Rasikas meet Dec 2011 @ Chennai

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 14 Dec 2011, 16:40

You MUST stop by, arasi. You don't really have a choice - sorry.

emilija · Post by **emilija** » 14 Dec 2011, 18:20

Nick H wrote:emilija: if you are arriving in Chennai at any time before we close, you can rely on one of us taking you to your hotel! Otherwise, look forward to meeting you at a concert, and sorry you cannot join us.

Very kind, thank you. I'll be reaching Chennai right at the time of the meet, but I'll manage on my own. Thank you very much.
Will see u at MMA later that day, if any of the fellow rasikas attends the evening concerts.

Have fun at the meet.

Lakshman · Post by **Lakshman** » 15 Dec 2011, 09:01

This is to confirm that my wife and I will be attending. Thanks.

S.NAGESWARAN · Post by **S.NAGESWARAN** » 15 Dec 2011, 09:15

Arasi Madam,

Sri MKR's mimicry will be after 11.00 hrs.
Kindly drop in.

S.NAGESWARAN.
15.12.2011.

S.NAGESWARAN · Post by **S.NAGESWARAN** » 15 Dec 2011, 09:19

Sri Sankarnarayanan Toronto,

You have indicated the NO. of persons attending our meet as 12.

Kindly confirm.

S.NAGESWARAN.
15.12.2011.

S.NAGESWARAN · Post by **S.NAGESWARAN** » 15 Dec 2011, 09:33

Dear Rasikas,

Rasikas who are having Videocam and cameras may kindly bring and cover our meet.
If the event is covered in video and photos by the Rasikas, we can avoid the hiring charges
for video and photos.

Kindly confirm.

S.NAGESWARAN.
15.12.2011.

anandasangeetham · Post by **anandasangeetham** » 15 Dec 2011, 10:43

I will be attending the meet but may not stay for lunch.

ajit · Post by **ajit** » 15 Dec 2011, 15:35

I will try my best to make it to the meet.

ajit

CRama · Post by **CRama** » 16 Dec 2011, 09:57

Myself and Mr.Sivaramakrishnan will be attending the meet.

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 16 Dec 2011, 11:06

I'm now in Chennai. Looking forward to the meet. I can take some photos of the event and am happy to stay for lunch. Sangeetha will not make it as she will take care of the children.

GNB_LGJ_PR · Post by **GNB_LGJ_PR** » 17 Dec 2011, 15:14

Is it too late in the day to say that I wish to attend? In any case, I don't think I would be staying for lunch.
I am a resident of Chennai but due to personal matters was not sure of my participation hitherto.

S.NAGESWARAN · Post by **S.NAGESWARAN** » 17 Dec 2011, 16:37

Sri GNB_LGJ_PR,

You are most welcome to our Global Rasikas Meet 2011. The venue will be at my home.
Address; S.Nageswaran, old no 21 / new no 12, Srinivasa Pillai Street, West Mambalam, Chennai 600 033.

This is near Ayodhya mandapam.

I hope you are familiar with the area. In case of guidance, you may call me on my mobile no; 98406 26385.

S.NAGESWARAN.
17.12.2011.

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 17 Dec 2011, 17:13

Dear Sri Nageswaran
Much as I would have loved to attend the Global rasikas meet at your residence tomorrow, I am unable to do so due to official constraints.
My best wishes for a memorable meet.

S.NAGESWARAN · Post by **S.NAGESWARAN** » 17 Dec 2011, 17:49

Dear Rasikas,

I hope that all the Rasikas who are attending the meet will be eager to meet in person the other Rasikas.

All Rasikas attending the meet may enter their user ID, Their Real Name, [their E-Mail ID, Their location and the phone nos. Optional] in the note book available.

I request Sri Ananda sangeetham Rasika to help me in this work.

Rasikas who are willing to voluntarily contribute funds may hand over the cash / cheque to our Rasika CRama [Sri CRama may kindly extend your help].

Because of the wish of many Rasikas expressed in the thread, the expenditures are curtailed to the minimum. However, some basic expenditures like hiring a Videogpher must be incurred [RS.3000/=]. Sri Mohan had volunteered to cover the event with photos.

