Sangita Kalanidhi 2025

[shankarank]

Some my comments is not in response to your posting. But to the content of the lecture itself. Apologies if that was not clear.

So much narrative is being built on this one book, almost in accusatory tone against previous generation of musicians, not by RKSK , but by few others! Hence thought I should respond!

[sam]

I came across this nice article from sangeetham.com., on sankarabharanam.
I was wondering if composers prior to ShyamaSaastry had used this ragam. Could not get that info.
SS seems to have been a pioneer. with 3 classics.
Thyaagaraaja has given us 29 kruthis.
MD has given 8 kruthis. And ofcourse nottuswara saahithyams.

shankarabharanam.pdf
Sivakumar.orgQuoting article from sangeetham.com

Very detailed article. Will be of interest to
@shankarank sir.
---
It is a lengthy article. Here is an excerpt only.
--
As usual with great ragas, the Tiruvarur Trinity has produced masterpieces in this raga too.
Shyama Sastri's sarOjadaLa nEtri and the rare dEvi mina nEtri, the former in madhyamakAla and the latter in caukakAla provide ample testimony to the inimitable craftsmanship of this great composer. ....

Versatility marks the eternal quality of the compositions of Tyagaraja. shankarAbharaNam is no different. The bard has gifted the world with about 20 songs, all different in melodic structure and individuality, each outlining a different aspect of the rAga. The very popular enduku pEddhala, the philosophically advaitic and musically sublime manasu svAdhInamai, the cauka kAla masterpiece Emi nEramu, the evergreen swararAga sudhA rasa which expounds the great purpose of music,bhakti bhikshamiyyavE wherein the bard pleads to Rama to grant him devotion as alms and
budhirAdu, wherein the saint moans the silly and stupid ways of the world and mariyAda gAdurA -
all these kritis have only shankarAbharaNAm in common, but, what the poetry speaks of, the music underlying each of the pieces conveys in tone and with ultimate perfection, thereby rendering each of those compositions unique in raga bhAva. Who else but the Sage of Tiruvaiyyaru could achieve such excellence in the world of tonal art? With the infinite musical
possibilities of shankarAbharaNam, is it any wonder that the great Tyagaraja has coaxed the raga to yield all kinds of rasas? His other compositions include eduTa nilicitE, endukI calamu, ramA
ramaNa and many others. He has also composed a number of divyanAma kIrtanas in shankarAbharaNam, of which the brisk ones like gatamOhA srita pAla and varalIlagAna lOla are akin to the western notes.
-
Muttuswami Dikshitar's popular akshayalinga vibhO has the same dhAtu as Tyagaraja's manasu swAdhInami in the pallavi. If the prosodic beauty in the anupallavi blends perfectly and is stunningly beautiful musically, it is due in no small measure to the great scope that the rAga possesses as to the limitless creativity of Dikshitar. His dakshiNAmUrtE in jhampa tALa is another
masterpiece that testifies to his genius and wherein the music itself reveals in subliminal tone, the truth of Silence as exemplified by Lord Dakshinamurti Himself. Such is the soulful quality of the song. girijaya ajaya and sadAshivam upAsmahE bring out the highly creative Dikshitar. In these
two songs, he has explored certain rare combinations spanning the three octaves. All said and done, his navAvaraNA kriti in shankarAbharaNam is a class by itself. What better way to invoke the Goddess than to just sing the pallavi lines of this masterpiece? The elevating quality of the
riShabha of shankarAbharaNAm is utilized to create the effect and the presence of the Shrine itself. Dikshitar's nOTTuswara songs, numbering around 40 are all based on shankarAbharaNam and correspond to western tunes.

[shankarank]

That was an article by Sanjay himself. I have read it in the original site.

From that article in pdf:

Unlike kalyANi, niShAda is generally treated as a
passing note here, but its role is more significant as an anusvara, rather than as a whole svara. It
is common to hear ShaDja varjya and pancama varjya prayOgas both in the ascent and descent
of kalyANi, which is the prati madhyama counterpart of shankarAbharaNam.

Classic semi tone suppression in action! Reason, Muddu Venkatamakhin rejected Kalyani as an import from North! That semitone could not be suppressed , hence they use Varjya prayagas in KalyANi to provide ranjakatvam.

