Gokul Chandramouli on 13 March 2011

[narayan]

Vocal: Gokul Chandramouli
Violin: Shivakumar Anantharaman
Mridangam: NY Easwaran

Kritis in the patantaram of T.Brinda, was the theme of this chamber concert of Gokul Chandramouli in Mumbai on 13 March 2011. Morning concert (second in the series after Vignesh Ishwar) and in a forum energized by youngsters of Mumbai.

The list was
sarasUda - Saveri
kAntimati - Kalyani, R, S at pallavi
nannu brOcuTaku - Todi - R, N, S at pallavi line
bAlavinave - kambodhi
nee mATale mAyanura - Purvikalyani
payyeda - Nadanamakriya
adi neepai marulu - Yamuna kalyani
OsOsi - Mukhari
jAnarO - Khamas, alapana on the first word
mOsamAye - Ahiri
yAlapadare - Begada
smarasundara - Paras
indendu vacci - Suruti

I have listed the padams where they began (mostly anupallavi) because that is how we identify them, I guess. Any corrections may please be pointed out, and shortcomings excused.

The list and the execution did justice to the theme, and apart from Gokul's earlier training, his recent apprenticeship with Kalyani Sharma in Mumbai in the style of T.Brinda's singing.

The second half had set up the atmosphere. By then, the audience was in a receptive mood for the fullness of the compositions just by themselves. They are indeed remarkable ones. The neraval at the pallavi of Nannubrocutaku was somewhat rollicking, unlike the moody tone of the song, but the team did nicely. Balavinave was also at a tempo quicker than expected, but carried off. The book by Ranga ramanuja iyengar lists the Nadanamakriya padam as Ayyayo, in keeping with the rhyme of Payyeda, but I think Ammamma is how I have heard it sung on a couple of occasions.

From what I remember of the recordings of T.Brinda, she would sing the tough gamakams and phrases in these songs seemingly effortlessly and with even volume and open throat. Gokul got the music right but with occasional closed mouth and lower volume. He has indeed imbibed the raga philosophy of this style, to the extent that I understand it. Somehow, other renderings seem tame and flat by comparison, as I'm sure aficionados of the Brinda style of singing would attest to. Executing this music is very tough, in my experience, but the path is well worth it.

jAnarO was sparkling and free-flowing and gave full rein to the imagination. During this time of the concert, every phrase was absorbed by all and the focus was on the music and nothing else. This happens rarely and almost never in a large auditorium, and is the reason why chamber concerts should continue.

The young set of musicians performed admirably and the heavy taste bodes well for the way their art will be polished in the days to come.

[srikant1987]

It is mOsamAye.

[narayan]

Have made the change. Thanks.

Must also mention that the raga alapanas of both Gokul and Shivakumar were of good quality, and Gokul's Todi, in particular was noteworthy. The tani was after the todi song, i.e. after the third item in a full scale concert!

[arasi]

Good to hear about the Mumbai bunch of young musicians. Jog my memory. Isn't Gokul the nephew of our NSG? That adds to his credentials, coming from such a musical family.

[mahavishnu]

Yes, Gokul is NSG's student. He looks and sounds just like his guru.
See this picture, courtesy Carnatica/Ramanathan...

[arasi]

Mahavishnu,
Thanks. Yes, to the fingertips
Thanks to Ramanathan for his (as usual) remarkable photography.

[mahavishnu]

Here is a clip of Gokul from another concert in Mumbai http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dI_oy_-4aA
Even the deliberate pauses where he lets the violinist complete a phrase are so NSG-esque. It is nice to imitate one's guru; I see the reverence this stems from. But I hope he will evolve into a more original singer. After all, NSG does not blindly mimic TNS.

[tyagarajadasa]

Dear mahavishnu,

Namaste. This is Gokul. Thanks for posting the pic and the video. I do understand that my music looks like imitating my uncle (Chittappa). Although I believe that I have never made a conscious effort to sing like him; yes, it has been my objective to imbibe the philosophy of his music; which includes giving pauses and kArvais during kutcheri. That coupled with similar looks, body structure (I am only a little blown up ) and voice structure (my father, pATTI, atthai all of them almost look like that) perhaps results in "imitation". I guess, unless I have a plastic surgery, I may never be able to sound and look different at all!
And that may be one of the many reasons why I chose not to take up music as a profession too.

In any case, I am sure that by God's grace I will be able to contribute more and better to Carnatic Music. One step I took in this direction (still continuing) was to learn kritis, padams and jAvaLis in Brindamma's style. (I owe it to Chittappa for having made me a die-hard fan of Brindamma). ANother step that I am taking is to teach some children and try to mold them into his philosophy of Veena based - bhakti-jnAna- laden music. It is my keen endeavor to spread his philosophy of music. Hope I will be able to do that better!

