My series on musicians of Kerala in sruti magazine

Miscellaneous topics on Carnatic music
CRama
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Joined: 18 Nov 2009, 16:58

Re: MY SERIES ON MUSICIANS OF KERALA IN SRUTI MAGAZINE

Post by CRama »

I am happy to share with all of you that under the series on MUSICIANS OF KERALA, my article on Sankaran Namboothiri has been published n the November issue of Sruti magazine. It has come out very well- with lot of information, vintage photos as also the photo of his latest concert in Ilayaraja's house.

bhasi
Posts: 89
Joined: 19 Nov 2018, 13:41

Re: MY SERIES ON MUSICIANS OF KERALA IN SRUTI MAGAZINE

Post by bhasi »

Hello @CRama, thank you for your series. I tried searching for the link to Sruti magazine online, but sruti.com seems to be under maintenance and I could only find this link that offers a subscription to the magazine. Could you please confirm if this is indeed the right Sruti magazine to subscribe to? Thanks in advance.

ark07
Posts: 47
Joined: 08 Feb 2018, 14:17

Re: MY SERIES ON MUSICIANS OF KERALA IN SRUTI MAGAZINE

Post by ark07 »

Yup. That's the right Sruti magazine. In fact, if you click preview you can also see a couple of pages from CRama's article.

raghavt
Posts: 224
Joined: 10 Jun 2007, 11:56

Re: MY SERIES ON MUSICIANS OF KERALA IN SRUTI MAGAZINE

Post by raghavt »

This indeed a welcome move. I wish I had seen this article much earlier. We have some more artists from Trichur- which is known as the cultural capital of Kerala:

C Rajendran - Violin (AIR Trichur)
(late) - CS. Krishna Iyer (Vocal)
(late) - M. Purushottama Sharma Mridangam (AIR Trichur) a well known Guru and performer. Disciple of late Shri SVS Narayanan
K Parameshwaran Namboothiri - AIR Trichur - Mridangam
Nedumangad Sivanandan - Violin

List is endless...

All are stalwarts in their own right and are well known to Chennai Musicians, but not rasikas :)

bhasi
Posts: 89
Joined: 19 Nov 2018, 13:41

Re: MY SERIES ON MUSICIANS OF KERALA IN SRUTI MAGAZINE

Post by bhasi »

Thank you @ark07, will subscribe to it now.

@CRama Here are a couple of names from the new generation for your consideration: Vivek Moozhikkulam, Harikrishnan KR.

CRama
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Joined: 18 Nov 2009, 16:58

Re: MY SERIES ON MUSICIANS OF KERALA IN SRUTI MAGAZINE

Post by CRama »

C.S.Krishna Iyer has been covered long ago. I will be writing on Mangad Natesan in future. Other names I have noted.
Vivek Moozhikulam sings well. I will write about him in another article of upcoming musicians. I am collecting information for that.
Harikrishnan I am including in my article on Omanakutty. Yet to hear his music.

bhasi. Thanks for your decision to subscribe Sruti magazine. It contains a wealth of information on music, dance, Hindustani music and theatre also. You can buy old issues - bound volumes or on line issues.
Pleased read my article and give me your feedback.

raghavt
Posts: 224
Joined: 10 Jun 2007, 11:56

Re: MY SERIES ON MUSICIANS OF KERALA IN SRUTI MAGAZINE

Post by raghavt »

@CRama Sir

Let me rewrite the list that comes to my mind:

1. late R Krishna Iyer (Trichur) - Vocal (not sure about the pre-fix initial of the name)
2. K Parameshwaran Namboothiri (Trichur)-Mridangam
3. late M Purushottama Sharma (Trichur)-Mridangam (disciple of SVS Narayanan)
4. Nedumangad Sivanandan - Violin
5. Narayana Pisharody - Mridangam
6. Koduvayur Radhakrishnan - Mridangam
7. (late) Mavelikkara SR Raju - Mridangam
8. K P Parameshwaran - Mridangam (Kodunthirapully Parameshwaran) - disciple of TK Murthy- the great.
The true inheritor of TKM baani, if I may say so (may raise some eyebrows)

CRama
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Joined: 18 Nov 2009, 16:58

Re: MY SERIES ON MUSICIANS OF KERALA IN SRUTI MAGAZINE

Post by CRama »

Already I have got a list. It will take some years to complete your list. Let me see how far I can go. Thanks for your suggestions. Please keep reading Sruti.

