Manakkal Rangarajan-DVD Release/Review @vidya bharathi on Ju

[thanjavooran]

The function started at 18 30 hrs.
As usual Murali arrived first and others who were present are Dr Padma subramaniam with Kannan[ vina ], TRS, Cleveland Sundaram, TVG , PSN, MSG, MSA with MAK and Dr Jaya Arunachalam.
Invocation song by Nithyasree Sri Mahaganapathim bajeham
Lighting kuthuvilakku by Nithyasree, Murali, Padma Rengarajan, Jaya Arunachalam and Cleveland S

Welcome address by Sita Viswanathan.

Individually mentioned every guest's name during welcome address. Sisters of Pathmanaba Iyer M/s Kalyani and Sita Sundaram representing him were also present as he could not visit India.
The director of the documentary Amshan Kumar honoured the guests who were decorating the podium with Golden shawl including the sisters.
Murali released the CD and the first copy handed over to Manakkal Avl
Though the duration is 75 mts a condensed version for 20 mts was played
Portion of TKG, CS, AKC, TVG, kulkarni with his wife and Padma Rangarajan's views were shown

Murali

in his speech he mentioned that
Though touching 90 yrs he is growing stronger and stronger and the other vidwan of his Calibre is R K Srikantan
The testimony for his vidwath is the learned audiance of the senior vidwans and the invoction song by Nithyasree representing the younger generation.
Subbudu once in his review mentioned that manakkal should have been a H Musician .
His birugas were in par with GNB and he stands next to him
His voice will travel 3 and 1/2 octave very easily
Mali praised him once after listening to his concert and so Chowdayya, PMI, PSP, Kumbakonam Rajamanckam Pillai and others
Music was instrumental for seeking his life partner
He was teaching her music and at least now should allow her to perform freely to her taste setting apart his ego

Cleveland Sundaram

Murali has already spoken a lot about him and he has nothing further to share.
Mali when Manakkal was 15 yrs after listening his chaste music in a concert gifted him with his diamond ring.
He is next to GNB in bruga
He has enormous vidwath and in a short span of time raised to this level.
In a concert in 1960 there were a lakh of audience listening his music
He attended a concert at Tirunelveli for which the ticket was a rupee and as he could not afford and heard his concert from a distance,
but now he is seated along with him sharing the platform that is the highest honour for him [CS]
During 1965 to 70 he has performed lot of concerts
MGR once realigned his programme suiting Manakkal's availability. in those days there were posters displayed Manakkal as Makkal Kalaignar

Dr Jaya Arunachalam

She is his Family friend other than that she has no other connection viz music etc
He has given swaroopam to Bharathiyar's song
During pre independance musicians were afraid to sing Bharathiyar songs. But DKP, MMI and Manakkal were including tamil songs in their list
He will get angry if any body disturbs or distracts his attention while singing.
His musical journey should continue for ever

NithyaSree [ representing younger generation ]

Sita, daughter of Manakkal requested her to participate in this function and this she considers as a highest honour
He is musicians musician and quite evident from this gathering.
As regards to his saariram it is Thanga raja kural
Gnanam, Karpanai valam,brugas and wide knowledge are behind his success besides abara saadhagam.
He is not doing a vocal excercise. It is his inborn quality
While handling rare ragas his presentation will be like fire works.
His expertise in vakra prayogam, breath control, voice control are all extraordinary
We are blessed today because of his presence during our time.

Prof TRS

He is far senior to him.
As a high school student he had an opportunity to enjoy his music as CS mentioned
Lord Brhma has blessed him specially for CM as Seethavara of Devagandhari kriti of T

MSG

He, on behalf of his family honoured Manakkal with a golden shawl
He has 60 yrs of friendship with him and he is a very simple man
The whole family of Manakkal is devoted to CM
His brother Manakkal Nataraja Iyer was instrumental for his [ Rangarajan's ] present status

