in telugu, sanskrit and tamil .About 80 did reach concert circuit thru his disciples . There is one paramakripa sAgari in yadhukulakambOdhi which GNB has sung , all the rest of the composition was only sung by his sishya parampara. Most of his compositions had lines like nada roopa sundari , rajeshnat is not sure if that was his mudra or ishta devata

11D. GNB as a vageyakkara had modelled his krithis by his intense respect with Harikesanallur muthiah bhagavathar . A beautiful explanation was given by Lalitharam on GNB raga creation of sivashakthi which has 4 notes (denoting god siva) and 5 notes (denoting goddess shakthi). Many of his compositions came in the title gAnabhaskara manimAlai.

11E. One of the most startling points that Lalitharam shared was this . GNB created compositions as only placeholders for his pouring musical ideas so that his musical ideas do crystallize and take form and not got lost in daily mundane life. This point made rajeshnat wonder what a great musician he was , vageyakkaras can have religious bent but musical angle is far far more important.


GNB Controversy- Part 12
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12A. GNB in his early days was considered as a half baked talkie singer. POints about tanjavur concerts in his early career is already furnished

12B. His grahabedham was kind of not taken well and lalitharam did not dwell that much but vishnu personally told me enough pointers from where it came from ?

12C. The heavenly hindolam raga was played .Was that only alapana or another round of samaja vara gamana . Nothing to beat hindolam when you have controversy which was slightly thrown as fleeting sruthibedham.

Trichur Ramachandran and other musicians with vote of thanks - Part 13
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13A Trichur Ramachandran sir came 15 mintues before and I did see few musicians Suryaprakash , Baby Sreeram , Saketharaman and the 5th generation youngster Adithyanarayanan , the cursory glance of their faces and the hug of saketharaman of Lalitharam did convey the success of this lecdem

13B. Trichur ramachandran gave one of the finest vote of thanks . He said it is 53 years since his death but gnb sir music lives for ever . His composition had both prasa and anu prasa and one famous musician / musicologist (forgot his name) once told gnb mamakuleshwaram in todi was equivalent to MD krithi

13C. Trichur ramachandran romba Asaya solli tharuvar and he had asAthiya periyava bhakthi with his elder musicians ranging from tiger to ariyakudi. He particularly recollected his one todi and gnb used to say it was tiger varadachariar todi . That todi of 1963 was performed in perambur sabha

13D. Trichur ramachandran got interested in carnatic music only because of GNB . Trichur ramachandran even passed his medical college seat and got admission but for GNB music he would have not entered CM. The icing of all anecdotes was one famous ananda lodge kittappa family concert where many musicians came . GNB concert was arranged and gnb sang kambOdhi. The most truth seeking musician (as per rajeshnat)chembai bhagavathar told GNB mAthiri KAmbOdhi antha kAlathla maha vaidhyanatha sivan padirrukar ippo gnb pAdinar


One small area of improvement that rajeshnat is suggesting lalitharam - part 14
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14A. The personality of lalitharam who has had manaseega influence of GNB may be as much as the army of disciples like MLV,SKR, Trichur Ramachandran etc had . Also let us include other school musicians lik srajam and trs who went gAgA with GMB. Lalitharam took thru the entire lifecycle of GNB and went upto slokham and ended with another alpana . Towards the end I felt he could have taken instead of alapana he could have played one of the evergreen tukkadas like say thikku theriyatha , dhavala roopa etc. He ended slighly emotionally and may be wanted to put GNB's last alapana recording that was available which was a brilliant home recorded kalyani alapana . INfact Trichur ramachandran put tambura in trivandrum when GNB sang in his home .But I guess that can be overcome in the internet world.

Rajeshnat is now putting the link of last Music Academy recording 1964 of GNB and this was not shared by lalitharam. GNB sir ends with radha mukha kamalam - hindustani kApi - papanasam sivan . rajeshnat wants to add something that is absolute truth, the classical weight in gnb tukkadas we dont even need pre main section and he to me represents what true classical music concert from tip to toe.