By the way, are you from Thrissur. I have lived in Thrissur for some time- in Poonkunnam and Ayyanthole. Got many relatives there.

murkeychris
Posts: 5
Joined: 27 Nov 2018, 01:20

Re: MY SERIES ON MUSICIANS OF KERALA IN SRUTI MAGAZINE

Post by murkeychris »

I am new to this forum but have signed up to thank @CRama and the others who have commented here. I am a music journalist based in London and am visiting Kerala in January / February. I have enjoyed Indian music for many years and and am now deep in research so as to be able to write about it competently. I always prefer to meet musicians at home rather than out on tour - it gives a bit more flavour I think - but I was struggling to find musicians of note based in Kerala rather than Chennai. Then I found this thread!

Kind wishes to you all,

Christopher

facebook.com/christopherconderwriter

CRama
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Joined: 18 Nov 2009, 16:58

Re: MY SERIES ON MUSICIANS OF KERALA IN SRUTI MAGAZINE

Post by CRama »

murkeychris. Welcome to the forum. In Trivandrum, the prestigious Kuthiramalika festival is lined up for 4 Jan to 13 Jan. I will send you the prog separately. I am also planning to go for the festival. Send me a mail. We will try to meet there.

rajeshnat
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: MY SERIES ON MUSICIANS OF KERALA IN SRUTI MAGAZINE

Post by rajeshnat »

Chris
May I know on behalf of few forumites how you knew about this rasikas.org forum.Did any person tell you or was that an accidental search in google that lead you here Please elaborate how you got to know the site? YOur insight will help us. Warm welcome to the forum

murkeychris
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Joined: 27 Nov 2018, 01:20

Re: MY SERIES ON MUSICIANS OF KERALA IN SRUTI MAGAZINE

Post by murkeychris »

@CRama, thank you so much. Sadly however I won’t be there in time for the festival. I should have said before! I am around from the 17th of January to the 10th of February (although the 20th to the 25th is entirely taken up in Thiruvanathapuram with work).

@rajeshnat, it was actually via the Kuthiramalika festival that I found this forum. I thought that it might have have some Kerelan artists playing and through Googling one of the artists on the line-up (I forget which offhand) I found this thread. Thank you for your welcome.

I have been listening to S R Mahadeva Sarma and his family and very much enjoying the music so e-mailed him a few days to see if we could meet. No reply yet, but hopefully soon. @CRama, if it is to go ahead I'll definitely buy a copy of the magazine with your article for research.

Best wishes,

Chris

CRama
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Joined: 18 Nov 2009, 16:58

Re: MY SERIES ON MUSICIANS OF KERALA IN SRUTI MAGAZINE

Post by CRama »

Under the above series of MUSICIANS OF KERALA, I have so far published the following articles in Sruti magazine, which have been well received by the music lovers.

• Neyyattinkara Mohanachandran
• Cherthala Gopalan Nair
• Parassala B. Ponnammal
• R.Krishnawamy
• Vechoor Hariharasubramania Iyer
• Subramania Sarma and family
• Sankaran Namboodiri

The following articles are in the pipe line.

• Dr. Omanakutty
• Nellai Krishnamurthy
• Neyyattinkara Vasudevan

Many of my well wishers have suggested that the articles need to be translated into Malayalam and published in book form for better reach among the music aspirants of the younger generation. I solicit the collaboration of music lovers who have got proficiency in Malayalam to do the translation work for me. I am prepared to pay them reasonable compensation for their work eventhough I will not be getting anything from the publishers as it is not a profitable job for them. I can provide the soft copy in English and there is ample time to carry out the job.

Those who are interested may kindly contact in my mail id- ramkarthik55@yahoo.co.in.