Being a great Rasika, Sri Cmlover had mentioned that having enjoyed the music for many decates, it is time for us to give back to the new generation of Rasikas something for posterity’s sake.

I am following his wisdom. Every year, I am allotting RS.10, 000/= for the promotion on musical activities like arranging a concert and providing the sanmanam to the artists and providing a nice dinner to the musicians and the Rasikas who attend the concert. But till now no concert could be arranged for the past two years.

However, I am providing Coffee / Tea and lunch to the Rasikas who attend the meet at my cost. This year also coffee / tea and lunch will be provided to all the Rasikas who attend the meet.
This provides me an Athma Tripthi.
Eagar to meet you all.
S.NAGSWARAN.
17.12.2011.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 17 Dec 2011, 22:33

Dear Sri Nageswaran, I'll be unable to attend the meet either due to last minute family obligations. I hope the rest of you have a lot of fun and I hope to see you in concerts!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 17 Dec 2011, 23:09

Sri. Nageswaran,
Wishing you all a great time!
As I mentioned before, my chances of being there were slim--and with my commitment (I do not know how long it will last), I'm not sure if I can reach your place even for MKR's impressions. Apologies.

Ramesh,
Will miss your mimicry

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 17 Dec 2011, 23:58

All the best for a great meet, folks. Have fun!

thanjavooran · Post by **thanjavooran** » 18 Dec 2011, 06:53

Dear shri Nageswaran Avl,
Best wishes for the successful meet of our members. Not able to attend due to personal family commitments.
With wishes,
Thanjavooran 18 12 2011

csuresh · Post by **csuresh** » 18 Dec 2011, 08:52

Dear Sri.Nageswaran Sir and Rasika's Members,
Wishing you all a good Global Rasika Meet today.
Special thanks to Nageswaran sir for organising this meet.
Regards.
C.Suresh

GNB_LGJ_PR · Post by **GNB_LGJ_PR** » 18 Dec 2011, 10:26

Dear Sri Nageswaran Sir, Thanks a ton for your invite!!! Due to a personal emergency, I am unable to attend. Wish the Rasika's meet all success. Hope we can get to see the video coverage of the meet.

tkb · Post by **tkb** » 18 Dec 2011, 13:50

I just came back from the meet. Firstly my sincere apologies for having been late as well! I am happy made it and enjoyed the session of Sri MKR and Sri Sivaramakrishnan! I have also proposed Sri. MKR to present a 30 - 60 mts concert with a violin and Mrudhangam who also can try and play the different styles of vidwans who had accompanied the stalwarts, whose style Sri. MKR brings it with great perfection! Due to an emergency had to leave without tasting the lovely lunch being served! Hats off to Mr Nageswaran sir and all who made this meet possible. Special thanks to his family for hosting us all! While we can see those videos and photos to be uploaded nothing is better than being there and i am sure people who missed it today should make it a poin to be present next time to enjoy the togetherness!

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 18 Dec 2011, 15:12

I just got back home too.

A very enjoyable get-together where she shared good company, and our pleasures in music, as well as touching on some of the more serious aspects of life and the forum.

anandasangeetham · Post by **anandasangeetham** » 18 Dec 2011, 15:46

it was a fantastic meet. found new amateur singers who sang with professional competence....great camaraderie.....superb recollection of yesteryear greats through fantastic mimicry by sri MKR and sri Ramakrishnan....both produced typical music in the respective masters unique voice....MDR, SSI, ARI, GNB, SGK, Somu, Voleti came alive and enthralled the few members present. Sri MKR gave insights into his youthful hobbies by singing a reverse karanam kettu vadi (menaraka tuke diva - just reversing each word of the lyric), and "I dont know what to do" pallavi in Harikambodhi (similar to enthaya nirtha)(wasnt it? or is my memory failing?) and a superb pallavi in Kalyani - Constantinople...it was just splendid...trust the video recording will be uploaded for the benefit of all rasikas.

sridhar_ranga · Post by **sridhar_ranga** » 18 Dec 2011, 16:51

anandasangeetham wrote:and "I dont know what to do" pallavi in Harikambodhi (similar to enthaya nirtha)(wasnt it? or is my memory failing?)

enta rAnee tana?

