Dr. V.V.Srivatsa Passes away

[Rengarajan]

Dr. V.V. Srivatsa,Sanskrit Scholar, Musicologist, contemporary vaggeyakkara of merit and founder of Guruguhanjali passed away on 21st April,2012.He had spent a fortune for propagation of Muthuswami Dikshitar's compositions and encouraged a number of artists to learn them by providing platform to present them in exclusive concerts arranged through Guruguhanjali. Though he was an engineer by profession,his passion for and knowledge in music was amazing and he was ever ready to share his knowledge with seekers. He was a multifaceted personality with his deep knowledge of various forms of music,vedas, Mimasa,Divya Prabhandas besides having a distinct identity in his profession. He was a multilinguist with fluency in English, Hindi, Tamil, Sanskrit, French,German... His death is a great loss to all his admirers and students

[PUNARVASU]

A great loss to the world of carnatic music and Sanskrit.

[rajeshnat]

A very sad news , I have spoken with this great man. He has helped me know few ragas when i sat with him for few concerts . His lecdem on Muthuswami Dikshitar once held in IFA was brilliant .We have lost a great scholar . He was known to be fair to all musicians . Condolences to his family and sishya parampara

Here is an article with his photo http://www.hindu.com/fr/2005/06/10/stor ... 360600.htm

Mods
Can we add Dr V V Srivatsa in the title

[mohan]

Sorry to hear about the death of this great musical scholar. Apart from being an authority on Dikshitar, Sri VVS was a talented composer too - probably Karthikeya in Valaji is his most well known composition.

[vs_manjunath]

Really sad to hear the passing away of this great man. Sincere condolences to the bereaved family.
I really love his composition " Karthikeya " in Valaji rendered by DKJ.

[narayan]

Noteworthy modern composer and expositor of musical ideas. He was in Mumbai for many years and so have heard a couple of lecture demonstrations which have been brought out as booklets - one called the Splendour of Sankarabharanam, one on an analysis of the Navavarna kritis of Diksitar and one more on ragas with the name Manohari - as I recall. At least to students like me, there was plenty to learn and enjoy in those sessions and in those writings.

In compositions, Kartikeya is of course most well known. Raghuvaram Ramam in Natabhairavi which DKJ sang is probably his. Through my teacher, I have learned Gana lola in Darbar of his (a nice song which begins at the top Sa!) and there is at least one more in Nilambari that I have heard.

[PUNARVASU]

Yes, our guru, Shri P.N.K. taught us this song in valaji.
I am surprised that there is no mention of the passing away of Shri Srivatsa, in The Hindu. I went thro the online version.May be I missed it.

[Lakshman]

A great loss to the Karnatak music world.

[cienu]

Condolences. A huge loss to the music world.

[rshankar]

Condolences to the family. May his soul rest in peace!

[mahavishnu]

Great loss. My sincere condolences.

[arasi]

Condolences to the family.
He was a man of many talents and was a scholar...Hadn't seen him for several years at MA during the season (he served there as a committee member, didn't he?).

His scholarship and communicative skills came as a revelation to me when I heard him speak of Syama Sastry in Bengaluru with Carnatica Brothers singing.
I still remember his keeping the audience wrapped up in his lecture.
Several artistes sing his songs. Suryaprakash is one.

[srkris]

Condolences.

[cmlover]

Shocked at the news. A great loss of a CM scholar.
May his soul rest in peace...

[venkatakailasam]

An interview with the Dr. is here...
http://www.guruguha.org/vvs.php

[shankarabharanam]

Indeed a great loss to the music fraternity... RIP.. I was indeed fortunate to interact with him and attend his lec dem in Mumbai

[vasanthakokilam]

Condolences. Very sad to hear about this news.

The first place I go for any raga related matters is Dr. V.V. Srivatsa's thoughts at http://www.carnatica.net/newsletter/

[gardabha_gana]

A great loss indeed. condolences.

[satyabalu]

* As I was going through his obituary Gayathri Sundaresan was rendering "Mamava Pattabhirama".I recall his mentioning in one of the Lec-Dems that this kriti was rendered by MD during pooja in Thiagaraja's house. I have also heard him saying (it was during a Raga Lakshana discussion) Thiagaraja was most fascinated by MD's method of handling "Nayaki" inspired& composed "Nee bhajanagana ".( If I had heard it right)
* Sri karthikeya kamalekshana siva sudaya -Valaji .One can not forget DKP(then DKJ)handling the kriti with azhutham esp., reverberating words "Gajanana....shadanana...' kamithartha paladayaka rakshaka..'
* I got his blessings over phone (regret not having gone to see him in person)when I had opportunity to perform in Dikshidhar jayanthi @ Ettayapuram recently.He was only telling me his sister was recovering from an accident. I never thought his end was so near. He had told me "Entharomahanubavulu-Sri Raga pancharatnam was composed by Thiagaraja during his stay @ chennai in Anderson street. All these are narrated to underline the fact He was simple,easily approachable & prepared to share the knowledge with all levels of music lovers &students all alike. Great loss.

[visakhan]

A great loss indeed.... He is the one who had performed a Lecture Demonstration of Sri Kamalamba Navavarnam in Mumbai some 20 years ago... Indeed we lost a great scholar and musicologist.

With lots of grief,

Radhakrishnan

[thenpaanan]

He was in Mumbai for many years and so have heard a couple of lecture demonstrations which have been brought out as booklets - one called the Splendour of Sankarabharanam, one on an analysis of the Navavarna kritis of Diksitar and one more on ragas with the name Manohari - as I recall. At least to students like me, there was plenty to learn and enjoy in those sessions and in those writings.

