Tanjavoor Shankara Iyer @ Raga Sudha Hall

bhaktha · Post by **bhaktha** » 16 Jun 2007, 16:51

This is more an account of my experience than a concert review.
I have been reading a lot about Tanjavoor Shri Shankara Iyer and have heard a lot about him from many others. Though he has sung many times in the recent past, yesterday was the first time, I had a chance to witness his singing in person. The programme was organised by Shri JB and Shri AP in memory of their Guru's anniversary. I went at about 6.50 (the concert was scheduled to start at 6:15), expecting to hear the sub-main, but the artiste had not yet arrived. One could see some legends like Shri Ramani, Shri Santhanagopalan among the audience. Later Shri Sanjay, Shri TMK, Shri Varadarajan, Guruvayoor Shri Dorai, Shri RK Sriram Kumar came in one by one. I admit it was a humbling experience to be seated among such great men.
At around 7, Shri Shankara Iyer came in with his sishyas. In about five mins, they all were seated. The screen opened and when I was just expecting a warm up with some ummmss aahsss at Sa Pa, Ga etc, the vocalist launched directly into the abogi varnam. The way he started gave me goosebumps with just the indication of tearing into heavens, taking rasikas along with him. The swarams for the varnam were so beautifully done. Then came Gajavadana (Todi), with some swarams again. Till date, this is the best rendition of this song I have heard. Then came Kalyani in all its grandeur with some impressionable sangatis. This was followed by a short tanam and a pallavi. The violonist, Embar Kannan, executed the alapanai, thanam very well, with some nice sangatis at the tara sthayi. This was followed by a nice thani by Shri Mali with some catusram and tisram variations. Shankara Iyer followed it up with Rama katha with a short but sweet alapanai of madyamavathi. Then came kedaram in the form of rama nIpai. SOmeone in the audience next requested him to sing his composition in Vishnupriya, to which he said," enakku en paatu padardhe pudikadhu! en sishyaa paaduvaa" (I hate singing my own compostitions. My sishyas will sing), which the sishyas promptly did. Another composition of his in hamsanadam (an audience request again) was sung by his sishyas. The listerners were treated to some exquisite kambhoji which took the form of a viruttam. The viruttam consisted of bhairavi, s.priya and surutti, followed by sollavallayo kiliye. Then came manadukkugandhdhu in s.bairavi. When listening to this song, for a moment I thought I saw Lord muruga in front of my eyes (and believe me...this was no hallucination!). What pristine s.bairavi. The concert ended with karunajooda in Shri. SHri kannan and Shri MAli gave excellent support without intruding and following him like a shadow.
The following made this concert etched in my mind. I will never in my life forget his handling of nishadams for madyamavathi, hamsanadam, suruti and s.bairavi. What a beautiful surutti he sang for sollavallAyo kiliye. 5 mins of his surutti was like listening to devaganam. His music notwithstanding, his talk was even sweeter. He kept emphasising on the importance of sruthi and layam and implored students of music to give importance to these two aspects of music. He kept encouraging his accompanists a lot. Above all, I saw in him a rare virtue that most others lack (?)...humility. Such a legend.... and yet so humble. Words fail me at this moment. It was such a great experience. Those two hours were sheer bliss. Though he is old now and can't sing much (his sishyas supported him ably), the liitle that he sang was enough(as shri santhanagopalan later said," Oru swaram poradha anna, olagatiye kaamchutele!!- Just one swaram from you is enough...you have shown us a whole new world)). As I said earlier, not just his music, but his talk, vidwath, knowledge and above all his humility makes him what he is and as my friend once said, "Tanjavoor SAnkara Iyer is GOD!!"
Sorry about such a long post. I thought I should write all that I experienced yesterday, for it is not everyday that one sees GOD in person.
-bhaktha

Sathej · Post by **Sathej** » 16 Jun 2007, 18:14

Encouraging the accompanists?! Surely Embar Kannan would differ! I wasn't particularly impressed with the way he made some 'class-like' lessons he imparted to Embar.
Sathej

