The surprise element and its appeal in Carnatic music

Rsachi · Post by **Rsachi** » 06 Jun 2014, 03:03

Folks,
I have been soaking up a bit of GNB's music, TSK's music, and much else these days. I just watched a YT video of 20+ minutes called Tanjore S Kalyanaraman Today.

It's interesting that they have described TSK's voice as not being of a timbre and richness that spells instant appeal. The best example of someone with such an appealing voice would be GNB himself.

They make two other points: TSK specialized in Vivadi ragas, invented dwimadhyama ragas, and showed great mastery of them. Vid Guruvayoor Dorai talks of how he sang Bhavani in an Amalapuram concert. MSG mentions Gangeyabhushani, Nasikabhushani etc.

Sanjay talks of how his father said TSK lacked a mass following because he sang ragas nobody knew.

WHY did TSK do it!?

I have a theory now. I do hope it's worth your time reading this.

You see... You can make an impact if you have a rich, vibrant,melodious voice.

If you happen to have a not so rich, not an instant-appeal voice, and you have mastered the grammar of CM,
you can still make an impact by introducing the surprise element for example by rendering ragas like Bhavani and Rasali and Dwimadhyama ragas.

That was the genius of Tanjore S Kalyanaraman. In other words he was a deeply creative musician who made a niche for himself by being different despite having a not-so-impactful voice.

When you remember leg spin bowlers in India, you remember Bedi as the conventional left-arm bowler. And the unconventional, highly successful, right-arm wristy BS Chandrashekhar, who could win matches single-handedly. He didn't take as many wickets as Bedi, but he was very memorable because he was different.

By the way there is a ready example of the appeal of the surprise element in CM. Listen to this raga alapana by Vid TK Rangachari!
http://youtu.be/9HMgcLTO6p0

And now your comments, please

kedharam · Post by **kedharam** » 06 Jun 2014, 04:38

“make an impact by introducing the surprise element for example by rendering ragas like Bhavani and Rasali and Dwimadhyama ragas”

So very wrong. SK didn’t sing bhavani, rasali, and dwimadhyama ragas to introduce a surprise element. He was beyond all that. He liked to challenge himself constantly and he found these ragas quite challenging. He was a genius with a feel for these raga’s sensibilities and audacious to make the structurally complex dissonant notes seem simple. These ragas seem effortless and alluring when he presented in a strikingly lucid way but his students will vouch for the amount of hard work he put in to make them malleable and it is a known fact that he expected that kind of work ethic from his students.

“made a niche for himself by being different despite having a not-so-impactful voice”

Again so wrong. He didn’t deliberately create a niche for himself by being different. His music adhered to tradition and came filtered through a prism that is distinctly his own. Creating a niche and branding are all modern phenomena I think. Again he was beyond all that. Most of all he didn’t give a damn because he believed in HIS music. For him music was his God. And he presented it as he knew it with genuine ardor and uncanny strong conviction. Period.

“The secret of beautiful work lies to a great extent in truth and sincere sentiment” – Van Gogh

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 06 Jun 2014, 07:25

Kedharam,
Inspired writing!
Beautifully written with conviction

Even if a musician like Kalyanaraman had lived in this 'yahAn music hOtA hai vyApAr bankar' age, he might not have given up his passion and mission for all the monetary gains and celebrity status which could have been his, I don't think...

Rsachi · Post by **Rsachi** » 06 Jun 2014, 07:34

Wait. If I gave you the impression that I think TSK was a money-minded calculating peddler of music, I am sorry, I did not at all think so.
I do think practice,mastery of music, high values, can still go with an understanding of where one's strengths lie and playing to one's strengths, thereby maximizing the music one can give. Surely the element of surprise in SKR's rare ragas and ragamalikas cannot be denied. It took us away from discussing the merits of the voice but focussed on the merits of the music.
Do you see my point?

kedharam · Post by **kedharam** » 06 Jun 2014, 07:52

“Surely the element of surprise in SKR's rare ragas and ragamalikas cannot be denied”
If you are talking from a consumer’s perspective, yes, surely we were all surprised.

But as an artiste, no, that was not his intention to surprise us. Here is where my argument comes in.

“It took us away from discussing the merits of the voice but focussed on the merits of the music.”