A semitone dominant kalyANi can be heard only from Dr. BMK or his followers. With light music ears, we all went gaga over it.

An azhuttam kalyANi will almost use varALi madyamam with M2 becoming a passing note again.

Instead of meandering with an assortment of facts, we should get to the philosophy or essence of the matter.

bEgaDa became classified under SankarabharaNam, precisely because of semitone distance handling by eschewing N2 on ascent and stretching it upwards on descent. There is no HarikAmbodhi - azhuduvadiyal in bEgaDa where the D2-N2 is in trisangu state in nowhere land in HarikAmbodhi.

One chaya svara N3 alpa prayoga, clinches the deal in favor of SankarAbharaNam.

It is not the phrase or gamaka that needs tracked. It is reasonance stupid, when it comes to rAgAs.

[sam]

I understand that both sankarabharanam and kalyani are parent scales in govindacharya mk scheme. Sankarabharanam uses m1 and kalyani uses m2.
..so even without all these technicalities, a listener can easily differentiate the two.
Typical sankarabaranam is sarojadhaLa Nethri.
https://youtu.be/zi_K-aAkRGk?si=FHc2Zvx_WuEZo9du

Typical kalyaNi is
Watch "Kalyani Raga Alapana by MS Subbulakshmi" on YouTube
Nidhi Chala Sukama MS Subbulakshmi

https://youtu.be/v3Nfs4BB398?si=VGbF2FDr-_vv_84F.
.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=X6H873OVcNg&feature=shared

[sam]

"MS Amma and her music -
A Tribute by
R K Shriramkumar & team".

https://youtu.be/Yg6qOAGBiDw?si=Z_q9rUO1KtJbVrkm.
..
A most wonderful and heartfelt tribute to MS Amma and her music by Shri R K Shriramkumar, Amritha Murali, Bharathi Ramasubban and Aishwarya Vidhya Raghunath. .

This enlightening session recorded in Sep 2020 covers the incredible expanse of MS Amma's Music with keen observations and deep insights.

As R K Shriramkumar wrote
" Smt M S Subbulakshmi’s presence, contribution and impact in society and the musical arena of our country in particular, stands unparalleled. The realm of Carnatic music has seen many a great musician. However, with the advent of Amma, as she was addressed, with reverential fondness, it crowned itself with a glory of becoming global. Amma dedicated her life and soul to the cause of preserving, propagating and promoting this beautiful art form in all its splendor. Having grown up with Amma’s music all my life, to have been associated with her, to have been fortunate to learn so much from her, to have shared many a concert platform with her and to have been a beneficiary of her unconditional affection and care – words miserably fail to express the feeling of gratitude, happiness and honour as I recount these golden memories"
Sangeethapriya.org has more than 100 concerts of Smt M S Subbulakshmi


Highlights :
00:00:00​ Introduction
00:02:35​ Om Namah Pranavarthaya
00:04:12​ Insights - Practice Methodology and Akaara Practice (multiple speeds)
00:18:06​ Anecdotes - Learning from Smt Siddheswari Devi
00:20:19​ Insights - Approach to compositional forms
00:23:56​ Viribhoni Varnam (second speed) and insights
00:30:15​ Insights - Expanse of MS Repertoire
00:36:21​ O Ranga Sayee Anupallavi Sangatis and insights
00:40:59​ Dharini Sangatis and insights
00:44:57​ Ninnuvina (Navarasa Kanada) and insights
00:51:09​ Vandinam Muralum Solai (78 rpm record) and insights
00:54:44​ Anecdote - First song that Shri RKS learnt from MS Amma and insights
00:58:45​ Akshyalinga Vibho and insights
01:06:11​ Padam - Kuvalayakshiro excerpt and insights
01:12:15​ Excerpt - Raga Kalyani and insights
01:25:53​ Excerpt - Raga Simhendramadhyamam and insights
01:35:17​ Excerpt - Raga Begada and insights
01:45:12​ Neraval (Kalyani) and insights
01:48:04​ Neraval(Pushpalatika) and insights
01:51:57​ Pallavi Neraval and insights
01:58:57​ Kalpana Svaras and insights
02:02:51​ Ragamalika Kalpana Svaras for Pallavi and insights
02:04:34​ Tanam and insights
02:06:10​ Bhajan and insights
02:09:44​ Anecdote and Learning Prabhuji (home recording)
02:12:25​ Anecdote and Raga Peelu (home recording)
02:15:00​ Dhava Vibho excerpt and insights
02:17:31​ Viruttam
Additional listening :
Sangeethapriya.org has more than 100 concerts of Smt M S Subbulakshmi

