Suryaprakash @ Vaigal Gnanaskandan day (Ragasudha on May 04th,2019)

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HarishankarK
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Joined: 27 Oct 2007, 11:55

Suryaprakash @ Vaigal Gnanaskandan day (Ragasudha on May 04th,2019)

Post by HarishankarK »

R Suryaprakash vocal
L Ramakrishnan violin
J Vaidynadan mridangam
Madipakkam Murali Ghatam

Vaigal S Gnanaskandan day
Organised by his daughter Srividya in support with Gayatri Girish.
Invocation by Visruthi Girish - GNB Vara vallabha ramana - very nice voice and singing but for a few sruthi lapses
Most excellent concert by the team
Shlokam Arabhi and Varali
Aazhi mazhai kanna Varali Andal- neraval swarams@ somewhere towards the end
Evarani ni Devamrutavarshini
Submain Sarasangi Jaya jaya Padmanabha -Swathi-short neraval and long swarams @ vara vanchi marthanda
Vrittam on Siva Saranga Gnana sabayil PS - ended with gnana skandan sabayil
Balakrishnam - Gopikavasantam-MD
Main karaharapriya - chakkani raja -RNST- Usual fare- could have picked Prakkala or Janaki pathe etc instead but sang superb anyways
Vrittam rakeshri, Kapi, gorakh kalyan- Idaya koilil - Kalyana vasantam- vaigal S Gnanaskandan
Karpagame
Pavamana
Very nice and effortless singing - throughout melody aspect prevailed
Good support from accompanying artistes
7pm to 9.10 pm

Ranganayaki
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Joined: 02 Jan 2011, 06:23

Re: Ragasudha R Suryaprakash May4th 2019

Post by Ranganayaki »

Thank you for the list, HarishankarK. I did not know that Vaigal Sri Gnanaskandan composed any songs. The song touched me a lot, the yearning to have Murugan bless him always to stay true to the realization that his heart is a treasured temple of worship.

Kalyanavasantham was a raga he sang very beautifully in a glorious voice, it was as enjoyable as Lalgudi’s Kalyanavasantham. It actually touched you deeply in the heart. It still rings in my mind.

arasi
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Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30

Re: Ragasudha R Suryaprakash May4th 2019

Post by arasi »

Thank you for sharing your sentiments, Ranganayaki. Good to hear from you!

hnbhagavan
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Joined: 21 Jun 2008, 22:06

Re: Ragasudha R Suryaprakash May4th 2019

Post by hnbhagavan »

Normally Ragasudha concerts are available on Utube.Hope this concert gets uploaded!

rshankar
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Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:26

Re: Ragasudha R Suryaprakash May4th 2019

Post by rshankar »

Lest we forget, Sri Gnanaskandan was Ranganayaki’s guru as well (in addition to Smt. Gayathri, and Sri Gurucharan’s)....

rajeshnat
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by rajeshnat »

HarishankarK wrote: 05 May 2019, 08:20 .....
Most excellent concert by the team
#1. Shlokam Arabhi and Varali
Aazhi mazhai kanna Varali Andal- neraval swarams@ somewhere towards the end
#2. Evarani ni Devamrutavarshini
#3. Submain Sarasangi Jaya jaya Padmanabha -Swathi-short neraval and long swarams @ vara vanchi marthanda
#4. Vrittam on Siva Saranga Gnana sabayil PS - ended with gnana skandan sabayil
#5. Balakrishnam bhavayAmi - Gopikavasantam-MD

#6.Main karaharapriya - chakkani raja -RNST- Usual fare- could have picked Prakkala or Janaki pathe etc instead

but sang superb anyways

#7.Vrittam rakeshri, Kapi, gorakh kalyan- Idaya koilil - Kalyana vasantam- vaigal S Gnanaskandan
#8.Karpagame
#9.Pavamana
7pm to 9.10 pm
Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019
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Thanks for the song list harishankar , just filling the missing details

#1. The slokham in was vakrathunda mahAkaya in Arabi and VarAli
neraval for 2 mins in vAzha ulaganiL peidhaDai nangalum and swaras for 5 mins

#3. sarasangi alapana for 7 mins and violin return for 5 mins , neraval was short and swaras for 8 mins

#4. Viruththam was tevaram - kAdalagi kasindu in saranga followed by gnana sabayil

#6A. 13 mins alapana of kharaharapriya and violin return for 7 mins
5 mins of kantigi sundara taramagu rupave neraval and 12 mins swaras

#6B. tani for 7 mins

#7A. viruththam - kunram erindadum - rAkeshri + anRangu amarar iDam- kApi + kalPOdumbil - gorakhkalyan + meivida
veeran kai vel - kalyanavasantham - ThirumurugAtrupadai

#7B. idhaya koil thanilaE murugA - kalyanavasantham - vaigal gnanaskandan
Last edited by rajeshnat on 06 May 2019, 20:12, edited 1 time in total.

rajeshnat
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Re: Ragasudha R Suryaprakash May4th 2019

Post by rajeshnat »

Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019
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I did not know the concert was part of gnanaskandan day till I saw the friday /saturday press details published in The Hindu . Vaigal gnanaskandan is the guru of 3 prominent disciples namely gayathri girish , V sankaranarayanan and Sikkil gurucharan. Gnanaskandan learnt music from atleast two prominent gurus , one super prominent semmangudi srinivasa iyer and the other prominent dandapani desigar. Personally I have heard a very strong voice of gnanaskandan that clearly showed semmangudi patantra . in our forum we discussed the most about sri gnanaskandan when he passed away 5 or 6 years back .

