Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer

[srkris]

There was a topic dedicated to Semmangudi, which I observe now, has miraculously disappeared.

Anyways, this is a nice picture of the Pitamaha with Lalgudi and TVG

[srkris]

Semmangudi with TNK, Palani

[mahesh3]

http://rapidshare.de/files/24786953/tn_ ... t.zip.html

An informal conversation between Sri T. N. Krishnan and Sri Kittappa Iyer, two very distinguished associates of Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, recalling their experiences with the great master. Sri T. N. Krishnan, the world renowned Violin maestro, was a protege of Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and had accompanied him on the violin in numerous katcheris.

Sri Kittappa Iyer is an eminent connoisseur of Carnatic music, and a successful businessman who used to run the famous “Ananda Lodgeâ€ÂÂÂ

[ramanathan]

Carnatica in association with the Semmangudi trust, will be releasing another live concert album of Semmangudi mama, on July 25th, his 98th birth anniversary. Accompanists: Chowdiah & Ramabhadran. Encourage all SSI fans (even those of you who already have private copies!) to buy the recording... proceeds go to the SSI trust, a charitable non-profit org. BTW, our 'coolkarni' has helped me immensely in this project and the CD inlay card acknowledges his support!

Song List:

CD 1

1. Dinamani Vamsha â€" Harikambhoji â€" Adi â€" Tyagaraja
2. Sarasaksha Paripalaya â€" Pantuvarali â€" Adi â€" Swati Tirunal
3. Dwaitamu Sukhama â€" Reetigowla â€" Adi â€" Tyagaraja
4. Ma Janaki â€" Kambhoji â€" Adi â€" Tyagaraja
5. Kanna Tandri Napai â€" Devamanohari â€" Adi â€" Tyagaraja

CD 2

6. Chakkani Rajamargamu â€" Kharaharapriya â€" Adi â€" Tyagaraja
7. Tani Avarttanam
8. Nee Matichallaga â€" Anandabhairavi â€" Adi â€" Matrubhutayya
9. Bhavayami Raghuramam â€" Ragamalika â€" Rupakam â€" Swati Tirunal
10. Ragam, Tanam & Pallavi â€" Shankarabharanam - Adi 2-kalai

CD 3

11. Ragam, Tanam & Pallavi (Continued)
12. Marubari (Javali) â€" Khamas â€" Adi â€" Pattabhiramayya
13. Vanitaro (Javali) â€" Anandabhairavi â€" Rupakam â€" Dasa Sreeramulu
14. Slokam â€" Ragamalika
15. Kaa Va Va â€" Varali â€" Adi â€" Papanasam Sivan
16. Idatu Padam Tookki â€" Khamas â€" Adi â€" Papanasam Sivan
17. Panchasayaka Janakan (Utsava Prabandham) â€" Neelambari â€" Adi â€" Swati Tirunal
18. Shrita Kamala Kucha (Ashtapadi) â€" Bhairavi â€" Adi â€" Jayadeva
19. Mangalam â€" Sowrashtram â€" Adi â€" Tyagaraja

[coolkarni]

ramanathan

Is there a way by which I can order a few additional inlay cards !!
Of course I am going to buy one set of the CDS.

[ramanathan]

Interesting podcast on Semmangudi, by TNK:

http://www.odeo.com/audio/329951/view

[cmlover]

Thanks for the info!
Thanks to coolkarni for sharing his expertise on this noble venture!

[cmlover]

How come there is none of DikShitar or shyama saastri in this collection?

[ramanathan]

Only SSI himself could answer that!!

[pavan]

That is great news.
Thanks for sharing the pictures.

[coolkarni]

you will like this video clip too

http://rapidshare.de/files/28534823/SEMM.MPG

[cmlover]

coolkarni!
did you mean the 'nasya hAsyam'

[arasi]

My! Not to be 'taken' as an aid to longevity:)

[coolkarni]

cml
i am trying to smoke someone out there in the video.

[CSS]

A well known anecdote, worth repeating again.

Shri SSI used to be one of the examiners at the Central Carnatic College. There were three examiners and the candidates sang in the Central hall. At the end of the day, when all the examiners started compiling their assessments, it was found that Shri SSI had been very, very liberal in his markings as compared to the others. The others protested and said the some the candidates were far, far below standard and how come Shri SSI had passed them ? To which, the pitamaha made a tongue in cheek comment " I know I have been very liberal in markings. Avargalukku 'pass' panNanum. Pass pottu anuppunga. Otherwise, you will have to undergo the torture of listening to such 'karna katora sangeetham' once again next year. Idu yellam thirundhaada case ( incorrigible cases). Pohatam, pohatam."

