umayALpuram k. sivarAman

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 10 Dec 2009, 13:40

Dear admirers of UKS Sir,

enjoy this recording of sir..

(from a post in Kutcheri Reviews & Recordings thread)...

http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... 96365.html

sraja · Post by **sraja** » 17 Dec 2009, 08:39

The maestro's birthday today. May God bless bless him with health and energy to continue to enthrall all of us forever.

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 28 Dec 2009, 17:27

Nobel laureate Venkatraman talks about his listening to concerts and about UKS Sir in NDTV...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WG_KmHO ... r_embedded

Musicfan · Post by **Musicfan** » 02 Jan 2010, 18:03

I was fortunate to spend 1 full day ( it was Holi day- march). UKS was stating in M A Baby's house near parliament House in delhi. UKS played for a Concert cum Lecture demonstration for TRS sometime in 1990-1991. The concert was at 6pm . I reached M A Baby's house around 11am ( escaping all the Holi colors!!!) since UKS had told me previous day that he will spend a few hours with me teaching me a few Mridangam lessons. While he spent a few hours teaching me which I cherish the most, the other thing I liked was the raft attention he paid to manage his Mridangam which he was to play later in the evening. He really looked after it like a child. The way he put ravai on the left, the way he put chapu testing the sound. When I took him to the venue around 5.45pm, he asked me to sit along with him in the stage and watch him play the toppi. I was memerised.
The next day he played for a concert for TNK and he again asked me to sit in the stage with him, this time asked me to put talam and he said he will test me when I put talam. All he said is ' concentrate'. I did manage OK by gods grace and he complimented me after the concert . Those 2 days were something I will never forget in my life. He would definitely not remember these small incidents 20 years back but for me it is still evergreen , as if it happened yesterday. In simple words, he just floored me.

raghavt · Post by **raghavt** » 26 Jan 2010, 18:48

As you all know, UKS sir has been awarded Padma Vibhushan. Well deserving award to an outstanding performer, a complete professional to the core and an inimitable maestro. Would like to request everyone who have not heared this to listen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaniMI9QF6s

I pray to GOD almighty to give him all the strength to be in the same spirits forever.

~ Raghav.

narayanat · Post by **narayanat** » 28 Jan 2010, 09:11

erode14 wrote:Nobel laureate Venkatraman talks about his listening to concerts and about UKS Sir in NDTV...

Erode - Whilst the Nobel Laureate is possibly very good in what he does for a living - I dont think he is anywhere close to being capable on commenting on the maestro. The point I am making is that, we dont need his generalised ratification of the maestro. Incidentally, the Nobel laurate is more american ( than the real American )!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WG_KmHO ... r_embedded

musicfan_4201 · Post by **musicfan_4201** » 28 Jan 2010, 10:18

musicfan_4201 · Post by **musicfan_4201** » 28 Jan 2010, 11:34

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 08 Mar 2010, 00:04

Hi...

I en-joyed UKS sir's classical accompaniment today in Sikkil Gurucharan's concert at Hamsadhvani today...

UKS Sir is Synonym for many Antonyms like Unparalleled... Unpredictable... (No stone kept) Unturned...

Un is first and last letters of his name and he transforms the Unsaid and Unsung into music conveying an Unspoken language of high classicism...

8)

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 16 Mar 2010, 11:56

Speech by Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman D.Litt degree Kerala University:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPDPFvUuSGE

Navarathri Krithis:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhHHFgQ4ThM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkVntoS_nFk

thanjavooran · Post by **thanjavooran** » 16 Mar 2010, 15:59

Thanx for the links. Quite interesting

Thanjavooran

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 19 Mar 2010, 00:29

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 19 Mar 2010, 01:02

very lively

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 19 Mar 2010, 01:43

Lovely - who are these (garfitti) artists?

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 19 Mar 2010, 01:58

rshankar wrote:Lovely - who are these (garfitti) artists?

It is called "Mural"

cpblog · Post by **cpblog** » 19 Mar 2010, 04:11

Dear friends, rasikas and admirers of Vidwan UKS....we just wanted to let you know that there are tons of photographs of the maestro performing in many concerts for over decades in "Parvathi", Mysore as you scrolll through. Posted a new one (but a vintage one again!) of Sri UKS with Dr. Ramani. This is on a tribute page to Dr. Ramani and features the latter's music with Vidwans Chandrasekharan, Ramabhadran and K.S. Manjunath. http://chowdaiahandparvati.blogspot.com/

rajeeram · Post by **rajeeram** » 19 Mar 2010, 09:21

Not sure whether links to these videos have already been posted here.
Sri.Sivaraman is so eloquent even though the interviewer does not let him complete his thoughts a few times. Sri.Sivaraman talks movingly about his parents.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjasYKWNHLs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA1VJnT5AxM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZNM3yvCLjw