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 18 Dec 2011, 18:26

Rasikas meet - 2011 Meet- Brief Report
========================================
I was there for roughly 2 hours kind of reached there at around 10:45 and stayed till 12:30 . My briefings only in that window

# As I entered I heard a gentleman speaking in general about Carnatic Scene in Kerala and also informed that he has written few articles in the prestigious Sruti magazine . With references to CRAMA whom I know , I thought he would be "Sivaramakrishnan" and it was indeed him. He briefly sang few sangathis of a MDR number in devagAndHari(forgot that one)

# "Anandasangeetham" spoke briefly introducing his musical family , he is the grandson of Shri OV Subramanian who has produced a galaxy of stars from OST, OS Arun,OS sundar and AVK Rajasimhan too. His son learns vocal music hopefully we will soon see him in action.

# "RajeshNat" introduced myself and also the latest personal milestone. I told it takes quite a long years of listening to appreciate the multitude of musicians and also told that I took nearly 10 years to appreciate intently any musician other than maharajapuram santhanam and during that time I even lost an experience to listen to TR Subramaniam and S Kalyanaraman.

I said we will one day go to varanasi for a get together and have an exclusive DIkshitar krithi based concert

# "Mohan Aiyar" the clean shaven Aussie spoke his start of internet related discussions and also about his carnaticcorner

# "TK HaribAbu TKB" spoke in general about more recognition has to happen to youngsters performing and in general people have to be more open to newer avenues of music

There were others who were there in the gettogether

6. Nick Hayssen
7. LJi and Wife
9. AkellA thank you sir you are the only vidwan

10. MKR the moderator lot to write about him
11. Nageshwaran the gracious host and his extended family, did spot srinidhi enjoying MKR with her sister

16. CRama
17. Sivaramakrishnan
18. Ganesh Kant(did I see you)

Overall after this set of instructions and few video and photo shootouts we had a lovely MKR Presentation

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 18 Dec 2011, 18:27

MKR - Is he a full time vidwan
==============================

Shri MK Ramasubramanian is a wonderful gifted personality, he moderates beautifully , uses the right choice of words and if needed a bit of raised tone all in the role as a moderator of the whole proceedings. His words was superb "Dont Ask what Rasikas.org would do for you , but instead ask what you can do for rasikas"

He gave few anecdotes that nowadays youngsterths have more choice to be noticed and gave examples of Ranjani Gayathri spotted by his dad shri KS mahadevan and also helping Amrutha Venkatesh when His dad was almost bidding farewell in a permenant fashion.

What stood out was the passion that he mimicked each of the artists, not mimicked by ridiculing them but by just appreciating the intensity in each of them, he also said that as a standard disclaimar(MKR Sir you are a South INdian Born, North INdian grown and North American Matured Pearl

)

# Started with my personal bit puriyAtha but avarukku nallA purinda Ariyakudi . Ariyakudi has a lovely gAna sareeram and when he sang pantuvarAli he almost got there . He then moved to the next pratimadhyama rAgam bhavapriya a tough rAga to sing that too with pantuvarAli not flushing out of system and he got that too

# Next was Man of the Century Vidwan , I did ask all of them to clap as it was madurai Mani . ganakAla dhara MMI was represented with only ,,,,,,,,,,, and I missed almost the sitApathE when he finished

# The pick was indeed GN Sir or GNB. TOdi flowed so beautifully , we can give this alApana for any musician so that they can sing only the tanam and pallavi. Also he sang few sketches of kiranavali ragam

# Semmangudi was not missing and it was few lines of KrishnA bhaja Manasam , all throughout a bit of nasal and a vidApIDI sangeetham of sparkling semmangudi was on

In short Ariyakudi-MMI-GNB_SSI all in its original baritoned , nasal , bit of congestion , Nose stuffed but all brilliant sparkling sangathis of those four were presented

The kalpitam ended and then moved on to Kalpana
===============================================
# He took a small line "What to do , what not to do , how to do , how good to do" and sang a pallavi in harikAmbOdhi. THis continued for quite a while and I loved it.

