S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

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Rsachi
Posts: 5039
Joined: 31 Aug 2009, 13:54

S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by Rsachi »

Thanks to Dr. VKV, I was able to buy the Kalakendra DVD on S. Rajam and watch it.
Congratulations to SB Khanthan and Lalitha Ram. They have produced a long documentary and tried to capsule the man's multifaceted genius. A number of distinguished musicians, artists and others describe him and his greatness, as it touched them, in reverential joy. But I feel the labels are all like flowers that adorn a beautiful deity in such a way that we feel finally the flowers are only a token of our devotion, they can hardly embellish the true beauty of the idol.
Image

I learnt to my astonishment that Sri Rajam-
...Learnt music from Balu Dikshitar, Ariyakudi, Gowri Ammal, Papanasam Sivan, Muthiah Bhagavatar and Madurai Mani Iyer and many others.
...Learnt Purandaradasa krithis from Smt Lalithangi and won a first prize at MA in his teens, where she also competed and was placed second.
...learnt art and later visited Ajanta and decided to chalk out his own path with watercolours and brushes
...mastered and taught 72 melakarta compositions of Koteeshwara Iyer
...tuned Sarvam Brahma Mayam in Madhuvanti
...was a famous, extremely handsome, film star when S Balachander, the brother was much younger and unknown
...could draw at 70 as he could draw at 25, and sing too the same way
...taught a song to anyone who asked, even someone on the street opposite BVB in Mylapore
...discovered the beauties of so-called Vivadhis and sang them so positively as to earn praise from SSI
(That's like a master discovering hidden beauty, flowering potential and fragrance in plants we long neglected in a well-tended garden showing off the roses and dahlias)
...created masterly multilayered watercolour works to embody the visualisations of Dikshitar and Thyagaraja and others...
...was least rewarded by the Carnatic community for his unremitting labours of astounding creativity.....

Yes, the labels fall off this man. Should we hail the era and milieu that gave birth to this man, or thank God that we breathe the same air that he breathed?

cacm
Posts: 2212
Joined: 08 Apr 2010, 00:07

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by cacm »

Dear R,
"A minor Comment: ...could draw at 70 as he could draw at 25, and sing too the same way"
In Reality he entered the Hospital a few days before he passed away. His routine even then was to either paint or sing (mostly teaching some one) and I was there just hours before he entered the hospital. He was painting to meet the deadline for a request as well as an illustration for "Hinduism" magazine of KUAI to which he was a regular contributor. Also he discussed and sang in detail the nuances of the rendering of JANAKIRAMANA by Kanchipuram Naina Pillai, TNR and MMI and his RENDERING IN Washington D.C.Area concert in 1981 which was brilliant to say the least......Within a few hours he was in the hospital and Cleveland V.V.Sundaram, his wife Gomathi, & myself were visiting him. He would respond by squeezing the hand to acknowledge who was talking to him but was recognising persons till the very end.........It would be nice if persons who have met him, dealt with him etc RECALL their associations.
It is a pity that there has been only one public exhibition of his paintings and that was in 1981 at Los Alamos, NM, USA for a month with over
2000-mostly American Scientists(famous) and painters from Santafe attending & being astounded by his CREATIVITY. Incidentally he inagurated the Exhibition with a SCINTILLATING Concert, arranged the exhibits himself ASTOUNDING the curator of the museum who is an expert curator etc. An AMAZING experience. The LEAST his students can do is to arrange an annual event exhibiting his paintings along with a symposium about his music as a performer & teacher.......VKV

varsha
Posts: 1978
Joined: 24 Aug 2011, 15:06

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by varsha »

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Rsachi
Posts: 5039
Joined: 31 Aug 2009, 13:54

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by Rsachi »

Thanks Varsha!
As your name suggests, a deluge of years of collection!

thanjavooran
Posts: 2972
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 04:44

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by thanjavooran »

Varsha Avl,
Many thanks for sharing the precious collection.
Thanjavooran
20 02 2013

mahavishnu
Posts: 3341
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 21:56

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by mahavishnu »

Wonderful pictures, Varsha.

cienu
Posts: 2387
Joined: 04 Feb 2010, 11:40

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by cienu »

Thank you Varsha for sharing your pictorial collections of the genius.

hnbhagavan
Posts: 1655
Joined: 21 Jun 2008, 22:06

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by hnbhagavan »

Dear Friends,

Thanks to RSachi and friends providing insight to the life and work of S Rajam - a multifaceted personality.Perhaps those of us in Bangalore could not attend many of his concerts.The paintings are great and it was interesting to hear his entry to films too.

