Anantha R. Krishnan

Rsachi · Post by **Rsachi** » 18 Dec 2014, 15:41

As I am writing this, I am listening to the VOD concert of Abhishek Raghuram at the Dinamalar site with Vittal Ramamurthy and Anantha R. Krishnan.

This brilliant mridangam vidwan Anatha R. Krishnan, grandson and disciple of Palghat Raghu and also a student of Zakir Hussain, is a class act in every way. I cannot stop admiring his qualities of excellence.
He is ALWAYS composed and self-possessed in every concert.
He has a powerful stroke matched by speed and sensitivity.
He has an extremely keen sense of how to enhance the main music without drawing attention to himself. Not his body language, not his hair style, not his flamboyance of hand and head gestures...nothing distracts.
He has taken the Mani Iyer school of "playing for the song" to V3.0 after Sri Raghu.
Crispness of strokes, fluency, abundance of musical ideas, pregnant pauses, a virile presentation, are all gifts in immense measure.
I have found him to be a man of very few words, like his grandfather and his guru.
I think he is a class act. He plays mridangam such that a concert is worth its value just by his mridangam quality.
God Bless this maestro.

"Sogasuga mrudanga talamu.." sings Abhishek as I close this.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 18 Dec 2014, 15:47

Anantha is simply spectacular. One thing when I hear him is his strokes are kind of resembling more of Trichy sankaran or UKS of 1960's . I am not sure how much he has taken his grand father palakkad raghu,is it that we say that because he is the grand son of PR. Last Vanimahal 2013 was one of a kind with he teaming up with abhishek and bs sundarkumar in kanjira. As i said some time back the two brothers are like mark and steve waugh

Rsachi · Post by **Rsachi** » 18 Dec 2014, 15:53

Rajesh
I find in him a predominance of the vocalised "thoppi/gumki" strokes and beats to enhance the main music "on the beat" which belong to the Raghu school really.He seldom plays in sarvalaghu style.
You're right in that Anantha is clever enough to have absorbed a number of ideas from maestros like UKS and TS.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 18 Dec 2014, 16:20

IIRC ,I have not heard Anantha krishnan playing for any one else excepting abhishek. So all along I can only speculate how he accompanies sarvalaghu vocalist. As you said he has absorbed many ideas, to me i see a charge like trichy sankaran and definitely lot of gumki like strokes like UKS and hence my comment . He has extra ordinary energy to accompany without losing the kalapramanam of both vocalist and violinist. He is indeed an ace match winner and a special trumpcard for main artist (especially for his cousin abhishek).

Rsachi · Post by **Rsachi** » 18 Dec 2014, 16:28

You can hear and watch Anantha with Ramakrishnan Murthy here:
http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic. ... nan+murthy

KNV1955 · Post by **KNV1955** » 18 Dec 2014, 20:11

:namaste: Sachi you have perfectly described Anantha R. Krishnan

KNV

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 19 Dec 2014, 01:27

Sachi: Thank you for starting the thread.

Rajesh: To be very honest (and contrary to what I think you are saying) Anantha represents Palghat Raghu's school to perfection. What you are hearing in his music is PR himself, which is a finely distilled version of the PMI and PSP schools (the gumki especially) and the crisp sollus of the valanthalai. Perhaps this is why it reminds you of the power play of UKS and TS.

Here you can see Anantha's playing for PR's lec-dem from 2008. You can see PR's influence in pretty much every phrase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYa3ksSrCqw for this Alathur inspired classic.

Anantha plays only for a select group of artistes. I believe this year he is playing for Sudha at the academy and Sowmya at Vani Mahal. There are some recordings of him playing for Ravikiran, Ganesh-Kumaresh, Lalgudi siblings and even Trichy Pradeep Kumar that are around.

sureshvv · Post by **sureshvv** » 19 Dec 2014, 11:42

My 2 cents braindead value addition to thread:

Seems to excel in rupaka talam thanis.

GautamTejasGaneshan · Post by **GautamTejasGaneshan** » 27 Jan 2016, 23:08

I'll just leave these here:

https://vimeo.com/126267979
https://vimeo.com/131352282
https://soundcloud.com/gautamtejasganes ... 2008-2011/

(The soundcloud playlist has 14 full concerts.)

Rsachi · Post by **Rsachi** » 28 Jan 2016, 07:53

Gautam,
Interesting set-up! Just started listening...need to have your English lyrics to enjoy the sentiment (or humour!). Are you singing, "Check what all I have.. ?"

varsha · Post by **varsha** » 28 Jan 2016, 10:36

http://www.mediafire.com/listen/0o1jou7 ... a_Iyer.mp3

REFRESHER - PR Academy 88

Purist · Post by **Purist** » 28 Jan 2016, 12:21

#9 Gautam , Truly innovative. I can visualise how much effort would have gone in adopting to the lyrical language.
Hats off. Curious to know the response of non-indian audience have for the music.