Sathej · Post by **Sathej** » 16 Jun 2007, 18:20

I think you missed Saadhinchane and Janaki Ramana-Suddha Seemanthini.
Sathej

bhaktha · Post by **bhaktha** » 16 Jun 2007, 18:26

@ Sathej,
Thanks for pointing out the two kritis I missed. And I am sure Shri Kannan would not have taken it in the wrong sense. The very fact that he's accompanying the veteran speaks volumes of his talent. Moreover, even if Shri Shankara Iyer made a few "class like" comments, it was not wrong. After all, it's shri Shankara Iyer who said that.
-bhaktha

saadhyaa · Post by **saadhyaa** » 16 Jun 2007, 19:27

thanks sri bhaktha....

i thought to attend but could not do so for i was held up....anyway nice write up and i enjoyed as if i was among the audience...

saadhyaa

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 16 Jun 2007, 20:11

Bhaktha,
Very nice review (or write up as you call it) which was from the heart. You took us along with you to the veteran's concert. These are concerts which many years from now, rasikAs would moan about, saying: how I wish I had heard him! It is the music that would stay. Not the quirks and flaws in an artiste, if we choose to zero in on them.
Nice to know a number of luminaries were present. After all, the concerts of Sankara Iyer, Nedunuri and other veterans should not be missed by rasikAs or artistes, if it is possible for them to attend.
Interesting, what Neyveli had to say. He too is a vidwAn who can please the audience with quality (and serenity) where the quantity of kritis or hours don't count...

bhaktha · Post by **bhaktha** » 16 Jun 2007, 22:20

Arasi ji,
Thanks...Btw, I was in two minds yesterday whether I should go to Raga Sudha hall or RK Swamy's hall (where Shri Gurucharan was singing). And I thank heaven for letting me attend this concert (No offence meant to Shri Gurucharan). As you rightly pointed out, rasikas will lament later that they had not attended such once-in-alifetime concerts. And thankfully enough, I am not one of them now! ( I already regret having missed ARI, MMI, GNB and SSI). I can probably hear Shri Gurucharan later this month but Tanjavoor Shankara Iyer?? I doubt, at least in the near future. And if you didn't know, Shri Santhanagopalan is ardent devotee of Shri Shankara Iyer.
-bhaktha

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 17 Jun 2007, 06:15

Surely Embar Kannan would differ!

I have seen bigger names wait for an appointment with Sankara Iyer , for days , when he was at his prime and a bit more mercurial.
The High Voltage audience is nothing new to him.I once took Thanjavur Sankar Iyer on my Bajaj Chetak Pillion for his concert at some residence in mylapore-The main Hall led to some sort of a small theatre with about 100 seats designed for music (Some day I should be building a house like that ! )He had promised to introduce me to many of the greats of the day- But one look at the audience (KVN-Lalgudi........) and I got the jitters and rushed back home after the concert , instead of joining them all for the post concert pleasantries.I would have died of shock If I had gone within a few feet of all those megastars.

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 17 Jun 2007, 09:20

In the previous concert on Shyama Sastri , TSI takes a dig at audiences which clamour for Eppo varuvaro and the Goshti Ganams from the ramparts of Tiruchendur Temple-while trying to emphasise that CM is meant only for the Chamber Music atmosphere and nothing else.( I read it as a dig at MMI and Somu)
Times change and some big names fail to fall in line with new realities, perhaps.
It is a modern day nicety , not to put the accompanists in a spot, or talk down to them, perhaps.

shripathi_g · Post by **shripathi_g** » 17 Jun 2007, 14:04

I personally don't agree with present day audiences requesting Thukkadas when they can listen to a recorded/commercial version of the same. It's more like they need something to take home. But I have been guilty of doing the same at a Sanjay concert recently.

