Hilarity in kutcheris

kadambam · Post by **kadambam** » 10 Mar 2009, 20:36

How would Ravi Shastri name his daughter? 'Tiru'purasundari

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 10 Mar 2009, 20:43

actually 'bala-tirupura'sundari

Arun

venkatpv · Post by **venkatpv** » 10 Mar 2009, 20:52

Q:name some compositions in shudda bangala

1. rama bhakti
2. tappagane
3. mmm... rabindra sangeeth

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 10 Mar 2009, 22:16

Once a vidwan was not having enough concerts. He was suddenly invited to perform at a major sabha. He imdly asked "Will u send me a car to and fro ?" The Secretary replied " You will have car while coming to the concert but while returning the arrangement of car will depend upon your success in the concert".

The vidwan tried his level best and despite his best efforts he was not doing well. He wanted to confirm whether he will get his Car way back from the secretary. The secretary was sitting in the second or third row along with his friend.

The vidwan started communicating with the secretary in Sangeetha Bhasha using swaras thus :

Ga Ri Ri Ga (Car Irukka ?) --> The Secretary said no by shaking his head ...

Pa Sa Pa Sa (Bus a ? Bus a? ) --> The Secretary said no by shaking his head ...

Then the vidwan was really worried .. no car and no Bus ? then how to go back home ?

Pa Da Sa Ri Ga (Padasariyaga va ?--> means through walking ?) ---> The secretary said yes ....

J.Balaji

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 10 Mar 2009, 22:32

The foreigner at Arvind's arrangetram made no such mistake

semmu86 · Post by **semmu86** » 11 Mar 2009, 06:16

good one nick

Arvind

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 11 Mar 2009, 06:44

Here is a joke told by Ghatam Karthik:

Despite her husband's protests, a wife started learning music and was very disciplined in practicing her singing in the morning hours. Every morning as soon as the wife started her practice, her husband would take the newspaper and sit on the balcony. After a few days, the wife asked the husband why he always left the room when she was singing. The husband replied coolly "I just want the neighbours to know when they hear screaming that it is not me hurting you!"

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 11 Mar 2009, 07:26

@ venkatpv

Nice one!

Aishu · Post by **Aishu** » 11 Mar 2009, 10:03

Once while traveling with Vellore Ramabhadran mama, he told me a joke. It went something like this. If an Indian architect built a high rise building in Japan, what would he call it?

"Nikumo Nikhado" (Will it stand, Wont it stand)

We were all laughing so hard.......

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 11 Mar 2009, 10:19

Arun, Aishu: Good ones.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 11 Mar 2009, 10:49

Semmu, the arangEtram joke is really good!
I like Nikkumo Nikkadho as well

A couple of years back when I was attending a concert by a rising vocalist, the mAmi next to me promptly fell asleep midway through the first piece and woke up only an hour later and immediately turned to me and remarked, "ivaL rombavE sumAr thAnE!" (She's really mediocre, isn't she?) I found it very amusing.

semmu86 · Post by **semmu86** » 11 Mar 2009, 11:10

One such incident this season.. I was attending nedunuri gAru's lec dem in academy about annamAchAryA's kritis and his contribution. One mAmA sitting beside me was talking in his cell phone right through out the lec-dem, much to the irritation of the people sitting around him..

After a call he himself got irritated and told firmly to the caller " Look am in an argument show. I cant talk rite now"..

Till date i used to think what he meant by an argument..could it be the lec-dem which he was referring to??

Arvind

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 11 Mar 2009, 11:35

Another Ghatam Karthik joke:

The Sikkil sisters were scheduled to give a concert but had to cancel due to indifferent health. Another artist was substituted in their place. An irrate fan confronted the sabha secretary and asked what happened to the flute duo. The secretary replied saying there was little he could do as one was 'sick' and the other was 'ill' (sick-ill)!

kamalamba · Post by **kamalamba** » 11 Mar 2009, 16:16

This was in one of the Anuradha Sriram-Sriram Parasuram jugalbandhi's at Bharat Kalachar.

