Artistes and some interesting information about them.

ganesh_mourthy · Post by **ganesh_mourthy** » 30 Mar 2009, 19:39

I think this would not be a usual run of the mill type thread. I also reckon that we had not had such a thread before. Let us dig out as much as possible about an artiste ( STRICTLY NOT PERSONAL LIFE AND HABITS) to know more about these legends.

I often had the question where did MSG learn hindustani formally from?
whose disciple is nagai muralidharan?what does parur stand for?did blachander leave
students playing his style? etc etc...

Our artist topics does not cater these information as they are just developed with info that one wants to write offhand about something they have experienced about the artiste or about a kutcheryof his. But this would do. But before proceeding, .... we would have a certain glitch for sure. who to start from . before we even complete one the other artiste info would intrude. should we start this in alphabetical order ? shall we start with A and keep switching from one artiste to another as the flow of information become a trickle?
I looked under A in carnatica artiste's panorama and found only Aruna sairam and M.S Anantharaman.

So shall we start with Aruna Sairam.

Hope she hails from Bombay. Padmashree and ..... student of Brinda ( I read that in carnatica ) ....and more inputs awaited.

(members dont feel bored . this can actually take shape into a nice thread and we can know more and more about artistes their styles that they have inhertited from various people their gurus , co students and shishyas)

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 30 Mar 2009, 20:25

ganesh_mourthy,
Aren't most artistes interesting and have interesting information about them? As you say, we come across intersting news about them too, every now and then.
Artistes with 'no' interesting information would make a novel topic. I am only kidding

ganesh_mourthy · Post by **ganesh_mourthy** » 30 Mar 2009, 21:02

I think there should be an exclusive Mod for this thread.Whenever the Mod feels that the current theme artiste discussion is going shy of snippets and words which was discussed thread bare the mod should cue for the next artiste. I dont want to do that since I have started it. Could Arasi handle this? I am sorry the first artiste is hanging still. The bare bone is yet to be developed...

Well, a silly question. born and brought up in Mumbai how did Aruna Sairam manage to learn from T.Brinda?

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 30 Mar 2009, 21:17

Sorry, gm! Arasi is neither a mod nor can handle it

To satisfy your curiosity, no surprise in Aruna learning from T. Brinda. Her family was very musical, artistes who went to Mumbai stayed at their home (I remember her saying it in an interview) and as the US is to CM now, old Bombay used to be so.

ganesh_mourthy · Post by **ganesh_mourthy** » 30 Mar 2009, 21:22

So did T.Brinda also live in mumbai. Arasi, your anwer is confusing to me. !@#$%^

Sathej · Post by **Sathej** » 30 Mar 2009, 21:30

To answer some of the initial questions, Parur is a place in Kerala. Shri Nagai Muralidharan is a disciple of Shri RS Gopalakrishnan. And MSG learnt the Hindusthani primarily from his father, who learnt it at Gandharva Maha Vidyalaya - supposedly a music school of sorts in Bombay.

Sathej

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 30 Mar 2009, 21:31

ganesh_mourthy,
For every artist ,if you want to have more queries , either go to that thread in vidwans and vidushis or open a new thread. Please rememeber asking up with few questions about an artist , you may not get answers immediately , so please open that thread and ask any of those questions and take it forward.

here is a thread on smt aruna sayeeram
http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... airam.html
Let us continue there.

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 30 Mar 2009, 21:40

ganesh_mourthy · Post by **ganesh_mourthy** » 30 Mar 2009, 21:44

Hi Sathej.

I guessed it too that Parur to be a place in Kerala and MSG,Anantharaman ,Sundaram Iyer hailing from there. But they not speaking malayalam made me doubt if it could be another Parur in Tamil Nadu. silly guess though.

Always_Evolving · Post by **Always_Evolving** » 30 Mar 2009, 21:47

Sathej wrote:To answer some of the initial questions, Parur is a place in Kerala. Shri Nagai Muralidharan is a disciple of Shri RS Gopalakrishnan. And MSG learnt the Hindusthani primarily from his father, who learnt it at Gandharva Maha Vidyalaya - supposedly a music school of sorts in Bombay.