# THen he took the line Constantinoble and sand a kanakku oriented pallavi in kalyAni like ble , able etc.

# I had a chance once to hear him sing a TRS like Suddha dhanyAsi swaras and neraval in subramanyEna when I was recently at his home in NY. He could not fulfill that but he moved to another request of shyamakrishna sOdhari in bhairavi .

Thank God His dad did not teach him music and more importanly he did not pursue , MKR would have wiped out all artists

KodaiyilE ilaipAtri
==================
I also forgot before to write about this SG KittappA no that Shri MKR Sang. This KodAiyilE iLaipAtri is one of the most difficult no's to sing , the voice has to really open out , Shri MKR sang very well especially the transformation from 5th gear PantuvarAli to bilahari and ending with kapi . It was nice and open throated vocal honesty at its best.

Conclusively
============
Personally this year was as good as last year or even a notch better Thanks to Shri MKR . Just like our CM concerts it does not matter if you sing in a big hall like Mudhra or a small hall like Parvathy Hall in eldams rd , what matters is the enthusiasm or better yet the sustenance of enthusiasm , that was very much in abundance with MKR Sir.

Thanks to Shri Nageshwaran Sir,this thread has taken a lot of turbulence that too with Venue changes and also I do know personally that Nageshwaran Sir had few bouts of illness in the past, but his KudaNthai (Kuzhanthai) like enthusiasm took it to a great finish

Mohan should put the pictures and I hope the video shoot has taken the audio too. After all what we need first in CM FOrums is Audio.

-Rajesh
p.s will not have much access to internet

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 18 Dec 2011, 20:29

Splendidly written, as ever!

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 18 Dec 2011, 21:26

Another feather on the cap of Nageswaran who is our Rasika Supreme. I pray to God that his health problems are solved ( as well as (selfish

) mine) so that these meets continue for long under his banner (one of which I may even be fortunate to visit!.
Thanks Rajesh for the lovely (muthu theRittha) summary (amidst busy practising your Lullabies). The inimitable MKR (but who can imitate anybody!)we hope to see on the videos courtesy of Nageshwaran.
Now you guys have made December visit to Chennai a must not just for the Season but also for the regular Rasika meet!
Best wishes to all the participants...

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 18 Dec 2011, 21:31

Thanks for the lovely & exhaustive report Rajesh. Congratulations to Sri Nageswaran for his enthusiasm in pulling off yet another Rasikas Meet. Waiting for the videos to see MKR's enthralling performance

I am sure that all the rasikas who did attend had a wonderful time.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 18 Dec 2011, 21:32

Very glad to hear the meet went excellently. Thanks Sri. Nageswaran, Sri. MKR and others who helped organize it. Rajesh, thanks for the excellent write up.

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 18 Dec 2011, 21:50

Very happy to be able to attend the meet today. The highlight for me was Sri MKR's todi in true GNB style.
Here are the pictures from the meet - I haven't done any editing of these nor had a chance to add the names yet. I know most of the people but would appreciate if someone else could assist in tagging the group photos.

https://plus.google.com/photos/10387216 ... 7903100945

sivakami · Post by **sivakami** » 18 Dec 2011, 22:31

People like me, who could not attend the rasikas meet,can get a feel of the interesting events that took place from these photos posted by mohan and the nice writeups by rajeshnat and others. Thanks a lot to all of you!

its actually interesting to see the photos without the name-tags on, and trying to guess who each one could be(I know Akella garu, Nick.. ..)

tkb · Post by **tkb** » 18 Dec 2011, 22:43

rajeshnat - thanks for the wonderful sum up.

tkb (T. Krishnababu)

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 18 Dec 2011, 22:46

Thanks Mohan!
Though we know the familiar ones, it will help to have some labels, especially the group photo...

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 18 Dec 2011, 22:50

CRama's reporting skills were called on, so hopefully we will have his write up too when he gets a chance

Mohan, thanks for the great pictures.

Ahem... I'm really not good at this morning stuff: I forgot to brush my hair! :$

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 19 Dec 2011, 01:05

Congratulations on an excellent meet - I wish I could have attended this but missing by a few days.

