Hilarity in kutcheris

gobilalitha · Post by **gobilalitha** » 16 Mar 2009, 07:48

Thanks Mr.Raman, You have not suggested that the percussion vidwans will foot the bill of those , who stay for the thani and the items will be served in their seats!!!. well, joking apart, there must be someway out to check this insult to the performing percussionists. gobilalitha

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 16 Mar 2009, 09:59

Here is one:

While travelling back from bangalore we were waiting for the train to arrive at the Railway station. At that time many announcements were coming and the violin artiste who was with me didnt understand hindi and was also frustrated with the payment given by the organiser for the concert earlier. It has affected him so much that when the repeated announcements in Hindi annoyed him: The announcement "Gaadi No: 2658 bangalore se chennai jaane wali gadi thodi he der me platform no ek me Aane ki sambhavana hai". the violin artiste was so annoyed with the noise and also the poor payment after a few times of such announcement in Hindi started telling me in feeble/frustrated voice : "Inga parungo balaji sir. Inga railway station la ennadaanna Aanai ki sambavanai kodukkaraanga. Anga concertla pakkavadya kaarangalukku onnume sambavanai thera maattengaraLe". I couldnt help laughing aloud and even today whenever i hear this announcement i think of this incident.

J.Balaji

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 16 Mar 2009, 10:05

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 16 Mar 2009, 11:07

One of my guruji's tales... that he and a fellow musician were on their way to perform in a concert, both in whites, when a passing uncouth paan chewer decided to spit from a bus --- leaving them both spattered with red!

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 16 Mar 2009, 11:44

Once, in a full bench concert of Palladam Shri Venkatramana Rao, the morsing artiste sat behind him and only after the concert Shri Rao realised, the red designs (modern art?) on his back...

I was talking to Trivandrum Hariharan, about this topic “Hilarity in Concerts” and he told, in Kerala, there is a famous joke... On seeing the mrudangam artistes making the ravA on stage before concert, main artistes say, "look, I fixed you for this concert well in advance, 3 months ago and now only you are doing this, that too on stage, when the concert is about to commence!!"

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 16 Mar 2009, 11:53

One of the best threads to date...special thanks to our Mrudanga vidwans! Keep them coming please!

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 16 Mar 2009, 12:31

Recently one Dancer told me :

Sir dancer's profession is age related whereas musician's profession is not age related:

For this i commented :

Dancers -- > Sadhai vizhunda Udai

Musicians =-- > Sadhai vizhunda (thaan) kadhai (Nadakkum)

J.Balaji

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 16 Mar 2009, 12:32

nick H wrote:One of my guruji's tales... that he and a fellow musician were on their way to perform in a concert, both in whites, when a passing uncouth paan chewer decided to spit from a bus --- leaving them both spattered with red!

Tiruvalluvar Kural : "Thuppaarkku Thuppaya Thuppakki Thupparku Thuppaya Thoovum Mazhai"

J.Balaji

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 16 Mar 2009, 12:35

Now About Rava :

Recently after the Simhanandana pallavi concert one mami was serving Rava Upma. I said i dont like Rava Upma. I am averse to Rava so much that i dont use it even on my mridangam. Others near me burst into laughter.

J.Balaji

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 16 Mar 2009, 12:40

Balaji: It will be interesting to relate/translate the moral of that kuraL to Nick but let me try "If you resist shooting the guy with a gun who spat on you, rain will fall on you to wash away the spit"

( just kidding )

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 16 Mar 2009, 13:02

I vaguely remember this thuppARku kuRaL being featured in a similar vein in a Rajnikanth movie by Janagaraj... can't place the exact scene (it's the movie where he has to spend lots of money in a few days).

ram · Post by **ram** » 16 Mar 2009, 13:19

Aishu wrote: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.......

In China: "Saanjikicho saanjikichu"

ram · Post by **ram** » 16 Mar 2009, 13:21

Nalli Kuppusami Chettiar recollected this during one of the felicitation functions. It seems Sri Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer used to always come before the scheduled time to all the functions he was invited to. It so happened that once Semmangudi mama came 10 minutes late to a function. Nalli Chettiar couldnÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t believe his eyes. Upon enquiry, iyerval told that he had to go to a function in Nanganallur before coming there and it had taken him a long time to locate the venue in Nanganallur. People it seems still couldnÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t believe iyerval had landed late to which iyerval remarked: "Ravanan Seethayai kondu Asoka vanathula vechan. Hanumar udane kandu pidichuttar. Avan Seethaiyai Nanganallur la kondu vandundaan na innikki varaikkum Hanumar thedindu iruppar"

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 16 Mar 2009, 15:15

UKS Sir told this...

