That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi?

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Rasika911
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Joined: 09 Mar 2009, 06:11

That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi?

Post by Rasika911 »

Have a feeling it will be Trichy Sankaran!

ragam-talam
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by ragam-talam »

Rasika911 wrote:Have a feeling it will be Trichy Sankaran!
I doubt it. The SKs for the past few years:
2009 Valayapatti A R Subramanyam (thavil)
2008 A.K.C. Natarajan (clarinet)
2007 Palghat R. Raghu (mridangam)
2006 Madurai T. N. Seshagopalan (vocal)
2005 M. Chandrasekaran (violin)
2004 Vellore G. Ramabhadran (mridangam)
2003 T. V. Shankaranarayanan (vocal)

I expect it will go to a vocalist this time. No guesses on who it will be.

mahakavi
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by mahakavi »

I will go out on a limb. It will be ThrisUr V. Ramachandran

nirmalanatarajan
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by nirmalanatarajan »

It is quite sad that there are not many from Karnataka, Kerala or AP who could even be considered seriously. Is the CM cupboard that bare in these states? Mysore Nagaraj may get it after a decade and so may Hyd Brother and Malladis. Trichur VR may not qualify as a Keralite, even if he gets it. But it would be an injustice if he doesn't. There has been no better disciple of GNB if endurance was a yardstick, apart from his own contribution as a performer.

VK RAMAN
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by VK RAMAN »

"It is quite sad that there are not many from Karnataka, Kerala or AP who could even be considered seriously" really!

kadambam
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by kadambam »

How about Parassalla Ponnammal?

thenpaanan
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by thenpaanan »

ragam-talam wrote:[...
The SKs for the past few years:
2009 Valayapatti A R Subramanyam (thavil)
2008 A.K.C. Natarajan (clarinet)
2007 Palghat R. Raghu (mridangam)
2006 Madurai T. N. Seshagopalan (vocal)
2005 M. Chandrasekaran (violin)
2004 Vellore G. Ramabhadran (mridangam)
2003 T. V. Shankaranarayanan (vocal)

...
This is a somewhat eclectic list. I am curious -- does anyone know what is the process followed for SK selection and who are the people in the appropriate committee in the Music Academy these days?

-Then Paanan

mahakavi
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by mahakavi »

The pattern appears to be obviously: no same cadre musicians ( no two vocalists, percussionists, or string/pipe instrumentalists) in consecutive years. Variety in instruments is also taken into consideration. A flutist may be followed by a violinist etc., in consecutive years.

thanjavooran
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by thanjavooran »

How about the multifaceted TVG ?

Thanjavooran 03 05 10

kssr
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by kssr »

mahakavi wrote: It will be ThrisUr V. Ramachandran
I second it ! Unfortunately no one has consulted my noble self !! :(

Sundara Rajan
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by Sundara Rajan »

How about ManakkAl RangarAjan ?

mahakavi
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by mahakavi »

Sundara Rajan wrote:How about ManakkAl RangarAjan ?
Usually if somebody is neglected/ignored for a long period, then the best they can get is "sangeeta kalA AcArya"

hariniraghavan
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by hariniraghavan »

I storngly feel that TrisUr Ramachandran should be given the SK this time. He is a deserving candidate.

fduddy
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by fduddy »

If age is not the criteria (60+), they should seriously consider TM Krishna or Aruna Sairam who are THE BEST in the CM field today.

kssr
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by kssr »

fduddy wrote:If age is not the criteria (60+), they should seriously consider TM Krishna or Aruna Sairam who are THE BEST in the CM field today.
Is it? Well.....

VK RAMAN
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by VK RAMAN »

fduddy wrote:If age is not the criteria (60+), they should seriously consider TM Krishna or Aruna Sairam who are THE BEST in the CM field today.
God in His wisdom must have good reason for all these wrinkles, spots, growths, and other dignities of age

rbharath
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by rbharath »

going by the current mood of the academy in the last couple of years, I am not going to make any guesses. I would wait for the announcement :)

Nick H
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by Nick H »

sangeetha kalanidhi Aruna Sairam.

Harimau will explode. It would be like Chenobyl, but much worse.

:grin: :grin: :lol:

VISHNURAMPRASAD
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by VISHNURAMPRASAD »

Why not Shri T.H.Vinayakaram ?
55 years of service,
taken Ghatam to the world music,
First carnatic musician to have won grammy award.
Accompanied all great stalwarts in CM.
Age More than 60 (which is again a criteria of SK for MA going by the past data).

Had Shri Harishankar been alive, he would have been a great choice (since academy could not honour pudukkottai pillaivaal due to his passing away in mid 1930s).

If it is for a vocalist, then Shri Trichur rightly deserves especially during GNB centenary.