[cmlover]

Thank God he was not a Medical Examiner:)

[rshankar]

CML,
Are you sure you are not aware of examiners like him in medical college?
Oops! I forgot: they needed money to let the underserving pass, right?
Ravi

[drshrikaanth]

Are you sure you are not aware of examiners like him in medical college?
Oops! I forgot: they needed money to let the underserving pass, right?-Ravi

Thats Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance.

[rshankar]

No fair! I slept thru all of my psych classes...
Ravi

[arasi]

And cml and DRS were wide awake during ALL their classes. Look at the way they perform post mortem every step. If I go on like this, they are going to dethrone me, or Meena madam would blow the whistle and say, "okay, truant, off to your music class and special laya classes"

[kiransurya]

No fair! I slept thru all of my psych classes...
Ravi

I used to do the same for my anatomy PBLs

[Vocalist]

lol, nice insight...insights I should say. Just to clarify, pOhatam as in 'let them go'?

[CSS]

Yes - let them go ( in Tamil).

Still haven't got a hang of the spelling

[Vocalist]

No worries, I'm surprised I could understand any of it at all, let alone the whole sentence, so you're doing a good job.

[cmlover]

There is a special category in disease classification called 'Iatrogenic'. The ICD (International Classification of Diseases) of WHO lists a whole class of deaths attributable as Iatrogenic. As you all know the physician certifying the cause of death must specify the 'Immediate cause', the 'underlying cause' and the 'associated conditions'. The statisticians who code the death certificate give importance to the underlying cause. First here is a joke (may be true since my prof said it happened). The Resident filling the cause of death for a patient panicked and reported to his boss that he made a bigmistake in certifying by putting his signature at the place for the underlying cause. The boss congratulated him for doing the right thing!

Joking apart decades ago I requested the Canadian Govt to do a study of the codings under 'iatrogenesis' using the figures in Statistics Canada to generate an awareness among physicians who were 'over prescribing' (influenced by the drug companies). The strong protest (at that time from the Canadian Medical Association (read Drug Lobby)) spelt the death knell for the study! One recent study states that at lest 30% of our maladies are 'iatrogenic'.

Now look at the CM field. Let me coin a new generic expression 'gurvavag~nyA (guru +avag~nyA (neglect by the guru))' to indicate the fault of the teacher/examiner. Especially in CM the 'musical engrams' are implanted by the guru. We seldom find fault with them for the failings of the performer. In most cases we see the image (bANi) of the guru in the shiShya and legitimately the credit (and the blames) belong to him/her. Hence there is a heavy responsibility on the shoulders of CM teachers.

Finally, knowing SSI personally I would only take the reported incident with a grain of salt.

[CSS]

This was narrated by the great SSI himself in one of the speeches he gave at the Central carnatic College, years back. No one can verify it whether such a thing happened or not but it did set the whole audience laughing !! Take it with a grain or ton of salt

[Mahesh]

I've heard this from SSI himself. I went with Neyveli Santhanagopalan to his house, Neyveli wanted SSI to inagurate a function. We were there for 4 hours and he had us all laughing most of the time with anecdotes. The above mentioned was one, and he also demonstrated how one young lady murdered the purvi kalyani part of Bhavayami Raguramam. He said he couldnt stand it anymore, in order to make her stop he gave her pass so that Lord Rama won't be upset with him. "Ava padina madi padina pavam, Ramar kochupar".

A few other anecdotes as well, mostly cannot be posted in a public forum.

Then started speaking about the majestic renedition of Shankarabaranam by yester greats and we got treated to some of the sangathis ... at his age, he stareted of on Ga and held it for a few minutes, the entire house was filled with teh majestic Shankarabaranam vibes. Then he demonstrated the difference between Shankarabaranam and Kalyani, predominantly using the ghandharam alone.

To my benefit, in came VVS. He had a concert with SSI a few days after and wanted to know what he was goign to sing. SSI mentioned a krithi [can't remember] which VVS was not too familiar with. SSI gave a 3 minute rendetion for his benefit and said "You should her this by Muthiah Bhagavathar, you will fall down with amazment".

Can never forget that day. And I was the one who took him to the function organised by Neyveli, on the way back another diversion and another treat. He wanted to stop to vist someone and say a quick hello and enquire about the health of the artist. Never did I know, I was about to visit the Queen of Melody MS Subbalakshmi herself.