[sam]

Some excerpts from the transcript.
...when i hear amma's music because her music makes you go beyond all the the so-called technical uh appreciations and it it lands you in an experience in a blissful experience where i think it is just uh bliss all over and words really fail to describe this kind of bliss i have experienced this multiple times and i've been very fortunate to uh have been with her and to have shade uh stage with her to have to learn from her that is one of the biggest blessings in my life and i cherish that all my life.
.
the purpose of carnatic music i believe is just not in the technical aspects of it it is just not that it of course that is very important that is a very important uh part of the music but the core of the of carnatic music especially lies the fact that it transcends all this and leaves the listener in into a into a state of bliss and she did not sacrifice any of these elements in her kachiri she in her music was complete with all these aspects yet it transcended all these elements
.

[Nick H]

When I first met Sri RKSK (maybe 2005ish)...

Probably he was already Vedavalli-amma's regular violinist, but I had no idea at all about his history, and that he had been MS-amma's accompanist. That he had reached such heights some years previously.

I enjoyed his playing so much (sorry, I don't remember other details of the concert) that I spoke to him afterwards, saying, "I want to hear your solo concert." With complete sincerity, he replied, "I don't think I am ready for that yet." Thinking back about that, I'm sure that he must have been completely confident about the simple fact of playing alone for 2 hours, or 20 hours. There must have been some level of accomplishment that he felt he had not yet achieved.

I have seen, met and listened to him many times since (including, of course, a number of solo concerts). He continues to be not only one of my most favourite musicians, but also one of the nicest people I know.

In partnership with Naada Inbam and Ragasudha Hall there has been a Vedavalli-school concert on my birthday, for last several years. Since Amma herself no longer had the health to perform, it has mostly been given by Sumithra Vasudev. A few years back, she accepted the idea/challenge to perform a concert with neraval for every song, and we have kept that format since.

The most recent one was last week, and I was honoured by RKSK's presence on the stage (with Ganapathyraman, mridangam) Please see the video, not only for Sumithra's amazing music, but for SK-2025-RKSK's wonderful contribution:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2kX_95jbPQ&t=16s

I love Ganapathyraman's playing too. By next day, I had confirmed all three to play on July 4 2026!

[sam]

@Nick H
In partnership with Naada Inbam and Ragasudha Hall there has been a

Vedavalli-school concert on my birthday, for last several years.

.
I am a newcomer totally distant from the concert circuit events in Madras.
May I know how your birthday came to be celebrated year after year in Vedavalli school? How come you got interested in CM and in what professional/ technical capacity and cmrasika/artiste role you have been involved in chennai cm circuit? Since which year? What background brought you to chennai from London? Why not add a pen portrait in lounge?

[sam]

RK Shriramkumar -
Sanskrit Compositions of Saint Tyagaraja |
Ranjani Memorial Concerts- 2021 |
Day 4"
https://youtu.be/nD9ofSQuxkY?si=cOtIwkceEPTynhgi.
Sanskrit compositions of Saint Tyagaraja - A Lecture Demonstration by Sri RK Shriramkumar.
Vocal assistance : Vid Amrita Murali
Violin : Sri Madan Mohan
Mridangam : Sri K Arun Prakash
Tambura : Kum Nanditha.
Kum Nanditha

Ranjani Hebbar is remembered in Udupi by her parents and her well wishers through 'Ranjani Memorial Trust' established in 2014. The trust is organizing educative concerts and helps those who promise to dedicate themselves for the cause of Indian classical music. The Trust has been arranging concerts during the week of Ranjani's birthday i.e, 9th September every year for the past 7 years to commemorate this great artiste and bring forth many more Ranjanis of today...
.Ranjani Hebbar - Wikipedia
Passed away at very young age of just 29 due to cancer.
AIR artiste

.

