Surprise Combination at NSG Concert Today-13-2-2008

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 13 Feb 2008, 12:49

Today at 7.00 pm under the Auspicious of Brahmotsavam Celebrations of Ananthapadmanabhaswamy Temple, Adyar Chennai Shri.Neyveli Santanagopalan will sing to the accompaniment of Shri.SD Sridhar, Mannargudi Shri.Eswaran and Mannarkoil J Balaji on mridangam.

Kindly attend.

JB

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 13 Feb 2008, 14:30

Interesting combo! Unfortunately I will need to meet up with some clients over dinner...otherwise would have loved to attend! All the best anyway and look forward to the write-up!

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 13 Feb 2008, 16:49

double mridangam!! Should be a great treat to listen to the thani...

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 13 Feb 2008, 21:35

Only saw this at 9.35pm, otherwise I might well have done.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 13 Feb 2008, 22:34

s-hari,
Double mrudangam it was, at Srikantan's concert in Bangalore the day before yesterday. Both Srimushnam and Sudhindra, guru and sishyA played, with Nagaraj on the violin.
It was an impressive affair. Even someone as dim-witted as I am when it comes to layA understands that Srimushnam is tremendous. Of late, I can hear the subtle sounds of his mrudangam clearly, now that he does not opt for increased volume for his mike. Sudhindra had almost equal time, and it was really nice to hear them. both...

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 14 Feb 2008, 08:03

Guru and Sishya playing is not very rare and also the task of the sishya is not daunting. There are many guru-sishya combinations. in the earlier days Palani Subramania Pillai and Trichy Sankaran used to play. Later years during arangetrams sometimes the Gurus used to lead the disciple. I have played along with my guru (Ramanathapuram M.N.Kandaswamy) for the Great TRS in one concert. Palghat Raghu sir and his Grandson (i forgot his name). TK Murthy and Sivaraman (Sethalapathi Sivaraman) and many such combinations are there among guru-disciples and between disciples also. I have played alongwith Shri.K.Arunprakash in a concert about 20 years back for Chidambaram Brothers (Violin Duet) Late Durai Swaminathan and Durai Balasubramaniam.

But this one which i played is really a surprise combination since me and Eswaran Sir dont belong to the same school and we have never been together on stage except on occasions of Tyagaraja Pancharatna renditions. Playing a concert is something different with two distinctive styles of percussionists and it is demanding for the younger one as the senior artiste has rich and vivid imagination which the other artiste has to match up and quickly play back.

I am actually waiting for Mr.Uday to give the review of the concert. If not i shall post later.

JB

mri_fan · Post by **mri_fan** » 14 Feb 2008, 09:13

I have a TVS recording with Sri Guruvayoor Dorai and Sri Trichy Sankaran with a Keervani main piece (papanasam sivan).

And the grandson of Palghat Raghu is Sri Palghat Anand.

uday_shankar · Post by **uday_shankar** » 14 Feb 2008, 09:24

This concert experience was somewhat diminished for me due to the poor acoustics of the hall as well as interruptions. With the result I couldn't follow the proceedings with a clear grip, except towards the end when I found a place in the first row. Even there the acoustics were not good

.

Here's a partial list:

Vidvan Neyveli Santhanagopalan - vocal
S D Sridhar - violin
Mannargudi Easwaran - mridangam
Mannarkoil Balaji - mridangam

1. BEgada varnam
2. Shri Mahaganapthi... - gowlai
3. SAdhinchane
4. ??
5. Darbar - yochana
6. Tulasi Bilva - Kedara gowlai (main item)
7. Srinivasa - Hamsanandi
8. Tiruppugazh - Suratti

What is one to say about our NSG, the quintessential nAdopAsaka ? After the concert I went up to him and congratulated him. He replied with usual humility that it was all "periyava pichai" and I told him that that may be the case but for us rasikas it is his pichai

. It appears he was nursing a bad post-season throat but in spite of that he created superb sketches of ragas, throwing in an occasional super briga. NSG excels in sowhhyam so much that one sometimes forgets his formidable briga talents. SD Sridhar played some good raga sketches and intelligent sparring in the swaraprastharas.

The tani was certainly memorable with veteran mridangam player Easwaran and senior mridangam player Balaji sparring. Both played extensive thrishram variations although the koraippu was back in chaturashram, with breaks at samam, arudhi, etc instead of a half beat later. I also liked that the two mridangam players after the koraippu played some long sarvalaghu passages instead of rushing to the korvai and getting it over with!

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 14 Feb 2008, 10:52

The 4th Item of the concert was in Varali, Aazhimazhai Kanna, Thiruppavai. Actually the mike that was arranged for me was getting on interrupted and i informed him also about it .. but it went to the deaf ears of the mike man. Anyway it was one of the unforgettable concerts for me.

Thanks mri-fan for the information about Guruvayur Dorai Sir and Trichy Sankaran *(and also reminding me about A.Anand son of Ananthakrishnan). But in this case also Dorai sir belongs to Palani School and Trichy Sankaran is also of the same school. (btw Could you upload TVS concert if it is not commecial PLS )

What i wanted to highlight was the fact that two different styles of percussionists on stage co-ordinating a concert was really a surprise for rasikas and even for artistes.