TVG

This podium is consisting of Maha medhaigal.
He had his first opportunity to accompany at his 14th year
He will not talk much about music
He once sang at 4 1/2 sthayee that was a clear evidence for his taintless effort [ saadhagam ]
In his house he used to sing sitting on the long swing.
Only efforts will bring anybody to higher level which he is doing still.
He is open / plain hearted with pleasing manners
His brother used to play Thambura for him
Centinary should be celebrated and pray he gets Bharath Rathna

PSN

He has 50 yrs of friendship with him. But not intimate with him
When he was in tuteage of SSI [ gurukulavasam ] in kerala he mentioned that manakkal sings for hours together 6 to 7 hrs nonstop
that makes others embarassing.
He has enjoyed his music number of times and he looks like a Maharajan even today
He will continue to be in the same state ever.
Nobody need to worry about his getting sannadh

MSA

MAK honoured him with a golden shawl
He is Sangeetha Puli
In 1940 He sang at Etramanoor sivan temple for 6 hrs. He played for him.
Around 2 lakh rasikas enjoyed his music

Manakkal Sri Ram

His father is responsible for his present position.
It was joint family and always music can be heard.
Once he saved him from a water current while taking bath in a river.
His over speed only saved him from drowning.
He studied in Church park along with his sister and used to be dropped by his father in a old model Moris minor.
At times it will break down in the middle stalling the traffic and all will shout. But he will use some technique and start the vehicle immediately.
Once Valaignaman Shunmukasundaram mentioned that manakkal performs puja while walking as he used to do puja without sitting. He used to command respect by his superior character.
He even once took him to meet Cricketer Viswanathan to Hotel Cannimara where he met MSG also with his daughter Narmada for the same purpose.
He mentioned that instead others coming to meet them they wait and stand in queue for meeting others.
Only he has chosen his bride and could see her only at the nichyathartham day and really his wife is a better half and he is blessed.

Vote of thanks by Selvi Priyanka Hariharan and individually thanked every one.


My obervation:

By 20 30 hrs the function came to an end. Abhishek was to have started his concert afterwards. As usual the hall was full and mostly with senior citizen. All praised the simplicity of Manakkal and his place in bruga singing next GNB. The hall became 75% empty after thanks giving. I too left as to travel deep north chennai. All spoke in Tamil excepting Murali. If such functions are arranged during morning hours will be very helpful for senior citizens who outnumber the youngsters. In general the function was well arranged and all served with Hot coffee and snacks. Amshan kumar the director honoured the sisters of Pathmanabha Iyer The Documentary is well produced and priced at 250/=. A rebate of 50/= is offerred for this special occasion. Any corrections are most welcome.

Thanjavooran 22 07 2012

[rajeshnat]

Thanjooran Sir
You have captured all the proceedings and there is not much to add . I was there from 6 to 10 pm till the end of the abhishek concert

The function started half an hour late at 06:30 pm and all the dignataries had to go up the stage. Then after prayer by smt nithyashree mahadevan and introduction by director amshan kumar all the dignataries came down to watch the 20 minute clipping of the 75 minute documentary.

Post screening all the dignataries addressed from below the podium with few 80- years dignataries like Shri Murali, VV Sundaram sir etal prefered to address from the podium. The organizers could have sequenced bit better , it was a 2 hour function with each dignatary taking 5 to 10 mins and there were 11 speakers .

PUtting the delay and sequence aside , the fact that himalayan jambhavans like MSA/MSG , TRS , TVG and PSN spoke about manakkal mama's music was a testimony for what he was. I particularly liked Cleveland Shri V V Sundaram speech(he is so prepared and is to the point), when he said manakkAl rangarajan sir kutcheriya thedala isaiya thedinar (He searched for music and not for kutcheris)

[rajeshnat]

Review of Manakkal Rangarajan DVD - Carnatic Musician of the Era
========================================================
# I bought the DVD of shri rangarajan and viewed it twice.Incidentally for the first time,I got an autograph from manakkal rangarajan mama in the sleeve of Carnatic Musician of the Era -DVD. Few points on the DVD

1. The team has to be commended for producing the dvd. There is a good screen play where director Amshan kumar travels with manakkal family to his native village and home at manakkAl.