Arun

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 19 Dec 2011, 01:13

Thanks Mohan for the pictures.

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 19 Dec 2011, 01:27

Glad to hear that the meet went well. I wish I could have been there. Sadly, I am missing the entire season this year. Payback for a full-year sabbatical, I suppose.

Rajesh and Mohan thanks for the write-up and pictures.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 19 Dec 2011, 01:38

Rajesh, Mohan, thank you!
Forgot to add: Rajesh, the scruffy look suits you! Other than Rajesh, I was able to recognize Mohan and Sri MKR.

thanjavooran · Post by **thanjavooran** » 19 Dec 2011, 03:53

Shri Nageswaran Avl Congratulations.
rajeshnat Avl, thanks for the wonderful write-up.
Shri Mohan Many thanks for the great coverage and finally
Best wishes to all the participants.

Thanjavooran 19 12 2011

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 19 Dec 2011, 06:33

Great pictures Mohan. Thank you

Sivaramakrishnan · Post by **Sivaramakrishnan** » 19 Dec 2011, 07:10

Thanks rajeshnat for the instant report and mohan for the wonderful pictures!

The meet provided sort of 'musical unwinding' to the participants. A unique get together amid the hustle and bustle of Isai Vizha happening in the Metro.

Thanks Nageswaran sir for the lead!

anandasangeetham · Post by **anandasangeetham** » 19 Dec 2011, 09:06

dear rajeshnat,

my son learns vocal music and not violin. raghul who is a cousin (my maternal uncle's son is a performing violinist-sishya of sri M Chandrasekaran)

Mohan - excellent pictures.....thanks.

ganeshkant · Post by **ganeshkant** » 19 Dec 2011, 11:10

The time we had together was excellent.Really enjoyed the hospitality of Mr & Mrs.Nageswaran and the company of our fellow rasikas..After you all left the grand daughter of the Nageswarans sang 'pakkalaneelapadi' just for me & Sivaramakrishnan.Just a sample of the teaching style of our Akellaji.I was really overwhelmed.Mohan,thanks for the photos.

CRama · Post by **CRama** » 19 Dec 2011, 13:03

The meet turned out to be a memorable one for those who attended - who were very few. We are very much thankful for the distinguished guests namely Shri MKR sir, Shri Akellaji and Shri Lakshmanji with his wife. Even though we are familiar with them through the posts, it was for the first time I got an opportunity to meet them and interact with them. At the outset Mr.Nageswaran the most generous host welcomed the distinguished guests and the rasikas who were present. He proposed the name of Shri MKR to be the Chairman of the Meet.

Shri MKR, during his address briefly dealt about his family and musical atmosphere in his house on account of his father being a journalist and the opportunities he got to closely mingle with the titans of those days. He had no formal training in music.

After the introduction, Shri Akellaji told that he has retired from the music college after serving for over 30 years. But after retirement he had observed that the present style of teaching music has got many defects. It does not equip the student to blossom into a performer. He has made enough research in the subject and has come out with a new method of teaching music which will enable a serious student to give a concert within two years of learning. It is available in rasikas.org also.

Shri Rakshman Regde told about his intial years in Canada where he started collecting music. The first one was a LP of Ravi Sankar. Then started indexing the ragas, talas and composer of the music by bits and pieces which has now crossed 50000. He first started by writing in note books and as this increased in volumes, he made it into the computer. now it is available freely to any music enthusiast. He has collected the lyrics also of nearly 20000 songs and he is willing to provide them to anybody on request for specific songs.

This was followed by self introduction by members. The ideas put forth by members are summarised below

Passive attitude of members for some of the posts when the review of a highly deserving concert is presented.
Discussions about trivial and unconnected issues deviating from the main topic of discussion.
Poor response from the rasikas for the get together
Rasikas in other states should also organise similar meets.
We should make a directory of rasikas- statewise or countrywise.
We should dream of conducting rasikas meet some time in Varanasi singing exclusively Deekshtar compositions
Rasiks should give more support to budding artists by attending their concerts, writing reviews and giving suggestions for their development.
Let us keep in touch even after the meet through phones or mails.