Incidentally for many many many years I also knew one more vidushi who has learnt from gnanaskandan . Her name is Smt kausalya Sivakumar , she is considerably senior to the 3 prominent disciples . In chennai Kausalya name pops very sparingly here and there she does lovely lecdem and she speaks very well. In the interest of full disclosure Kausalya mami is bit related to me ,I also know that she sings well . But i have not attended any of her lecdems and kutcheris other than few family functions where there is a short smile.

This concert was advertised to start after a small presentation. The homage was done by Sree Vidhya , daughter of vidwan Gnanaskandan , i went bit late. As I entered there were 3 speakers only inclusive of Sree Vidhya. I spotted vidushi gayathri girish and her daughter vishruthi who was helping out in dias. Vishruthi, perhaps the eldest fourth generation disciple of vaigal gnanaskandan was the compere.

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Ramaswamy speech
----------------

Shri Ramaswamy from BVB just ended his speech ,I did not catch what he spoke and all he said was the next speaker H Raja knows more about vaigal gnanaskandan and he also said to sree vidhya that i will support you in all your activities.

Then it was a series of matter of facts for me from there on

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H Raja speech
--------------

Shri H Raja , the BJP leader was invited as chief guest . He spoke beautifully and there was zero politics in his speech

Raja said his father was part of Melattur bhagavathar mela for many decades. He knew and he corrected Ramaswamy that he is mistaken as the translator of Tamil to sanskrit dictionary . H Raja said his father only did the translation and just a month back before the official release with Kanchi mahaswami presiding , his father passed away. H Raja reminded me of 1980 to 1990's speeches of AIR thenkachi Ko swaminathan.

H Raja was very lucid , slow and never rushed unlike the other side of him which comes in torrents in the last few years. Raja said he only met gnanaskandan once and he connected that Gnanaskandan did a lot of service in propagating tevaram ,tirrupugazh and divyaprabandham. Raja appears extremely learned and he exactly connects where it has to be connected and did not do any over selling . I particularly liked his quote of swami vivekananda where he said vivekananda once quoted "For learning any subject spirituality is the base" that defines the nation.

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Sree Vidhya Speech
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Young vishruthi(daughter of GG) did a great compere job and said Sree vidhya will do the vote of thanks . I read some where before about sree vidhya some time back is what i recollected then .I could not completely zone in what i read about her. Then I later figured out today now that she is an entrepreneur from chennai and if you do a google on "sree vidhya gnanaskandan" you will figure out writeups on her. You will be surprised and astonished on her achievements.


Sree Vidhya just spoke wonderfully with passion. She started saying with a bang like some folks asked "Why you invited H Raja and Ramaswamy , do you know them" . Then she answered "She did not know both of them and she candidly told I am not holding this function to invite speakers who knew my appa alone" . She went on to say that her appa and swami haridass giri talked and in the name of gnanaskandan trust , the NGS mini hall was given and in every saturday at 3 pm /4pm range one young kid who was either learning or fully learnt kid did have the DIAS and an opportunity to sing.

My respect for both sreevidhya and her appa gnanaskandar went 4 notches above . From 4 out of 10 (I only heard one strong semmangudi voice in one song where gnanaskandan sang) with sree vidhya candid anecdotes it went to 8 out of 10.Sree vidhya finally also gave vote of thanks , she thanked GG , her office staff and Dad of V shankaranarayanan NVS (Shri NV Subramaniam).shri NVS is a great organizer.
Last edited by rajeshnat on 06 May 2019, 20:40, edited 1 time in total.

rajeshnat
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by rajeshnat »

------------------------
Moving on to the concert
------------------------
This concert was definitely well done the team clicked . I have personally never heard L Ramakrishnan ever pairing with R Suryaprakash. Many many years back once in annanagar i have heard the lovely JV playing for suryaprakash as such the team did gel well despite a higher degree of unfamiliarity of not having a chance to work that much together .

Suryaprakash said that he would like to dedicate with a small viruththam and slokam combo and said he will sing praying for rains with an andal thiruppavai. It was great followup in varali with aazhi mazhai kanna,the song was well done , i did not anticipate the neraval there for that song ,i liked both the song and swaras. The distinct abrasive varali gandharam was shown enough for it to be varali .I also noticed a certain stiffness in his voice - a kind of not that usually full throttle voice there.

When the voice does not open up fully Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar and his disciple Ariyakudi decide to usually beat more the voice and very likely they usually take second number with more voice power .Usually they also drop as #2 a sadguru thyagaraja krithi.Indeed Ariyakudi and Poochi strategic idea of evarani did well with JV rocking from there on. There was no rains at all the raga was not amruthavarshini but devaamruthavarshini , the rain bearing clouds moved with the devas to go elsewhere as a cyclone.