Gokul Chandramouli

[PUNARVASU]

Thyagarajadasa,
very happy to hear about your 'mission' in music.My best wishes and blessings.
Surprisingly, staying in mumbai, I have never heard your music, nor have I met you.

[mahavishnu]

Dear Gokul

It is a pleasure to hear from you on the forum; I did not know that you posted under the name Tyagarajadasa. I thoroughly enjoyed your music on youtube .

It is very nice to see your reverence and devotion to your guru. Family resemblance aside, people that say devotion to the guru can also make a person look like the guru. MDR acquired several of Tiger's mannerisms through the course of his apprenticeship and some say his facial features and eye movements began resembling Tiger as well towards the end. In his independent career, Sri MDR became one of the most unique vocalists in the history of carnatic music.

I appreciate your attraction to Brindamma's sangeetham. My grandmother and Brindamma learned veenai together from Sri Krishnamachariar, Tiger's brother in the early 1930s. It is a pity that I acquired no resemblance, musical or physical from such associations

Our family is very well known to your uncle Sri NSG as well. He personally took the trouble to notate Bhajanaseya in Dharmavati for my grandmother, who was several decades elder to him, and taught it to her in the 1980s. With a guru like that, you cannot go wrong. He has taken the styles of TNS, Brindamma, Tanjore Sankara Iyer and blended them to make his own unique bani. My best wishes to you for a wonderful career and for you to achieve such uniqueness with the full backing and support of your guru!

Sincerely,

Dr. Ramesh Balasubramaniam
Toronto, Canada.

[tyagarajadasa]

@Punarvasu,

I did my B.Tech from VNIT (REC) Nagpur and am currently at IIT-Bombay. Was not much active in the music scene of Mumbai during my 4 years at VNIT except for some occasional performances at Shanmukhananda and other sabhas. Eager to meet you. Could you mail me your personal id? If you are interested, I will be glad to include you in the mailing list of our forum.

@ mahavishnu,

Glad to know of your association with Chittappa. It is indeed exciting to know that your grandmother and Brindamma learnt Veena together! Pl Pl share some experiences. I am dying to know more!


Regards,
Gokul

[mahavishnu]

Gokul, I was thinking of Brindamma's Meru samana (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gYUmoGanpI) when I heard your version on youtube; the neraval you sang here is wonderful http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Wo_bUo3d7E. The phrase with which you end your first neraval round also sounds very much like your chittappa (in a good way ).

I have many stories of my pAtti and Brindamma and Sri "Puliyodarai" Krishnamachariar. Come and do a tour of N. America and when you are in Toronto, you can stay with us and I will tell you all about it.

Gokul, what do you study at IIT-B? My cousin, Prof.Krishnan, is on the faculty there in Computer Science and he is a great carnatic music lover and is involved in digitizing the SSP project etc with Dr. PPN. I should put the two of you in touch.

[srikant1987]

Imitating NSG is quite different from imitating TNS. TNS's music is very blatantly unusual, and so imitations of him will "hit" you in a way imitations of NSG won't.

Taking in the let-the-violinist-complete practice must be a very conscious and well-thought idea. Besides, this is a musical practice not a mannerism.

[tyagarajadasa]

Dear mahavishnu,

I am doing MTech at IIT-B (about to finish).

Will be extremely glad to be introduced to Prof. Krishnan. But I just checked that he is not on the faculty list at CSE Department? Are you refering to Prof. Krishnan from Mathematics (who is a PhD from TIFR? (I know this Krishnan) If not, please do put me in touch with him. Will be glad to interact.

May be Prof. Narayan Rangaraj from IIT-B (the author of post 1) will know him?

Regards,
Gokul

[mahavishnu]

Srikant: Yes, it is standard practice, but there is a trademark way in which NSG lets the violinist complete a phrase. I was going to use "inimitable" way, but switched the expression

Agreed about imitating TNS and his dimensionless complexities, point taken. But there are some of his students that intentionally sing just like him (which NSG or Gayathri Girish do not). See Kolkata Vijayaraghavan here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er7Old92AU4 or S Kasturirangan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78vFZ6plhnA

[mahavishnu]

Yes, it is Prof Krishnan, PhD from TIFR. He does research on discrete mathematical structures, so I assumed he was in CSE.
I am glad that you already know each other!

[tyagarajadasa]

Talking about Shri. Kasturirangan, he has also learnt in younger days, from Smt. Kalyani Sharma from whom I am learning padams, etc.

[anupama_r]

I have learnt from Sri. Santhanagopalan Sir from 1987-93 and also from Sri. Kasthurirangan Sir from '94 onward. Both have been in a gurukulavasam with Guru Sri. TNS. It is only natural that they imbibe their guru's characteristic ways of singing and sing in that bhani. It obviously does not mean they (Sri. Kasturirangan or Sri. Vijayaraghavan) intentionally imitate their Guru. Smt. Gayathri Girish had her initial training (many years I suppose) from Vaigal Sri. Gnyanaskandan. She came under the tutelage of TNS Sir much later, after she started even performing. She has two different styles imbibed in her way of singing. You cannot gauge much from single youtube videos. Please attend the concerts of Sri. Kasthurirangan to get a clearer picture instead of making gross generalizations about how they sing.