As he has been in the concert world for more than 5 decades and a repository of GNB's compositions, a reflection of sincere and hard work.

rshankar
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by rshankar »

VISHNURAMPRASAD wrote:Why not Shri T.H.Vinayakaram ?
Probably because that would be 2 percussionists in a row?

rbharath
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by rbharath »

VISHNURAMPRASAD wrote:Why not Shri T.H.Vinayakaram ?
his door was shut long ago. he got his Sangeetha Kala Acharya like more than a decade ago.

harimau
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by harimau »

fduddy wrote:If age is not the criteria (60+), they should seriously consider TM Krishna or Aruna Sairam who are THE BEST in the CM field today.
I do feel bad for you. Real bad. :(

arasi
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by arasi »

Nick,
Funny ;) but why go that far? A Bhopal will do pretty well instead--in being explosive and invasive too (in the musical sense)!

semmu86
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by semmu86 »

fduddy wrote:If age is not the criteria (60+), they should seriously consider TM Krishna or Aruna Sairam who are THE BEST in the CM field today.
:grin: :grin:
I think we stop giving much importance to this award now which has become more or less a kind of a joke and doesn't deserve the respect it once used to, with so much of mud slinging going around. Great musicians shall always remain great irrespective of whether they chose to get honored or not by some committee of "Wise men" .... And whats there in an award anyway.. Some deserving ones were purposefully sidelined and some less deserving got it. That is not going to make those who didn't get that award any lesser musicians and those who got it any greater. So whats the point apart from we getting satisfied that our favorite musician has got it..

mahakavi
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by mahakavi »

Why do we talk about such awards? It is just a curiosity. That is all. Same thing with national awards too--they are all political but people still talk about them.

My pet peeve is when some musician has gotten one or more awards, others (sycophants!) around them start referrring to them as : Sangeetha Kalanidhi, Padma...., Ganakalaratna, Dr. Prof. Sri. So and so.

It is like Rajadiraja Rajamarthanda Rajagambeera Royal --- (fill in the blanks accordingly if you don't like what I intended to write)

mahesu
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by mahesu »

mahakavi wrote:Why do we talk about such awards? It is just a curiosity. That is all. Same thing with national awards too--they are all political but people still talk about them.

My pet peeve is when some musician has gotten one or more awards, others (sycophants!) around them start referrring to them as : Sangeetha Kalanidhi, Padma...., Ganakalaratna, Dr. Prof. Sri. So and so.

It is like Rajadiraja Rajamarthanda Rajagambeera Royal --- (fill in the blanks accordingly if you don't like what I intended to write)
I agree that these hyped awards have started becoming nothing but a joke. The awards are becoming less proportional to the caliber and service of musicians, any more. I think it is time to start respecting the people who do yomen service to this art, irrespective of whether they were awarded or not. There are few people who do not go behind these awards and award committees, and hence retire to the fate of being not titled with such hyped awards. Neverthless they are no less to the so called "Sangita K.., Sangita C........" awardees. These type people deserve more recognition from we rasikas than these sabhas / organisations.

Nick H
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by Nick H »

mahakavi wrote:I think it is time to start respecting the people who do yomen service to this art, irrespective of whether they were awarded or not.
Start? I think most people already do.

I don't deny that carnatic music and rasikas has streaks of sycophancy and pomposity, but for most rasikas at most concerts, the titles accrued by the people on stage are of almost no consequence at all.

I hope.

ragam-talam
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by ragam-talam »

Perhaps we should also come up with something like the Razzies awards each year in Carnatic music!
Any suggestions for this year?
:)

rbharath
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by rbharath »

ragam-talam wrote:Perhaps we should also come up with something like the Razzies awards each year in Carnatic music!
Any suggestions for this year?
:)
and call it 'Sangeetha Kolai nidhi' ??? :P

Nick H
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by Nick H »

<after translation and explanation from my wife> :lol:

The value of the award is absolutely linked to the value of the institution awarding it.

Has not the MA been rescued from the phase of its history where awards for politics and infighting would have been more appropriate? How do my elder rasikas rate it today?

ragam-talam
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by ragam-talam »

rbharath wrote:and call it 'Sangeetha Kolai nidhi' ??? :P
Great choice of name! And who shall be eligible for the inaugural award, I wonder... :=)

rbharath
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by rbharath »

ragam-talam wrote:Great choice of name! And who shall be eligible for the inaugural award, I wonder... :=)
I dont wish to find people for the kolai nidhi title.

For the Kalanidhi however, i strongly feel it should be a vocalist this year. In the past decade, there have been 7 instrumentalists and only 3 vocalists. I would think this is less indeed.

My feeling is that it would be Bombay Sisters or Trichur Ramachandran or Radha Jayalakshmi this year.

If it is going to be an instrumentalist, then VVS.

Chances of 2 percussion instrumentalists getting in a row is very remote, hence I would expect Trichy Sankaran to get it next year only, if not the year after that.

If only Academy decides to call and honour (kumari) Kamala... if only...

thenpaanan
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by thenpaanan »

Nick H wrote:Start? I think most people already do.

I don't deny that carnatic music and rasikas has streaks of sycophancy and pomposity, but for most rasikas at most concerts, the titles accrued by the people on stage are of almost no consequence at all.