Submain came next with a fairly detailed popup with an alapana. I usually take bit more time to disambiguate brother charukesi and his sister sarasAngi . Sister Sarasangi was crystal clear atleast aurally in my ears a bit lighter shade to disambiguate charukesi was always there . I get tears with this brother sister ragas of charukesi and sarasangi. Lovely song jaya jaya padmanabha came in and the swaras came in very very clean and I liked the sarvalagu downpour there.

Tevaram kadalagi kasindu was done well in saranga and he followed with gnanasabayil thillai , a saranga composition. I visually spotted Vaidyanathan mridangist smiled and had a bit more handshake after all to the best of my knowledge his appa jayaraman and his attai DKP own this saranga krithi. But for me saranga and kalyani are a different brother sister to me they give various shades of tears to me . Not that the team didnot give the best i bit zoned out there.

The contours changed exceptionally with a great saranga contrast . JV -SP rocked with Gopikavasantham . THis dikshitar krithi is certainly not vilambit at all, the theory books say that gopikavasantham raga is a janya of natabhairavi . But for me this krithi balakrishnam bhavayami in gopikavasantham gives a lot of nayana pidi rasa like a typical thyagaraja krithi . This gopikavasantham for those unfamiliar may possibly get the lakshya overlap with say equally haunting Huseni raga . Very well done dikshitar krithi with rocking support by JV/Murali.

THe grandeur of melakartha 22 came in next . ALapana was well done. Bit not that much happy for neraval as the clock close time was indeed constraining a little more sancaras and ideas in kantiki sundara got jettisoned . But there was really great swaras post the kanakku portion where i bit zoned out . Fantastic kalapramanam tightnesss with sharp returns by Ramakrishnan also showed his class. I personally felt with he taking quite a few rare numbers and with the subsequent rarest kalyanavasantham, suryaprakash decision to stick with chakkani raja gellled more with the audience. Before the start i was assuming he may take up sentil andavan as a tribute to gnanaskandan which he has sung before.

JV was spectacular in mrudangam ,his play has right aggression and there is a distinct thavil like toppings , one can hear everywhere his guru TK murthy . He was a main karanakartha for success . With quite a lot of rotation and in general more chance given by JV , Madipakkam murali never appeared like I also supported there. There were distinct pockets of his brilliance . The youngest L ramakrishnan had a kashmiri mountain azhuttam , his best was during alapana returns, for the first two songs i felt he did not go that much clean rasa. He is an asset to give sampradaya purity of violin press and tone
Last edited by rajeshnat on 06 May 2019, 20:27, edited 2 times in total.

rajeshnat
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by rajeshnat »

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Special words about IdhayaKoil thanilE murugA in haunting kalyanavasantham
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The organizer sreevidhya said that "I invited these two personalities (Ramaswamy and H Raja) not to show off that I need more press writeups . She said I dont care like my father and she also said what she wanted is more appropriate new connections and she said the content has to reach more people". Suryaprakash excels as much in sahitya bhava as much as say swarakalpana and neraval bhava. viruthtam was great in 4 ragas and the tilt was towards kalyanavasantham was well done.

I was thinking as he sang the preceding viruththam how words on lord muruga will end with Lord krishna kriti of inru varuvano by Arasi which was lord krishna. kalyana vasantham has a historic naadaloludai, a medieval shree venkatesam , modern thillana of lalgudi and ultra modern Arasi inru varuvanA. But I did not know that he will sing the composition of gnanaskandan sir than which is based on Lord Muruga.

With that super cue from sreevidhya, i am really writing the below relevant content just to extend the content and connection and newer context that i seek everyday with CM to possible newer fresh blood rasikas that vaigal trust will soon bring in.

This krithi of gnanaskandan on Lord muruga is giving a run for money for two other lovely krithis of Lord muruga. If some one says he/she does not like carnatic music and says it is just not for me(many of my relatives and few friends say romba koyya moyyannu irukku in tamil).Just give the 3 below krithis in that super emote emote cluster . They are

1. Kanda naal mudhalAi kadal perugudadi - madhuvanti - mazhavai NS Chidambaram popularized by Tanjore S kalyanaraman sir to start with
2. idhaya koil dhanilE murugA - kalyanavasantham - vaigal gnanaskandan
3. Naalai varum enru nambalAmA - chandrakowns - Madurai GS Mani

These musicians NS chidambaram, gnanaskandan and GS mani sir got super emotive ragas into Tamil as lifelong intensely classical krithis , incidentally they are all based on Lord Muruga.

Some incomplete lines that i jotted down in that krithi idhya koil dhanilE of skandan sir that suryaprakash sang
I make a lot of mistakes in writing nN rR eE thdh etc in tamil , thamizh is only my mothers tongue not mine.

In anupallavi it was like
Udhaya mAgum indha gnanathilE enrum
UrudhiyAi irukka nee arulvAyE


In that the upper throw of udhaya magum..enrum line to a gentle slide in urudhiyAi.. nee arulvayE was lovely kalyanavasantham thick and thin shade of kalyanavasantham was indeed poignant and exceptionally well crafted by gnanaskanadan

In charanam lines begin
yethai yethayO eNNi yENgi thavikkarEN
ingum angumAi alaiNthu tirindha pinnum??