If you listen to his early music you will notice the honeyed voice. Later in his life he developed certain health issues and it affected his voice. Then he developed his own technique of delivering his music bypassing that hurdle. He didn’t develop a new technique to differentiate, market, brand or corner a niche that was not cornered. I am just trying to set certain facts straight for the sake of future generation.

Rsachi · Post by **Rsachi** » 06 Jun 2014, 08:14

Ok, Kedharam, noted with thanks.
Something to add:
I heard that Sri TSK was once invited to perform a wedding concert ( by the English Prof R K Ramanathan- brother of Vid RKS). He gave a brilliant concert for 3.5 hours. And refused to take any money.

kedharam · Post by **kedharam** » 06 Jun 2014, 08:26

Rsachi, Sk is known for that sentiment. He never took fee from his students unless the student forced him to. That has happened only with one student to my knowledge. Yep, he was one of a kind genius. Good night with SK music, a vivadi one:):):)

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 06 Jun 2014, 08:44

Rsachi,
You should have posted in the SKR thread . I have something to add bit later, I agree with kedharam that SKR did believe in pushing frontiers but i think he may have tried to be different than all of those then who tried to stick strictly to pathanthara . I am not sure how kedharam can dismiss Rsachi statement.Rsachi reason can be of many reasons perhaps Bhushany kalyanaraman can clarify or may be we would have to ask only SKR which is not possible.

To me he brought in a brand new frontier to CM which no one bought before- bringing the vivadi, dwimadhyama and hindustani flavours without diluting CM .

Mods
Merge this in the thread http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=49

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 06 Jun 2014, 09:09

No, Sachi. I did not think at all that you implied that. I meant only this: he didn't bother about monetary rewards then, and he wouldn't have now either, had he lived in this time period. I did not know him, but what Kedharam says rings true, based on what I've heard of him, that's all.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 06 Jun 2014, 09:15

Rajesh, we will keep it here as a separate thread since the topic itself is a general one though the posts so far are about TSK.

I am with kedharam that TSK is not an example that illustrates Sachi's interesting hypothesis. TSK himself has talked about his passion as motivation for his original work on dwimadhyama ragas.

But there may be other artists and their practices that may offer some evidence to the Sachi Hypothesis.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 06 Jun 2014, 09:25

Why merge?
This explores the forgotten beauties buried in CM which should be brought into limelight!
TSK wrote a new chapter on the use and practice of dvimadhyama ragas which has since been ignored by other,
even versatile, artistes. Perhaps we should break our fetters and start appreciating the Iconoclasts budding in CM...

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 06 Jun 2014, 12:53

vasanthakokilam wrote:Rajesh, we will keep it here as a separate thread since the topic itself is a general one though the posts so far are about TSK.

VK/CML
This thread is in vidwans and vidushis apart from the 2 lines where Rsachi has given a url of TKR rest of the discussion is predominantly on SKR only. WHen some one clicks the topic vidwans and vidushi we see

Tanjore S kalyanaraman
MS Gopalakrishnan
Ranjani hebbar Guruprasad
AND
The surprise element and its appeal in Carnatic music .

For every musician like SKR we can discuss . If we dont merge now in future people will never see these posts. I do understand in many many threads even after putting a particular vidwan and vidushi name , we do discuss another vidwan but that is some thing not controllable .

I still assert what i asked for , choice is yours.

kedharam · Post by **kedharam** » 06 Jun 2014, 16:19

"I am not sure how kedharam can dismiss Rsachi statement"

rageshnat, personal knowledge, if I may say so.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 06 Jun 2014, 20:54

Rajesh
I am moving this to General Discussions since the topic is of generic interest.
If RSachi disagrees I will move it back or merge with TSK thread as per his choice...
OK?

kvchellappa · Post by **kvchellappa** » 06 Jun 2014, 21:01

Nice new name: ragesh, very apt in rasikas forum.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 06 Jun 2014, 21:18

Chellappa.

Now, rAgam also means anger, and I'm sure Rajesh won't like his name changed, and may get agitated

Rajesh also understands that I like to tease him sometimes.

uday_shankar · Post by **uday_shankar** » 07 Jun 2014, 03:50

SKR = TSK ?
Some consistency of acronyms needed, perhaps ?

The originator of the dwi-madhyama scheme has been burdened with dwi-prateeka nomenclature, tsk, tsk (or should I say, skr, skr :p ?).