Sathej

Ah, Didn't know that MSG's father also played HM. Sri. MSG has also learned from Sri Krishnanand, a native of the Dharwad Dt. who lived and taught HM in Chennai for many decades. Among his scores of disciples can be counted MSG, TVG, Prameela Gurumurthy....

ganesh_mourthy · Post by **ganesh_mourthy** » 30 Mar 2009, 21:49

HI Sathej,

there is another thread where another rasika Mr.NAgeswaran has said that MSG learnt hindustani formally from Krishnanand in chennai.

ganesh_mourthy · Post by **ganesh_mourthy** » 30 Mar 2009, 21:50

sorry I think I wrote an instant after or before ALWAYS EVOLVING. we almost wrote the same thing.

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 30 Mar 2009, 22:24

ganesh_mourthy · Post by **ganesh_mourthy** » 30 Mar 2009, 22:31

Trichur Ramachandran was GNB's disciple. Oh did he learn hindustani also . I never heard him sing though.

vnbharadwaj · Post by **vnbharadwaj** » 31 Mar 2009, 01:43

If my memory serves me right, Sri Parur Sundaram Iyer This was in 1930s or 40s.developed his love for Hiindusthani music when he was working in Kabul afghanisthan (probaly as a faculty in the university) where Pandit Omkarnath Thakore a famous vocalist was also working

vnbharadwaj · Post by **vnbharadwaj** » 31 Mar 2009, 01:51

I apologise for the typos in my earlier posting

( Mod note: You should have the edit option avaiable to you using which you can fix any typos )

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 31 Mar 2009, 06:41

vnbharadwaj wrote: ( Mod note: You should have the edit option avaiable to you using which you can fix any typos )

Such an option is available. If you are logged in and look at your old post there is an 'edit' link available.

Shivadasan · Post by **Shivadasan** » 31 Mar 2009, 07:46

Parur also known as Paravoor, is on NH17 just a few kilometers to the North of Eranakulam
A short history of Parur Sundaram Iyer as found in Internet would clarify many doubts people may have.

http://archives.chennaionline.com/music ... eason4.asp
He carried the violin to the north

Brahmasree Parur Sundaram Iyer was born to Anantharama Sastrigal and Seethalakshmi Ammal at Veembil in 1891. Sri Anantharama Sastrigal was a Ramayana sastri and adept in jyotisham. The family moved to Parur when Sundaram Iyer was a child.
Even as a youngster he was fascinated by music and attended bhajans where they had violin also in the group. He had a natural interest in violin and to nutrure this he went to Trivandrum to learn violin and learnt violin under Trivandrum Ramaswamy Bhagavatar who was the astana vidwan in the Travancore Palace. Sundaram Iyer learnt Carnatic style of playing violin under the traditional Gurukula system.
Sundaram IyerÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s routine was to have an early bath in the Padmanabhaswamy temple tank. He used to fetch water from a well for his guruÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s house. Apart from all this, he used to learn music. He had his meals in the ootuparai in the Padmanabhaswamy temple run with the patronage of the king of Travancore.
When Sundaram Iyer accompanied a bhajan party in Cochin, Sri Sait Govind Naik, who was a great connoisseur, attended one of the performances by the bhajan party. He was greatly pleased by the way Sundaram Iyer performed and suggested that he should learn Hindustani music. Sundaram Iyer readily agreed and Sri Sait sent him to Bombay by ship. He also gave introduction letters to Gyanacharya Pujya Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar, principal of Gandharva Maha Vidhyalaya. When Sundaram Iyer met Panditji, he asked him to play violin.
After hearing Sundaram Iyer, Panditji was astonished by his proficiency and immediately exclaimed, "I shall straightaway appoint you as a professor of violin with a salary of Rs 100 a month and also teach you Hindustani music."
Thus, Sundaram Iyer introduced violin for the first time in the history of Bombay and incidentally to Hindustani music in 1906. From then onwards Sundaram Iyer accompanied Panditji in all his concerts. In 1916, Parur Sundaram Iyer was awarded a gold medal and a certificate of merit by Panditji in recognition of his proficiency.
In the vidyalaya everyone woke up at 4.30 a.m. and went around for a walk reciting Rama Nama and Hare Ram, Hare Ram Hare. They also sang Bhajamana Dhini Pyare. After breakfast the lessons will commence. They had a break at 10 or 10.30 a.m.
In the afternoon also they had classes. Dhundiraj Paluskar and Vinayarao Patwardhan and others learnt violin from Sri Sundaram Iyer. Once in a concert Panditji sang Anumandra Panchamam and Sundaram Iyer Immediately responded by adjusting the Anumandra sadja string and played the Anumandra Panchamam.
Panditji applauded Sri Sundaram Iyer publicly by saying, "I never expected this wonderful adjustment." Sundaram Iyer came to Madras and settled down at P R Sundaram IyerÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s house. Then he shifted to Palathope. From there he purchased a house in Apparswami Kovil Street and made it his permanent residence.
This house of his is still there in No. 110 Apparswami Kovil Street Mylapore. Sundaram Iyer named his house as Sangeetha Vilas. Many eminent musicians like Dr M Balamurali Krishna, Pandit Ravishankar (Sitar), Ali Akbar Khan (Sarod), Omkar Nath Thakur (Hindustani vocal) have preformed in the Sangeetha Vilas to seek Sundaram IyerÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s blessings.
In 1916, Panditji requested Mahatma Gandhi to organise a music festival in Ahmedabad in 1921.There were many dignitaries like Pt. Omkarnath Takur, Pt. Narayan Rao Vyas, Mudikondan Venkatarama Iyer along with Parur Sundaram Iyer.
At the command of Panditji, Narayana Rao composed a welcome song "Ao Ji Sakal Bharath Kumar"