RSR
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Joined: 11 Oct 2015, 23:31

Re: MY SERIES ON MUSICIANS OF KERALA IN SRUTI MAGAZINE

Post by RSR »

@63-> C.Rama-> Respected Sir, Your series is very unique. and should be made available to all CM lovers of today in Thamizh and MalayaaLam. There would be many in this forum and outside, who would do it as a labour of love without any financial motive. Different articles can be done by different translators and finally edited by you. It can certainly be done before the music season in 2019 at Chennai and Chembai Music festival in Kerala. .. May I request you to arrange with the admin, to make the thread sticky, so that volunteers will not miss it? Once it gets buried in the hundreds of threads in General discussion, it will be difficult to bring it the notice of hundreds of music enthusiasts knowing English and MalayaaLam and English and Thamizh.
==========================================================
For my part, I will take up tamizh translation of one of the biographical sketches. I know a bit of MalayaaLam but not enough to be a translator. but I can sound my MalayaaLam knowing friends ( not much interested in CM however) to contribute their share to your wonderful venture. Regards.

CRama
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Joined: 18 Nov 2009, 16:58

Re: MY SERIES ON MUSICIANS OF KERALA IN SRUTI MAGAZINE

Post by CRama »

Thanks RSR

braindrain
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 09:25

Re: MY SERIES ON MUSICIANS OF KERALA IN SRUTI MAGAZINE

Post by braindrain »

If there are no 'time pressure', I can help with Malayalam.

CRama
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Joined: 18 Nov 2009, 16:58

Re: MY SERIES ON MUSICIANS OF KERALA IN SRUTI MAGAZINE

Post by CRama »

Thanks braindrain. I will get back to you

RSR
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Joined: 11 Oct 2015, 23:31

Re: MY SERIES ON MUSICIANS OF KERALA IN SRUTI MAGAZINE

Post by RSR »

Google gives a tool for translation of English sentence into Thamizh and other Indian languages. I am yet to explore fully. Just now tried a simple English sentence .
https://translate.google.co.in/m?hl=en& ... +malayalam
-------------------------------
I want to translate a page on malayalam carnatic musicians into malayalam
When I pressed 'translate' button, I got the following line in thamizh.
-------------------------------------------------------
நான் மலையாளத்தில் கர்நாடக இசைக்கலைஞர்கள் ஒரு பக்கம் மொழிபெயர்க்க விரும்புகிறேன்
Nāṉ malaiyāḷattil karnāṭaka icaikkalaiñarkaḷ oru pakkam moḻipeyarkka virumpukiṟēṉ
As a bonus, I got transliteration of the thamizh sentence also ( shown in red)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
When I chose English -> Malayaalam
I got
മലയാളത്തിനായുള്ള കർണാടിക് സംഗീതജ്ഞരെ മലയാളത്തിലേക്ക് ഒരു താൾ പരിഭാഷപ്പെടുത്താൻ ഞാൻ ആഗ്രഹിക്കുന്നു
malayāḷattināyuḷḷa karṇāṭik saṅgītajñare malayāḷattilēkk oru tāḷ paribhāṣappeṭuttān ñān āgrahikkunnu
====================================================
I think, the translation is fairly good. After getting the rough translation rapidly, we can then carefully edit if required.
By the way, what is the transliteration scheme used here?

RSR
Posts: 3427
Joined: 11 Oct 2015, 23:31

Re: MY SERIES ON MUSICIANS OF KERALA IN SRUTI MAGAZINE

Post by RSR »

another example

https://translate.google.co.in/m?hl=en& ... ranslation

click on the link to see the image, please!

CRama
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Joined: 18 Nov 2009, 16:58

Re: MY SERIES ON MUSICIANS OF KERALA IN SRUTI MAGAZINE

Post by CRama »

Thanks RSR for your efforts. Will look into this.

RSR
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Joined: 11 Oct 2015, 23:31

Re: MY SERIES ON MUSICIANS OF KERALA IN SRUTI MAGAZINE

Post by RSR »

I believe that the following links for the articles under discussion, will be useful to rasikas eager to place order on line.
and then translate into malayaaLam and other south Indian languages.
===================================================
May 2017 Neyyattinkara Mohanachandran
http://sruti.com/index.php?route=produc ... uct_id=464
issue 392
------------------------------------------------------------------
July 2017 Chertalla Gopalan Nair
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sep 2017 Parassala Ponnammal (Cover Story)
http://sruti.com/index.php?route=produc ... uct_id=468
issue 396
----------------------------------------------------

Nov 2017 R.Krishnaswamy
-------------------------------------------------------------
May 2018 Vechoor Hariharasubramania Iyer
issue 404
http://sruti.com/index.php?route=produc ... uct_id=482
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Aug 2018 Subramania sarma and family
----------------------------------------------
Nov 2018 Sankaran Namboodiri
issue 410
page-42-
http://sruti.com/index.php?route=produc ... uct_id=490
============================================================
.