Rsachi
Posts: 5039
Joined: 31 Aug 2009, 13:54

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by Rsachi »

For those yet to watch this video:
http://bit.ly/SRajam

Purist
Posts: 430
Joined: 13 May 2008, 16:55

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by Purist »

A great tribute to the genius. His approach to life (mentioned at the end of video) is as
effervescent as his art and music.

sathreya
Posts: 11
Joined: 28 May 2013, 03:41

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by sathreya »

Would it be fair to say that the descriptions of the navagrahas (atleast 7, excluding rahu and ketu) found in Dikshitar compositions, greatly helped S.Rajam with his painting of the same, being as he was, a fine exponent of Dikshitar kritis himself ?


shankarank
Posts: 4042
Joined: 15 Jun 2009, 07:16

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by shankarank »

Initiating coverage on SangIta kala Acharya S. Rajam with a link that captures a lot of his life details.

http://creative.sulekha.com/legacy-of-c ... 85189_blog

thanjavooran
Posts: 2972
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 04:44

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by thanjavooran »

Thanks for the link.
Thanjavooran
07 02 2019

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

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by RSR »

A wonderful pen-portarait and also photos on musician-painter (late) Sri.S.Rajam.
here. ( in two parts) by srinivasarao
-----------------------------------
( inadvertently, suleka blog uses much of the original post from srinivasarao blog)
this is part 14 and part-15).


https://sreenivasaraos.com/2012/09/27/l ... i-s-rajam/

https://sreenivasaraos.com/2012/09/27/t ... continued/
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Absolutely great , dealing with all facets . ( many of his great paintings of the TRINITY of CM composers, and of the planets. and mythology.
His achievements in carnatic music.
===============================
"He had the privilege of being trained in music by a galaxy of stalwarts. He recalls with gratitude and pleasure, “I have undergone training from many Gurus. I learnt Dikshitar kritis from Sri Ambi Dikshitar. It is from Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar that I attained Pathantara suddham and perfection in singing fast tempo. I learnt depiction of vakra, varjya ragas; and swaraprastara from Madurai Mani Iyer. Papanasam Sivan, though a composer himself , taught me lots of Tyagaraja Kritis… Madurai Mani Iyer taught me Nagumomu with chatusruti dhaivata; while Papanasam Sivan taught me in suddhadhaivatam, the correct way…. Although I have learnt from many gurus, I crave to express what we have not heard from other musicians.”....
---------------
And 'Sruti' magazine has brought out a book by him on 'music appreciation' . Yet to get it and read.
https://sruti.com/index.php?route=produ ... uct_id=493

and many more intersting passages in the extensive blog. A treasure.

arasi
Posts: 16774
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by arasi »

Our own Pasupathy's Nostalgia thread in the Tamizh Literature Section has more to read and relish( which are from his blog).

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

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by RSR »

Here is the link to Dr.Pasupathy's blog on S.Rajam.
SONG AND PICTURE பாடலும் படமும் -
( ILLUSTRATIONS BY S.RAJAM)
https://s-pasupathy.blogspot.com/search ... E%E0%AF%8D
- 28 செவ்வாய் கி.வா.ஜகந்நாதன்
- 27 அப்பரின் தேவாரமும் , ராஜம் அவர்களின் ஆனந்தக் கூத்தனும்!
- 25 சகல கலா வல்லியே! குமரகுருபரர்- saraswathi
- 24 MAHISHASURA MARDHANI -
-23 GODDESS LAKSHMI -BARATHY POEM
-22 ,, -BARATHY
-21 BRUHASPATHY - )GURU)... கி.வா.ஜகந்நாதன் -
-20- BIRTH OF KANNAN - BARATHY-
-19-CHANDRAN -SILAPPATHIKAARAM- கி.வா.ஜகந்நாதன் -
-18-திருவானைக்கா
-17-காஞ்சிபுரம் KANCHIPURAM
-16-SUKRAN
-12- NARASIMHA JAYANTHI
-3 - SOORYAN
---------- AND A FEW MORE
Last edited by RSR on 13 Feb 2019, 20:13, edited 1 time in total.