And incidentally suryaprakash towards the end anchored and replaced the word muruga with exceptional support of rhythmn by JV , he kept replacing words of muruga like vadivela , skanda ,then gnanaskanda etc .There was a touch of tanjore s kalyanaraman for me right there like SKR's taans O gosh it was lovely.

If i ever take a movie documentary which is a near zero possibility I will put a camera facing the sky and just have 3 songs in the above order. The title of the movie "Do You like atleast these numbers, if Not even God cannot save you"

I am in the process of hunting few more gnanaskandan songs other than the only one song i heard . I have had enough of vageyakkara gnanaskandan with kalyanavasantham. Apart from hearing one rare song of gnanaskandan that I forgot i have only seen him in one pancharathna video youtube where his guru semmangudi is the captain of that 1980s tiruvayaru aradhana.

As I walked out of the hall I just asked sreevidhya (I dont know her at all), where is vaigAl , she said it is vaigal and not vaigAL.She just told her appa's village vaigal has got 3 or 4 shiva temples and because of that no roads are laid yet . She said some thing about kanchi mahaswami and vaigal which i dont recollect now .She also said "vaigal village is near konnerirajapuram which is in mayavaram/tiruvarur belt.I personally never knew vaigal location at all. I said thanks and just walked out.

Sreevidhya told in her vote of thanks that i am planning to start a new trust by name "vaigal" trust and not continue with the name gnanaskandan trust . She openly said my appas cook gramam has to be known than just his name .What an idea and brave move . Each speaker spoke minimally so it is just the logistics of dias and microphone setup did take away time , kudos to sreevidhya inviting only 3 inclusive of vote of thanks to the dias,That was a biggest miracle but still no rains. i am assuming her appa has only love for musical dias and not speech dias and she got it from him.

Best wishes for hamlet vaigal to get a 50 percent popularity status as semmangudi ahAoHo hamlet. I once saw many years back in my car to see a semmangudi signboard .With vaigal not having roads i wish and pray for vaigal to have a 25 percent popularity status as semmangudi.

Overall an excellent concert for 2 hours and 10 mins.

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

Re: Ragasudha R Suryaprakash May4th 2019

Post by arasi »

Rajesh,
I haven't heard anyone sing BalakrishNam by MD and have not heard it from Suryaprakash or seen it in his song lists.
The rAgA in the rAgamAlikA is rAGESri I guess.

Nick H
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 02:03

Re: Ragasudha R Suryaprakash May4th 2019

Post by Nick H »

A short subjective note:

The concert was invigorating and uplifting, with superb performances from all the participants.

Ranganayaki
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Joined: 02 Jan 2011, 06:23

Re: Ragasudha R Suryaprakash May4th 2019

Post by Ranganayaki »

I searched yesterday and found this lovely composition of Sri Gnanaskandan in Kalyani, sung by two little children. I enquired with the organizer of the concert, daughter Sri Vidhya, and she said they were his shishyas.

https://youtu.be/c7iIpdMibL8

I also found this rendering of Ithaya Koil Thanile in Kalyanavasantham:

https://youtu.be/UQcMrD64fm4

Ranganayaki
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Joined: 02 Jan 2011, 06:23

Re: Ragasudha R Suryaprakash May4th 2019

Post by Ranganayaki »

arasi wrote: 06 May 2019, 19:37
The rAgA in the rAgamAlikA is rAGESri I guess.
Yes, Rageshri. It sounds a lot like Bageshri, the tiny difference is a higher G (antaragandhara, G3) instead of G2. Rageshri is a Harikambhoji janya, Bageshri is Kharaharapriya’s.

Sri LGJ has composed a tillana in this raga.

arasi
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Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30

Re: Ragasudha R Suryaprakash May4th 2019

Post by arasi »

Now, with me, if the rAgA is sung, I have not much trouble telling them apart, but if it's a small tukkaDa or a rAgamAlikA quickie, I can't be sure. Is the old (old, old for you folks) song from jhanak jhanak pAyal 'nain sE nain nAhi milAo, dEkhat sUrat Avat lAj' in rAgESri or bhAgESri?
Suryaprakash sings so many unknown rAgAs and he feels at home with them.

Ranganayaki
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Joined: 02 Jan 2011, 06:23

Re: Ragasudha R Suryaprakash May4th 2019

Post by Ranganayaki »

Oops, I said “tiny difference” but that’s probably not fact. The more you get familiar with the two ragas, the difference will certainly grow for you. So it’s probably not a “tiny” difference for everyone.

I listened to the song you mentioned, and I don’t think it’s either Baghesgri or Rageshri (unless one of the ragas permits an extraneous G variant as Anya swara. I don’t think Bagesgri does, I don’t know about Rageshri. I don’t think it does either (I listened to LGJ’s tillana).). This song begins with a G3 and goes down to G2.