CRama
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Joined: 18 Nov 2009, 16:58

Re: MY SERIES ON MUSICIANS OF KERALA IN SRUTI MAGAZINE

Post by CRama »

RSR. Thanks for your efforts.

CRama
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Joined: 18 Nov 2009, 16:58

Re: MY SERIES ON MUSICIANS OF KERALA IN SRUTI MAGAZINE

Post by CRama »

I am happy to inform that my article on Dr.Omanakutty is published as cover story in the Sruti magazine of April 2019. It has come out very well with lot of information and nice pictures of the entire family- her parents, siblings, daughter and grandchildren. It assumes more significance as she received Sangeeta Kala Acharya from Academy in 2018.

thanjavooran
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 04:44

Re: MY SERIES ON MUSICIANS OF KERALA IN SRUTI MAGAZINE

Post by thanjavooran »

Shri CRama
A very good exhaustive write up as usual. Enjoyed every line. Thanks.
Thanjavooran
11 04 2019

murkeychris
Posts: 5
Joined: 27 Nov 2018, 01:20

Re: MY SERIES ON MUSICIANS OF KERALA IN SRUTI MAGAZINE

Post by murkeychris »

murkeychris wrote: 03 Dec 2018, 01:19I am a music journalist based in London and am visiting Kerala in January / February.
Dear Rasikas, I thought you might like a brief update on this. I had a thoroughly interesting and enjoyable visit. In Trivandrum I met Professor M. Subramonia Sarma, his son S. R. Mahadeva Sarmavia and his daughter S.R. Rajasree. Thank you for introducing these musicians to me @CRama. I will credit you in my article.

Later, in Kochi I met carnatic musicians Vivek Shenoy, Kripal Sairam and Vinod D. Mallya, as well as visiting a festival and speaking to a Kathakali troop.

I wonder if I may go off topic a little to ask a question about kathakali that Google has not been able to provide me an answer for. To make their eyes red, I understand the performers use a chundanga 'seed'. What I am not clear on is whether the seed dyes the eyes with a natural red colour, or whether the seed simply irritates the eyes, making them bloodshot. Does anyone know the answer?

Many thanks, Christopher

www.facebook.com/christopherconderwriter

CRama
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Re: My series on musicians of Kerala in sruti magazine

Post by CRama »

murkeychris. Happy to know that you met Prof Subramania Sarma, Mahadeva Sarma and Rajasree in Trivandrum. Kindly send me a copy of your article when it is ready.

CRama
Posts: 2939
Joined: 18 Nov 2009, 16:58

Re: My series on musicians of Kerala in sruti magazine

Post by CRama »

I am delighted to inform that my next article under this series- on Sri Nellai, T.V.Krishnamurthy, Scion of Harikesasnallur Muthiah Bhagavatar and Retd Principal, Swati Tirunal Music College, Trivandrum has been published in this month Sruti Magazine. It has come out well with many rare photographs as well. A group photo of the shashtiabdapurthy of Muthiah Bhagavatar is a collector's piece.

murkeychris
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Joined: 27 Nov 2018, 01:20

Re: My series on musicians of Kerala in sruti magazine

Post by murkeychris »

murkeychris. Happy to know that you met Prof Subramania Sarma, Mahadeva Sarma and Rajasree in Trivandrum. Kindly send me a copy of your article when it is ready.
I will do. Unfortunately, fRoots magazine has closed after 40 years covering music from around the world so I have had to re-pitch the article. It's now looking to be published by Imperica magazine. I will let you know when it comes out.