Kji, I think the dig might have been more at TVS rather than MMI. TVS seems to sing the same thing regardless of whether the audience requested it or not. At a recent concert, my brother was noticed singing the swaras, for a Kambhoji piece, that TVS was going to sing in the next avaratana and was asked if he was a disciple of TVS. Anyway, I was recently looking at some old concert listings of his during his US tour way back in the 70s and 80s and I really wish he'd go back to them.

sbala · Post by **sbala** » 17 Jun 2007, 14:20

When I started listening (this is roughly 2 years back. I'm a pure 21st century rasika!!!), I was under the impression that the entire CM concert was performed extempore and I just could not reconcile artistes reeling off high speed swarams with that model. It took me a while to realise that a large part of it is well rehearsed. While, I've come to terms with that, artistes who improvise and challenge the accompanists always end up as my favourities. TSI is definitely one of my all time favorites. With other artistes, it's like working for a big firm where you are happy if you get your day's worth. With TSI you have the ambience of a startup where anything could happen any time and there is a chance that you might experience something completely new. Ultimately, music is bigger than any individual and TSÃ

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 17 Jun 2007, 20:01

Sbala,
For a twenty first century guy, you seem to have the savy of a seasoned listener and the maturity that goes with it.
You say 'music is bigger than any individual' and it says it all.
We rasikAs come to it in all sizes, shapes and age groups. One thing that binds us is the love of music. In this house (forum) of music, as in a happy house, we learn from each other, young from the old and the old from the young, we exchange stories, kid around, and as in a happy home, amid all this, there pervades a sense of values and respect for each other. That is why I love to belong here. This forum is not a sterile lab which we enter donning our white coats to perform scientific experiments. To me, The forum is an extension of living, to experience music in all its glory, forgetting how old or young we the rasikAs are and how old or young the artistes. A seasoned Sankara Iyer and a blossoming ten year old can both elevate us to heights because of the magic of music.
And, in the process, music blurs differences...

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 17 Jun 2007, 20:13

Does anyone have a recording of TSI? I would love to hear

-hari

kamavardhani · Post by **kamavardhani** » 17 Jun 2007, 21:43

Check out this Carnatica release of TSI:

http://carnatica.net/shoppingarcade/Prd ... .php?id=34

I bought this and was pretty impressed.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 17 Jun 2007, 22:09

sbala wrote:I was under the impression that the entire CM concert was performed extempore and I just could not reconcile artistes reeling off high speed swarams with that model. It took me a while to realise that a large part of it is well rehearsed. While, I've come to terms with that,..........

sbala, I understand and relate to what you are saying. Just a quick note here to say to not close that chapter with respect to coming to terms with that. There is something interesting and deep that goes on in that improvisation space with CM artists, professional and non-professional, reasonably good and experts. We will pick this up in some other appropriate thread later.

mahakavi · Post by **mahakavi** » 17 Jun 2007, 23:00

coolkarni wrote:In the previous concert on Shyama Sastri , TSI takes a dig at audiences which clamour for Eppo varuvaro and the Goshti Ganams from the ramparts of Tiruchendur Temple-while trying to emphasise that CM is meant only for the Chamber Music atmosphere and nothing else.( I read it as a dig at MMI and Somu)
Times change and some big names fail to fall in line with new realities, perhaps.
It is a modern day nicety , not to put the accompanists in a spot, or talk down to them, perhaps.

coolkarni:
I agree with you completely. I would just add that musicians, with very rare exceptions, are just human beings just like everybody else with all the frailties that we all have. They may have disagreements and disregard for each other occasionally and they may express it privately in a limited circle of family and friends. But to take a veiled dig at other musicians (as to their preferences) in public or even the audience for demanding certain songs is not commendable. After all without the audience the musician could very well be restricted to their own chambers, so to speak. While the silent majority of the audience may go along with what the musician renders, those (the few) who request certain songs respect the musician and hence the requests. If the musician denies such requests (I am not saying he should honor them all--some he may not even know the lyrics) it does not speak well of him either. The fact that tukkaDAs are available in CDs is not the answer. They want to listen live!