G—-GM-M gRM ggRRS DnS grs MDnD (sorry if there are any mistakes - pl do correct)

All the capital letter swaras are major scale swaras like Shankarabharabanam, the small g and n are kharaharapriya variants. G in ascent, g in descent. I don’t know which Hindustani one it could be or if it is a liberty taken for film songs as they sometimes do here. If I had to slice one way or the other, I would say it is neither of the two ragas.

Ranganayaki
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Joined: 02 Jan 2011, 06:23

Re: Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by Ranganayaki »

rajeshnat wrote: 06 May 2019, 19:28 ---.

As I walked out of the hall I just asked sreevidhya (I dont know her at all), where is vaigAl , she said it is vaigal and not vaigAL.She just told her appa's village vaigal has got 3 or 4 shiva temples and because of that no roads are laid yet . She said some thing about kanchi mahaswami and vaigal which i dont recollect now .
The pronunciation is in that Kalyani song I posted above.

I googled Vaigal yesterday and read the one detailed entry there was, which even mentions Sri G as the one person who brought fame to the village. Roads have not been built there because there are three Shiva temples there, which Sri MahaperiavaaaL said represented the Shivatrinetra, and he advised the people not to build roads to these temples.

arasi
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Re: Ragasudha R Suryaprakash May4th 2019

Post by arasi »

Ranganayaki,
I don't know. The song just came to me out of the blue.

Ranganayaki
Posts: 1760
Joined: 02 Jan 2011, 06:23

Re: Ragasudha R Suryaprakash May4th 2019

Post by Ranganayaki »

arasi wrote: 07 May 2019, 07:27 Ranganayaki,
I don't know. The song just came to me out of the blue.
Not sure what your response means, in relation to what I wrote. What do you not know? It sounds as though you are disagreeing mildly, but I’m not sure with which part.

arasi
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Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30

Re: Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by arasi »

Ranganayaki,
In relation to what I do not know, mainly. This happens because of my not being familiar with a rAgA and sometimes, it happens in a different way--, as AL mARATTam (mistaking one familiar face's name for another). Well, aging is an accomplice in this process too, don't you think?

rajeshnat
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: Ragasudha R Suryaprakash May4th 2019

Post by rajeshnat »

arasi wrote: 06 May 2019, 19:37 Rajesh,
I haven't heard anyone sing BalakrishNam by MD and have not heard it from Suryaprakash or seen it in his song lists.
The rAgA in the rAgamAlikA is rAGESri I guess.
Atleast 12 years back there was a cd that suryaprakash released titled shamatha sunaadam of muttuswami dikshitar krithis.There is a upload of this - His Highness Dikshitar gopikavasantham krithi(balakrishnam bhavayAmi) in youtube that i found now. Check below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ne96Xp ... rt_radio=1
I know for sure this is a semmangudi popularized urupiDi.

HarishankarK
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Re: Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by HarishankarK »

Vrittam - the 3 ragas were given differential treatment in terms of duration.
Rakeshri was sung for a couple of minutes
Kapi was sung for around 5 mins
Gorakh kalyan only around a minute and it didn't register at all. Not sure what was the purpose of introducing this raga - was not at all appealing
Kalyana vasantham -is it equivalent of Gorakh kalyan??

CRama
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Re: Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by CRama »

This was one concert that I immensely enjoyed. Ragam Sarasangi was well presented without any overlap with Charukesi. He frequently drew upon the lines from the kriti Jaya jaya Padmanabha murare- that was also an indication of the song to follow. The shadja panchama varja prayogams added sheen to it. I have never heard these prayogams from any other vidwan.

The pick of the day for me was the kriti Gnana sabayil in Saranga of Papanasam Sivan which is from the kitty of DKP. It was presented in an unhurried manner with no loss of bhavam. Balakrishnam in Gopikavasantham- I have never heard for eons. It was rendered well true to the SSI patantharam. Chakkaniraja was also presented with all the customary sangatis in tact.

That composition of Vaigal Gnanaskandan in Kalyanavasantham I have never heard earlier. Initially I thought it is a composition of Suryaprakash. Thank God he announced it. It carries the raga bhavam and devotional element admirably. More singers should take up such songs of Gnanaskandan. The Kapi ragam in the preceding virutham was captivating.

rajeshnat
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Re: Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by rajeshnat »

As stated in post #9 of mine, hear the rendition of
IthayakoyilthanilE - kalyanavasantham -vaigal gnanaskandan

Such lucid words like kavignar vaali and tune like illayaraja blended and created by vaigal gnanaskandan.Certainly suryaprakash has also added bit more kalyanavasantham polish ,kind of semmangudish extra polish . What the hell was I doing in 1980's and 1990's in chennai, maybe wiling my time with vAnayurNtha sOlayile from the film :lol: ithayakovil . Noone told me about vaigal gnanaskandan then :| . In one hearing then in this live concert, I got 75 percent words in one go , folks like rshankar and rajani will get 100 percent in one go.