[Vocalist]

Mahesh, thrilling story. There's a part 2 right?

[kumaran.nadesan]

A short clip of a wonderful duet by SSI and MVS was posted on sangeethapriya.org by an anonymous rasika:
http://www.sangeethapriya.org/VideoClip ... GUDI-1.MPG

Does anyone have the full concert recording or at least the entire composition? If so, please post it up somewhere!!

[kumaran.nadesan]

Does anyone have the pancharatna kritis as rendered by Semmangudi?

[Veeraraghavan]

Here is a rare elaborate Marivera in Shanmukhapriya by SSI. Enjoy!

http://rapidshare.com/files/6805005/06_ ... apriya.mp3

Veera

[rmdeer2000]

hH all,

I have been looking for the following RTPs by SSI for a long time. If anyone has them, please upload...

1. Sahana
2. Simhendramadhyamam
3. Dhanyasi

Thanking you in advance,

Ramakrishnan

[rajeshnat]

An excellent doordarshan documentary on the doyen SSI,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM2NQGoC ... ed&search=

[jayaram]

Semmangudi / TN Krishnan / Umayalpuram Sivaraman
(True vintage - notice the pictures on the wall...)

[coimbatorerasigan]

Can anybody please post a Raave Himagiri by Sri SSI? Also, Hameer Kalyani?

[thamizhisai_paithiyam]

i am listening to the 1956 music academy concert. it seems like his voice is a light baritone and completely lacking in the nasality that i've come to identify with his voice. sounds more like a GNB in his prime! wouldn't have identified the voice as his, except for the incredible creativity in the kalpana swarams and the lovely alapanas. is this something that others have observed too?

[kmrasika]

Does anyone have an audio of the caturAgamAlika ShlOkA of svAti tuned by him? The starting words are, "kalyANi khaluyatkathA trijagatAm"?

[thamizhisai_paithiyam]

i am listening to a concert someone handed to me titled, "airport concert" and sure enough there are occasional sounds of airplanes flying overhead. the recording quality itself is fabulous and he remarks at the beginning of a varali alapanai (part of a soulfully rendered RTP), "innikki padinde irukkulam pola irukku". has anyone else heard this concert? which airport and what was the occasion? why a concert at the airport of all places?

other pieces in this lovely concert are marivere in anandabhairavi and a vasantha krithi by dikshitar, hariharaputram, that i've never heard before.

[venkatpv]

thamizhisai_paithiyam,

this is one concert that is guaranteed to hook you onto SSI's music. it has most of his patented kritis, Marubalka, Ksheenamai, Rama nee, Shri kaantha, Dinamani vamsha etc... i am not exaggerating when i say that i have heard this particular concert more than a 100 times. Its that good!! In fact, the comment he makes at the beginning of the varali RTP actually refers to the previous song, ksheenamai.

Special points worth listening:

1. LGJ's kalpanaswara responses to SSI's Shri Kantha touching so poignantly on the Gandharam.

2. marivere... even bala747 will like it

3. Dinamani vamsha, an eternal SSi favourite... beautiful swaras

4. A beautiful kapinarayani... although MMI can take it to great heights, SSI gives some nice touches here and there... nothing earth shattering... but beautiful nevertheless.

5. Rama nee samanamevaru... SSI, kharaharapriya,child's play...

6. Maarubalka... absolute gems!!

7.Second speed neraval and swarams in mukhari without for one second losing sight of raga bhava... SSI sings one unforgettable phrase in the final round of swaras for mukhari... LGJ doesnt let that go... he plays it once again during his final salvo, just to show us how beautiful it was... SSI's response: besh! soukhyama iru!!

8. the varali opening... aaha.. what bliss!! and the kaarvai on R... when another plane roars in...
SSI :"vanduttan asuran" LGJ's punnagavarali flash during the alapana... for one second... i can almost feel snakes crawling up my trouser leg!! yikes!

and as if all this wasnt enough, fantabulous accompaniment by LGJ and Trichy Sankaran...

ok.. i stop...

[thamizhisai_paithiyam]

venkatpv,

ditto on all your comments. i didn't need this concert to open my ears to SSI's music. i've been a long time fan. yes, how did i miss mentioning the "dinamani vamsa"; so so beautiful with all his signature touches! when you hear MSS sing it, she has made it her own also, but you can tell that she probably learned it from the pitamaha. this is a great concert indeed and thanks for IDng the violinist for me though i had already guessed. can you add more about the occasion and venue? i like historical notes like these.