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

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by RSR »

I have a personal reason ( one more reason) for my admiration of Sri.S.Rajam...His appreciative comments on the music of Smt.N.C.Vsanthakokilam, ( in Sruti magazine).
-------------------------------
A GOLDEN VOICE Story by S. RAJAM on N.C. Vasanthakokilam, as told to S. JANAKI:
----------------
N.C. Vasanthakokilam’s music career was short, but while it lasted, she was one of the topmost women vocalists in Carnatic music. Vasanthakokilam, or NC as she was popularly known, could sing with great felicity. She was gifted with a golden voice which was the envy of many a Carnatic musician. It was a voice with a rich and pleasant timbre, very pliant and malleable (“kambi pol saareeram”) which could accommodate briga-s and fast paced renderings, without any distortions (pisiru) or losing its melodious quality. She was not very healthy, but her voice belied her weak physique. Although she was thin and frail, her voice combined melody with tensile strength. I have heard her sing without a mike. NC was perfect in whatever she sang — intonation, sruti suddham, emotion and clarity of words. The purity of notes in her rendering and her adherence to sruti were remarkable. Her voice could traverse the middle and higher octaves with effortless ease. Her voice rang with vibrancy, a reenkaara, as she crossed the tara shadja and dwelt on the rishabha. It is my impression that M.S. Subbulakshmi took NC’s music as a model. In the Simhendramadhyama kriti 'Unnai allaal verey gati', NC sang a number of sanchara-s above the panchama and in the tara sthayi. Listeners were astounded by her rendition of this Kotiswara Iyer composition. She would often take up niraval on the phrase “Kai mel palan arul deivamey”. The song was a great hit. Thanks to NC, this song gained in popularity and other musicians also started including it in their recitals. NC carried the music lovers along with her on the strength of her simple music and fine voice. Like MS, she too was guided by a Sadasivan. In this case Sachi, as he was better known, supported and assisted her but he was not a patch on the famous Sadasivam. I knew C.K. Sachi because he directed ‘Radha Kalyanam’ the second film in which I acted, for which the music was by Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar. Sachi took NC under his wing but she did not live long and succumbed to tuberculosis. We must be thankful that she has left behind many recordings through which her music lives on.
http://nostalgiaofcarnaticmusic.blogspot.com/

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

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by RSR »

I had given individual links to each post and painting. hence deleted.

parivadini
Posts: 1190
Joined: 22 Oct 2013, 22:44

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by parivadini »

I'm publishing a painting and a song everyday throughout his centenary.

You can follow it in this link: https://carnaticmusicreview.wordpress.c ... /rajam100/

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

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by RSR »

parivadini wrote: 14 Feb 2019, 09:34 I'm publishing a painting and a song everyday throughout his centenary.

You can follow it in this link: https://carnaticmusicreview.wordpress.c ... /rajam100/
====================
I am a follower of your blog directly through my gmail. ... and archiving for repeated study.
Huge and daunting task to create 365 pages. and find 365 songs ( of Sri.S.Rajam- audio) to match them.
Finding a song for the painting and finding a painting for the song.

It will be easier for you, if it is one song/ one painting per week rather than one song/one painting per day
Over- burdening yourself, will interfere with your other great activities.
Would it be possible for adding the lyrics too where ever possible?
You write chaste TAMIZH but if you give tamizh and English ( you have proficiency in both)
it will reach a much wider audience in all the states of India and other countries too.


I am unable to reply in my gmail, because of trouble in wordpress signing option. Kindly enable , replying by google too. .
I take this opportunity to thank all the great bloggers like you . Kindly add an index page simply giving the topic and link. in a single page. All the blogs suffer from this defect .

Google site pages, website will be better for DMA! Random access. It will be better if the opening page is the index page rather than the stack format , home page.
My preferred model is
https://sites.google.com/site/ncvasanthakokilam/home
Best Regards.,
Last edited by RSR on 14 Feb 2019, 11:25, edited 1 time in total.

parivadini
Posts: 1190
Joined: 22 Oct 2013, 22:44

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by parivadini »

The link I have posted above is the index page. You can access all posts related to this topic through that link.