cpblog · Post by **cpblog** » 04 Apr 2010, 02:06

Respected Members, Please welcome to another 1972 performance of Vidwan UK Sivaraman at "Parvathi", Mysore along with Vidwans
K. V. Narayanaswamy -----Vocal
T.N Krishnan ------- Violin
K.S.Manjunath -----Ghatam
Performed on 26-3-1972

http://chowdaiahandparvati.blogspot.com/

ugk · Post by **ugk** » 07 May 2010, 04:23

UKS is the most well known mridangist in the world i think.
The reason for that is his ability to please all types of audiences.
He has visited the Bhavan centre in the UK and alot of the students said he is one of the most
pleasant artistes to visit.
He also thinks outside the box. He introduced the fibreglass mridangam and the bag.
I have heard some not so nice things also, like his preference for the caste system (i.e he does not like
non-brahmins become too successful at mridangam). This may not be true, but a person who has alot of internal knowledge of the carnatic circles told me this.
Then again i have heard all sorts of stories, like Palghat Mani Iyer getting jealous of UKS rise to stardom.
And apparently started promoting some other mridangists. Then there is the story that Pazhani Subramaniya Pillai and CS murghaboopathy were not given as much credit as PMI because they were not Brahmins.
This type of politics i am told affects the entire carnatic scene. This is also why Karaikudi Mani does not like to perform with alot of others. But then again i am told that in Hindustani music it is even worse with some artistes insulting their rivals on stage infront of the public (remember Ustan Vilayat Khan vs Ravi Shankar).
Regardless of any politics UKS is certainly one of the all time greatest percussionists on earth.

thanjavooran · Post by **thanjavooran** » 07 May 2010, 04:52

ugk wrote: in Hindustani music it is even worse with some artistes insulting their rivals on stage infront of the public (remember Ustan Vilayat Khan vs Ravi Shankar).
Regardless of any politics UKS is certainly one of the all time greatest percussionists on earth.

shri ugk,
IMHO only this point is a known fact.

Thanjavooran

krvramani · Post by **krvramani** » 17 Sep 2010, 17:07

coolkarni wrote:For all my Feelings of having missed out listening to the great masters in the Golden Era 50-70 years ago, I have always comforted myself that I had one great experience , as compensation-
The experience of attending a Concert where UKS plays the Mrudangam.
The very sight of this master -as we rush to take our seats - in a majestic posture , half turned sideways and assessing the audience with a sway of his head, His deep set eyes and a twist of his mouth which borders on a smirk,the deep bass voice and impeccable language... they all add up to make blood rush through my veins .
As Rajesh says I hardly ever understand the intricacies of what he is playing , but I have always felt his style is just like a Cushion beneath the track of the main performer - always supporting it from below- as though the rendering needed to be held up for all of us to see

I have tried hard, these last few days to locate something that measures upto to my unabashed admiration for this genius.

Many years ago , one day while I was having Lunch (Prasadam) at Nanganallur Anjaneyar temple, I noticed a few video tapes tumbling out of the overstacked cupboards.
One look at the labels and I felt sorry for the genies that were bottled up in those covers- I dont know for how many years.

As I Started to discuss this with a friend who was a volunteer there , I thought of offering to convert those videotapes -to vcds-for the temple.
One thing led to another and in no time I was handling an expensive project.I had to quickly find a few known people to share the burden ( I was just into business then ,and was at a stage where I started realising the truth about the statement -WHO SAYS MONEY IS LIKE DOUGH . DOUGH STICKS TO THE HAND )

However at the end of the project -those thankless friends ended taking up a copy but never bothered to pay up their share.

It was one such day That I felt like complaining to the Lord -after I had finally handed over the complete set to the temple authorities.
The Lord with all his knowledge about the fact that I was penniless , had decided to put this extra burden me .

Strangely that day , we were delayed for some silly reason and as I picked up my Sundal in the queue I had one last look at the Diety to see if he was still making fun of me, but felt otherwise.

Just then the Secretary of the temple committee entered and the chap who was giving me the prasadam callled out loudly
"Sir, this is the person who converted all those videos for us."

I came out of the queue and We got busy talking for a few minutes , and he enquired about music collections etc
Finally he sprang a surprise -
"I hope you have collected your expense towards this."

And realising that none of us had ever discussed this , he admonished me for not bringing up this issue before and thanked me for saving their treasures from getting spoiled.And he immediately wrote out a cheque for the full amount.