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 31 Mar 2009, 08:54

Sam Swaminathan · Post by **Sam Swaminathan** » 31 Mar 2009, 09:14

very informative article...thank you Shivadasan

vganesh · Post by **vganesh** » 31 Mar 2009, 09:26

Such a wonderful article. Thank you Sir.

ganesh_mourthy · Post by **ganesh_mourthy** » 31 Mar 2009, 10:01

Thanks Coolkarni, yeah that was my prognostication

.

Besides, Is parur anantharaman different from M.S. Anantharaman.???

I mean are they 2 different personalities. How related are they to Sundaram Iyer?

Purist · Post by **Purist** » 31 Mar 2009, 12:32

ganesh_mourthy wrote:Thanks Coolkarni, yeah that was my prognostication .

Besides, Is parur anantharaman different from M.S. Anantharaman.???

I mean are they 2 different personalities. How related are they to Sundaram Iyer?

MSG and MSA are brothers (sons of Parur Sundaram Iyer)

ganesh_mourthy · Post by **ganesh_mourthy** » 31 Mar 2009, 12:48

Ok. so gemini anantharaman and M.s.anantharaman are both the same?!

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 31 Mar 2009, 14:40

ganesh_mourthy · Post by **ganesh_mourthy** » 31 Mar 2009, 15:38

Coolkarni,

probably I am of the naughtly age still

.
by the by, I dont understand what the father was asking and or as euphism phrase it infers you are differently naughty

but truly I still dont understand.

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 31 Mar 2009, 19:42

ganesh_mourthy · Post by **ganesh_mourthy** » 31 Mar 2009, 20:52

So another question to irritate cool who is similar to the dad in the advertisement. these parur people dont seem to have any parur style ( lifestyle) left. they have totally adopted chennai style. they dont speak malayalam too. you should be knowing since you know them. I doubt if even MSG or Anantharaman speaks their language to their sons or daughter.

Cool, see , this kid , me is indefatigable in raising questions. only I see some resemblance of the Comic dad in you.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 31 Mar 2009, 22:25

g_m What made you bring in Gemini Anantharaman in this? Is he also an MSA? ( MSA vs Parur Anantharaman is a valid question which has been answered ).

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 31 Mar 2009, 22:28

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 31 Mar 2009, 22:38

OK, got it. Thanks Cool.

S.NAGESWARAN · Post by **S.NAGESWARAN** » 31 Mar 2009, 23:40

Sri Ganesh_mourthy,

One more cousin of Sri MSG is Mr.Anantharaman. However I don't know that the Anantharaman I am mentioning is the same as Gemini Anantharaman.

Still confusing??

S.Nageswaran.

ganesh_mourthy · Post by **ganesh_mourthy** » 01 Apr 2009, 07:05

So MSG has a brother and cousin , both by same name? probably that is the confusion.

ragam-talam · Post by **ragam-talam** » 01 Apr 2009, 19:05

The above chat seems straight out of absurd theatre!

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 01 Apr 2009, 21:09

I'm glad you thought so too... I didn't dare say anything!

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 01 Apr 2009, 21:22

I know of a Nick Harcourt who is a famous DJ here. I have never seen that Nick H and our Nick H in the same room at the same time. I wonder if they are one and the same

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 01 Apr 2009, 22:11

sureshvv · Post by **sureshvv** » 01 Apr 2009, 23:21

ganesh_mourthy wrote:So MSG has a brother and cousin , both by same name? probably that is the confusion.