Lakshman · Post by **Lakshman** » 07 Jun 2014, 04:08

TSK/SKR did come up with the dvimadhyama ragas and I heard that he also composed songs in each one of them. Does anyone have any idea where to find these songs? I tried to contact smt. Bhushani but it appears that she does not respond to emails.

Rsachi · Post by **Rsachi** » 07 Jun 2014, 08:01

Uday
I plead guilty to dwinama prayoga. No surprise there

parivadini · Post by **parivadini** » 07 Jun 2014, 19:48

Ok here is one trivia that I did hear (Gamakam wanted this trivia to be featured on our show! But jumping the gun!)

TSK - In his later years, started giving whistle concerts,especially since he thought his voice was being challenged, whistling away compositions of the Trinity, an art that he learnt with passion.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOqF3FMEkYk

Cheers
Venkat

munirao2001 · Post by **munirao2001** » 09 Jun 2014, 17:15

Highest ideal in Karnatik Music is Pandita-Pamara ranjakatvam. Performers do consider various aspects for achieving this ideal, with genuine efforts. When pure gaayaka paddhati was the best practice, Great Maestros brought in vocalizing the instrumental techniques e.g. Flute and Nagasvaram by MVI GNB and MMI and SSI,MDSS, MSS. And MDR, DKP and many more- the Veena meettu and gottu, Violin bowing and fingering techniques also found expressions in Vocal e.g.CVB, BMK. ARI, Musiri, Brindamma, KVN and many more, including SSRAO, strictly adhering to gayaka paddhati.
Yes RSachi, KM indeed is full of surprise elements. Initially, surprise elements but very soon, attraction and special appeal. This special appeal getting recognized as 'style' winning greater support. While the adopted technique supported many, but it also lead to poor quality in delivery. Ideally surprise element is reserved in a selection of raaga; a composition; laya; kalpana svara prastara in the sampradaya. One can not deny the surprise element of the class of the verily, the vidwath ! Another equally surprise element is in attainment of 'popularity' by not so deserving performer! Also another surprise element is rasikas, senior citizen rasikas in particular extolling the virtues of pure and pristine qualities in KM, they only flock to 'popularly appealing' performers ! Yet another surprise element is in performers claiming strict adherence to the sampradaya, engaging in fusion with exhibition and expressions of 'adjustment' with 'light' classical and confusing! Secretive, not revealed surprise element of performer is continuously demanding and compelling poor system operator ears piercing sound levels and creating appeal of sruti alignment!
Only aspect not surprising in Karnatik Music in appeal is 'herd'mentality and choice of popularity measured in terms of 'crowd' by the uninformed majority of rasikas with the pretense of expertise!
Thanks for RSachi posting surprisingly, very appealing post!

munirao2001 · Post by **munirao2001** » 09 Jun 2014, 17:55

I posted "Finally appealing surprise element of not revealed identity of posting person", surprisingly found that I can not do and to win the appeal I had to edit it out!

munirao2001

Rsachi · Post by **Rsachi** » 09 Jun 2014, 19:02

I would have been surprised if you had not written anything, sir!

Pasupathy · Post by **Pasupathy** » 11 Jun 2014, 03:36

Lakshman wrote:TSK/SKR did come up with the dvimadhyama ragas and I heard that he also composed songs in each one of them. Does anyone have any idea where to find these songs? I tried to contact smt. Bhushani but it appears that she does not respond to emails.

I think Dr Radha Bhaskar may be able to help you (if you have her e-mail id) . See her letter:
http://www.hindu.com/fr/2011/06/17/stor ... 940300.htm

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 11 Jun 2014, 07:04

Lakshman, Pasupathy,

I suddenly remembered. In 2011, Sanjay sang at SKR's birthday celebrations in Chennai, and the karaSri he sang for the first time--getting the notations from Bhushany Kalyanaraman--is something I heard on the youtube.
In Sanjay's blog, you may also read something which he wrote about Kalyanaraman in June 2011. One of you, well-versed in tech stuff can please give the links here. I wish I could...

kedharam · Post by **kedharam** » 11 Jun 2014, 07:30

Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zLVzhNO ... ker-pR5Qcg

Ranganayaki · Post by **Ranganayaki** » 12 Jun 2014, 09:49

kvchellappa wrote:Nice new name: ragesh, very apt in rasikas forum.

Someone recently dropped the first N in my name and put it on a memento for participating in a musical event.. I was quite thrilled with the result!!! Wishful thinking of course

, but still it looked like a title! I don't plan to throw it away

!!