CRama
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Joined: 18 Nov 2009, 16:58

Re: My series on musicians of Kerala in sruti magazine

Post by CRama »

I am delighted to inform that my article on Padmasri Neyyattinkara Vasudevan- disciple of Semmangudi and Ramnad Krishnan- has been published in the June 2020 issue of Sruti magazine. It has come out very well- with many vintage photgrapahs including a group photo taken on the occasion of his passing out the Ganapraveena from Swati Tirunal College of Music. Sri R.K. Ramanathan, son of Ramnad Krishnan has written an account of the divine Guru sishya relationship between Ramnad Krishnan and Neyyattinkara Vasudevan. A very touching account. A collector's item.

hnbhagavan
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Joined: 21 Jun 2008, 22:06

Re: My series on musicians of Kerala in sruti magazine

Post by hnbhagavan »

Congrats CRama for the article.

CRama
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Joined: 18 Nov 2009, 16:58

Re: My series on musicians of Kerala in sruti magazine

Post by CRama »

I have pleasure in informing that under the above series, my article on Nagaswara Vidwan Tiruvizha Jayasankar has been published in the Sruti magazine of August 2020. As many rasikas may be aware, he is the present top ranking Nagaswara Vidwan from Kerala after the legendary Ambalapuzha brothers. Jayasankar in the company of Sangeetha Kalanidhi Valayapatti A.R.Subramniam have presented memorable concerts in various sabhas and temples for along period which may be still in the memory of Sangeetha rasikas. There are some nice photographs also in the article. I have mentioned about another facet of this esteemed vidwan- his proficiency in painting. Two paintings by him on the theme of Sankarabharanam and Bhoopalam also has been published in the article.

Lakshman
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Re: My series on musicians of Kerala in sruti magazine

Post by Lakshman »

I got a book of songs by Nayanakutty Menon (Sundaranarayana) titled Guruvayurappan Gananjali. It has the lyrics for 200 songs in Malayalam, Devanagari and English scripts. The songs are in samskrt and Malayalam.

CRama
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Joined: 18 Nov 2009, 16:58

Re: My series on musicians of Kerala in sruti magazine

Post by CRama »

Some of the songs by Sundaranarayana are sung in concerts by Omanakutty, Sreevalsan Menon etc. They are well structured and quite relishing.

shankarank
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Joined: 15 Jun 2009, 07:16

Re: My series on musicians of Kerala in sruti magazine

Post by shankarank »

By Sri Neyyattinkara Vasudevan & Sreevalson : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5ibrpjRD0k Very serene handling of the vARNam.

CRama
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Joined: 18 Nov 2009, 16:58

Re: My series on musicians of Kerala in sruti magazine

Post by CRama »

Vasudevan and his disciple Sreevalan Menon infuse that serenity in their concerts. That is what I have highlighted in my article about Vasudevan Sir.

ram1999
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Re: My series on musicians of Kerala in sruti magazine

Post by ram1999 »

In one of those concerts of Neyyantinkara Vasudevan Nair's accompanied by MSG, it has a mindblowing / stupendous / magical Purvikalyani. The recording is chopped / some sangathis repeat a few times. But does that matter ....

CRama
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Joined: 18 Nov 2009, 16:58

Re: My series on musicians of Kerala in sruti magazine

Post by CRama »

ram1999, Can you please once again hear it and confirm that the violinist is MSGopalakrishnan. Why I am asking is that there is a violinist MSGovindaswamy in Bangalore, and some people label him also as MSG. But both are miles apart.

ram1999
Posts: 534
Joined: 26 Nov 2015, 17:20

Re: My series on musicians of Kerala in sruti magazine

Post by ram1999 »

CRama wrote: 24 Oct 2021, 16:29 ram1999, Can you please once again hear it and confirm that the violinist is MSGopalakrishnan. Why I am asking is that there is a violinist MSGovindaswamy in Bangalore, and some people label him also as MSG. But both are miles apart.
It is indeed MSG
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCadoq_izjU

shankarank
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Joined: 15 Jun 2009, 07:16

Re: My series on musicians of Kerala in sruti magazine

Post by shankarank »

The Sruti article on SrI Neyattinkara Vasudevan - I saw it come up in the Carnatic Quartet facebook page. Uploaded by Dhvani Ohio:

https://dhvaniohio.org/wp-content/uploa ... r53_ooUtJk

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