I hope.
And this is a strength not a flaw of the system. The fact that the average audience does not care about titles decreases the power of elites to influence or control the audience. Furthermore if such titles led to significantly more cash for artists that would lead to fratricidal politics about who should be awarded the titles. At the same time, the existence of such awards (can be likened to "guild awards") is an alternate source of job satisfaction for professionals. Whether audiences care or not, *musicians* do care about such awards and tremendously about the Sangeeta Kalanidhi title in particular (being the most prestigious).

Thus the SK and other awards can/should be used to especially recognize the contributions of musicians, teachers, organizers, etc who contribute in a big way to the growth or other aspects of the CM ecosystem whose contributions are not reflected by gate collections. In recent years it does seem that this is the case in the instances of SK award going to artists such as AKC Natarajan and others whose services have not been recognized in full measure. In that vein I have wondered if Maharajapuram Santhanam needed to be given the SK award given that he was already tremendous popular. But that is a minor quibble. In the past, SK awards have gone to teachers such as TL Venkatarama Iyer long ago or Dr. Pinakapani more recently and musicologists (Prof Sambamoorthy). I do not believe the SK has ever gone to non-musician types (organizers, people working for outreach of the music, etc) but I could be wrong. But that trend should be encouraged. How to do that without somehow also diluting the brand is the critical question.

But the system is not perfect, there will always be some politics, and CM lovers have to be vigilant and watchful and make their voices heard when they sense things are not going as they should.

-Then Paanan
Last edited by thenpaanan on 16 Jun 2010, 22:44, edited 1 time in total.

arasi
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by arasi »

Then paanan,
Very well said.

Nick H
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by Nick H »

Yes, indeed.

Is it, therefore, just too restrictive that there is only one per year?

munirao2001
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by munirao2001 »

Nick.H.,
Semmengudi Srinivasa Iyer and management of MA strongly feeling that many deserving Maestros are not awarded with SK title, due to the restriction of award of one title only per year, they introduced the title Sangitha Kala Acharya award, terming it as equivalent to SK title, in the year 1994.

mohan
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by mohan »

Recently they gave two in one year ...to the Sikkil Sisters!

rbharath
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by rbharath »

mohan wrote:Recently they gave two in one year ...to the Sikkil Sisters!
MA might not choose to do it again, unless they choose to award Bombay Sisters or such performing duos.

thenpaanan
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by thenpaanan »

mohan wrote:Recently they gave two in one year ...to the Sikkil Sisters!
Back when they wanted to award the Alathur brothers, they did not allow multiple SKs in the same year so they gave the senior brother first and the younger the following year making their already long backlog even longer. :-)

-Then Paanan

uday_shankar
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by uday_shankar »

thenpaanan wrote:they gave the senior brother first and the younger the following year
No, they gave the award to the younger brother in 1964 and then the older brother the following year. Of course, they were not siblings but rather musical "sahodarars". Alathur Sivasubramania Iyer (born 1916) was younger than Srinivasa Iyer (born 1909?) by at least 7 years.

kssr
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by kssr »

mohan wrote:Recently they gave two in one year ...to the Sikkil Sisters!
I think they gave only one prize, which is effectively half a prize each !!!! That is the case with Nobel prize where they "share" the prize money.

I have no idea if there is money in SK award and if so, whether it was shared by the sisters or not. Probably the sisters might have preferred to be treated as the earlier brothers, for monetary reasons ;)

mahakavi
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by mahakavi »

kssr:
The money component of the award, if any, is bound to be such a minuscule amount (compared to what they can get for a top billing concert, say in the US) as to be unnoticeable. Certainly it is the award certificate, the medal, and the title that goes with their names constitute the most cherished part. If 2 people are given in the same year it counts as 2 SK awards (not one-half award for each). In Nobel prize too, separate medals are given, although the money is divided if it is a shared prize. But each one who shares the award is called a Nobelist.

As for the sisters or brothers getting the award, it is better to share and get it over with quickly rather than waiting and not getting it subsequently ( for whatever reason).

mohan
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by mohan »

Also remember that the SK designate presides over the Acadamy's annual music conference that year and hence it is difficult to award multiple awards in one year.

bilahari
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by bilahari »

I really hope it's TVR or VVS this year.

kunthalavarali
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by kunthalavarali »

Hope MA puts aside its magnifying glass searching for suitable candidates for the Sangeetha Kalanidhi award and look at the active performers of today. How nice it will be to see a young artiste presiding over the proceedings! May be a wishful thinking.

sramesh
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by sramesh »

why a visually challenged talented string instrument veenai in the position of A Grade more thant en years of experience could select and
Give a chance of concert

Sivaramakrishnan
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by Sivaramakrishnan »

Chitraveena N Ravikiran well deserves the title.

kssr
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by kssr »

Sivaramakrishnan wrote:Chitraveena N Ravikiran well deserves the title.
He is a child as per MA standards :)

gobilalitha
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by gobilalitha »

What about Jesudoss? gobilalitha

kssr
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Re: That time of year again: Who will be sangeetha kalanidhi

Post by kssr »

gobilalitha wrote:What about Jesudoss? gobilalitha
Artists with a primary focus on cine and "other" music, may not make the grade (I guess), although they may be quite good with their gnanam and popularity.

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