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

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by RSR »

I think, a separate section , may be created for posting links to very fine blogs on music and related disciplines.
srinivasaraos blog qualifies eminently for that. ( my earlier mention about this blog on Sr.S.Rajam)
Here is a very fine biography of Subburama Dikshitar.
Found that there is no detailed biographical article on Subbarama Dikshithar . And a few had requested in that thread.
Here is a very detailed and fine blog on the topic.
https://sreenivasaraos.com/2015/06/14/m ... rt-twenty/
Sri Subbarama Dikshitar and Sangita –Sampradaya-Pradarshini
Any posts on this may kindly be made in the thread on Subbarama Dikshithar. ( unable to locate it quickly)
Mod may move it to the said thread. please.

parivadini
Posts: 1190
Joined: 22 Oct 2013, 22:44

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by parivadini »

This playlist gets updated everyday: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 8k-MMlMPIF


rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

S. Rajam

Post by rajeshnat »

Lalitharam Ramachandran has special adulation for all the 360 degree facets of vidwan S Rajam. He is putting everyday a krithi of S Rajam so many many rare songs, done 80 plus as of now . S Rajam has learnt from MMI and papanasam Sivan .I have not had that much recording music of S Rajam.

S Rajam facet of singing vivadhi melakartha krithis are a great treasure . There is surely a texture of GNB voice sareeram with S Rajam and when he speaks i hear bit more of his junior Madurai GS Mani . Lalitharam putting rare clips is making me hear him far more attentively, he surely has nija bhakthi.

This song is quite a head turner for me that too hearing manavati swaras , aurally manavati being 5th melakartha is close to slightly more popular 4th melakartha vanaspathi . This recording is bit aged S Rajam Sir , i also heard few more of his where his voice is young which are few notches higher.

Any case hear this lovely musically brilliant mind with S Rajam.
Nijabhakthi (R,S) - manavati - Koteeswara Iyer

https://youtu.be/OGPYM3UfVQc?t=520

rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by rajeshnat »

This is a perhaps a more relatively young S Rajam sir recording of his tour in 1980's. I feel when hearing this as though GNB thought let me slow down and only stick to madhaymakAlam and not move an inch.One can just say GNB is just recuperating after few days of fever as S Rajam. This raga has so much oomph .

Himagiri tanayE (R N S T) - suddha dhanyasi - HMB. I have not heard a neraval in this krithi till i heard this rendition.
https://youtu.be/I5NFx9YIo7I?t=863

All on S Rajam youtube uploads is tagged with #Rajam100
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... 23Rajam100

rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by rajeshnat »

I picked himagiri tanaye being a fast song just out of curiosity to hear a generally "brimming brigas approach" which is not S Rajam Sir's forte. Then picked a sanskrit composition of Dikshitar which is just the madhymakAla sweetspot, what voice throw and steadiness in every sanskrit phrase . Also this song has a more responsive mrudangam artist (may I know who is that Lalitharam??). With his aural tonal and haunting dwijavanthi one can visualize all the trinity paintings without even seeing that.

akhilAndeshwari (S) - dwijAvanthi - MD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFJ56XQ5FLs

parivadini
Posts: 1190
Joined: 22 Oct 2013, 22:44

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by parivadini »

rajeshnat wrote: 30 Apr 2019, 13:47 I picked himagiri tanaye being a fast song just out of curiosity to hear a generally "brimming brigas approach" which is not S Rajam Sir's forte. Then picked a sanskrit composition of Dikshitar which is just the madhymakAla sweetspot, what voice throw and steadiness in every sanskrit phrase . Also this song has a more responsive mrudangam artist (may I know who is that Lalitharam??). With his aural tonal and haunting dwijavanthi one can visualize all the trinity paintings without even seeing that.

akhilAndeshwari (S) - dwijAvanthi - MD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFJ56XQ5FLs
Rajesh - the mridangam artist is none other the great C.S.Murugabhoopathi

rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by rajeshnat »

Lalitharam
If possible can you also put the available accompaniment information as part of youtube itself please. Any luck wherein you have recordings with PSP , PMI, Palakkad Raghu with S Rajam Sir .

parivadini
Posts: 1190
Joined: 22 Oct 2013, 22:44

Re: S. Rajam - greatness that defies labels

Post by parivadini »

Rajesh,
Unfortunately, I don't have any recordings where the three greats have played for S.Rajam.


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