A rasika and friend of Palghat Mani Iyer told him, "neenga evLavO thAlaththukku vAsichiruppEL"¦ AnA, ungaLAla vAsikka mudiyAdha thALam oNNu irukku, theriyumO"

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 16 Mar 2009, 15:24

VK RAMAN wrote: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

Else the price during thani should be 20% more, and this excess should go to the mridangist

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 16 Mar 2009, 15:38

sounds ok, but, if the mrudangam artiste holds the rasikas in the hall itself with an awesome performance, the remaining snacks and the loss of the day should also not be colected from him...

remember,

The three kinds of Percussion Solos are....

1. laya vinyAsam - solo

2. live & awesome - soul-owe

3. laya vi - nAsam - so low

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 16 Mar 2009, 15:44

erode14 wrote:remember,

The three kinds of Percussion Solos are....

1. laya vinyAsam - solo

2. live & awesome - soul-owe

3. laya vi - nAsam - so low

Pun naga(i) vendhar

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 16 Mar 2009, 16:57

PuNagaraj ....(Snake who is arasar for Pun)

I liked the Pisasu very much ....

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

how do u sing Famous Jaganmohini kriti (Shobillu) at a lesser speed than in which it is sung now ?

"Slowbillu Saptaswara"

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

Mannarkoil J Balaji

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 16 Mar 2009, 18:09

bale... an apt "slow-come" can be sung as a virutham before that..
and if someone buys any instrument or music related things from a shop near LUZ, they can sing "show-bill-u saptaswara"

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 16 Mar 2009, 18:19

"enna aNNA, kAl valikkaradhunnu marundhu sAptELE, sariyAyiduththA?" (aNNA, you had some medicine for the pain in leg, is it ok now?)

ARI: "kAl vali thAn pOyirukku, mukkAl vali appadiyE thAn irukku"
(only 1/4th is gone and 3/4 remains still)

kAl means leg and 1/4 too in thamizh. Also, kAl refers to air, oxygen. kAlathar is way for wind (window) in thamizh (jannal is french, i read somewhere).

"mUlAdhAraaththu mUNdezhu kanalaik kAlAl ezhuppum karuththu" says avvaiyAr in vinAyakar agaval (not agarwal), which means, prANAyAma being instrumental to the awakening of mUlAdhAram.

venkatpv · Post by **venkatpv** » 16 Mar 2009, 18:50

erode14 wrote:bale... an apt "slow-come" can be sung as a virutham before that..
and if someone buys any instrument or music related things from a shop near LUZ, they can sing "show-bill-u saptaswara"

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 16 Mar 2009, 20:54

Continuing about the Payment aspect : -

After the concert the organiser gives the cover to the accompanist

He feels (if the amount is not that much but alright) --> Cover(chiya) illennalum Cover Chi nnu ille.

He feels (if the amount is very low) --> Cover(chiya) irukkumnnu patha Cover Chi nnu irukke.

Sometimes the main artiste gives the cover after the concert as if it is some secret and not to be known to others : Under Cover operation.

Sometimes the main artiste gives the cover in a fashionable way so that the accompanist plays the next concerts also : Cover(chiyana) cover kuduthu Aalai Cover Pannittar.

Sometimes in the cover we will have to find where the money is hidden : DisCover.

Sometimes the organisers give the whole sum as cheque to the main artiste and this the main artiste wouldnt have expected. Then the accompanist will have to collect it later : ReCover.

J.Balaji

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 16 Mar 2009, 21:31

if the main artiste takes the cover, forgetting that he was accompanied by some, you may need to drive to his place and that will be a cover drive to succeed in driving home your point...

BTW, if remuneration is not open(on a plate with traditional betel leaves and fruits) and enveloped properly, is it a coward (covered) payment?

rajumds · Post by **rajumds** » 16 Mar 2009, 21:47

Undoubtedly the most enjoyable thread. Double mrudangam treat indeed.

ragam-talam · Post by **ragam-talam** » 16 Mar 2009, 21:48

I vote we award Balaji-sir and Erode-sir the Rasikas award for humour!!
Funtastic stuff.

SangithaRasika · Post by **SangithaRasika** » 16 Mar 2009, 21:51

Hi,
Hate to be the spoiler here .... but .....
This is one of the best threads to have opened up in 'General Discussion' for sometime now !! I would request the contributors to translate what they post in english if somethings are told in Tamil or any other language.. it is frustrating to read posts after posts in Tamil and have no translations !! I understand the hilarity is lost in Translation.... but atleast some of us who dont know the language can get the gist !! Expecting performing artists to know the language of what they sing is one thing but asking rasikas to do the same is a different thing

~SR

naaree · Post by **naaree** » 16 Mar 2009, 22:22

VK RAMAN wrote: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

It might fire back too. People might think, there might be a long queue after the thani, so let us go now and secure our place in the queue.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 17 Mar 2009, 02:26

Sri Balaji and Sri Nagaraj are rocking on!!