2. Manakkal then visits AKC natarajan home at tiruchy .Intermediate clippings of IFA award ceremony where shri TK Govinda Rao, TN Krishnan, kunnakkudi vaidyanathan and TVG speak about his music. The colossal jambhavan TRS also speaks about manakkal's music. Cleveland VV Shri Sundaram gave interesting anecdotes where he has listened when he was a school boy. Indian Fine Arts Secertary Srinivasan also speak along with SAK Durga.

3. From the yesteryear percussion side TK Murthy and TVG also spoke.

4 . From the contemporary musician side there were precise anecdotes to illustrate manakkal mama's vidwat,briga and his supersonic speed. VIdwan/vidushis Chitraveena ravikiran, TM KRishna, R Suryaprakash,Dr Narmada,SwamimAlai manimaran(nadaswaran vidwan) and ofcourse Manakkal Sriram also spoke . Uk based Gnanasundaram,Balu Raghruraman and Nandini Muthusway gave very good anecdotes too along with the producer Pathmanabha Iyer from UK.

5. From our exclusive rasikas family we have anecdotes from sashi kulkarni and jayaram(apart from chitraveena ravikiran and suryaprakash).

6. In the background manakkal mama's ninnuvina (navarasa kannada ), kamalAPtakula (brindavana saranga) , nagumomu(Abheri) and akhilandeshwari (dwijavanti ), nenurunchinAnu(Maalavi) is played, all his yesteryear rollicking renditions

7. Few live video recordings where mama sings with prema mami is also shown , in particular one in kharaharapriya (rama nee sAmanevaru)was beautiful. I think that recording must be in late 80's or 90's. Also towards the end manakkal mama singing nAda thanu manisham in the pooja room is inspiring and shows his humility.

8. manakkals daughter smt banumathi hariharan , his wife and granddaughters also give anecdotes apart from his son sriram . Jayashree mani is a student who learnt from manakkal mamA and she also speaks .

Having said about the DVD There are few omissions that I thought they could have added :
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I write this as I have listened to almost most of the renditions that I got from Coolkarni/sriram.

1. Mama is known to sing lot of great bharathiyar/thiruvasagam compositions . Atleast that could have been mentioned . There is one malarin mevu and chinnan jiru kiliyE which could have been added in the DVD

2. In the video atleast three or four vidwans talk about navarasa kanada (ninnuvina), that kind of repetition could have been avoided .

3.Mama's kAmbOdhi(O rangasayi and RTP is available), shankarabharanam(dakshinamurthy) and that awe inspiring Bhuvanuta (mohanam) is not mentioned at all . A big omission . Ofcourse todi recording of taaye yashoda is not available , but mama's epic singing neraval could have been mentioned (there is a post where cmlover talks about his susheendram todi)

4. manakkal varadarajan compositions where rangarajan mama singing his brother varadarajan compositions like karthikai balanai (maand) and ragamaliga shanmughapriyanE composition could have found its way in the DVD . I have a strong hunch that manakkal varadarajan is a terrific composer .

5. The biggest omission in this DVD is not having any mp3 songs getting packaged with this video DVD. I would have preferred if atleast 10 recordings of manakkal mama krithis just like how dvd package of sunOdha viNodhan tanjore s kalyanaraman hit the market. In the future packages ,if they include those it would be a contextual reference of mama's anecdotes by musicians along with those asura sadhakam renditions.

Note:
-----
It is a 75 minute DVD production , I dont want to say what each of them have said. As Cleveland Sundaram said in yesterdays release, they have spent close to 3 or 4 lakhs , we have to buy the DVD . It is priced nominally at 250 so please buy it. I bought one at 200 , it is really worth it . Not one anecdote is an exaggeration and they are very contextual and you will like it. I particularly like kulkarni and jayaram adding our thoughts to a galaxy of great musicians.