Go to the link and just hear the last 3 mins from 2:31 to 2:34 in his last academy concert of 1964 of GNB-LGJ-PR- Vishwanatha Iyer@Music Academy on Dec 29th,1964
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVE8SyhNCQA

14B. Trichur ramachandran ended saying the banner Prince of Music can be changed to God of Music. Rajeshnat feels we can have 3 plural gods of music GNB-SSI-MMI and respectfully disagrees if there is a situation where there is only one singular god of music that is not gnb and ssi , but that is ---

14C. I took a photo of trichur ramachandran and Lalitharam . Lalitharam has not even seen his musical musical grandfather GNB. Apologies for not taking a snap of Ramanarayanan , I had in my mind to take a snap of Trichur ramachandran flanked by Ramnarayanan and Lalitharam but could not spot shri ramanarayanan. The book is just priced 180 please do buy.

This was a nadia comaneci - voice of gnB presentation . Overall a truly outstanding presentation for 2 hours and 15 minutes.

[MaheshS]

Fantastic summation SrinathK and rajeshnat. I will try and listen to the presentation this weekend. Hope it will still be up in YT. GNB was a slow creeper on me, unlike MMI or SSI. But once crept it has just stayed there, ever green. And this is only the recordings we have off a GNB who was past his prime.

I have listened to a GS Mani lec dem, where he says, nay, laments about the treatment GNB got initially from the rest of the music fraternity, his exact words were, Edhir Neechal pottar andha Maha Vidwan.

Another thing about GNB that I have personally heard from SSI. Avar padina Thiruvanandhapurathla poove kedaikadhu. Rough translation, When he sings in Thiruvanandhapuram you won't get flowers anywhere, meaning all the ladies would have got hold of it before to look at their best in his concert

[SrinathK]

The full video of the event may be found here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRIEJF8uOE0

Can't believe I missed the Navroj if I read @rajeshnat's post. It's not audible in the video. Can anyone share?

[rajeshnat]

I made one mistake by saying viruvirupppu as sense of urgency , the right meaning that lalitharam meant for viruviruppu was excitement
That correction is needed as it gives a wrong meaning to GNB- God #3 of Carnatic Music. Corrected that part of post.

#8C. Lalitharam said GNB music had viruviruppu (sense of urgency ) but did not have vegam (speed)
is actually
#8C. Lalitharam said GNB music had viruviruppu (not sense of urgency but excitement) but did not have vegam (speed)

[rajeshnat]

I made few more corrections now

#2c GNB got 1 gold medal and not 3 gold medals as mentioned
#2D GNB very notably got a silver plate from not thiruvarur sabesa iyer but raja annamalai chettiar

#3. GNB also joined annamalai university and did not complete any course. Tiger tutored GNB in chennai at teachers college in chennai.GNB and Tiger performed together in 1931, GNB was just 21
#8A Lalitharam gave an opinion that his onspot manodharmam on krithi rendition was very disciplined and he prefered to stick to predefined sangathi. He rendered with reverance polished them in practice and repeated sangathis twice. I wrongly mentioned that onspot manodharmam was low.

[arasi]

Another meaning for viRu viRuppana kachEri is spirited presentation, which is reflected in all the contributions above in this thread. Kudos to you folks and to Lalitharam and Ramnarayan for bringing a giant in CM into focus for generations of rasikas to come

[MaheshS]

A lovely anecdote about GNB from Palakkad Raghu, in the company of Ramani Mama and Lalgudi. Look at the reverence and Ramani Mama starting off by saying, you three, acknowledging the famous trio, GNB-LGJ-PR.

[SrinathK]

Can't believe I missed the Navroj if I read @rajeshnat's post. It's not audible in the video. Can anyone share?

Correction : I was told it was the Mishra Yaman alApana for rAdha samEta krishna

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Srinath and Rajesh have done a simply wonderful reporting with lot of supplementary information on GNB.
LalithaRam has opened up a good discussion and a meaningful look-back into the great music of the legend.

It may be noted that GNB seldom resorted to 'kanakku-vazhakku' in swaraprastara, yet providing the right 'viruviruppu' in rendering.

[CRama]

It was a wonderful presentation by Lalitharam. It is not simply the expression of a rasika obsessed with the music of GNB- as I have met a few people like that. It is beyond that. Much of analytical skills and minute details have been taken into account while making the presentation. It dwells in the time span of GNB taking us to the Carnatic music scenario prevailing at that period. His clear communication skills, musical knowledge, sincerity in approach all has got reflected in the presentation. The available audio clippings have been chosen to substantiate his observations, As has been stated there, unfortunately, we have not got recordings of the best period in the life of GNB.