At the end I don't remember who (either YG Mahendra or ARS) asked what sruti they were singing in, to which Sriram Parasuram replied that it was equivalent to ettu (8) kattai.

YGM, immediately replied "Oh mathavAlukku ettAdha kattaila padarA". The entire front rows were in splits.

appu · Post by **appu** » 11 Mar 2009, 18:45

kamalamba wrote:
YGM, immediately replied "Oh mathavAlukku ettAdha kattaila padarA". The entire front rows were in splits.

Kamalamba, Please translate the line in English

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 11 Mar 2009, 19:26

In my lec-dem, "layAnubhavam" in Michigan...

Sir, why ravA is kept on the left side of the mrudangam?

"well.. it gives the bass note and gamakam is produced by playing the gumki..

if there is no ravA, appuram... adhu, pAda'ravA', vAsikka'ravA', kEkka'ravA' ellArukkum thondha'ravA' irukkum... vechuNdA, music-kku Adha'ravA' irukkum...

(when played with out ravA on the left side, that will be a disturbance to the singer, player and all listeners... if played with ravA, it will be a supporting eliment to the concert and all.. )

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 11 Mar 2009, 19:38

ettu is 8 and also to reach. ettAdha means, can't reach...

kattai refers to sruthi and also body or human....

theriyumO, he plays in anjara (5.5 - G sharp)kattai, but, he is edhukkum anjaatha (never fearing) kattai...

rendara (2.5) kattaila, bhAvaththOda rendaRak kalandhuttA....
(rendu - two/ rendara - non dual)

also, kattai means (wood shell) mrudangam...

yEmpA... indha Aru(6 sruthi) kattai Aru(whose) kattai?

MDR used to say, "adayAr adayAr adayAr adayAr"

if one dose not reach river adayAr, he can never go to the place adayAr!

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 11 Mar 2009, 20:22

Erode 14 - Awesome puns!!

kamalamba · Post by **kamalamba** » 12 Mar 2009, 04:49

Erode sir; brilliant
Perhaps we should have a Rasikas.org "stand-up comedy" some time.
There are some priceless things you and others have said in this thread.

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 12 Mar 2009, 05:55

I have heard my guru say this: I t seems once a famous vidwan was singing;after an elaborate neraval and swaram, when he was going to the next song, the mridhangm artist requested him' anna, nAn kojam thani vAsikkarEnE' For which the musician replied,' iththanai nAzhi, nI en pATTukkA vAsichchE; nI taniA unpATTukkuttAnE vAsichchiNdirundE'.
Though the humour will be lost in translation,I will attempt:
When the mridangist asked the musician affter an elaborate neraval and swaram 'Sir, let me play a 'tani'now'; for which the musician replied 'all along ,were you playing for my song? You were playing on your own (un pATTukku means 'on your own' as well as for your own song)

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 12 Mar 2009, 07:01

A good one, Punarvasu! Another meaning to 'un pATTukku': not only on your own, as you wished, but also to 'un' pAttukku=to 'your' song, not mine!

Just logged on to the forum after a week of traveling. A fun-filled thread indeed!
Pun mannan (king) nAgarAjan, of course! He is such f(p)un. The layam group has several anecdote masters--Thanks Balaji, Srikant and other contributors...

gobilalitha · Post by **gobilalitha** » 12 Mar 2009, 08:17

what about GBL , the originator? Am I forgotten within a week of reaching your native(?)place? gobilalitha, the funster!!!

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 12 Mar 2009, 10:05

rshankar wrote:Erode 14 - Awesome puns!!

one title Erode Nagarajan "Pun-isai Vendar"

J.Balaji

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 12 Mar 2009, 13:33

one title Erode Nagarajan "Pun-isai Vendar"
J.Balaji

ha ha... isai vEndhar is only for legendary musicians... may be I am,

pun-imsai-vEndhan

[pun in thmizh means... by many ways too, so... imsai by all means!]

this is when UKS sir was felicitated by maharajapuram viswanatha iyer trust....