...and Uday Tks for the excellent review

J.Balaji

sraja · Post by **sraja** » 14 Feb 2008, 11:37

In 2001 it was I think , there was a concert at Sastri Hall which had OST accompanied by UKS and Neyveli Narayanan.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 14 Feb 2008, 14:27

Thanks Uday and Balaji...expected no less...

lsangeetham · Post by **lsangeetham** » 14 Feb 2008, 19:47

The TVS sir concert was TK Murthy mama with Sankaran sir. I initially thought it was Upendran sir, but later had a chance to ask Sankaran sir himself about this concert and he said that it was Murthy mama who played.

sankirnam · Post by **sankirnam** » 14 Feb 2008, 22:09

Yes, the concert recording in question was held in Toronto in 1981, during TVS's North American tour then. Violin was Chalakudi Narayanaswami, and mrudangam accompaniment was by TK Murthy and Trichy Sankaran. In all the other North American concerts in that tour, TVS was accompanied by Chalakudi and TKM, but since Sankaran lives in Toronto, I guess they decided to do double mrudangam with him.

I have the full recording of that concert, along with the speeches. It was a Tamizh Isai concert, in memory of Subramanya Bharathi.

There is another double mrudangam concert from the 1981 tour, in Cleveland, for the Thyagaraja Aradhana. In Cleveland, Ramnad Raghavan played double mrudangam along with TKM sir.

Talking about double mrudangam concerts, I have a recording of Pazhani and Sankaran from AIR (just 2 thanis). Raju also uploaded a long time ago one concert of MC and TNK (violin duet) accompanied by UKS sir and Upendransir.. outstanding recording quality. The naadham of both their mrudangams is very similar, as UKS sir used to play kappi back then!

I also heard B. Sivaraman and TKM sir double mrudangam concert once in KGS in 2006, playing for TNS.

And yes, my guru Neyveli Narayanan has played one double mrudangam concert with his guru UKS sir, that was in Sastri Hall in August 2002, accompanying OST. The function was in memory of Sathyamurthi, the freedom fighter.

And of course there are plenty of earlier recordings of PMI with his son Rajamani doing double mrudangam for Alathur Brothers or Ariyakudi.

Flute Mali was the first to pioneer the concept of double mrudangam, or even mrudangam and Thavil concerts. There is one recording of Upendransir and his father in law, Tavil vidwan Shanmughasundaram accompanying Mali. Like that, UKS sir and Upendransir have played for Mali together on many occasions. There are also some recordings of KRM and Upendransir playing double mrudangam! fantastic stuff...

And of course, during the 70-80's, when Lalgudi pioneered the Violin-Veena-Venu trio, they did a lot of concerts with UKS sir and TKM sir double mrudangam! In fact there is one story about how they got to decide who had to sit on the left, but that is for another time i suppose

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 15 Feb 2008, 02:59

In fact there is one story about how they got to decide who had to sit on the left, but that is for another time i suppose

Sankirnam, do tell. This sounds like an interesting story.

In fact, Cleveland has featured a few double mridangam concerts. In the early 90s KVN & N Ramani accompanied by Ramnad Raghavan and Upendran (this is commercially released in the paddatthi series by charsur).

Another is a late 90s concert of chitraveena-venu-viola with Ravikiran, Ramani & Balamuralikrishna with Srimushnam Raja Rao and Guruvayur Dorai. The tani in this concert is spectacular, although Sri Dorai was not amplified very well.

This year there is a combination of Sri Easwaran with Vellore Ramabadhran (accompanying Carnatica bros I believe).

mri_fan · Post by **mri_fan** » 15 Feb 2008, 03:42

Cleveland 2002 also featured a concert with BMK on the viola, Ramani on the flute and Ravikiran on the chitraveena. Guruvayoor Dorai and Srimushnam Raja Rao played along.

Cleveland has had some interesting combinations over the years...this year will have Vellore Ramabhadran with Manargudi Easwaran and last year had Raja Rao with Tanjore Murugapoopathy (Upendran school). Both concerts were with the Carnatica Bros.

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 15 Feb 2008, 07:16

mahavishnu wrote:fact, Cleveland has featured a few double mridangam concerts. In the early 90s KVN & N Ramani accompanied by Ramnad Raghavan and Upendran (this is commercially released in the paddatthi series by charsur).

IIRC this was not a Cleveland Aradhana concert but a house concert. Sri R. Ramesh is one of the mridangam artistes. I'm not sure if Sri Upendran played for this.

mri_fan · Post by **mri_fan** » 15 Feb 2008, 10:11

I have this CD...Ramnad Raghvan is really the only audible mridangam player in this cd. There were some other players, but they were students of Raghavan and didn't really play much. raghavan played for the vast majority of the time.

Prashant and Mahavishnu are both right...it was a house concert in the organizers of the Cleveland Aradhana house during the last day of the aradhana

mahesh_narayan · Post by **mahesh_narayan** » 15 Feb 2008, 12:11

I remember having read somewhere about a double mridangam concert of the Alathur Brothers with Raghu Sir and UKS Sir? Anybody with a recording?