Enjoying this discussion so far.. it's so nice, everyone!

Ranganayaki · Post by **Ranganayaki** » 12 Jun 2014, 09:53

arasi wrote:Chellappa.

Now, rAgam also means anger, and I'm sure Rajesh won't like his name changed, and may get agitated

Rajesh also understands that I like to tease him sometimes.

Oh, no.. !

Arasi, this is so disappointing!!

kedharam · Post by **kedharam** » 12 Jun 2014, 17:35

I am sorry rajeshnat for mangling your name. Am guilty of olding:) age.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 12 Jun 2014, 18:14

Kedharam,
I'm the one who's disappointed

If you are in the old-age group, where am I? (Don't want to specify that place).As for Rajesh, he's in 'rag'e with me perhaps. No word from him on this yet ??

Ranganayaki,
I really like that 'title' of a name, R'Aga'nayaki

venkatakailasam · Post by **venkatakailasam** » 12 Jun 2014, 18:42

Sanjay link is here:

http://sanjaysub.blogspot.in/2011/06/ta ... n-skr.html

" will forever treasure that recording of SKR that Bhushany Kalyanaraman sent to me asking me to sing if possible "that same todi." This was a fantastic recording of SKR where he has sung Nadasudha in Arabhi and Chesinadella in Todi. That is one of my favorite recordings and I have even discussed stuff in one of my podcasts. Anyway I could not learn Chesinadella then nor could I accede to Bushany's request to sing a Dwi madhyama ragam. "

Lakshmamji: " TSK/SKR did come up with the dvimadhyama ragas and I heard that he also composed songs in each one of them. Does anyone have any idea where to find these songs? I tried to contact smt. Bhushani but it appears that she does not respond to emails."
Dr. Radha Bhaskar may be able to tell more about the compositions on these ragas as I remember to have read an article in THE hINDU by her

I have come across only Suryaprakash has rendered a RTP in Dwi Madhyama Panchama Varja ragam Sooryashree
...Suryaprakash was kind enough to share with me:

Listen here:

06-RTP-Sooryashree-RTP with sooryashree,soorya,mohanakalyAni
http://www.mediafire.com/listen/2bege93 ... lyAni7.mp3

To my knowledge, none else so far..If you have any Kindly, share..

It seems D pATTAMMAL has composed some songs in dvimadhyama ragas..

I could not get them.from her web site..

venkatakailasam · Post by **venkatakailasam** » 12 Jun 2014, 20:38

A reflection on TSK by one of his friends..name not provided...

" "Sadly, the man was not at all respected during his lifetime but for serious musicians, and so there simply aren't many engagements in which people cared enough for his performances to consider it worth recording on video. On top of which, many staunch traditionalists who didn't care for SKR's delving into rare ragas and unconventional phrases would regularly speak ill of him. He was eventually awarded the Kalaimamani after a very long career, but sadly passed the very day after it was announced, and like many true musicians' musicians, he is far more appreciated after his death.

Regardless, being that I am one of those who has known him and that I have often evangelized his greatness, I feel compelled to provide at least some justification for my position.

Among SKR's many explorations in music, he is a master of rendering vivadhi and dvi-madhyama ragas and explored them with a level of comfort that anyone else might otherwise have for a Kalyani or Hindolam. He is also the developer of numerous techniques to improve sruthi-suddham, later on regularly performing with 2 tamburas simultaneously. He also has a gift for brighas with such intense depth to them both in ragam and layam.

He has tuned an Ashtapathi with a uniquely Hindustani flair to it, as he has done for many others. Among my first knee-jerk reactions upon hearing this the first time was "you can do that with Valachi?" Beyond just the vocal gymnastics, there's simply no end to the extent in which you end up learning more and more about the raga for every pidi all the way from the kaarvai phrases to the lightning fast brighas. Even for all the apparent "flash" you could speak of, there's just so much more you can find if you listen more closely."

musicmantra · Post by **musicmantra** » 23 Jun 2014, 14:53

TSK was one of the greatest vocalists CM has ever produced

kedharam · Post by **kedharam** » 23 Jun 2014, 20:51

“On top of which, many staunch traditionalists who didn't care for SKR's delving into rare ragas and unconventional phrases would regularly speak ill of him.”