BMK spoke: I used to sing sunAdha vinOdhini very often and a musician went to shrI viswanatha iyer and told, "aNNaa, even I can sing that rAgam very well, but, I am wondering why people praise Balamurali... you should hear my singing.."

then he sang that rAgam for which viswanatha iyer commented,
"there is only one difference between you and balamurali's singing this rAgam... balamurali pAdinA sunAdhamA irukku; nee pAdinA, vinOdhamA irukku..."

[it sounds sunAdham when MBK sings and vinOdham if you do]

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 12 Mar 2009, 14:09

i m reminded of this...

chembai and semmangudi were judges at some competition.

a girl comes to sing.

SSI:
amma kozhandhai, unakku sunAda vinOdini pAda theriyuma?

Chembai:
yenda cheenu, prAyatula kuttigaL yellAm pAda AsaiyA vandhurukka. avALaNDa pOi.. sunAda vinOdini theriyumA, mandAra varshiNi theriyumA, maNNAngaTTi theriyumA-nu keTTuNDu irukkAi.
mOLE, oru valliya tODiyO, kalyANiyO, shankarAbaraNamO, illai nokku yenna ishtamO pADu.. ivan kaDakkAn.

translation:
SSI: can u sing sunAdavinOdhini?
Chembai: kids have come to sing and have fun, why ask sunAda vinOdini and mandAra varshiNi and maNNangaTTi (lump of mud) and show yourself.
kid, sing tODi or kalyANi or shankarAbaraNAm or something that you like. ignore him.

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 12 Mar 2009, 14:19

rbharat- LOL

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 12 Mar 2009, 15:27

Whenever we go for mridangam competitions most of the students say this :

Judge : What is ur name ?

Competitor : Shankaranarayanan

Judge : How long u have been learning ?

Competitor : 4 years

Judge : Who is ur guru ?

Competitor : XYZZZZZ

Judge : what are you going to play ?

Competitor : Mridangam ....

Judge : !!!!!

J.balaji

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 12 Mar 2009, 20:31

GBL,
Of course, without you, this fun-filled thread wouldn't have come to life--nor would have the joke-Avartananams of mrudangists reverberated like this. Thanks to you and all others who have provided the merriment

gmohan · Post by **gmohan** » 12 Mar 2009, 20:55

If I remember right I read this in an old issue of Sruti. There was this famous mridangam maker who used to make mridangams for lot of mridangists including PMI and Pazhani. Apparently PMI complained to him a few times about the fact that the Thoppi always sounded better on the mridangams he made for pazhani to which his reply was that it had more to do with the player rather than the instrument!

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 12 Mar 2009, 22:35

In one concert organised on 15th August long back Shri.Vijay Siva sang Patriotic Songs under the Ageis of YACM. he and the violinist wore the gandhian cap and came to the concert in immaculate white. While Manoj Siva played the mridangam and he did come with his cap ... do u know why ? because his mridangam already has a Thoppi ...!!!!!

J.Balaji

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 13 Mar 2009, 08:48

hope he had lunch, as we have sAdham on the right side..

I think, when a boss asks "did you see the files I sent you?"
manager: saw them sir... saw them sir...
he might be probably hungry and it might be lunch time...

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 13 Mar 2009, 09:11

I was teaching Lucas, a disciple of mine yesterday. At the end of the class, I asked him about the weather, whether winter is over...

And before we signed out, he asked about a particular phrase where, three index finger strokes come consecutively and he said that he has a lock while playing it.

Lucas, keep your arm and index finger freely, don't have any rigidity.

Feel like a "spring", the phrase will "autom"atically "fall" without "some err"

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 13 Mar 2009, 09:14

Once when i was teaching to Udhayakumar, (his mother tongue is thelugu), I asked him, "can you play nakadhimi?” (in nakadhimi, ‘na’ and ‘dhi’ is played with thom; ‘ka’ and ‘mi’ is played without thom). But he often played it otherwise.

This continued for sometime...

"Nagaraj, why i am unable to connect the thom properly in this phrase?"

"because, naaku thom undhi; meeku lEdhu!"