Nice to see Ram join in too!!

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 17 Mar 2009, 07:51

Member Sangeetha Rasika

It is absolutely difficult to translate certain tamil words into english as most of the jokes in tamil are intended PUNs with double-sided meanings (though not in the wrong sense of the word double-meaning). It will be a big task to translate into words. Sugar is sweet that is all ... it is for the taster to realise. such is the difficulty of language .....

J.Balaji

gobilalitha · Post by **gobilalitha** » 17 Mar 2009, 07:52

I am very happy that the thread started bY me is attracting a lot of members especially our dear Balaji and Nagaraj. BUT PITY ME!!! Nobody has thought of the engine for this long train( me,) who started this thread. As i have been always telling injection of humour is my favorite pastime ,though my wife would retort about my wooden face lacking any humour!!!! Let me finish with a humorous story about the statue of SirThomas MUNROE majestically seated on a horseback at chennai marina beach,I do not know whether it is still there.
The story. The son aged 5or6 ofa British official who was to set sail to ENGLAND the next day on retirement wanted to see the statue for the last time. The Britisher touched by the patriotic wish of the boy took him to see the statue. The boy was very happy beyond words. The official asked him what attracted him so much about Munroe. The boy replied I AM VERY MUCH ATTRACTED BY THE MAJESTIC FIGURE OF THE HORSE.!!!GOBILALITHA

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 17 Mar 2009, 07:54

erode14 wrote:if the main artiste takes the cover, forgetting that he was accompanied by some, you may need to drive to his place and that will be a cover drive to succeed in driving home your point...

BTW, if remuneration is not open(on a plate with traditional betel leaves and fruits) and enveloped properly, is it a coward (covered) payment?

If one demands more money then will it be extra Cover ?

J.Balaji

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 17 Mar 2009, 08:58

ha ha.. yes... infact, a decade ago, i became the deep third man, far away from the main artiste in one wedding concert, as there was something spilt on the place of mrudangam

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 17 Mar 2009, 09:33

This one from Lalgudi Sir

Shri. S.P.Ramh went one day and told sir "Sir XYZ sabha in Delhi wants a special concert based on some nice theme".

Lalgudi Sir instantly "Special Theme ? have Tha The(de)me or Thaka the(de)me or even Thakita the(de)me.

(You have to understand this joke in the context of peculiarity of tamil language where there is no different script for representing different phonetic sounds for "tha" and "da" sound)

Mannarkoil J Balaji

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 17 Mar 2009, 09:34

Erode

As long as you are within the Boundary (boundaries of tradition) there is nothing wrong in being in Thirdman or deep mid wicket ...

J.Balaji

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 17 Mar 2009, 09:41

In one concert way back 20 year ago i was accompanying Shri Unnikrishnan at Indira Nagar Sangeeta Sabha in Bangalore. the concert was almost about to finish. Tani Avarthanam was over and one tukkada got over. There were a few requests for Unni to complete. At that time my left side tore off suddenly.

I just told this to Unni and asked him to wind off the concert.

Unni announced "balaji yoda thoppi kizhinju pochu so I am sorry we are winding off the concert".

You wont believe one old man came with a Gandhian Cap and said "I dont mind if Balaji uses this and please dont stop the concert".

Mannarkoil Balaji

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 17 Mar 2009, 10:28

ha ha...

"though there is no "different script", in general, it is understood like the first one is soft and the one occurs in middle or at end is firm.

kAkam - kAgam
paNpu - paNbu
thOtutaiya seviyan - thOdudaiya seviyan", as said by mahA periyavA .

I personally feel that thamizh is a language goes by understanding.
If the G which sounds, ji in geo and ga in guts, it is in other words an i - version...

We had calender, clock, phone, computer etc. seperately and when you have all under one roof, you have a latest mobile and it is an icon of the growing advanced technology. Like that, if the same letter can be used for different types of phonetics, it shows the growth of and level of the language.

"vallinam" - ka cha ta tha pa ra, actually means the advanced level of language only.

Hence, it can be soft, medium and regular too. Just like, if you have Rs.100, you can spend 50 or 5 too. Like an elephant which carries wooden logs to 25 paise coins.

erode nagaraj

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 17 Mar 2009, 10:35

Gobilalitha: You do indeed get the credit for getting this massively popular thread started.

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 17 Mar 2009, 10:41

yes, the credit goes to Shri GB, who made it open to this 16gb posts and more

while JB contributes to the increasing gb of the EN-gine, I take parts as a compartment EN-joying, since fun is there in en[my]gine[gene]...

my and our and our endeavour are same!

BTW, how come fun and pun is in built in the genes [jeans] of musicians when they wear dhOthi?