[mahavishnu]

Anupama_r: Welcome to the forum and this discussion!

Singing like one's guru (intentionally or not) is not a criticism nor is it a negative quality. Please see my earlier point about MDR. The youtube clips are merely illustrative and are used in an exemplary context; they are very useful for demonstration purposes. No more, no less.

I happen to think very highly of the music of Sri Kasturirangan and Sri Vijayaraghavan. My point about Sri Kasturirangan's music is that he does not make a deliberate attempt to sing in a style different from his guru. Some others inherit a musical style from the guru, but end up sounding very different. SSI did not sound like MVI, even in his earliest recordings, but one cannot take his guru's amazing influence away from his music. While one can indubitably see GNB's influence on SKR, he did not sing "like GNB".

As is evident, Sri NSG sounds very different from Sri Kasturirangan, whose vocal style is closer to other shishyas of TNS like Sri TNS Krishna and Sri Madurai Sundar. All of them are descendants of the same great lineage. Similarly, if you take Sri NSG's students, each one sounds different. From our Gokul whose music we are discussing in this forum to people like Sriram Parthasarathy.

Glad to hear of your wonderful musical lineage. I am very glad that you have enriched this discussion with your input. I can see you are very passionate about this, since you registered just today to make this post. Do you give concerts?

Best wishes to you.

[anupama_r]

Sri Mahavishnu,

thank you for your warm welcome, for the clarifications on your own post and for your response to mine. I understand now what you are trying to convey. If you hear the early 80s audio recordings of Sri. NSG, it will sound like you are listening to TNS. We ''old'' students loved them, including his beautiful live concerts. We do so even now I remember how in one cutcheri we were so mesmerized that we went backstage to get his autograph! He commented smilingly to someone nearby: "Paarungo Sir, ennodu students-e enkitta autograph ketkarra!"

I do not give concerts. Could not pursue learning music as I moved to Bangalore for my Masters and PhD, and later out of India for further research

[mahavishnu]

Yes, Smt Anupama. I remember Sri NSG's singing from the 80s very clearly. When I was growing up in West Mambalam, he used to be seen walking/cycling the streets on his way to TNS's home. He was a walking encyclopaedia, always eager and willing to share his knowledge with anyone, as I described in the earlier post about my grandmother.

His career took off in the late 80s and he became a star like his guru, but he continues to remain the eternal vidyarthi (his name on this forum).

What kind of research do you do? Is it related to Music?

[anupama_r]

My research is on Environmental/Analytical Chemistry. Are you also in the scientific field? To me it feels like I am talking to an experienced Prof.

[mahavishnu]

uh-oh. :$ Yes, I work in computational Neuroscience and dabble a little bit in trying to understand how the brain responds to music. Experienced, yes. But mostly in useless things that require years of specialization.

We must thank Sri Gokul and this thread for motivating you to post in this forum. There are many interesting discussions here that could always use refinement through contributions from people like yourself. Although there are heated discussions about grahabedham and simhanandana talam, there is nothing that gets people going more than a review of a good Seshagopalan kutcheri.

[arasi]

Oh, oh, Prof!
A good TNS concert is not complete without 'you know who'-'s review. I truly miss them. Well, they're not forthcoming because of the rumblings from a few members. You don't have to agree with all that were said in those reviews. All the same, they were something most of us relished reading.

[pandu_rangan]

I have learnt from Sri. Santhanagopalan Sir from 1987-93 and also from Sri. Kasthurirangan Sir from '94 onward. Both have been in a gurukulavasam with Guru Sri. TNS. It is only natural that they imbibe their guru's characteristic ways of singing and sing in that bhani. It obviously does not mean they (Sri. Kasturirangan or Sri. Vijayaraghavan) intentionally imitate their Guru. Smt. Gayathri Girish had her initial training (many years I suppose) from Vaigal Sri. Gnyanaskandan. She came under the tutelage of TNS Sir much later, after she started even performing. She has two different styles imbibed in her way of singing. You cannot gauge much from single youtube videos. Please attend the concerts of Sri. Kasthurirangan to get a clearer picture instead of making gross generalizations about how they sing.

Who is Vijayaraghavan? Is he a a disciple of TNS? I have heard Sri Kasturirangan and Sri P.B.Sringachary but not Vijayaraghavan

[rajeshnat]

pandu_rangan
Google for Kolkata vijayaraghavan . HE is the performing disciple of Shri TNS.

[pandu_rangan]

Got to see some of his videos and some of his ragam renderings are excellent. Wonder why he is not popular in the concert circuit.