Somewhere in the concerts section of sangeethapriya.org, there is a TVS Sir concert featuring double mridangam. The main piece is Punniyam Oru Kodi. One of the mridangam artistes is Sankaran Sir. Who is the other one? The concert also contains Gnanamudapanam in Jyotiswarupini.

rajumds · Post by **rajumds** » 15 Feb 2008, 13:04

There were many concerts of Mandolin Srinivas with Sri Valangaiman Shamugasundaramand Sri Upendran in the 80's

sankirnam · Post by **sankirnam** » 15 Feb 2008, 16:10

Mahesh, that TVS concert is the one from Toronto 1981, special Tamizh Isai concert in memory of Subramanya Bharathi, held during TVS's 1981 North American tour. Violin was Chalakudi Narayanaswamy, and mrudangam in that concert was TK Murthy sir and Trichy Sankaran.

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 15 Feb 2008, 17:57

Prashant, Yes Ramesh did play mridangam for that concert and not Upendran. I stand corrected.
mri_fan, thanks for the clarification: the website of the recording company lists Trichy Sankaran as one of the artistes in addition to Ramnad Raghavan and Ramesh. http://www.charsur.com/aspx/AlbumDetail ... o=0&Ref=63
The concert was in 1983 and not in the 90s as I had written earlier.

mahesh_narayan · Post by **mahesh_narayan** » 15 Feb 2008, 18:18

Hi Mahavishnu,
The concert I was alluding to can be found here:
http://www.sangeethapriya.org/Downloads ... une84.html

The listing says S D Sridhar and Sankaran Sir. There are two mridangam artistes performing, and I wasn't convinced after listening to it that the second one is TKM Sir. I thought it must be some shishya of Sankaran Sir or someone like Srimushnam Rajarao Sir. The concert mentions the date as June 84.

Here is another concert from sangeethapriya:
http://www.sangeethapriya.org/Downloads ... mckrm.html.

This sounds very much like TKM Sir's vasippu.

Hence my confusion.

lsangeetham · Post by **lsangeetham** » 15 Feb 2008, 19:42

sankirnam, would you mind sharing pazhani sir and sankaran sir's thani (AIR recording that you have referred to) with us ?

Ragjay · Post by **Ragjay** » 15 Feb 2008, 20:26

Hi There is a Delhi concert of DKJ which I heard at N.Delhi in the company of MSG on the violin Murugaboopathy on the Mirdangam and Sivaraman on the kanjira....It was an outstanding concert and the tani was exceptional.... Bye Ragjay

appu · Post by **appu** » 15 Feb 2008, 21:05

Ragjay, Are you referring to Umayalapuram K. Sivaraman or someone else???????

mri_fan · Post by **mri_fan** » 15 Feb 2008, 21:31

For the TVS concert, the SECOND mridangam artist is 100% Trichy Sankaran. When I first listened, i thought the first artist was Guruvayoor Dorai, but after listening to it again, I'm convinced its TKM. TKM plays some Palani-style korvais, including on of Trichy Sankaran's common one, which was the reason for my confusion.

sankirnam · Post by **sankirnam** » 15 Feb 2008, 23:45

Yes, I have also heard about that DKJ concert, it was held in AIR Delhi during 1990 or so, UKS sir was supposed to play mrudangam but then CSM walked in, and out of deference for the senior artiste, UKS sir and DKJ agreed to let CSM (Ramanathapuram CS Murugabhupathi) play mrudangam for that concert, while UKS sir played kanjira.

sankirnam · Post by **sankirnam** » 15 Feb 2008, 23:48

Mahesh, those details are incorrect, what I said earlier stands (reg. TVS 1981 Toronto concert)

sankirnam · Post by **sankirnam** » 15 Feb 2008, 23:50

UKS sir also told me himself about one double mrudangam concert he played several decades ago, in IFAS (60's-70's) for Flute Mali, along with Yella Venkateswara Rao!

Sounds like a random combination, hence if anyone has the recording, I would love to listen! UKS sir also expressed interest in obtaining that recording...

thathwamasi · Post by **thathwamasi** » 18 Feb 2008, 23:17

Sankirnam

If UKS Sir can confirm some of the kritis played in that concert, I can look up for that recording.

For YACM's December 31st 1999 "On a musical journey" event, Karaikudi Mani Sir played with Vellore ramabadhran.

The other interesting combinations that readily comes to mind, is Palghat Mani Iyer with Palani Subramania Pillai Kanjira. I have heard that once PMI played Kanjira for KVN with Rajamani Mama on mridangam.

During the music season, I heard that Palghat Anand (Palghat Raghu's grandson) was scheduled to play Table for a concert with Karaikudi Mani Sir on Mridangam. But wasn't in Chennai to find out if that happened. If someone had attended that please confirm.

Thanks
T

rmdeer2000 · Post by **rmdeer2000** » 18 Feb 2008, 23:44

happened...and what a performance it was!!!

semmu86 · Post by **semmu86** » 21 Feb 2008, 07:34

and sri.sankirnam can please tell that story about how they deceided to sort out the left-right positions on stage??????