After the initroduction, Shri MKR took us back to the times of Ariyakudi, MMI, GNB etc by emulating their styles which Rajesh and others have already narrated and Sivaramakrishnan showed us glimpses of Kedaram of his idol MDR.

But I regret to say that it was very thinly attended. Even though about 40 people confirmed to Shri Nageswaran for attending the meet, only less than 20 turned up. You should imagine the organiser's plight- how much refreshments and lunch should be arranged. It might be because people did not want to miss a music conert on Sunday morning. But all the artists are singing in a host of places. We can catch them in some other venue. I very much wanted to attend TNS concert at the Academy. But subsequently thought that I can hear TNS in other venues. But this meet I should not miss. The distinguished guests who had come from US thought it was worth to spend some time with us in spite of their busy preoccupations, but it was really sad that we did not reciprocate. Members present opined that next year, we should do in a better manner with active participation of more members, physically and with more financial support.

We should thank Mr.Nageswaran and his entire family who took lot of pains to conduct this meeting and provide us a simple, but very good lunch besides tea and biscuits in between the meet. Mr.Mohan from Sydney took the photos and I thank him for prompt uploading of the photos. I also thank Rajesh and other members who have already done their posts. I profusedly thank Shri MKR,Akellaji and Lakshmanji whose presence and participation made this meet a memorable one.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 19 Dec 2011, 20:01

I forgot to mention in my post #175 about Shri MKR singing a full powered KOdaiyiLE ilaipAtri - a brilliant yesteryear SGKittappA no. Please reread that post
Anandasangeetham,
Made correction about your son pursuing vocal in post #174

Mohan
Photos have exceptional clarity, great job!!! If some one does not take a shot of naming the rasikas in the group photo I will do that , though I dont know atleast 5 of them.

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 19 Dec 2011, 20:44

mohan wrote: https://plus.google.com/photos/10387216 ... 7903100945

Group photograph (number 41/47)
Standing: ganeshkant, tkb, anandasangeetham, rajeshnat, Sivaramakrishnan, Mrs Nageswaran, Srividya (?) (niece of Sunder Rajan)
Middle row (sitting): Mrs Shanta Ragde, CRama, Sunder Rajan, Lakshman (Ragde), msakella, ramasubramanianmk, S. Nageswaran
Sitting on floor: Nick, ?1, ?2, mohan, ?3, ?4

Wasn't sure of the names in the bottom row so can others please fill these out.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 19 Dec 2011, 21:32

Many thanks Mohan.
We indeed know most of you through the Forum. Nice to put the 'face' to the names.
It will be good to know those who are sitting with you in addition to our Nick (uncombed hair

Rajesh appears to have slimmed after I had met him last (4years ago!).
(maybe due to the delivery

Keep it up dear Rajesh! Good for you!!)

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 19 Dec 2011, 22:56

Srividya (?) (niece of Sunder Rajan)

Sripriya

I remember because I only remembered the 'Priya' bit, when we spoke towards the end and she corrected me.

Rajesh appears to have slimmed after I had met him last...

Too much hard work, I fear! I hardly ever see him in concert halls these days.

Discussions about trivial and unconnected issues deviating from the main topic of discussion.

Ahem. Guilty! As ever! :$

Sivaramakrishnan · Post by **Sivaramakrishnan** » 20 Dec 2011, 12:45

Some useful suggestions of the Meet (that I recollect):

i. To exchange the phone numbers of forumites for quick information / interaction (even outside the threads. I request CRama to supply the particulars (hope you have noted down the details).
ii. Forumites to keep writing views / reviews irrespective of whether there is any response. May be most are reading the posts and appreciating too but dont have the time/inclination/mood to reply/respond promptly.
iii. As far as possible not to deviate/sidetracking from the topic of discussion of the post.
iv. Sri Nageswaran has to be ably supported in his efforts especially in view of his health condition.
v. To give publicity to rasikas.org through facebook etc. so that useful information disseminates among the like minded.

I call upon those who attended the Meet to supplement with any left out matters of Meet proceedings (even though CRama has almost covered the event)