[Nick H]

I am a newcomer totally distant from the concert circuit events in Madras.
May I know how your birthday came to be celebrated year after year in Vedavalli school? How come you got interested in CM ... ... ...

It is a very long story, Sam. Over fifty years in "real time" . and i have been with rasikas.org and the previous forum (that was shut down) that some of us used to attend. Even USENET! rec.music.indian.classical, I think it was, in late 80s when I first started using a computer.

In my childhood I listened to mostly Western classical music, and my parent's 78rpm records from 30s and 40s. My father was not at all a music listener, but worked for a newspaper and sometimes brought home review copies. My first (that I remember) favourite record was Harry Belafonte's Island In The Sun. I wore it out! I did not much like most of the western pop music of the early 60s. Sure, some of it was just commercial rubbish anyway, but it was only later that I came to appreciate the better stuff. I didn't even like The Beatles, at first!

In my later teens, my horizons broadened to folk rock and rock ("Progressive," we called it back then, to differentiate it from the more commercial pop) Some of this included instruments from India, and that very much caught my ear. Coming from a classical background, even in rock music, I preferred a 20-minute piece to a 3-minute song. I was also drawn to the more improvisational stuff. As it might have been put way back then, my mind was blown by hearing improvisational, psychedelic music at college. And that was my music for the next several years. And I do still love it.

There was Indian influence in quite a lot of that music. I didn't know that at the time, in fact I am still finding out, in some cases.

Moving on into my twenties... I do not know what my first Indian concert was, although I particularly recall a then-young Shiv Kumar Sharma. I would see ads for rock concerts, be tempted by many, but it then tended to be Indian music that would get my backside on the seat.

Glossing over my swing from Hindustani (most western performances of Indian music tend to be) to Carnatic, I decided to try to learn something. I joined mridangam class at BVB London. I am useless at memory learning and very, very bad at numbers: I was a first-year student for nearly ten years, but my guruji (still a good friend) accepted my interest. I made a little progress with morsing, and used to play it with my classmates and baby concerts.

Glossing over, again, the how and why... I have been settled in India since 2005 and, of course, a regular concert goer.

I first saw Smt Vedavalli in London, I think in 1997 and completely fell for her and her music, so I sought out her concerts here. 2005-2022, there were not many that I missed. Of course, I came to know the wider circle of her students and their concerts too. And they came to know me. And, even though I am no music student, I got somewhat adopted into the parampara. There is an interview with Sumithra Vasudev on Parivadani youtube channel: towards the end, she interviews me.

When I was 59, celebrating my birthday with a trip to Kerala, I though of marking 60, the next year, with a concert. I had come to know Smt Jaya Balakrishnan* at Ragasudha Hall, so I spoke to her about it, saying that I most wanted it to be Smt Vedavalli. I very nervously asked her myself, after one of her subsequent concerts and was so chuffed when she said, "I'd be delighted!"

That is a subset of a nutshell of me, carnatic music, Chennai, Ragasudha Hall and Smt R Vedavalli, whose musical family very much includes 2025-SK Sri RKSK!


*It is not possible to be an RS-Hall regular and not get to know her: she will get to know you!
It had always been a favourite venue, but my relationship with RS Hall was cemented during the covid period when people were allowed out but public events were not permitted. Smt Jaya continued to hold streamed concerts (as did Arkay Ramakrishnan) to support the musicians and provide music for those stuck at home. By this time, I had also become a photographer of concerts. Public was not allowed: but photographers were . That is another story!

[uday_shankar]

Some my comments is not in response to your posting. But to the content of the lecture itself. Apologies if that was not clear.

Understood. No apologies required :).

[sam]

@Nick H,
Sir, Thank you very much for the reminiscense.
Are you an acoustic engineer / curator? Just curious.

[Nick H]

Are you an acoustic engineer / curator? Just curious.

No Sam, not at all.

Was a bit of an audiophile before my hearing got too bad. Have an interest in microphones and stuff: enough to know how badly many of our singers use them! I would send them on a course: how to use, and not to use, this important thing in front of you!