Very likely! Families from this region traditionally name the first child after the paternal grandparent and the second after the maternal grandparent.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 02 Apr 2009, 00:30

Well,
Gemini 'so and so' could mean someone who worked at the studios (like Gemini Ganesan who got to be a star after working there and got the moniker) or because he lived near the studios or had a medical, stationery or fancy store (little shops in those days added that middle name and hoped for a bigger clientele, as in Gemini Fancy Store). I wonder now. Why did Vasan choose the name Gemini rather than a name familiar in the TiruviDaimarudur (I think he hailed from there) area? Or had to dream up scenes in his films a la De Mille? Hey! Don't blame me. That's how this thread seems to be going...

ganesh_mourthy · Post by **ganesh_mourthy** » 02 Apr 2009, 07:14

I think we move on to the next artiste now. That was more than enough details now about parur people. Oncly complete news was that parur sundaram iyer was working in Afghanistan !!!!!!!

girish_a · Post by **girish_a** » 02 Apr 2009, 14:59

coolkarni wrote:Atleast Nick and Anantharaman dont break so many hearts like you do VK , with an ID like yours

Didn't quite understand...Is VK not a lady?

ganesh_mourthy · Post by **ganesh_mourthy** » 02 Apr 2009, 16:02

I dont think so. So how many are having a heartbreaking nickname like Vasanthakokilam. I was of the opinion that Coolkarni was a lady. karni with a I ending like janani, rani, shalini , mohini , vaani, rahini, vahini, anna poorani and............coolkarni . rhymes well, no?

girish_a · Post by **girish_a** » 02 Apr 2009, 16:45

ganesh_mourthy wrote:I was of the opinion that Coolkarni was a lady

Ayyo!

and

Coolkarni is a play on "Kulkarni", a common surname in North Karnataka.

I can't believe VK is not a lady - quite shocking. But her (OOPS! I mean his) writing style has a feminine touch to it.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 02 Apr 2009, 17:10

to nick something is, in slang, to steel it, so if H stood for heart...

But alas, my conquests have been few, and H does not stand for Heart!

ragam-talam · Post by **ragam-talam** » 02 Apr 2009, 18:04

Hmm, looks like a few people have been disappointed by the gender-bending here...!

Would be interesting to find out about couples (both artistes and rasikas) that were brought together thru CM. Possibly a topic for another thread?

ganesh_mourthy · Post by **ganesh_mourthy** » 02 Apr 2009, 20:09

ragam talam , that thread can have the heading CARNATIC MUSIC AND MATCH FIXING OR FIXED MATCHES.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 02 Apr 2009, 23:48

I can't believe VK is not a lady - quite shocking. But her (OOPS! I mean his) writing style has a feminine touch to it.

Very tough on what smiley to use in response.

or

It was a momentary decision made a long time back when signing up which has now come to full fruition in terms of comedic relief.

And I had more fun with g_m's gender identity of coolkarni!!

Girish: I am quite intrigued by your observation of feminine touch. I am known to be verbose and I know it. In any professional writing, I rewrite three times, and it usualy ends up much smaller than the original. ( this whole previous paragraph could of course be reduced to "? possibly due to verbosity?", but then the real female members will jump on the implication. BTW, I do not know if female writing is in general more verbose or not ( allowing for major exceptions ), that is a whole different pandora's box we do not need to open here )

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 02 Apr 2009, 23:50

If verbosity is an indicator, I am a Indian beauty queen

Arun

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 03 Apr 2009, 00:33

If I had a dollar for each time my mental image of a rasika has proven incorrect, I'd have a sizeable piggy bank now! I've thought at various times that VK was a 70-year old lady (entirely due to the name; his writing for me is entirely gender neutral), gobilalitha another pATTi (also due to the name; only realised the error during the first Singapore meet), jananee in her late middle age, Suji Ram a teenager, rshankar an elderly gentleman of about 50 or 60 years (only disproven when I met him last December and even then when he introduced himself as Ravi, it didn't quite register for some time), Nick H in his twenties (mostly also because of the name), and I think I should stop now for fear of offending anybody

Basically the only two people I've had an approximately right picture of are Arasi and Coolkarni ji.

And then there are some people like Meena who used to post here that I still don't know about (male or female?).

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 03 Apr 2009, 02:38

I've always thought of Arasi as a youngster, and continue to do so now I know her.

I've never thought much of my age, it is just a number, of course, but I do quake a little at the fact that next round number in my life will be 60, and it isn't many years away! So just go on thinking of me as being in my 20s, and I'll try to do the same