GautamTejasGaneshan · Post by **GautamTejasGaneshan** » 28 Jan 2016, 20:53

@Rsachi & @Purist:

I thought you might get a kick out of these.

Thanks for listening, and you're right Purist - it does take an effort, "sometimes delicate, sometimes stubborn," as I say in the afterword to my book. You can read that here ("On These Songs"), as well as view all of the song texts:

http://gautamtejasganeshan.com/songbook.html

And I really appreciate such comments coming from a "Purist"! I'm a sort of purist too - for one thing I HATE electronic sruti boxes. I call them plug-in whirring zombies. Unfortunately I am also a connoisseur of these - when I play someone's YouTube video and get blasted first thing by grey noise, I sometimes know the make and model. :/ A lot of people in the CM world have become musical cyborgs in that the sound they make, as a total effort, is partially constituted by a machine. To accept this casually and then debate niceties of dhaivatam in mukhari is hilarious to me. And I eschew amplification generally, although not religiously.

Rsachi:

You can find song texts for my first 67 songs the same link above. I think you're asking about the purvikalyani, right? Here's the entire song, and it's structured like "Paraloka Sadhaname Manasa." Unfortunately my sruti in that concert was meh. Thursday night in Oakland - no violinist wanted to battle traffic, nor tambura player, etc. But no excuses. Anyway, here's a little better outing, for what it's worth (no misterdangam here though):

https://youtu.be/LejZgBnHEDo

Take what all I have.
So fragile to undertake what all I have.
Precious nothing to show for what I do.
Singing's subject to vicissitudes.

Once met, a modicum of possession
proper to bodily incarnation,
how to direct acquisition
of goods on no ledger?

Myriad though my gains,
invisible too.

Rsachi · Post by **Rsachi** » 28 Jan 2016, 21:04

Gautam,
Your love of the tambura is like what was said by KVN too. I feel cyborgs have invaded CM!
Read the Parvati Blog about KVN and the tambura.
What make of the tambura were you playing in that vimeo link?
BTW never found Anantha fussing about mikes. I feel with good recording quality his mridangam sounds spectacular.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 28 Jan 2016, 23:19

You layA fans and experts are all excited and praise the young man for his wizardry--a grand opener and picture, Sachi

After all, an audience comprises of all kinds of folks, layA-lacking ones like me as well. I remember hearing him for the first time about a dozen years ago (?) in a Ramarao Mantap concert late morning accompanying Subhiksha Rangarajan. Such a poised, relaxed youngster playing so well, I noted. Soon after, heard him gel with his young cousin's music in an afternoon MA concert.

Then in evening concerts with cousin, in recordings...

He's cool. Loves his art, plays up a storm in all that poise which doesn't leave him, however exciting the play may be. All with a trace of a smile on his face but a child's exuberance seen in his playing.

Would like to hear him play vilOma chApu*

*A new expression it's getting to be at Rasikas.org?

Rsachi · Post by **Rsachi** » 28 Jan 2016, 23:37

Arasi,
watch this video of a few hair-raising minutes of Laya Vinyasa by Anantha along with Sri Ravindra Yavagal on tabla.
The time before this is full of Meera Hair Oil ads which promise the hairstyle like that of Sri Yavagal to be transformed to that of Sri Rakesh Chaurasia by sheer ayurvedic magic.
https://youtu.be/HMoOwwDVgY0?t=76

GautamTejasGaneshan · Post by **GautamTejasGaneshan** » 29 Jan 2016, 00:26

@arasi

Agreed - his poise is notable.

@Rsachi

That tambura is a custom build, all wood (cedar, but for the bridge & nut, which are edge-grain maple for density). Real sound holes, design based on phyllotaxy - that is, patterns of leaf emergence, fibonacci, etc. (at first I wanted to go with crop circles, but the instrument maker sensibly dissuaded me.) Anyway, they're wide open for volume, because the thing isn't just for show, although it's pretty.

And about Anantha & mics - all of my concerts with him have been strictly unamplified.
But he fusses PLENTY with the mridangam itself, which is as it should be.

Rsachi · Post by **Rsachi** » 29 Jan 2016, 07:51

Yeah! Gautam, I loved the way you cuddled the tambura like a pet or baby in your lap. Felt it was one "akanDa" design.

Don't you feel having the tambura closer to your ears, vertically, would help?

GautamTejasGaneshan · Post by **GautamTejasGaneshan** » 29 Jan 2016, 10:00

Haha - sometimes I have to cuddle a real baby in my lap:

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 29 Jan 2016, 23:08

How sweet!