As for respecting the accompanists, the days of yore when the vocalist tells the violinist "konjam aDakki vAsi" (tone down your play) or tells the audience "pADaravALukkum kai taTTaNum" (you should also applaud the vocalist) are over.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 17 Jun 2007, 23:57

All,
I already typed most of my post saturday morning ,bit long . Just had time now to post now .

bhaktha,
An excellent post.

coolkarni,
I discovered a different TSI .

====================================================
ThanjAvur Sankara Iyer@rAgasudha hall on June 15th,2007
====================================================
Accompanied by embAr kannan - violin umayAlapuram mAli - mridangam with two sishyas (I dont know their names ) of TSI as vocal accompansits.

Carnatic Music and Hollywood movies are very special and have one special commonality . Though movies can be made elsewhere than hollywood and music can be anything other than carnatic , they both are clearly the best . There is one great movie made in hollywood "A few Good Men" starring Jack Nicholson who gave an impression that he was sarcastic and very threatening to his fellow folks but yet appeared very self assuring and admirable to all .That was hollywood , "A few good men".

Here was our ThanjAvur Shankara Iyer(TSI) one of the "A few good men" in Carnatic Music whose theme was "Let us all work together and bring better Carnatic Music",TSI like jack nicholson appeared very sarcastic and yet was admired by all.Shri TSI went along with a flow of krithis interlaced with crib filled speeches ,but the amazing professionalism in him is he tried to do a root cause analysis and found solutions than and there itself. The music concert was attended by more fellow artists than rasikas . I could spot Flute ramani,neyveli santhanagopalan,Sanjay, TMK, Ashok ramani , Amritha murali, guruvayur durai,RKSK ,varadarAjan and the two hosts arunprakash and balAji .

1. abhOgi varnam
2. gajavadana - tOdi - kumara ettendra
3. sadinchane - arAbi - T
Late only heard from kalyAni 4th I guess from the post of bhaktha.

4A. rAgam and mini TAnam
4B. nambinavar keduvathillai nAngu marai thirppu (S) - kalyAni - Subramania BharathiyAr
4C. tani
Having heard only once before TSI in a live concert at MFAC(posted a review before), where he was very concerned that the whole team has to click and each of us has to excel, that day it was subtlely told without speech,today he was expressively communicating the same message with a speech interlaced concert .

The kalyANi swaram had the right balance and at the end of tani he started with speech on the importance of shruti and layam. He gave an analogy comparing cricket and carnatic music. He appeared as vivian richards to me. Turned to the silly point and emphasised to umayAlapuram mAli that there should be more vigour and sound in mridangam (iirc at the beginning of tani).Well at that point it appeared as a silly point , but certainly I did hear a better tani and in particular there was a good left-right balance demonstrated by mAli from there onwards till the end of the concert.

5A. karpagame kanpArai - madhyamavati - pApanAsam Sivan
5B. rAga alApanai of madhyamavati
5C. ramakatha sudha (R,S) - madhyamavati - T

He started with a karpagame and sang few lines , well I was used to that as TSI goes with the mood and does not have any set pattern. A very detailed alApanai in madhyamAvati followed and he sang a nice swaram and rAga alApanai. Well madhyamAvati was a forward short leg nightmare for embAr kannan. When the alApanai return was just too short , he coerced him to play more and perhaps more distinct patterns of madhyamAvati. Certainly embAr played few good patterns . He made a passing comment that I am singing karpagame , alApanai and ramakatha sudha , because he wanted to appreciate pApanAsam sivan as a pure traditionalist who preserved thyagarAja's legacy

6. rAma neepai tanukku - kedAram - T
7. janaki ramana (S) - sudda seemantani -T
Both the krithis were quite good , particularly liked his creative swara patterns at the end of sudda seemantani, that was in direct contrast to few swara patterns like MMI or SSI generally deliver . TSI ensured the swara patterns to emphasise more layam for the mridangam.