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 13 Mar 2009, 13:47

unEroding .. laughter .. hahahahah

JB

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 13 Mar 2009, 20:17

Have heard violin duets, but this is an unbelievably merry mrudangam duet

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 13 Mar 2009, 21:26

It is like - double mridangam tani avarthanam - UKS & Tiruchi Sankaran Sir... No wonder they are taking this to greater heights...

-hari

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 13 Mar 2009, 21:52

Once for Madurai Mani Iyer's concert Palghat Mani Iyer couldnt take part due to unavoidable circumstances. Instead of PMI Palani was substituted. The concert was going great guns. Mani iyer took the song Meenakshi Memudam dehi and started singing niraval at the Place "Madura Puri Nilaye" and continued many times with accent on "Mani Valaye ... Mani Valaye ... Mani Valaye ..." (subtly telling Mani Varaliye--> Mani didnt come...

==========================================

Once there was a lot of disturbance in the concert of Neyveli Sir in Hamsadhwani due to some movements here and there and also lots of flashy lights distracting his attention. Finally he requested them to switch off the flash lights and there was no light at all and the audience could not see the artistes. Either it was too much and or nothing at all. Amidst this melee some two three songs went off. To top it all suddenly power went off also. To the surprise and laughter of all he sang "Maa kelara Vichaaramu"

=====================================

What is the best and easiest way to get standing ovation ?

Sing Jana Gana Mana or Vande Matharam in the end.

==========================================

J.Balaji

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 14 Mar 2009, 00:00

lol...

sometime, audience react in a smarter way, if jana gaNa mana is sung, they may stand and observe silence as an anjali to the concert....

if the performance is average, the concert may have 'outstanding-audience' (crowd in the canteen)

, btw, "is teenage, the life spent near canteen in regular "intervals"?"

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 14 Mar 2009, 00:10

This one is typical UKS sir style....

Once, during a Thyagaraja Aradhana in the Music Academy, a classic rendition of "pancharathna krithis" was happening and I was fortunate enough to sit between shrI T.K.Murthy sir and Umayalpuram Sir and play along with them.

There were very less audience and the stage was filled by artistes.

UKS sir said, "nAgarajA... rathnangaL ellAm mEdaila irukku; audience-ku panjam"

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 14 Mar 2009, 08:52

mridhangam wrote:Once for Madurai Mani Iyer's concert Palghat Mani Iyer couldnt take part due to unavoidable circumstances. Instead of PMI Palani was substituted. The concert was going great guns. Mani iyer took the song Meenakshi Memudam dehi and started singing niraval at the Place "Madura Puri Nilaye" and continued many times with accent on "Mani Valaye ... Mani Valaye ... Mani Valaye ..." (subtly telling Mani Varaliye--> Mani didnt come...

LOL!!!

ragam-talam · Post by **ragam-talam** » 14 Mar 2009, 13:12

DEFINITION
'funny' avartanam:
Erode-sir and Balaji-sir taking turns and posting hilarious anecdotes on rasikas!

May the percussion duo continue!

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 14 Mar 2009, 15:57

There is a saying 'mattaLattukku reNDu pakkamum iDi'. But here, in rasikas, mattaLamE (mridangamE) reNDu pakkattilum irundu iDikkiradu- (jok'kaDikkiradu')-

Translation: There is a saying 'the mattaLam gets beaten on both the sides; but here, in rasikas, the mattaLam(mridangam) is beating from both the sides and raining jokes-

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 14 Mar 2009, 18:27

kETpavarum Sirippin edroli kUTTuginRanar (others respond with the sound of their laughter)...

vainika · Post by **vainika** » 15 Mar 2009, 02:07

I'm told of this incident which took place at either Shanmukhananda or MMA. Veena S. Balachander, the artiste of the evening, was growing increasingly annoyed with the front seaters walking in and out, greeting friends, and generally proving to be very distracting. Finally he could take it no longer, set down his veena, and beckoned to a woman who was returning from the general direction of the canteen. As the woman walked up hesitantly towards the stage, he reached for the mike and asked her "yenna maami, canteen-la bajji nannaa irundhudha?" ("yo mami, were the bajji-s at the canteen tasty?"). As the audience broke into laughter, the woman slunk back to her seat thoroughly abashed, and SB completed the concert in peace.