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 31 Jan 2016, 13:14

Gautam: very interesting. I especially like your version of manasA etulO with Misterdangam. Explosive stuff.
I have been meaning to come to one of your Subterranean Sangati kutcheris but haven't managed to. I'll blame it on east bay traffic for now.

GautamTejasGaneshan · Post by **GautamTejasGaneshan** » 31 Jan 2016, 23:26

@mahavishnu

Thanks - I think that concert with the manasA etulO doppelgänger is also on film somewhere - hopefully I can unearth it and put it up soon.

As for Sangati @ Subterranean kutcheris, unf. that arthouse is no more, and in fact you can expect an article about the closure in the next few days on berkeleyside.com, with ample comments from me.

& here are some snippets from the last such article:

"The most important alliance has been with Gautam Tejas Ganeshan’s Sangati Center, which presents several events there a month, like Sunday, March 16’s performance by Carnatic vocalist T. N. Arunagiri. For Ganeshan, an inventive Carnatic vocalist himself who ran his own venue in San Francisco for several years before relocating to Berkeley, the Arthouse has allowed him to expanding his work as a presenter while not worrying about maintaining a venue."

http://www.berkeleyside.com/2014/03/06/ ... -berkeley/

(Meanwhile, BTW, if you're in SF you can catch me on Fri. Feb. 12 @ ATA:
http://www.atasite.org/?p=10474 )

& here are some Subterranean memories -

kalambur bros:

me enjoying beautiful decoction coffee while listening to old vinyl records,
probably of S. Balachander or something:

& on that note, have you guys seen this:
http://robertmillis.net/indian-talking-machine/

Among what's included is:

02 Brahma Sri T. Appadurai Aiyengar Jalatharangam instrumental (1908) 03:07
03 Danakoti and Sister Tamil duet (1908) 03:11
04 Sembannarkovil Ramaswamy Pillay Nagaswaram instrumental (1910) 03:04

... etc.

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 01 Feb 2016, 10:22

Thanks, Gautam. I will try to make it on Feb 12.

GautamTejasGaneshan · Post by **GautamTejasGaneshan** » 04 Feb 2016, 20:32

Just to circle back, here's the article I promised about the Subterranean Sabha closing.

"No-one made better use of the venue than Gautam Tejas Ganeshan, the Berkeley singer/songwriter who creates original pieces using traditional Carnatic forms."

http://www.berkeleyside.com/2016/02/03/ ... goes-down/

kvchellappa · Post by **kvchellappa** » 25 Aug 2018, 13:27

Gem of an interview
Excerpts
“I don't think there is any expectation or responsibility to uphold what my grandfather played. Originality is key.”
“..there isn't only one right way to do things.”
“..does where you sit, which seems a big thing in the Carnatic scenario, really matter? .. Ultimately, it's about what you do with the music.”
“I have to make sure I am not there to show off my skills or exercise some personal agenda but to work towards the vision they have.”
“I would like to mention here about the enormous inspiration I personally derive from Ustad Zakir Hussain’s guidance.”
“When the instrumentalist is doing niraval, I believe they are feeling the lyrics in a certain way. I try to get inside of that and support it as much as possible. Having learnt songs during my childhood has definitely helped. .. some instrumentalists do not really need words for a performance and in those situations, I am relying truly on a sonic framework to measure my dynamics and balance with regard to where they want to take the music.”
“I think it will be good if more women start to play the mridangam; .. I feel there is a lot of beauty and eloquence in mridangam and it has elements that are deeply feminine. It will be very interesting to see if women are especially able to capture these aspects in a more succinct manner.”
Link to the whole interview:
https://theaalaap.com/site/theqs/AnanthaRKrishnan#

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 25 Aug 2018, 20:57

kvchellappa · Post by **kvchellappa** » 27 Aug 2018, 14:37

Thanks for moving it here. I did not find this thread. What is 'Bump'?

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 27 Aug 2018, 23:43

kvc,
When you posted i had requested VK to merge that thread to vidwan and vidushi thread . Bump is a term which is like alert and pushing up the stack so that we notice .

What a lovely interview anantha superb , as i was reading i was thinking the person to ask all these questions must have been ramkumar r and indeed that was him. Anantha and Abhishek as i mentioned before are the mark waugh and steve waugh of Carnatic music. The love for mrudangam and his passion just comes out so well. Few years back in LA when abhishek gave a tani ,after one round or so , anantha opened a round sleeve and gave abhishek a kanjira to play tani. Like that hopefullly let abhishek give the microphone to anantha so that we hear his paternal parampara krithi (Muthuswami Dikhshitar). I never knew if Anantha can also sing.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 12 Jan 2019, 14:14

Writeup in The Hindu dated Jan 11th ,2019 of this Mrudangam genius Mark Waugh. Hope perfumes donot distract this great artist.
https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/ ... 962585.ece

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