8A. viruththam "mAsu vilayum mAlai veesum thendral" - kAmbOdhi + bhairavi + shanmughapriya??+ ShuruTTi - ???
8B. solla vallAyO - shuruTTi- bharathiyAr

TSI started with an excellent kAmbOdhi and fairly good bhairavi , lamented with a small speech that in a concert one has to include the big 5 rAgas and just joked that real shankarabharanam is nowadays more with the banner (perhaps he connected the movie ). The shuruTTi was very good. Subramania bharathiyAr's solla vallAyO was sung in two speeds , particulary the mEl sthayi was excellent , here TSI's advice was we musicians have to touch mEl Shadjam quite easily .

His cribs on the inner ring did not stop with forward short leg and sillypoint. When Shri flute ramani garlanded with shawls and when he garlanded the first slip and leg slip sishyas , TSI made a remark "atha pannungO athukku apparam ozhunga padaralA parpOM (Please garland my sishyas, atleast let us see if they are singing from now on)". His cribs also touched upon ARI and GNB where he referred when ARI was singing kAmbOdhi as yadukula kAmbOdhi and GNB asked as to why there was a shade of yadukula KAmbOdhi , ARI escaped by saying we can also sing that way. THat was a nice comment as till then I was thinking he is only more connecting today's artists and glorifying yesteryears vidwans.

9. veyuri thOli pangan - navarOz - kOlari padhigam (thevaram)
What a beautiful experience was veryuri thOli pangan , usually we all hear only as a viruththam by mmi school . Shri tsi sang as a krithi with good mridangam support,I am told that is how OduvArs sing it . What a beautiful rendition that too in a rAgam navarOz , where TSI specifically mentioned we also have to sing even rAgas like navarOz (perhaps he feels navarOz is dying).

10. bAla subramanyam pAdame - vishnupriya - ThanjAvur Shankara Iyer
11. ezhiludan hamsanAdam - hamsanAdam - ThanjAvur Shankara Iyer
12. manadirkku ugandhadu - sindhubhairavi - ThanjAvur Shankara Iyer

Two of his brilliant compositions which are rare followed . Heard this rAgam vishnupriya for the first time which had a close resemblance to charukEsi (Lji's bible refers it a melakartha #32 rAgavardhini janya ). A very good emotive song on Lord muruga was followed with his fantastic hamsanAdam composition popularized by his prime disciple santhanagOpalan. His mega hit sindhu bhairavi was sung well , again somewhere turning and telling his first slip and leg slip sishyas to put tAlam and making a straight comment , I want to be remembered as a good guru was very noteworthy

13. slokham "shreee rAmachandra shritha pAthi" - shree rAgam
14. karuNa jUDu ninnu nammina(S) - shree rAgam - Shyama sastri
Another surprise was his shree rAgam with swaram almost sang he sang like a submain, atleast to me I felt shyama sastri was given more importance than the usual one tarunam eedamma or kanaka shaila of many musicians who only sing one song for the sake of this less prominent trinity.

Apart from these , I was very happy to hear two statements when he said carnatic music is not bhajanai singing and one should not have fear when we get to the stage ,well that was more like jack nickolson telling "You cannot handle the truth" in the movie "A few good men".

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 18 Jun 2007, 00:39

Rajesh,
Just as an epilogue to your 'a few good men', in the movie at least, we could and did take the truth! And people like me will always root for a Daniel Kaffee/Tom Cruise to bring down the obnoxious Jessops/Jack Nicholsons of this world! I got the impression that his Col. Nathan Jessop was feared, but not admired. Jessop came off as a bully, who felt invincible, and was so wrapped up in his importance that he did not even realize when he stopped being a human being...So, that is why, to me, the comparison between Sri TSI and Jack Nicholson feels way off!:P

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 18 Jun 2007, 00:40

Rajesh,
Great review--stamped with your hallmark 'candid is my second name'. Your unflagging enthusiasm for CM comes through as it always does. Even for someone who has no idea about cricket jargon, it is an interesting read. Your analysis, as usual, adds weight to your review.

