Living Legends

ragam-talam · Post by **ragam-talam** » 29 Jul 2009, 00:34

The recent passing away of great maestros like DKP and Palghat Raghu got me thinking...

It seems we have just a handful of CM living legends still around. They form the last few links to a glorious past, the golden age of Carnatic music.

A few names come to mind (in no particular order):
Lalgudi Jayaraman
Manakkal Rangarajan
MSG
MS Anantharaman
Nedunuri
RK Srikantan
SRJ
TRS
Umayalpuram
TK Murthy
Parassala Ponnammal
Karpagam Swaminathan
...

Can rasikas.org take up a project to honour each of these artistes on a regular basis (say, once every 3 months)?

This can be our small contribution to paying our respects to these giants.

These events can be recorded and kept for posterity.

I am sure there will be a wellspring of support for such a program from our forumites.

What do you all think of the idea? Details can be worked out once we get some agreement.

Any other suggestions also welcome.

appu · Post by **appu** » 29 Jul 2009, 00:41

Vellore Ramabhadran, TN Krishnan are 2 more to your list

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 29 Jul 2009, 03:07

What is the criteria to become a living legend?

appu · Post by **appu** » 29 Jul 2009, 04:45

VK RAMAN wrote:What is the criteria to become a living legend?

I am guessing age is a factor and the fact that they lived breathed and performed during the golden era of Carnatic music.

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 29 Jul 2009, 06:26

Can we assume the following as criteria:

POPULARITY - Fan base, Albums sold, Concert attendance

LONGEVITY - How long he/she has been in music? Successful line-up changes, Hard work and determination to become successful

RESPECT OF THE INDUSTRY - Awards, Honors, Critics reviews

CREATIVITY - Quality of music and lyrics, technical ability, Trend setting, Not afraid to go in new musical directions

Sam Swaminathan · Post by **Sam Swaminathan** » 29 Jul 2009, 06:44

We need also to consider what he/she is leaving/has left behind in terms of

talented and distinguished sishya parampara

who continue his/her tradition

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 29 Jul 2009, 09:38

T.K.Govinda Rao

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 29 Jul 2009, 09:40

Shri K S Gopalakrishnan
Dr N Ramani
Trivandrum Shri R Venkataraman

isramesh · Post by **isramesh** » 29 Jul 2009, 09:53

BMK, Sripada Pinakapani

Rasika911 · Post by **Rasika911** » 29 Jul 2009, 11:23

trivandrum r.venkatraman

smala · Post by **smala** » 29 Jul 2009, 11:31

How about AKC Natarajan and O S Thyagarajan ? Would they fit the bill ? There must be several, if not many, Ganjira/morsing /thavil/ghatam experts languishing somewhere ? .......in these days of -- vocalist + violin + mridangam -- only -- tradition ? They may not measure up to the yardstick of "Popularity" or similar criteria -- but may well have earned places in their own right.

smala · Post by **smala** » 29 Jul 2009, 11:51

VK RAMAN wrote:Can we assume the following as criteria:

POPULARITY - Fan base, Albums sold, Concert attendance

LONGEVITY - How long he/she has been in music? Successful line-up changes, Hard work and determination to become successful

RESPECT OF THE INDUSTRY - Awards, Honors, Critics reviews

CREATIVITY - Quality of music and lyrics, technical ability, Trend setting, Not afraid to go in new musical directions

"Respect of the industry" would be poor criteria -- how many awards has Sri Manakkal Rangarajan won ? The eminent Sri Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan lived in the shadows, labelled as "maverick"..............I'm sure there are stories of "purists" "traditionalists" tailoring and shaping "respect" accorded -- a mis-used term.

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 29 Jul 2009, 12:06

I think this list is simply expanding to include any artiste who is over 70. The legends for me are the violin trio (LGJ, TNK, MSG), mrudangam maestros UKS, TKM and VR and vocalist MBK. These artistes were at the forefront of music concerts even when the likes of Ariyakudi, GNB, Semmangudi and Madurai Mani reigned the stage.

appu · Post by **appu** » 29 Jul 2009, 17:47

Mohan, Very true. By the way who is the vocalist MBK you mention.

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 29 Jul 2009, 18:04

I meant BMK = Balamuralikrishna

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 29 Jul 2009, 19:38

90 year + V Dashinamoorthy - musician, composer

sankirnam · Post by **sankirnam** » 29 Jul 2009, 19:40

surprised nobody has mentioned Thanjavur Sankara Iyer...

MaheshS · Post by **MaheshS** » 29 Jul 2009, 21:46

V V Subramaniam is another missing from the list.
Dr Srivatsava is a treasure of Dikshitar compositions and history.

ragam-talam · Post by **ragam-talam** » 30 Jul 2009, 00:11

My intention was not to come up with an exhaustive list...

Question is whether holding an event to honour these greats is a good idea. We could honour several of them together, if that is logistically easier to do.

smala · Post by **smala** » 30 Jul 2009, 00:21

ragam-talam wrote:My intention was not to come up with an exhaustive list...

Question is whether holding an event to honour these greats is a good idea. We could honour several of them together, if that is logistically easier to do.

It is a novel great idea -- to honor ALL living senior carnatic vidwans -- vocal, instrumental, etc......cannot afford to offend anybody though so need to be painstakingly inclusive of all, without getting into selection based on subjective "criteria" on who is great and whatnot......

srinivasrgvn · Post by **srinivasrgvn** » 30 Jul 2009, 06:27

How about Prof.S.R.Janakiraman?