Here is a clip from one of those tapes.We had to struggle a lot to clean them up etc and one can notice those damaged portions , but to my mind it is a brilliantly shot Video - One that brings out the artistry of this Titan in all its elegance.
Hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.
http://www.rogepost.com/dn/6xjj
http://www.rogepost.com/dn/h0wg
http://www.rogepost.com/dn/k3nf

PS Kindly do not post these links in other forums and that too with notes like Courtesy Coolkarni- They are a source of endless trouble to me .Something which has made me cut down on video uploads.
But for the sake of this thread i am willing to make an exception.
happy viewing

Dear Sir, None of the above links are available to download, as we get only Error Messages. Pl. help, as I am a deep fan of UKS! KRVRamani

mankuthimma · Post by **mankuthimma** » 17 Sep 2010, 19:32

will search them and post again .

mankuthimma · Post by **mankuthimma** » 22 Sep 2010, 14:10

http://www.mediafire.com/?adt8528ibxv97

kvramani - ur video links

ragam-talam · Post by **ragam-talam** » 23 Sep 2010, 02:14

Lovely thani by the maestro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_8Bi-6lq70
(from a SSI concert)

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 23 Sep 2010, 08:25

http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=14299

mankuthimma · Post by **mankuthimma** » 28 Sep 2010, 21:12

Dear Sir, None of the above links are available to download, as we get only Error Messages. Pl. help, as I am a deep fan of UKS! KRVRamani

Happy to share this incredible phase in a BMK-TNK-UKS-Hari-Vikku Concert
A fine specimen of how a Thani should be recorded on video . There are so many things happening out there ...
Enjoy . It is a priceless piece

http://www.mediafire.com/?xx4ypowslw7zg8c
http://www.mediafire.com/?a161a3wtm2zb1w2
http://www.mediafire.com/?j1zogjfd1cpc4du
http://www.mediafire.com/?6mtt63j0gg567zs
http://www.mediafire.com/?zgfxhhugr7rzv74

semmu86 · Post by **semmu86** » 01 Oct 2010, 21:49

Thanks very much sir.. great thani indeed..

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 08 Oct 2010, 07:47

Review of a kerala concert
http://www.hindu.com/fr/2010/10/08/stor ... 810300.htm

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 20 Nov 2010, 21:31

Hi..

I managed to click these photos of shrI UKS Sir, getting conferred the title "mrudanga nAdha chakravarthi" on the occassion of 76th jayanthi celebrations of kAnchi kAmakOti peetam shrI jayEndhra sarasvathi shankarAchArya svAmigaL. Captured from Sankara TV, half an hour ago.

aditya · Post by **aditya** » 31 Jul 2011, 13:36

Here's a set of two great vintage concerts of UKS in the year 1965!!.

1. One is a Semmangudi - Chowdiah- UKS - Vinyakaram -1965. He is playing the Kappi mrudangam. The volume and nadam is incredible.
http://www.archive.org/details/parvathi ... i-chowdiah

2. Another rare concert - TNK - M Chandrasekaran - UKS- Tanjore Upendran -1972 . Yes, double violin of T.N. Krishnan & M.Chandrasekaran This is again a brilliant concert. A must hear is Maruballka. The accompaniment of UKS is incredible.

http://chowdaiahandparvati.blogspot.com ... /label/TNK

Thanks CP Blog for this!

cpblog · Post by **cpblog** » 01 Aug 2011, 16:19

Aditya,

Thanks, Happy Listening, and salutations to the great maestros still with us!

CPBlog Team

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 31 Oct 2011, 23:33

Bharat Sangeet Utsav 2011
(sir's concert for BSU at Narada Gana Sabha)

Sat., Nov. 5th 2011@3.00 pm: Shertalai K. N. Ranganatha Sarma & Kunnakudi M. Balamuralikrishna with M. A. Sundaresan, Sangita Kalanidhi Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman, E. M. Subramaniam.

Sun., Nov. 6th 2011@10.00 am: Sangita Kalanidhi R. K. Srikantan, Sangita Kalanidhi M. Chandrasekharan, Sangita Kalanidhi Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman, Dr. S. Karthick.

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 17 Dec 2011, 00:00

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 17 Dec 2011, 18:56

Birthday wishes to jAmbhavan UKS sir.His stage presence is almost before my eyes ,tx to erode nagaraj

tkb · Post by **tkb** » 17 Dec 2011, 23:27

our pranams and seeking his blessings always!