[venkatpv]

aah... i thought all SSI die-hards knew this concert by-heart!! my bad...

there is quite some confusion about the actual venue of this concert... there are quite a few guesses: Delhi, Bombay, Tambaram...

another SSI gem is the Kalki gardens Rama navami concert which you can find at http://surasa.net/music/karnatak/contri ... 1967_songs

Shri Ramam, Ennaganu rama bhajana, Evarikai, Lekhana, Endukku peddala, awesome Amba Kamakshi, Cheta Shri... and the viruttam... a yamuna kalyani of the highest order!!

[rajeshnat]

venkatpv/Thamizhisai_paithiyam,
Here is the list. This concert is special in many ways or perhaps how those days vidwans like ssi sang.

# You get a feeling that there is no one submain , but there is 3 or 4 submain.

# look at the spread of trinity , 4 MD's ,6 T's , 1 SS.Look at the finish of P.Sivan (in tamil) and 2 Swati TirunAl.

# I always did not like varAli , only When I started to hear SSI's varAli , I began to like this rAgam.

# will anybody excepting SSI fill a shrikrishnam in tOdi after singing an elaborate kharaharapriya and following it up with shriranjani.

# Who will wrap with bhAvayAmi rAgamaliga and the shringAram slOkham , and that brilliant jONpuri.


01 Vallabha - begadA - MD
02 Srikanthanee - bhavapriya- MD
03 Dinamani - harikAmbOdhi - T
04 Marivere - Anandabhairavi - SS
05 Hariharaputram - vasantA - MD
06 Sarasasaama - kApinArAyani - T
07 Vinaraada - devagAndhAri - T
08 RaamaNeeSamaana - kharaharapriya - T
09 Shrikrishnam - tOdi - MD
10 Maarubalka - shriranjani - T
11 Ksheenamai - mukhAri - T
12 RTP_Varaali "yOchana jesi"
13 OmSharavana - shanmughapriya - p.Sivan
14 Idadhupadam - kamAs - p.Sivan
15 Kinthucheyvu - kalyAni - ST
16 Bhaavayaami - rAgamAliga - ST
17A Shlokam "shringAram" - rAgamAliga - AdiShankara??
17B sA pAshyAt kausalyA - jOnpuri - tirrupayanam panchapakesa sAstri
18 Mangalam

[venkatpv]

Shri Kantha is Tyagaraja's composition...

[meena]

sringaram kshitinandini verse is from sree rama karnamritam , the composer i think is not sree adi shankara.

[gsn]

The confusion about the location of this magnificent concert has been removed. A friend managed to talk to Sankaran sir about this a couple of weeks ago, and Sankaran sir confirmed that the location is Tambaram. He even remembered the "vanduttaan asuran" comment and chuckled heartily, apparently. : )

[ksrimech]

SrIrAma karnAmRtam is by SrI bhOdEndrA sarasvati of kAnci kAmakOTi piTam. The following is the reference to this: http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archi ... /0077.html

From the article, it appears it should be AcAryA # 59 SrI bhagavannAma bhodEndra sarasvati since his name is associated with the bhajana sAmpradAya as sadASiva brahmEndrar (viz. author of mAnasa sancararE, tunga tarangE gangE, sarvam brahmamayam, etc). IIRC, He had abdicated his position and taken vAnaprastASramA. I could be also very easily wrong about this conclusion since AcAryA #s 29, 30, 46, 48, 56, 58, 59 all have the bhOdendra nAmA and it could be anyone of them too. Ref: http://www.pondyonline.com/user/KanchiT ... mpara.aspx

[meena]

krishna
thanks for the info

[sankirnam]

The mrudangist in the airport concert is none other than Trichy Sankaran, if you have not already guessed, his nadham in that recording is phenomenal...

[gsn]

Yes, Sankaran sir is amazing throughout that concert.

[thamizhisai_paithiyam]

listening to a part of an AIR concert. after a melting alapanai in saveri, he is singing tanam, but accompanied by the mridangam! the effect is brilliant, but something i've never heard before, i.e. tanam with rhythmic accompaniment. he follows it up with 'muruga muruga' and i can see that it is a struggle, probably towards the end of a well-lived life. i have tears streaming down my face, just thinking of the purity of his art and the sublimation of music as worship.