Thank you for the great song Suryaprakash and lovely tapping of JV , JV knows how to play for songs being DKJ mrudanga pAttu varisu . kudos to lovely taps by madipakkam murali and the first time paired violinist L ramakrishnan sharp unobtrusive cuts . Particularly like the last in the moment words depicting Lord muruga connecting gnanaskandan sir .The vocalist bit reminding SKR taans and SOmu . This is my mobile recording , hope it is fine for Sree Vidhya and artists with my share. Let me know if not ok will remove it. Recording of my device is ok could have been better. As you click the below link you can hit the download button at the top to hear at your convenience.

https://bit.ly/2LKpzq5

arasi
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Re: Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by arasi »

Excellent!

Ranganayaki
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Re: Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by Ranganayaki »

I just happened to stumble upon a reference to another Kriti by Sri Gnanaskandan, right here, but in the ragas forum, in the Hamsanandi thread. There was a list of kritis by Sri Laxman and I found this: Anbe uruvana abhiramiye.

So three compositions that we know of so far.

Ranganayaki
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Re: Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by Ranganayaki »

rajeshnat wrote: 15 May 2019, 12:31 As stated in post #9 of mine, hear the rendition of
IthayakoyilthanilE - kalyanavasantham -vaigal gnanaskandan

Such lucid words like kavignar vaali and tune like illayaraja blended and created by vaigal gnanaskandan.Certainly suryaprakash has also added bit more kalyanavasantham polish ,kind of semmangudish extra polish . What the hell was I doing in 1980's and 1990's in chennai, maybe wiling my time with vAnayurNtha sOlayile from the film :lol: ithayakovil . Noone told me about vaigal gnanaskandan then :| . In one hearing then in this live concert, I got 75 percent words in one go , folks like rshankar and rajani will get 100 percent in one go.
I tried to catch the words. Got most of them, but certainly not in one go. I used video from the link I provided to see the words, and I was able to decipher “malgi” which I checked on the net too for accuracy and found another occurrence of “kanneer malgi..” so it’s with some hard work, unlike rshankar or Rajani, that I have this.

Ithayakoil thanile, Muruga un INaiyadi paninthene

Uthayamaagum intha gnanathile endrum
Uruthiyaay irukka ni arulvaaye

Yethaiyethaiyo yeNNi yengitthavitthen
Ingum angumaay alainthu tirindappin
Nitham nitham unnaye ninainthu kaNNeer malgi
Sadhamilla vaazhvil un padham thuNai endrae

I just could not make out most of the words in the last line and Sree Vidhya, the daughter of my guru helped me out with it. Pl correct, if there are any errors in the other lines.

Ranganayaki
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Re: Ragasudha R Suryaprakash May4th 2019

Post by Ranganayaki »

rshankar wrote: 06 May 2019, 18:18 Lest we forget, Sri Gnanaskandan was Ranganayaki’s guru as well (in addition to Smt. Gayathri, and Sri Gurucharan’s)....
Thanks for the mention, Ravi 🙂. Sorry I forgot to say so earlier. 🙂

rajeshnat
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Re: Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by rajeshnat »

i struggled to get that word sadamilla in sadamilla vaazhvil. Having studied college in a hostel i know sAdam illA vaazhvil but what does,sadamilla mean .i have no clue perhaps ravi knows.

also in that song sp adds,some words like paavai kalyani paa vai kayani right after gnanaskandane etc that explanation will also help me ravi

Ranganayaki
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Re: Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by Ranganayaki »

rajeshnat wrote: 17 May 2019, 08:59 i struggled to get that word sadamilla in sadamilla vaazhvil. Having studied college in a hostel i know sAdam illA vaazhvil but what does,sadamilla mean .i have no clue perhaps ravi knows.
It is sadam illa, two words. I thought the two can be combined like sandhi in Sanskrit, especially because that’s how it sounds in the song . If that’s incorrect I’m sorry.

Ranganayaki
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Re: Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by Ranganayaki »

rajeshnat wrote: 17 May 2019, 08:59 i know sAdam illA vaazhvil

also in that song sp adds,some words like paavai kalyani paa vai kayani right after gnanaskandane etc that explanation will also help me ravi


As I said, I too struggled with the whole line and Sree Vidya gave it to me. She said sadam means 100, like “shatam” in Sanskrit. “Sadam illa vazhvu” would mean “this uncertain and rather short life.”

My guess about Kalyani: it refers to the Divine Mother. Because he says “Paavai Kalyani” and then “puthalvane,” meaning the son of (Lady?) Kalyani .

I don’t think the split of Paavai into paa and vai is significant. It’s just the singing (I think)

rajeshnat
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Re: Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by rajeshnat »

Ranganayaki
I reheard it now . Two corrections is what i have observed over what you have written .Last line is very tough for me , i am assuming you got it right. Highlighted what you wrote in italics and mine in bold . .

