Brahmin Nagaswaram Player

[harimau]

On another thread, RSR asked if there has been any Brahmin nagaswaram players.

I know of at least one: Lakshminarasimha (my recollection was faulty and I called him Lakshminarayana) Iyer. His brother, now sadly deceased, was my friend in the Washington, DC area.

Is there a Brahmin Tavil player?

If you go to Tiruvayyaru for the annual Thyagaraja Aradhana, you will see one Iyengar gentleman bringing in his tavil and participating in the mangala Isai before the pancharathnam singing begins.

Interestingly, when I was discussing with a violinist about how established, multi-generation nagaswaram families lament the fact that their next generation progeny haven't taken to Music or dance, the violinist had this answer.

He said how established nagaswaram players sabotaged any chances that Lakshminarasimha Iyer might have had to make a name. He also said how that Iyengar tavil player, who comes from a family of temple priests -- village archakas who rank so low in the economic strata -- was consistently denied the opportunity to learn tavil. He then added darkly that the nagaswaram artists are cursed to lose the continuity of their family tradition because of their treatment of Brahmins who dared step into their territory.

T M Krishna, and you clueless folks: Discrimination cuts both ways!

[vgovindan]

Whether participants in this thread or others which talk of communities - and not the music per se - do not realise that they are doing greatest harm for the music itself. Na rahe baans, na baaje baansuri.

And the sad part is that 'enlightened' rasikas who could otherwise contribute positively for music, are dissipating their energies.

Culture and arts make a true progress in an environment of peace and stabilty. I can sense more acrimony here than would otherwise warranted in a forum like this.

The true potential of music as a catalyst for human advancement is getting constricted and future generations will pay the price.

I can only pray to Almighty to bestow better sense.

I have also contributed my part to such avoidable discussions - and I sincerely regret it. I will not be part of any such discussion in future. Sorry for having wasted my energies and time in such negative discussions.

[kvchellappa]

deleted.

[talalaya]

Let's face the fact. This Forum CANNOT handle the truth. It's the case everywhere.
On one hand, Brahmins are the main culprits. Remove them, there shouldnt be any caste.

On the other, why not have caste based reservations for Non-Brahmins?

T M Krishna, and you clueless folks: Discrimination cuts both ways!

Clueless they indeed are. Am afraid Sir that you are wasting your great sense of humor and writing amongst this so-called "Politically correct" Forum!

[Pratyaksham Bala]

Ah ! Check this -
Shri S. Lakshminarasimhan Iyer, Nadaswaram Vidhwan.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/che ... 670369.ece

[sureshvv]

Thank you sir! Nice article that ends rather abruptly.

[sriramr]

I was fortunate to have got associated with the Nadaswara Vidwan Palani Lakshmi Narasimha Iyer's family. My wife Shwetha, is his grand daughter and have learnt vocal music from him for fifteen years and is teaching music and giving performances. I too have learnt vocal music from him for quite sometime. Apart from being a Nadaswaram player, he was also a Vageyakara. He has composed few Krithis, geetams and mallaris. Needamangalam Krishna Murthy Bhagavathur is his maternal uncle and his Guru. He learnt the art of playing Nadaswaram from Keevalur Ganesha Pillai. His son, Melattur Balasubramanian is a Mridangam player and an AIR artist, residing in Palani. His daughters are all music teachers. He was an excellent teacher with a huge repertoire and has produced a good number of students. He passed away in Dec 2016. Every year there is a function cum concert conducted on his death anniversary in Kalaimuthur Agraharam, Palani by his students.
His story of taking to Nadaswaram is an interesting one with lots of ups and downs and will require a special write-up. Will do it when time permits.

[RSR]

@1-> Harimau-> Thank you for the information. Personally, I am of the opinion that Nagaswaram , the 'MangaLa vaadhyam', is ancient and pre-dates the Vijayanagar rule . It should have been the instrument of choice in temples besides perhaps the VeeNa, in Pallava( 600 AD), ChoLa( 1000 AD ) and later in the Imperial Pandya rule ( 1300 AD) closely related to the temple culture of Tamilnadu , of all branches of the religion, be it vaishnavite, saivite or muruga or vinayaka or sakthi. .. The oral music tradition of Tamizh Isai was carried forward by Othuvaars and paaNars in Saivite and Vaishnavite temples.. Recently, Parivadhini ( Gamakam) has brought out a CD about the Nagaswaram tradition. ....I googled for 'brahmin nagaswaram player' and landed on the article in TheHindu cited by Sri.p.bala. .. Sri.sriramr has given nice details too. I think, the nagaswaram exponent was a very rare case and is the artiste mentioned by you the same as Sri.Lakshminarasimha Iyer? ( or another gentleman of name Lakshmi Narayana Iyer?). The information about brahmin Tavil player also was interesting. Thank you

[harimau]

@1-> Harimau-> Thank you for the information. ...... is the artiste mentioned by you the same as Sri.Lakshminarasimha Iyer? ( or another gentleman of name Lakshmi Narayana Iyer?). The information about brahmin Tavil player also was interesting. Thank you

I have corrected the name of the nagaswaram player in my original post. My memory is playing tricks on me! Also the fact that Lakshminarasimhan is more an Iyengar name whereas Smarthas go for Lakshminarayanan.