I have a feeling the viruththam is 'mASil vINaiyum, mAlai madiyamum, vISu thenRalum, vIngiLa vEnilum'...

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 18 Jun 2007, 00:44

Ravi,
I have not seen the movie. But there seem to be many interesting characters in it!

cacm · Post by **cacm** » 18 Jun 2007, 04:20

WE are fortunate to be in the pesence of a great composer & musician like Thanjavur Sankara Iyer- a great soul in addition. Thanks for the review. VKV

mahakavi · Post by **mahakavi** » 18 Jun 2007, 05:47

>>viruththam "mAsu vilayum mAlai veesum thendral" <<

The full vruttam is:

mAsil vINaiyum mAlai madiyamum
vIsu tenRalum vIngiLa vEnilum
mUsu vaNDaRai poigaiyum pOnRadE
Isan endai iNaiyaDi nIzhalE

--tirunAvukkarasar (aka appar)

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 18 Jun 2007, 07:51

Rajeshnat wrote : "Accompanied by embAr kannan - violin umayAlapuram mAli - mridangam with two sishyas (I dont know their names ) of TSI as vocal accompansits. "

The two students who accompanied TSI were Valivalam Venkatraman (who was sitting to the right of TSI near the mridangam) and Sankar (Sitting to the left of Sankar near the violin). Incidentally Sri.Sankar was my schoolmate in West Mambalam.

Mannarkoil J Balaji

Sathej · Post by **Sathej** » 18 Jun 2007, 09:39

Yes,the Viruththam was Maasil Veenaiyum. And Saadhinchane was sung before Gajavadana.
Sathej

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 18 Jun 2007, 19:13

rshankar wrote:Rajesh,
Just as an epilogue to your 'a few good men', in the movie at least, we could and did take the truth! ......So, that is why, to me, the comparison between Sri TSI and Jack Nicholson feels way off!:P

ravi,
I just realized that analogies has its own perils. :rolleyes: I tried connecting with the movie "A few good men", as I initially thought TSI fits exactly with the movie title. In that movie I like Jack Nicholson's acting more for his end court drama ,connected TSI only to performance.

Nevertheless what a creative vidwan and vaggayekara TSI is , his navarOz veyuri thOli pangan , vishnupriya and hamsanAdam still cruises my ears.

mahakavi · Post by **mahakavi** » 18 Jun 2007, 20:01

10. bAla subramanyam pAdame - vishnupriya - ThanjAvur Shankara Iyer
11. ezhiludan hamsanAdam - hamsanAdam - ThanjAvur Shankara Iyer
12. manadirkku ugandhadu - sindhubhairavi - ThanjAvur Shankara Iyer

Did I read elsewhere in this forum that TSI said upon somebody's request to sing one of his own compositions, "enakku en pADalgaL pADap piDikkAdu" or something in that vein? I also remember reading that one of his shishyAs sang the requested song. If so why 3 of his own here? Has there been a change of attitude?

bhaktha · Post by **bhaktha** » 18 Jun 2007, 20:31

All the three were audience requests and were rendered by his sishyas with Shri TSI joining in now and then.
-bhaktha

jagan · Post by **jagan** » 19 Jun 2007, 04:06

Sankara Iyer generally does not like singing his own songs. but sometimes he does sing on public request.
He used to say that some of the songs were written by him only because he felt he could not do full justice to the immortal creations of the Trinity in these ragas. and that rather than tampering with the great padantharas., he would write a new song.
The new ragas created by him also find place only very rarely in his concerts.
Many of us are persuading him to record his songs so that posterity will know exactly how he intended them to be sung. Recently, he taught a few of his songs to some students under the auspices of Intl Found. of CM (Ravi Kiran).