I have not heard GNB in person. My mother had taken me to a Navarathri Mandapam concert , but I was too small to remember anything about the concert. My mother had been an ardent fan of GNB and since my childhood, GNB’s music would be played consistently in my house and thereafter it would be Thrissur Ramachandran’s. I have got all the available music of GNB and plenty of Thrissur Ramachandrans. When I was In Trivandrum, there was one mama by the name Umamaheswaran to whom GNB was the God- and I have spent many evenings in his house and he used to narrate anecdotes about the concerts of GNB that he had heard and he himself was a good singer. He shared close friendship with GNB and Semmangudi, when both of them were in Trivandrum. Thrissur Ramachandran used to some and stay in his house and I had been a fly in the wall during many of their discussions. I had some enriching discussions with Thrissur Ramachandran also about the music of GNB. A few things which I have heard, I would like to share here.

I vividly remember an impressive lec dem concert of GNB compositions done by Ramachandran on a GNB Day- May 1- in Kartika Tirunal Theatre, Trivandrum in early 80s.. In that concert, Ramachandran sang GNB’s compositions in Bhairavi, Keeravani, etc, which we had not heard till then.

Because of the jealousy of a few of his peers, GNB was much disturbed in the autumn of his life. Those people magnified his occasional sruti lapses and tried their best to tarnish his image. In a concert (I think Bangalore concert) where he is accompanied by Chowdiah, after his splendid Panthuvarali alapana for Raghuvara, Chowdiah yells in the mike- “Some people say GNB’s music has no sruti sudham. Let them come and hear this concert” So when he left Chennai to Trivandrum, he expressed this feeling to somebody (I think it was MLV) and he was sceptical of his health also. He told that I may not come back. This I have read somewhere.

The group of musicians who disliked him managed to get many of his recordings in the AIR erased after his demise. That’s how his Navarathri Mandapam recordings or his recordings in the TVM AIR or much of his recordings when he was producer in Chennai AIR have been lost for ever. The only one available Navarathri Mandapam concert is a contrived one.

Lalitharam is into many such productions. My best wishes to him in all his endeavours. Thanks to Srinath and Rajeshnat for their exhaustive reports.

[rajeshnat]

2 Ramachandrans-GNBObserver And GNBPractioner@Ragasudha Hall On May01st,2018

[shankarank]

GNB always bought in an element of restraint and balance (Rajeshnat would like to respectfully disagree as I have felt there was a shade of slight overdoing but that is what his music especially his alapana and I am not cribbing at all )

I don't think this can be viewed as "there is this brigha that flows uncontrolled" and then "there is restraint/balance". His era was not algorithmic and there is lot of "wholesome" ideas imbibed. He starts out with a kARvai and then descends/lands with a brigha.

It is like a square canvas of an image, that fills all over the canvas with pixels and slowly increases in resolution - VS. - it fills line by line from top to bottom.

By the time of Sri tanjAvuR kalyaNarAman, it became somewhat algorithmic and rhythmic that perfectly composed(seemingly!) brigha phrases with rhythmic patterns started to be used. Then by the time of TNS, it was actually used to feel the voids on the rhythmic boundaries and beyond ( like reaching eDDuppu). But the melody , in relation to GNB , lost it's vintage wholesomeness.

[shankarank]

Sri Trichur Ramachandran commented that even unusual forays and phrases when studied did not depart from rAga lakshaNa -- he once sang kAnaDA with unusual phrases landing on the M1, which however had in fact been explored by Mysore Vasudevacharya.

What is the status of M1 in kAmbodhi? This has burnt one Musician Sanjay once (about 2002-2004 or so) in Cleveland. The M1G phrase almost sounded like what would occur in bEgaDa ( like nAdO in nAdOpAsana) and then there was no recovery. kAmbodhi was still being discovered with virtuosity unleashed. "oru tuli viSham" or a drop of poison is the exact language used by the Grundig tape collector in a post concert conversation.

Vignesh Eswar almost went there in a recent concert in Dallas ( reviewed in this forum) but quickly compensated and escaped.

A recent Lec Dem (interactive) in Plano (Dallas) - yeah we have started that here also - by three reputed teachers with good pedigree - all of them AIR graded, discussed ShaNmukhapriyA as one of the rAgas. There it was mentioned that, ShaNmukhapriyA does not have nyAsa for M2 ( much like SankarAbharaNam in N3 - I would think) . But once it was over, a musician friend of mine walking out in the parking lot, recalled and sang a GNB Alapana where he would stall in M2.

What is the status of M2 in ShaNmukhapriyA?

[kvchellappa]

Did it still sound like Shanmukhapriya?