I am glad this thread prompted sriramr to join the discussion. Hope to learn more about Sri Lakshminarasimha Iyer through him.

[harimau]

Whether participants in this thread or others which talk of communities - and not the music per se - do not realise that they are doing greatest harm for the music itself. Na rahe baans, na baaje baansuri.

And the sad part is that 'enlightened' rasikas who could otherwise contribute positively for music, are dissipating their energies.

Culture and arts make a true progress in an environment of peace and stabilty. I can sense more acrimony here than would otherwise warranted in a forum like this.

The true potential of music as a catalyst for human advancement is getting constricted and future generations will pay the price.

I can only pray to Almighty to bestow better sense.

I have also contributed my part to such avoidable discussions - and I sincerely regret it. I will not be part of any such discussion in future. Sorry for having wasted my energies and time in such negative discussions.

The person who started this all and the one to blame is T M Krishna.

I merely try to set the facts straight.

Talk to Sri S R Janakiraman. He gets emotional and his eyes start tearing up when he talks about his teachers Tiruppambaram Swaminatha Pillai and Brindamma at the Government College of Carnatic Music. Where then is the disrespect to non-Brahmin musicians by Brahmin musicians?

The Hindu promotes this divisive politics by giving T M Krishna space to rant about non-existent and imaginary issues and the folks on this forum believe it because they have been conditioned by the brainwashing they receive during their formative years.

I asked elsewhere how come T M Krishna or you guys aren't carrying water for the "minority religions" but only for non-Brahmins when historically we have had Woraiyur Kader Batcha singing songs on Murugan and Abraham Pandithar has contributed to the documentation of Carnatic Music?

Why aren't you all self-flagellating (beating up Brahmins) for Muslims and Christians not taking up Carnatic Music?

[RSR]

@9->Harimau-> That is really fine. Sir! Last night , I happened to go through all the wonderful posts in a thread
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=26204lyrics%20%20and%20%20music
about altering the music for some lyrical compositions. and many of the posts , among them yours, were so very informative. Thank you. I feel that people like you who are so well informed in CM are wasting their time in futile discussions about the 'social' aspects of CM.. You can help novices like me in identifying ragams of some specific songs and also adding to my list of non-film, secular , famous songs in the decade 1940-1950. There must be quite a few gems from MMD Desikar, MM Iyer, and the like. I am particularly interested in the music provision of Purandaradasa krithis. I request you to focus more on ragams than on the so-called general discussion, Best Regards.

[Pratyaksham Bala]

... Brahmin nagaswaram players ... I know of at least one: Lakshminarasimha (my recollection was faulty and I called him Lakshminarayana) Iyer. His brother, now sadly deceased, was my friend in the Washington, DC area.

I was fortunate to have got associated with the Nadaswara Vidwan Palani Lakshmi Narasimha Iyer's family. My wife Shwetha, is his grand daughter and have learnt vocal music from him for fifteen years and is teaching music and giving performances. I too have learnt vocal music from him for quite sometime. Apart from being a Nadaswaram player, he was also a Vageyakara. He has composed few Krithis, geetams and mallaris. Needamangalam Krishna Murthy Bhagavathur is his maternal uncle and his Guru. He learnt the art of playing Nadaswaram from Keevalur Ganesha Pillai. His son, Melattur Balasubramanian is a Mridangam player and an AIR artist, residing in Palani. His daughters are all music teachers. He was an excellent teacher with a huge repertoire and has produced a good number of students. He passed away in Dec 2016. Every year there is a function cum concert conducted on his death anniversary in Kalaimuthur Agraharam, Palani by his students.
His story of taking to Nadaswaram is an interesting one with lots of ups and downs and will require a special write-up. Will do it when time permits.

Nadaswara Vidhwan Palani Lakshmi Narasimha Ayyar !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6TTSuqBJBs

[RSR]

https://youtu.be/GHSZGfxT0WQ
Palani Lakshmi Narasimha Ayyar- Kannatandri - Devamanohari-Nadaswaram