This observation did indeed touch on a raw nerve in me that has not been appeased and I feel duty-bound to respond. Please let me paint the backdrop to the best of my knowledge…

A few from the CM fiefdom (don’t want to name to preserve the sanity of this forum) were terrified at his unflinching commitment to his music when SK rejected the norms (set by them) with dogged determination and sang karaharapriya and yAgapriya with the same ease coupled with the fact that he didn’t compromise his music for their external validation or definition of what music should be. Else he could have walked his way thru to all the honors by churning out dhAriNi thelusukontis and sonnadai seidhida sAhasamAs as a shadow of the Prince of CM, GNB. But SK rejected that option handed down to him.

The naysayers specifically picked on him for his indulgence in obscure (again their definition) ragams and composers. For example, when he made a masterpiece out of N.S Chidambaram’s ‘neethAn thUNai neelAmbari’, they ridiculed him with this comment: “pakkathAthu mAmA /edhuthAthu mAmi pAttu.” Fast-forward to a few years after his time, the intensely criticized became the highly acclaimed and musicians can’t get enough of his music. Despite all this chaos, insulted as an eccentric, he gave credence to his wildly creative mind and tended to his own thirst and endured. And since SK challenged the sanctions of his contemporaries, the Fiefdomer and his cronies brought him down with their implicit power dynamic and deceitful pettiness. Well, I would have crapped (for lack of a better term, sorry) in my pants if my peer happened to be the S. Kalyanaraman, I guess. This is the elemental human nature to make themselves feel big by making others feel small. But Sk worked along the lines of Ray Bradbury when it came to his profession: “Anchoring artistic endeavor not to cruelty but to kindness.” SK with absolutely no egotistical inclination to impress whatsoever was so wrapped up in his own work he couldn’t care less about all those baloney as he was his worst critic. Well, this kind of blasphemy and the duality of darkness and optimism are not exclusive to this path breaker in CM…from Galileo to Srinivasa Ramanujan… As I wrote earlier, history simply sucks big time.
But S. Kalyanaraman’s impassioned expression of his music and his paramount achievements will live on …

Well, my definition of SK’s music in Kafka’s words:
“Art breaks the sea that’s frozen inside us. It reminds us of sensitivities that we might have lost at some cost.”

Peace:)

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

Rsachi · Post by **Rsachi** » 23 Jun 2014, 22:13

Kedharam, well spoken. This is for you:
“Art should be appreciated with passion and violence, not with a tepid, deprecating elegance that fears the censoriousness of a common room.”
―W. Somerset Maugham

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 23 Jun 2014, 23:08

Kedharam,
How deeply felt, beautifully said and explained! This is the kind of passion we like to see in rasikAs--of wanting to keep in focus things which matter most in any art. Creativity. No no to those practitioners who say their art is creative too, when it is of the pickled kind of countless years of their predecessors' creativity.

Better than policing performers about their output is to focus on what is good today and appreciating it, rather than upholding them and building shrines for them in donkeys years

But for the pink tablets moment, just loved your post. With your passion for words, you could easily have come up with some other expression

kedharam · Post by **kedharam** » 24 Jun 2014, 02:49

Rsachi, alright. Peace, passion and violence.

:):) 

arasi, coincidentally today is National Pink Day. So can you pardon “the pink tablets moments”?



vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 24 Jun 2014, 03:35

I would not want to be on the other side of anything with Somerset Maugham but while I understand passion, I do not understand violence in that context.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 24 Jun 2014, 06:49

Kedharam,
The man in white is excused

Thanks for reminding me

Maugham--A great writer as he is, I'm not sure if I would choose him to be the one writer I win a lottery to have dinner with. Do I sound a bit like Nick here?

Anyhow, if it does happen in the other world and he proves to be delightful company, I would share it with you--but how?

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 24 Jun 2014, 10:22

arasi wrote:Anyhow, if it does happen in the other world and he proves to be delightful company,

is that what's called 'an out of the world experience'?

Rsachi · Post by **Rsachi** » 24 Jun 2014, 11:04

Maugham has written an incisive novel The Razor's Edge after spending time with Ramana Maharshi.
He was a great favourite of mine about 40 years ago, with his writing skill and encyclopedic understanding of the human psyche.
He did not get the Nobel Prize (unlike Shaw who did) for some reason, I heard that the jury felt he did not have too much sympathy for the human predicament.

Maugham did have a profound understanding of art and music.