[sam]

@Nick H
Sir, Thank you. Though I have a christian background, i have absolutely no ear for western music,classical(not that WCM is confined to Christianity) or pop of any kind.
If you have been following Indian classical music for decades and tuned to the Indian Raaga system, and if things like sruti and elaboration are your preference, HM offers them in plenty especially in Dharwar school.
And ofcourse, in the great muslim gharanas.
CM Is something more, just as the choir music is something more than the music. CM is special because, it is kruthi-centric.
And the kruthis are deeply rooted in hindu religious lore and pantheon.
That lore is actually very simple ...
Crystalized perhaps by Kaldasa during the Golden age of Guptas for 400 years from 200 AD to 600 AD, centered around siva, paarvathi, ganesa,subramanya, vishnu ,(brother of Parvathi,) his many incarnations among which raama and Krushna are prominent.
Valmiki Raamaayana, Mahaabharatham and Bhagavatham.
are the treasures which form the foundation of CM and its culture.

Some effort to study these puranic and popular centuries-old traditions, deeply ingrained in the minds of millions and millions of common people all over the country, is ,essential to really get touched to our heart by CM.. and all the major Indian languages are just local variants of Sanskrit the language of intelligensia of Gupta era with its towering heights in mathematics, technology,astronomy and medicine not to mention, literature and arts.
Chinese traveller FaHien has left records. .
Tamils also were affected by Sanskrit though to a lesser extent.

May be, CM was RTP prior to the daasa singers and Trinity. .
But , it has been devotional saahithyam based for 500 years now.
All the thousands of kruthis,are short and '3 minutes -stuff'.'
Even HM greats have given us gems in vintage records.

There is a place for raagam aalaap etc, no doubt, but even
Vedavalli madam, would have given priority to saahithyam before music.
This is the genuine CM tradition in contrast to HM tradition,.
Both are unique and national to the core.
CM much more so, because of its lyrics..
we can never really appreciate the music of daasa songs and the Trinity, without a firm grounding in Hindu, religious traditions.

In our family, kruthi singing is part of every day life,busy wage-earning professionals though we are.
. It is pure bliss...not as listeners but as singers, however coarse the rendition may be.

Shriramkumar, follows that tradition. As we know, his grandfather venkatarama sastry was a regular violin accompanist to MSS.
.
Ramakatha Sudha Rasa -
Madhyamavathi
Bombay sisters
https://youtu.be/b_8VKDpZMQw?si=K3QSHbr-xAmhHO3p

Dorakuna Ituvanti Seva -
Thyagaraja Swami -
Bilahari - Ranjani & Gayatri.
"
https://youtu.be/hiOAaR6Cjsw?si=zQlRp5afTNB2GViQ
...
Visuals take away the serenity of music.
I saw a pop rendition of a sweet swarajathi ..same Raagam Bilahari..and the visual was simply revolting.

https://youtu.be/aaNQsesWpUo?si=2Vb3co22PNyX3fUe
Ugh!,




..

[Nick H]

Each to their own, Sam. I know rasikas with very wide horizons, varied tastes, and considerable knowledge of different types of music Our late member Nagewaran had wide-ranging tastes; our young member, Ragav, knows more about Western-Classical than I ever did or will; our member SureshVV knows some of my favourite rock bands from his decades in America. And this is just three that I came to know personally, I am sure there are more.

Is any of that compulsory in any way? Of course not! Even within Carnatic itself, there is music that uplifts my soul... and music that I run away from! Perhaps there are filmy/light/fusion presentations that you and I would, together, run away from! And serious, deep presentations that we could share the serenity of.

There lies joy for each one of us.

(Do listen to my birthday concert by Sumithra*, because I suspect that it might meet some or many of your requirements of music.)


*I should day, Sumithra's concert that she gave on 4 July 2025: it is the music that matters, not some guy who happened to have a birthday that day

[sam]

R K Shriramkumar & Party
(Lec-dem) -
Nādabhṛṅga 2nd Anniversary.
https://youtu.be/MyAmAWmh_lA?si=ohg49SlpKG3huNXX
.
Vidwan Sri R K Shriramkumar who gave an in-depth and scholarly presentation titled "
An experience of the saṅgīta and sāhitya of the Trinity".
He was most ably supported by his disciples Kum. Amritha Murali and Sri Ramakrishnan Murthy vocally, Vidwan Sri K Arun Prakash on the mridangam, and his disciple Madan Mohan on the violin