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 15 Feb 2012, 12:56

Writeup on UKS "mridangam solo in Thayambaka style" played during PMI's centenary celebrations.
http://www.thehindu.com/arts/music/article2874978.ece

duff777 · Post by **duff777** » 06 Apr 2012, 04:51

Multidimensional exposition.

sraja · Post by **sraja** » 29 Jun 2012, 07:09

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp ... 582465.ece

venkatakailasam · Post by **venkatakailasam** » 10 Oct 2012, 18:07

Sangeeth nataka Acadamy Award 2011 for him...received from president...

http://www.dinamalar.com/News_Detail.asp?Id=562928

Clarified by Erode Nagaraj that actually, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award was conferred on Sri uKS Sir in 1992. This is The Fellowship of the Sangeet Natak Akademi.

sraja · Post by **sraja** » 01 Nov 2012, 15:51

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgyxYHPt ... e=g-crec-u

DKJ-UKS! Don't miss DKJ mama saying 'mani iyer nyapagam vandhadhu'

When DKJ mama sings 'naga sayana', three after samam in charanam, UKS sir plays a phrase in the meter 'thakadhina thathakita' and mama says, 'mani iyer nyapagam varadhu... indha sollu mani iyer nyapagam vandhadhunnen...' (this phrase reminds me of palghat mani iyer).

Rsachi · Post by **Rsachi** » 01 Nov 2012, 18:02

Sirs, no amount of our praise can measure up to the extraordinary musical experience called UKS today, yesterday and by God's grace tomorrow, accompanying a wide spectrum of musicians and types of compositions. He cannot really be compared to anyone else. His instant musical intuition plus execution is unfathomable. Even he cannot explain it.
They have gone and measured the depth of the deepest point in the Pacific. But this phenomenon called UKS cannot be fathomed. So I want to coin an explanation for UKS:
Unfathomable. Kaleidoscopic. Stupendous.

sraja · Post by **sraja** » 01 Nov 2012, 18:42

Fantastic!!

Rsachi · Post by **Rsachi** » 01 Nov 2012, 18:53

Thank you, sraja, for the DKJ track. True delight.

semmu86 · Post by **semmu86** » 13 Dec 2012, 19:51

A lovely interview...

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/che ... 195667.ece

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 17 Dec 2012, 08:07

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 10 Jan 2013, 18:40

Jwaalaa by UKS
http://www.thehindu.com/arts/captivatin ... 294118.ece

semmu86 · Post by **semmu86** » 08 Aug 2013, 15:19

Starting this series after suggestion made by Mahavishnu in the previous thread of KRM. Here is a brilliant concert by BMK-Annavarapu Ramaswamy- UKS :: Circa early 1980's, Mysore. I have uploaded just the thani here (Full concert is available in Sangeethapriya). I Will come to the best tracks of UKS Sir's accompaniment in subsequent posts.

https://archive.org/details/BMKAVRUKS1980sMysore

I have always believed very strongly that the most attractive and appreciative style(For the audience) of Mrudangam playing evolves when a vidhwAn has a style which is more nAdham oriented than does mathematics. Few points to observe in this thani, which only strengthens my belief.

- The thani here is hardly 6 mins duration.
- No complex korvais. In fact there is only one final korvai that follows the mOhrA.
- UKS Sir would have played sa-pa-sa using sarvalaghu and gumukki techniques, which BMK keeps humming in the background.
- The nAdham and the arai chApu here is worth dying for & students and practitioners will do well to emulate this.
- Just plain attractive sollu build up till the very last, as the thani finishes into a thunderous crescendo.

Even though the quality of the recording is very good, this thani is best enjoyed listening via a good ear phone or good speakers, to catch the intricacies like the humming of BMK and the clarity of the sollus & arai chApus.

Am sure you will enjoy it..............

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 08 Aug 2013, 15:33

Just as there are teachers that can make maths fascinating, even to us innumerates, so there are musicians who can make calculation beautiful. I don't believe that music should be an exam, and if numerical progressions are the main feature, I quickly tire. Musicians such as BMK and UKS are skilled in giving the intellectual all the complexity they can desire, whilst dressing it in pure beauty for everybody.

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 08 Aug 2013, 20:36

Thanks, Semmu. Great concert and great vidwan!

The nAdham and the arai chApu here is worth dying for & students and practitioners will do well to emulate this.

I couldn't agree more. Is it just meticulous preparation of the instrument or is there magic in his fingers?
Playing with BMK brings out some very unique characteristics in UKS's manodharma. I am reminded of the concert that they played together for the Carnatica BSU from last year. What rapport!

Awaiting some more excellent tracks with your expert commentary.

semmu86 · Post by **semmu86** » 08 Aug 2013, 21:24

mahavishnu wrote:Is it just meticulous preparation of the instrument or is there magic in his fingers?

Both. Its always "vAsippu pAdhi, vAdhyam pAdhi". Watching him prepare the vAdhyam prior to the concerts is a lesson by itself for a lifetime.

mahavishnu wrote:Playing with BMK brings out some very unique characteristics in UKS's manodharma.

Adding DKJ to the list too....