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 17 Mar 2009, 14:11

Members

How can we forget Gobilalitha .. i like both ... Gobi and Lalitha ...(one for the taste of the tongue and another for the taste of the ears).

Thanks a ton for making this thread sir.

J.Balaji

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 17 Mar 2009, 16:17

Now on the length of the Flute ...

Do u know y flute is long ?

It is aptly called in Tamil ----> Pul"long"kuzhal <-----

J.Balaji

gobilalitha · Post by **gobilalitha** » 17 Mar 2009, 16:41

Thanks for the heartfelt appreciations for this thread, especially from our LAUREL AND HARDY(erodeand mridhangam). When I post something humorously, I am reminded of BhagyamRamaswamy(appasawami and seethapatti) stories. .gobilalitha

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 17 Mar 2009, 16:51

yes, like the tiger belongs to the cat family, bamboo(moongil) belongs to pul(grass) family... apt to call this full-long kuzhal(north india?) as pul"long"kuzhal or pul-lawn-kuzhal. the music from lawn (grass) pulls you...

I am yet to meet you all, my beloved and respected forum memebers..

This one is told by UKS Sir: Staying in kerala for a concert with chembai bhagavathar...

A mAmi asks: coffee tharattumA? (shall i make coffee for you)

Chembai: kudiyungO... onnum paNNAdhu... chudu veLLamAkkum adhu... (have it, it won't harm you, it is just hot water, not at all a coffee)

mAmi: tiffinukku, dhOsai paNNattumA? (shall i make dhOsa for breakfast?)

chembai: avaLukku innaikku dhOsai sAppidaNum, adhAkkum kEkkarA...
(she likes to have dhOsa today, that's why she is asking)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last year, while staying in my friend's house at banglore, one mAmA visited us and talked about how he is listening to music for decades and started singing too!

I said, "I appreciate your singing skills"

After sometime that mAmA took leave and the very next moment, my friend told me, that he was unable to understand whether the level of my jnAna has gone down or my patience in listening to people has increased.

"See, I just told him the truth... mAmA, I appreciate, your singings...kills..."

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 17 Mar 2009, 16:55

Erode
may be we can give him sangeetha "Kolai" nidhi ...

J.Balaji

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 17 Mar 2009, 21:40

Wow!
Your iraTTai (araTTai) vAdyam of puns and fun is going to set a record! mirudanga (mIRudunga!) hAsyattin OyAda oliyum ediroliyum!
I do not know much about television hAsyam (humor), but are any producers reading this thread?

Yes, GBL, 'Nagesh' (as someone named you recently) of the forum, thanks again for starting this rollicking ride

sramaswamy · Post by **sramaswamy** » 17 Mar 2009, 22:07

erode14 wrote:BTW, how come fun and pun is in built in the genes [jeans] of musicians when they wear dhOthi?

Because musicians don't work, they only play

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 17 Mar 2009, 22:32

sramaswamy wrote:
erode14 wrote:BTW, how come fun and pun is in built in the genes [jeans] of musicians when they wear dhOthi?
Because musicians don't work, they only play

And here, the duo(Nagaraj and Balaji) paly on the words- probably because it is called 'mridangam sollus(bOls in Hindi).

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 17 Mar 2009, 22:43

sramaswamy and punarvasu,
a 'play' of 'sollu' from both of you!

ragam-talam · Post by **ragam-talam** » 17 Mar 2009, 23:09

Two musical puNdits at work!

"avA puNNaRatai sollavE vENdAm! adu puNNdityam tAn!"

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 17 Mar 2009, 23:17

Mrudangam Artiste ShrI Govindarajan used to say the students of The Thanjavur Vaidhyanatha Iyer School for Percussion, The Music Academy(semmu will remember), "nallA, vAi vittu solluppA.... lesson ellAm, appO dhAn kaila varum... adhukkuthAn sollu-nnu pEr vechirukku, illAtti, sollAdhEnnu vechiruppA"

(come on... sing the lessons louder and clear.. that is why they are named as sollu, or else they would have been named don't tell)

sollu - tell
sollAdhE - don't tell.

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 17 Mar 2009, 23:24

Student: Sir, why dhrutham is a clap and turning?

Me: Because, art should reflect the society.

Student: ????

Me: Look, when someone claps when you walk on the road, what do you do?

Student: I turn.... oh... saaaarr.....

..............................................................................................

student: sir, why chathusra jAthi thruputa thALam is famous
as Adhi thALam?

me: human nature... when you are in search of something
and if you find it or if you discover anything, you are either
enveloped with joy or surprised with what has happened...

hence, it is the reaction, "Aahh... The thALam!"

..............................................................................................

how do you call misra chApu when you do it wrongly?

"miss-Agara chApu"
..............................................................................................

which thALam make your hands shiver when you do it?

dhruva(polar) thALam
...............................................................................................