His quote here resonates with the sentiment said and unsaid by Kedharam..after all he agreed with my quote!

Violence has a very clear place in human consciousness. Our scriptures and kritis are replete with allusions to violence. Remember that Kodandarama is always armed, and Krishna says in the Bhagavadgita that he is Rama among the armed warriors!

Shiva is no less. He wields the trident and has a garland of skulls. kApALi is not a Tamil word meaning one who protects. It means one who wears a garland of skulls. Shiva is one of the Rudras, and Rudra means the terrible. He is also Aghora.

There is an extremely beautiful song of Bombay Jayashri in Durga. It has clear allusions to the violent nature of Devi!!!!
MTV Link here: http://youtu.be/o9QG61_AVqQ
The original track is in SAlokyam. Incidentally this shloka is attributed to Arjuna the warrior!

varsha · Post by **varsha** » 24 Jun 2014, 13:00

Shaw wanted to reject the nobel prize with the same argument he used decades later for rejecting British awards
And that was his belief that merit in authorship can be decided only by posterity.
His wife persuaded him to accept the nobel prize as a mark of honour for ireland.
Shaw took the prize money and donated it all to the project of translating swedish books to english

varsha · Post by **varsha** » 24 Jun 2014, 13:12

And for the queen who is in two minds about a date with maugham here is a lovely story.
Maugham discovers that he has large sums of money in the currency of spain , that he has gathered over a life time ( spain or greece not sure) .
So he chooses a resort in that country and stays for several weeks .Making a tally of expenditure all through. Word spreads around and the resort has a good time too.
Finally when he thinks he has acquired eniugh bills to purge the currencies he decides to vacate and call for thr bill
...
And the hotel management politely replies that it chooses not to bill him since business has been so good because of his stay

braindrain · Post by **braindrain** » 24 Jun 2014, 18:19

varsha wrote: Maugham discovers that he has large sums of money in the currency of spain , that he has gathered over a life time ( spain or greece not sure) .

It's Spain. He could not take the Royalty money out of the country as per the law, hence decided to spent all the money there.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 24 Jun 2014, 18:24

Varsha,
You mean, 'lottery' queen?!

Ravi,
You know which world I meant

jAvUngi jab yahAn sE, kuch bhI na pAs hOgA
sirf ticket kA ek TukDA mErA passage hOgA??

kedharam · Post by **kedharam** » 25 Jun 2014, 06:15

“Art should be appreciated with passion and violence, not with a tepid, deprecating elegance that fears the censoriousness of a common room.”

In the context of this thread I read ‘violence’ as extreme passion in defending my beliefs about SKs music with fired up self-righteousness. I think Rsachi sensed the implicit violence:) in my responses though I tried to mask with fine-tuning of words. For the most part we tend to get violent instinctively when contradicted with our convictions. I hope I am reading you right, Rsachi.

In SKs case, he was quite at peace as he knew that life doesn’t come with a fairness contract. Or maybe it was his passive resignation. Rather than respond, he spent his time to honor his creative intuition. That sensibility fed into and permeated all walks of his life. From taking apart his car and putting them back together to erasing parts of his recorded concerts if they didn’t stand up to his idea of perfection. I often contemplate on what this trail blazer would have thought of today’s idea of packaging and defining one’s idealized identity and what is to be ‘creative.’ One can only wonder... perhaps our notion of genius needs to be updated too….

This poignant work of Bharathi captures the essence of SK, tuned by him in sumanEsharanjani.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpTuMF-wC3k

Rsachi · Post by **Rsachi** » 25 Jun 2014, 15:14

Kedharam
I read you alright

I have posted some links to the works of TSK=SKR in the Sunday Brunch thread recently.

varsha · Post by **varsha** » 28 Jun 2014, 09:22

Kedharams sublime tribute coaxed me share a rare passage lasting an hour - of SK.
http://www.mediafire.com/listen/gmdvp5lvfi8ej8t/11.mp3

A Surprise element in music ? I had always thought I had mastered this raga - chakravaka- in my listening . And yet he manages to open new windows.

kedharam · Post by **kedharam** » 28 Jun 2014, 18:20

Thanks varsha for the week end breakfast with SK:) And thanks for the gallopy paradEvatA, tapping below the melody to unearth dizzying rhythmic patterns in capturing every ounce of its grandeur. Nostalgia, nostalgia….