thenpaanan · Post by **thenpaanan** » 15 Mar 2009, 18:06

vainika wrote:I'm told of this incident which took place at either Shanmukhananda or MMA. Veena S. Balachander, the artiste of the evening, was growing increasingly annoyed with the front seaters walking in and out, greeting friends, and generally proving to be very distracting. Finally he could take it no longer, set down his veena, and beckoned to a woman who was returning from the general direction of the canteen. As the woman walked up hesitantly towards the stage, he reached for the mike and asked her "yenna maami, canteen-la bajji nannaa irundhudha?" ("yo mami, were the bajji-s at the canteen tasty?"). As the audience broke into laughter, the woman slunk back to her seat thoroughly abashed, and SB completed the concert in peace.

In my experience there are these distinct sub-cultures -- whether it is sabha-specific or city-specific. I grew up in Mumbai so I am more familiar with the Shanmukhananda culture. What you say here, namely, people in the front rows greeting each other (and some times the performing artists) as the concert is happening was very common. Very annoying to folks like me who had passes only for second balcony but sneaked into the ground floor second row, precisely to be undisturbed by gesticulating mamis whose diamonds and silks glittered in the light that was spilling over from the stage. The rest of auditorium was so dark one could not read the program bill, let alone a newspaper easily.

And then there were the guys whose intensity in their musical involvement was closely paralleled by the intensity of their involvement in sampling the canteen's output. My father was one of those. Everyone wanted to be the first in line in the canteen when the thani started. But the problem was knowing when the thani was about to start. If the thani has started and the mridangam player has put in his first dhin dhin num dhin, the game's up. You have to be there to realize that these guys had discovered quantum teleportation. By the time the mridangam player hit the first kita thaka (in the same avarthanam), said gentlemen have moved from seat to exit. You would think that these people had some kind of disease that would cause them their head to explode if they heard the thani, such was the alacrity. There seemed to be some kind of keen competition among them as to who had missed the least of the main piece and the most of the thani's beginning. The art of guessing the impending beginning of the thani was something to behold. Right around the time the artist was seemingly started his final kanakku/korvai swaram, these guys will be primed in their seats like runners in their starting blocks. Except there is no starter's gun per se. It is all judgment. The players in the game were spread all the way to the second row. (I had never seen this in the first row). The losers in the game were usually the elders, who had to extricate themselves from the deep bucket seat that provided a very unstable platform for takeoff (because the seats automatically moved up when you got up). The other problem for the elders was that the hall was kept at some freezing temperature that only the Inuit would have been comfortable in. As a result said elders had to detour to the restrooms and hence give up prime position in the dalvada line. Sometime they would (reluctantly) give up a part of the main piece to make it in time but not early (even the canteen server was into this game of bringing out the dalvada from the fryer just as the thani was about to start -- how did he know?).

The worst part was this -- right when I would be trying my best to figure out if the thani had reached the farans + korvai stage so I could start counting it out, these mamas would be back in their seats murmuring "innikki vadai pramaatham. inda chutneyla edo podaraan sir" (tr: "today's vadai was great. they put something in the chutney here") followed by loud burps immediately followed (without a breath) with a headshake and beshbesh, signaling to those around that they had re-entered the world of the kutcheri.

--Then Paanan

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 15 Mar 2009, 20:42

Then Paanan: Quite funny.

The percussionists are wasting their time pleading/lecturing to the audience that they should stay and listen to the thani. There is indeed a god who controls all this pavlovian behavior. All the percussionists should make a special offering to this central authority, the almighty: "Hold the dal vada for another 10 minutes, canteen server! "

vainika · Post by **vainika** » 16 Mar 2009, 00:52

lol @ Then Paanan. Perhaps the canteen output should be synchronised with the post-tani tukkadas instead...

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 16 Mar 2009, 01:14

Before thani starts an announcement to the effect that all refreshments in the canteen will be served at 20% discount after thani may stop the outflux of people before thani

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 16 Mar 2009, 06:54

VKRAMAN,
that is a good suggestion.