Ithayakoil thanile, Muruga un INaiyadi paninthene
ithyakoil thanilE murugA uN INaiyadi (BhajithenE)

Uthayamaagum intha gnanathile endrum
Uruthiyaay irukka ni arulvaaye

Yethaiyethaiyo yeNNi yengitthavitthen
Yethaiyethaiyo yeNNi (yengithavikiNrEn)
Ingum angumaay alainthu tirindappin
Nitham nitham unnaye ninainthu kaNNeer malgi
Sadhamilla vaazhvil un padham thuNai endrae

Gnanaskandan sir has got yedukai monai and rhymes so right all within the tala meter like yengithavikinrEn and Tirindappin etc Wow wOw woW
Last edited by rajeshnat on 17 May 2019, 15:20, edited 2 times in total.

rajeshnat
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Re: Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by rajeshnat »

The photo has sreevidhya(daughther of gnanaskandan sir) in the left with the performing artists. You can also see the portrait of gnanaskandan sir in the right.Behind is sekhar the Hero of ragasudha who is an ace sound engineer

Image

rajeshnat
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Re: Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by rajeshnat »

The vote of thanks was so touching and moving , tanglish speech by daughter of Gnanaskandan-SreeVidhya. Not an iota of bragging about her father but still appreciating from the bottom of her heart her father. Best wishes to her vaigal foundation, let us see as she said if she gets 4 great artists :!: . Vishruthi Girish is not counted there . I am only uploading the vote of thanks by Sreevidhya with young vishruthi girish handing over as MC. The previous speech by H Raja, I have not uploaded., I will see that after May 24- if you get the drift there. :lol: The speech is just 5 mins.

http://bit.ly/2w4A8K0

I hope both picture and audio recording is ok for sreevidhya , if not do let me know will do the needful. Personally feel the speech is worth emulating by future family patrons who are going to conduct remembrance day.

Ranganayaki
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Re: Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by Ranganayaki »

rajeshnat wrote: 17 May 2019, 14:24 Ranganayaki
I reheard it now ...Last line is very tough for me , i am assuming you got it right.
No need to assume any more, I clearly said I got it from Sri Gnanaskandan’s daughter.
Two corrections is what i have observed over what you have written. Highlighted what you wrote in italics and mine in bold . .
Ithayakoil thanile, Muruga un INaiyadi paninthene
ithyakoil thanilE murugA uN INaiyadi (BhajithenE)



Yethaiyethaiyo yeNNi yengitthavitthen
Yethaiyethaiyo yeNNi (yengithavikiNrEn)
Ingum angumaay alainthu tirindappin
Nitham nitham unnaye ninainthu kaNNeer malgi
Sadhamilla vaazhvil un padham thuNai endrae
Thanks Rajesh.. I guess you are right about “bhajitthene.” I mis-heard that both in Suryaprakash’s singing and in Abhishek Krishna’s video. It’s the power of the mind, to distort the senses! I expected “adi paNinthene” and that’s what I heard!

In Suryaprakash’s version, it is clearly sung as thavikkindren, but in Abhishek Krishna’s video, he sings it as “thavitthen.” If you listen to that video, you can see that the “vi” in thavitthen is lengthened to fit the word in the line. I considered both and I preferred the past tense of Abhishek Krishna. It is an interpretation of the poetry that I preferred. The suffering he describes is in the past, as I see it. After suffering deeply and alanjifying and searching with all sorts of goals in mind, he now only has tears pooling in yearning for Muruga, and he implores him, in this uncertain and ephemerous life, to bless him to stay steadfastly true to the dawning realization that his heart is a sacred temple where he worships the lord.

“Bhajitthene” is also past tense, but I interpret is as (I have been worshipping) (or I worship) because that is the state of his heart now, not the suffering caused by ignorant worldly pursuits. So that’s why I prefer Abhishek Krishna’s “thavitthen” rather than the “Thavikkindren” of Suryaprakash’s.

To make it more clear: He has already come into this great revelation in his heart. So the suffering from worldly pursuits cannot also continue. They are a thing of the past. Now any suffering and tears would only be for the grace of his beloved lord.

So I think Thavitthen is correct because it describes a suffering in ignorance, not the new suffering out of love, Bhakti, for the beloved lord,. I certainly prefer this view. Would love it if Arasi or Ravi and others who enjoy poetry weighed in to confirm or correct my interpretation of the word and the tense.

To make it easier for anyone reading, here is the link (again) to Abhishek Krishna’s video. Do comment on it, he seems to be singing very well. Is he known? We have never seen a mention of him as Sri Gnanaskandan’s shishya.

https://youtu.be/UQcMrD64fm4

Ranganayaki
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Re: Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by Ranganayaki »

rajeshnat wrote: 17 May 2019, 14:24

Gnanaskandan sir has got yedukai monai and rhymes so right all within the tala meter like yengithavikinrEn and Tirindappin etc Wow wOw woW
Yes, it is lovely, I felt that way too 🙂, though with Tirinthappin.

Ranganayaki
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Re: Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by Ranganayaki »

rajeshnat wrote: 17 May 2019, 15:01 The vote of thanks was so touching and moving , tanglish speech by daughter of Gnanaskandan-SreeVidhya.

...

Personally feel the speech is worth emulating by future family patrons who are going to conduct remembrance day.
Yes a wonderful, crisp speech, very much to the point and focusing on things that are truly important to the world of music and not on personalities.

The best thing about it is that it was done before the concert, rather than the end, or even worse, in the middle, leaving all the attention to the artists, and allowing people to go home with the music in their minds.