Do you recall whether VVS discussed the musical peculiarities (uniqueness) of the navAvaraNa kritis? I have seen many an analysis of the text of the kritis but none of the musical design. For example I have read separately in various places about the Anandabhairavi kriti being set in an older version of the raga than what existed even in Dikshitar's time (how do we know that?). My personal favorite is the jantai used at the end of the anupallavi in the sahAnA kriti -- I have never seen that phrasing in any other sahAnA kriti. There was something about the kalyANi piece also that I cannot recall now. Surely there must be more but I have not yet encountered the analysis of the entire set in one place.

-Thenpaanan

[tkb]

our Condolences to all in his family, near and dear.

[narayan]

Do you recall whether VVS discussed the musical peculiarities (uniqueness) of the navAvaraNa kritis? I have seen many an analysis of the text of the kritis but none of the musical design. For example I have read separately in various places about the Anandabhairavi kriti being set in an older version of the raga than what existed even in Dikshitar's time (how do we know that?). My personal favorite is the jantai used at the end of the anupallavi in the sahAnA kriti -- I have never seen that phrasing in any other sahAnA kriti. There was something about the kalyANi piece also that I cannot recall now. Surely there must be more but I have not yet encountered the analysis of the entire set in one place.
-Thenpaanan

Well, the lecture is called "The Esoteric, Spiritual and Musicological significance of the Kamalamba Navavarna kritis", and the booklet I have is 35 pages (large type), distributed on 19 August 1989. It has a number of nuggets of interest. There are comments on the musical (musicological?) aspects on all the kritis. Particular phrases in each, some justification for the choice of the ragas and so forth. One point he made that struck me even at the time was the low usage of madhyama in Kalyani - he has given a histogram like table of the usage of all swaras in Kalyani compositions of the Trinity. There is a reference to the raga rasa with the rasabhava of each song, but VVS does not seem convinced of that mapping. He is as enamoured as you by the madhyamakala lines in Sahana, in fact by most of the madhyamakala lines in these songs. I will go through the document again in case there is anything particular. I was told that one should not do anything casual with such matters, but really I don't know enough to understand the significance of that warning!

[satyabalu]

* By any chance shall we get hold of the scanned copy of 30 odd page Booklet referred by you?

[thenpaanan]

Well, the lecture is called "The Esoteric, Spiritual and Musicological significance of the Kamalamba Navavarna kritis", and the booklet I have is 35 pages (large type), distributed on 19 August 1989. It has a number of nuggets of interest. There are comments on the musical (musicological?) aspects on all the kritis. Particular phrases in each, some justification for the choice of the ragas and so forth. One point he made that struck me even at the time was the low usage of madhyama in Kalyani - he has given a histogram like table of the usage of all swaras in Kalyani compositions of the Trinity. There is a reference to the raga rasa with the rasabhava of each song, but VVS does not seem convinced of that mapping. He is as enamoured as you by the madhyamakala lines in Sahana, in fact by most of the madhyamakala lines in these songs. I will go through the document again in case there is anything particular. I was told that one should not do anything casual with such matters, but really I don't know enough to understand the significance of that warning!

Thanks. If the booklet should become available I will look forward to reading it with great interest. I have never come across an analysis (histograms!) like this before. The one thing I remember reading in the analysis of the kalyANi kriti was in comparison with Dikshitar's (other) masterpiece bhajarE rE chitta, somehow the two kalyANi kritis were deemed complementary and together painted a complete picture of the rAga in the author's opinion. I am not well-versed to understand this comment (I find in the navAvaraNa kriti a somewhat unusual kalyANi that I am unable to fully grasp). But this sort of cross-kriti comparisons can be very illuminating and exciting because it is more accessible to a non-expert like me.

-Thenpaanan

[thanjavooran]

He was a great musicologist. Total loss to CM world.
My deepest condolences.

Thanjavooran 07 05 2012

[Rengarajan]

Ms.Maitrayee Ramadurai, Sister of Dr.Srivatsa desires to reprint the booklet andgive a copy to all his admirers. She lives at 25, First Crss Strret, TTK Road, Chennai 600 018 and her telephone no. is 24320533. I would request you to please send a Xerox of the booklet to her directly or contact me at my no.9884037028. Musicologists and afew musicians shall be involved in erpetuating the memory of Dr. Srivathsa with different academic activities

-Thenpaanan[/quote]
Well, the lecture is called "The Esoteric, Spiritual and Musicological significance of the Kamalamba Navavarna kritis", and the booklet I have is 35 pages (large type), distributed on 19 August 1989. It has a number of nuggets of interest. There are comments on the musical (musicological?) aspects on all the kritis. Particular phrases in each, some justification for the choice of the ragas and so forth. One point he made that struck me even at the time was the low usage of madhyama in Kalyani - he has given a histogram like table of the usage of all swaras in Kalyani compositions of the Trinity. There is a reference to the raga rasa with the rasabhava of each song, but VVS does not seem convinced of that mapping. He is as enamoured as you by the madhyamakala lines in Sahana, in fact by most of the madhyamakala lines in these songs. I will go through the document again in case there is anything particular. I was told that one should not do anything casual with such matters, but really I don't know enough to understand the significance of that warning![/quote]

[Rengarajan]

Ms.Maitrayi Ramadorai, Sister Of Dr.Srivathsa desires to bring out the booklet on Kamalamba Navavaranam and distribute to all his admirers at the time of their mother's centenary sometime in August. She lives at 25. Ist Cross St. TTK Road, Chennai 600018and her telephone no. is 044 24320533. Please send a zerox copy of he booklet to her. For any assistance you may call me at 9884037028

[Rengarajan]

Is it posible to send the copy? I fervently hope that this will be done as many rasikas and students shall benefit and also a fitting tribute to perpetuate his memory.