Conclusively:
------------
Manakkal mama had one lakh rasikas hearing him in tiruchendur , 50,000 rasikas in madurai (which kunnakkudi has shared in his anecdote),and MS Anantharaman mama said there was 2 lakhs (may be there is a 50 % exaggeration). In terms of crowd pull I think next to MK thyagaraja bhagavathar it was rangarajan mama in 1940's and 1950's.

In my humblest opinion rangarajan mama's music is just far too original and breathtaking , oops sorry breath"NOT"taking . Hopefully let us celebrate mama's 100th year centenary in 2022 , hopefully he gets a padmashri award anytime soon .

[cmlover]

Thanks Thanjavooran/Rajesh
for reporting on my All-time CM Idol. My eyes brim with tears as I remember the Maharajan in his hay days. Too bad I could not be there for the August function.

May the Lord SthaNumaalaya shower his blessings of long life on him as he will continue to shine as the Pole-star in the CM Firmament....

[cienu]

Thanks a million Thanjavooran and Rajesh
A lovely synopsis of the proceedings and a lot more too !

[rajeshnat]

Mods,
From post #14 onwards can you create a new post in kutcheri reviews and perhaps name the thread as
"Manakkal Rangarajan-DVD Release/Review @vidya bharathi on July21st,2012"

[varsha]

The organizers could have sequenced bit better , it was a 2 hour function with each dignatary taking 5 to 10 mins and there were 11 speakers .

We have progressed as a community , after all From 16 speeches to 11

[Nick H]

"Mangalam: Group Rendering..."

I imagine there wasn't time for anything else! ]

[thanjavooran]

Quite interesting. Should be at least half a century old. Venue may be PSS H School of MA. Expansion of SAA is still a riddle.

Thanjavooran 26 07 2012

[arasi]

How far we have marched from the 'bit notice' kind of invitation for a grand occasion to today's glossy monstrosities (the bigger and showy, the better)!
Yes, a long list of speakers but how the arts merge here--some of them very good speakers too, to honor the great Chembai!
I would listen to most of them on the list with interest than listen to just a handful of dignitaries theses days who may be competent in their pursuits but cannot 'speak'!

T.L.Venkatrama Iyer, Dr.Raghavan and Rajamannar representing scholars/supreme rasikAs.
Peers: impressive list--Musiri, Semmangudi, Dandapani Desigar, AKC
Balakrishna shastrigaL
T.K.Shanmugam representing the dramatic arts
Writers/composers--ki vA ja, ellArvi (music-oriented writer), Periasami Thooran

To me, most of them were eloquent and engaging.
Mu. Ka--not a bad speaker at all! Or, should I say, what a speaker

Ah, missed out on my pet peeves about today's 'vazhakkam': ponnADai for everyone who gets up on stage--sometimes, even for those who are in the audience
When they say ponnADai here, notice how it is meant only for Chembai--an honor just for the one who is honored on this particular day...

[varsha]

Expansion of SAA is still a riddle.

DEC 1969

[cmlover]

See also
http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=19559

[Nick H]

Ah, missed out on my pet peeves about today's 'vazhakkam': ponnADai for everyone who gets up on stage--sometimes, even for those who are in the audience

Could I stand up and say, "Either turn the AC down or give me one of those things!" do you think? ]

.

[arasi]

Now, are we jumping from tree to tree? One peeve at a time, mate!
I've an idea, though. In your carry-all shoulder bag, make room for a light shawl--a practical one which doesn't scratch like the
'paLa paLa' ones. I have a feeling you do carry one. Remember seeing you with a shawl somewhere--in a picture??

[Nick H]

Oh yes, I disappear into my tent.

I think I'm the only person in Chennai who ever feels cold

[matterwaves]

A pristine Kharaharapriya https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slXL8NITWaE

[Venkataraman]

A pristine Kharaharapriya https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slXL8NITWaE

This is quite exquisite. just for that one sangathi @2.40 when he lands on upper sadjam and does a nsrgmpdns... control voice. my father used to say that sometimes you just cant find the difference between him and GN. such was his voice provess. This recording was probably when he was not that young. But is a must listen