Thanks for this recording, Rajesh.

rajeshnat
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Re: Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by rajeshnat »

Ranganayaki wrote: 17 May 2019, 09:47 My guess about Kalyani: it refers to the Divine Mother. Because he says “Paavai Kalyani” and then “puthalvane,” meaning the son of (Lady?) Kalyani .

I don’t think the split of Paavai into paa and vai is significant. It’s just the singing (I think)
Ranganayaki
The emphasis on paa vai gal yani could have been a ploy to bring in vai gal as an alliteration .

rshankar
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Re: Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by rshankar »

This is what I hear (after listening to both Sri SP and Abhishek Krishna's versions - they are concordant)

pallavi
idayakOil tanilE murugA un iNaiyaDi bhajitEnE

anupallavi
udayamAgum inda gnyAnatilE
enRum urudiyAy irukka ni aruLvAyE (idaya kOil tanilE...)

caraNam
yedaiyedaiyO eNNi EngittavikinREn
ingum angumAy alaindu tirindappin
nitam nitam unnayE ninaindu kaNNIr malgi
sadamillA vAzhvil un padam tuNaiyE enRu (idaya kOil tanilE...)

sadam = permanent, sadamillA = ephemeral/transient

rshankar
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Re: Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by rshankar »

Sri SP's additions
murugA
kandA
vaDivElA
veTRi vadivEla
Sakti vaDivElA
gnyAna pudalvanE
gnyAnaskandanE = the knowledgeable murugA
pAvai kalyANi pudalvanE = son (pudalvanE) of the auspicious (kalyANi) lady (pAvai), pArvati
muruganE

rshankar
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Re: Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by rshankar »

Here's what I hear from the link to the kalyANi kRti - the words are clear, except for the one in red which they mumble. If anyone hears it clearly, please do correct.

pallavi
vaigalum kANa vENDum unaiyE
mailai vAzh kaRpagamE, en tAyE

anupallavi
nAmagaL pUmagaL nALum tudi seyya
nAthan kapAlISan nADiDum nAyakiyE (vaigalum...)

caraNam
nanmaiyE seivAi nADivandOrkellAm
innal tanai agaTRi inbamE nalguvAi
minnal koDiyE unai maNNagattOr vaNangi
eNNaTRa nalam peRa yen mana dEviyE (vaigalum kANa...)

vaigalum = daily - a wonderful way to include the name of his village in the very first word of a beautiful kRti. Of course, any kRti on kaRpagAmbAL is bound to get my vote... :)

Ranganayaki
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Re: Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by Ranganayaki »

rshankar wrote: 18 May 2019, 00:03 This is what I hear (after listening to both Sri SP and Abhishek Krishna's versions - they are concordant)
Really? I feel so surprised! Of course I will take your word for it!

Sadam= permanent, sadamillA = ephemeral/transient
Yes, I think this is what Sree Vidhya explained to me and I relayed here.

Thank you, Ravi!

Ranganayaki
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Re: Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by Ranganayaki »

rajeshnat wrote: 17 May 2019, 21:21

Ranganayaki
The emphasis on paa vai gal yani could have been a ploy to bring in vai gal as an alliteration .
Yes, I was referring to the meaning, I thought you were referring to the split meaning-wise. You should have offered that yourself in your post 🙂. These details are up to each listener to be sensitive to the play on the words, and it’s wonderful that you were. I was not 🙂. But I don’t know if it adds enjoyment to me, personally. I didn’t particularly enjoy the paavai kalyani part. Though all the other words including Gnanaskandane were very nicely done. It sounded like a completely natural outpouring - up to “paavai kalyani.”

rajeshnat
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Re: Suryaprakash@vaigal gnanaskandan day (ragasudha) on May 04th,2019

Post by rajeshnat »

Ranganayaki wrote: 18 May 2019, 02:55 These details are up to each listener to be sensitive to the play on the words, and it’s wonderful that you were. I was not 🙂.
Ranganayaki,
Suryaprakash sang paavai kalyani then he split the paa vai gal as an immediate followup. More than the split for me then the substitution of kal by gal was very aurally distinct and hence I got it . If overall there was spur of the moment viruthamish phrases this paa vai gal preceded by paavai kalyani was musically nice to me . I am sure you agree only in live concerts there is this kind of attention which will not come in recordings.

On a side note atleast 10 to 12 years back in a partha swami sabha concert there is an amazing ragamaliga of many ragas stitched with different names of krishna like madhava kesava muralidhara kanna madhusudhana . For each of these names there was a raga and he ended that day with inru varuvAnO in kalyanavasantham . That concert arasi attended i did not make it . When she put a post here, there was one elderly person who had the enthusiasm to put lot of december live concerts then . The blog was aravindsdad.blogspot.com . I downloaded that then and that was too special with megaragamaliga viruththam. These special spur of the moment is some thing I adore and with vai gal there was a spur within a spur .

A point that i forgot to put , gnanaskandan birthday and deathday was just a day apart.That was announced also in the speech . Would be nice if sree vidhya also focusses on getting may be an exclusive gnanaskandan composition day concert . To start with disciples of gnanaskandan can collate all the available songs of composer Gnanaskandan and publish into karnatik.com taking the help of Lji.

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