[shankarank]

Can this be merged with a GNB special thread - so this does not get buried? It was a very difficult search - I had to go through several hits before I re-discovered using a post by Venkata Kailsam that GNB thread is in Vaggeyakaras forum.

This is the famous PudukkOTTai concert : Shanmukhapriya RTP - with LGJ and CSM.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43lHGeu84Jw

In initial stages, I see a nyaasam only in "pa" and any landing on ma is done as"pa-ma". There seem to be some deliberate attacks on "ma" in later stages but the rAgA flavor is gone a bit. I have to re-hear it to confirm. It gets difficult for me to say which svara he is on and I have to hum "ma" - I am poor at svara stanas to that level. Others may help.

[shankarank]

In the second stage - there is a lot of dwelling on pdn dp(m) m2 is only suggested - after a while an illusion is created with these 3 swaras pdn with p as nyaasa and after a while I start hallucinating that pa -> sa and I am hearing subhapantuvarALi. Too bad even if he does a upper sa varjya, he does not have r1 on the upper side to show a m2 in this transition. But he does suggest the m2 of source rAgam (shanmukhapriyA) to sound like n3 in the illusory lower octave, giving me a "local" graha bhedam.

A graha bhEdam of the dangling type - that we discussed in Uday's quiz i.e. bhairavi to punnAgavarALi.

Will m2 be called amsa svara here - i.e. once that occurs frequently but never stayed on?

After a while you lose track of stAyi , svarams, and stAnams - crazy stuff

[SrinathK]

Can this be merged with a GNB special thread - so this does not get buried? It was a very difficult search - I had to go through several hits before I re-discovered using a post by Venkata Kailsam that GNB thread is in Vaggeyakaras forum.

This is the famous PudukkOTTai concert : Shanmukhapriya RTP - with LGJ and CSM.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43lHGeu84Jw

Speaking of that link, listen from 28:10 onwards, the upper octave adventure starts, he has a field day hitting the upper Sa (this is 1964 BTW!).

Then go to around 33:20 - he goes on to explore the lower octave. And goes down to the lower G2 before the recording cuts (damn those old cassettes!). Lalgudi Jayaraman in his reply matches GNB in the upper octave and goes down to the lower S, which probably meant GNB did hit it - it appears GNB even had mastery over the vocal fry register which he used to extend his range down in the lower octave.

However from the recordings I do not think GNB's lower octave was always a strength. It was one of the fresher days when his voice had the same depth and range in the lower octave as it did in the middle and upper, and when it did the weight and depth has to be heard to be believed, but that wasn't always. (This was true for all old school open throated singers btw).

The neraval in this pallavi is supreme - see the part from 55 min onwards (and LGJ's replies to it). That's on another level.

The rAgamAlikA swaras start from 1:01:20 - where he changes nadai to chatushram, only to return to tishram for the pallavi.

[parivadini]

After eight years - may be this post has some relevance - https://carnaticmusicreview.wordpress.c ... ruti-dvds/

I missed explicitly stating but I'm sure the listener would have realized that I drew quite a bit of material from these DVDs.

[shankarank]

In the assumption of re-hearing that one, I found a another Shanmukhapriya @ Shanmugananda. Sounds like same accompanists with a Ghatam in addition. The tani gives away CSM - who is known to do a short first round to adjust Sruti, if a Ghatam is present.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tv5Bue7uNKg

The audio is better, it is even better in auto chamber that with head phones. Especially the replies to behAg.

The Alapana has a different take in many sections - here more nyaasa on the N2.

[rajeshnat]

Shankarank and Parivadini
Thanks for more inputs , we have a big parent GNB Thread , in future if you would like to put more posts put it there in that thread
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=302

Let us kind of call nee nAma roopamulaku for this thread

Parivadini
After few days gap repost your post #24, that was one great link that should go to GNB main thread in vaggeyakkara , for generations to come people would love to read that post of yours in #24.

[SrinathK]

Let us kind of call nee nAma roopamulaku for this thread

Under 30 sec mangalam?

[MaheshS]

Let us kind of call nee nAma roopamulaku for this thread

Under 30 sec mangalam?

Naah, need one a bit better, Mangalam.

[SrinathK]

Let us kind of call nee nAma roopamulaku for this thread

Under 30 sec mangalam?

Naah, need one a bit better, Mangalam.

Nah, since it's GNB - let him do the honors : - https://soundcloud.com/user461654480/gn ... thyagaraja

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