Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar

meena · Post by **meena** » 25 Sep 2006, 23:22

hsuvarna
u can call them up and enquire:
Phone:

+91 44 28112231
+91 44 28115562

kaumaaram · Post by **kaumaaram** » 03 Oct 2006, 13:49

Chembai - TV Ramani

http://storeandserve.com/download/43003 ... m.mp3.html
http://storeandserve.com/download/43003 ... a.mp3.html
http://storeandserve.com/download/42895 ... n.mp3.html

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 03 Oct 2006, 22:23

Thanks to Kaumaaram for transporting these rare links from rasikapriya-dot-net here.

The file Chembai-TVR-Rakshamaam.mp3 above, has two songs. First is Rakshamam (Gambhira Nattai), the one Chembai sings after that (in the same file) is a song that goes like "Karunabhayomi Dasarathe Rama" in Atana. This is a completely new song for me. Can someone identify its composer? Is the sahitya available?

hareesh_panicker · Post by **hareesh_panicker** » 13 Oct 2006, 10:53

can any one please upload the concert in rogepost or storeware .I mean other than in rapidshare.We poor people cannot afford the premium.Thanx in advance

shrivathsa · Post by **shrivathsa** » 13 Oct 2006, 18:49

sir, storeandsave is a free portal. you have to register for free thats all.

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 14 Oct 2006, 07:24

Even rapidshare is free, please click the button that says "free", wait for a minute or so till the captcha box appears, and enter the characters shown and submit it to start the download.

What is a captcha? - See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captcha

hareesh_panicker · Post by **hareesh_panicker** » 16 Oct 2006, 13:46

Does anyone possess swamy's meenakshi memudam dehi(poorvikalyani)and sankaracharyam(sankarabharanam),please upload.Lord Rama bless you all

kaumaaram · Post by **kaumaaram** » 17 Oct 2006, 16:05

Please visit my folder:

www.sangeethapriya.org/~kaumaram

for some 78 rpm collections of Chembai.

Kaumaaram

shrivathsa · Post by **shrivathsa** » 12 Nov 2006, 23:45

kaumaaram sir, hari OM,

you can't be thanked enough for taking so much pains for making available such great collections to rasikas. hats off to you and your effort. i am listening to the 78 rpm collection, its simply great. my sincere thanks once again.

shrivathsa.

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 26 Nov 2006, 17:37

I came across this page recently http://www.carnatica.net/artiste/manakkal/manakkal1.htm where I was a bit surprised to see:

"SANGEETHA SIMHAM conferred by Sangita Kalanidhi Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar."

Chembai seems to have conferred many of his junior (age wise) musicians with titles like these! I can immediately think of names like BMK, KJY, LSub, Somu, MSG, S.Balachander etc. Seems he liked to give away awards and titles more than he liked receiving them?

kaumaaram · Post by **kaumaaram** » 28 Nov 2006, 16:15

Srivats : Thanks a ton for your encouragement.

Srkris: A good pointer.

Kaumaaram

Raja Chandra · Post by **Raja Chandra** » 01 Dec 2006, 22:55

see my post script against my earlier post dated 10-9-06

kaumaaram · Post by **kaumaaram** » 04 Dec 2006, 17:40

Mr Gnanaprakash has sent me two clips about Chembai:

http://rapidshare.com/files/6009603/Che ... p1.rm.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/6009604/Che ... p2.rm.html

meena · Post by **meena** » 20 Dec 2006, 08:10

Deleted

jayaram · Post by **jayaram** » 28 Dec 2006, 20:53

There's some mention of Chembai's brother Subramanyam in articles on Chembai. Seems like he was a good singer himself:
http://www.sangeethapriya.org/~kaumaram ... 0Brother)/
Anyone know more about him, and also whether there are more recordings of his singing available.

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 29 Dec 2006, 03:26

Jayaram,

AFAIK, there are only 2 known "solo" recordings (78rpm) of Chembai Subramanyan. In a few other 78rpm releases, the brothers have sung together and the records are released under Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar's name, since his is the dominant audible voice in those.

After 1937 (death of their father), Subramanyan stopped public performances and went on to mainly teach classical music, while Vaidyanathan (i.e CVB) continued to perform.

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 31 Jan 2007, 18:02

News of the demise of Chembai's nephew...

Freedom fighter Subbaraman passes away
Wednesday January 31 2007 12:25 IST

PALAKKAD: Freedom fighter and Gandhian K.R. Subbaraman, 92, died at his residence, Sneha Nilayam at Parli on Tuesday.

The cremation was held at 5 pm at the Brahmin community crematorium at Kunnumpuram, near Kalpathy. Governor designate of Nagaland K Sankaranarayanan and former MLA K.A. Chandran attended the funeral.

He was known as â€˜Bombay Samiâ€™ since he had spent most of his lifetime in Mumbai. Subbaraman was born in Ayilam village near Kottayi to Ramanatha Iyer and Narayani Ammal. He was the grandson of Anantharama Bhagavathar who was the guru of Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar.

Though he was employed in the Lloyds Bank of Britain he quit his job and plunged into the freedom struggle. He was labelled as a Japanese spy and was jailed for four months by the British.

Subsequently, he reached the Wardha Ashramam of Gandhiji and began to propagate the use of khadi and pottery items.

He had donated his house and 70-cent compound, Sneha Nilayam in Parli, to the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and was its founder president.

He is survived by his wife Meenakshi Ammal. The couple have no children.

Source: http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.as ... la&Topic=0

kaplingat · Post by **kaplingat** » 01 Feb 2007, 14:12

kaumaaram wrote:Please visit my folder:

www.sangeethapriya.org/~kaumaram

for some 78 rpm collections of Chembai.

Kaumaaram

Thanks a lot for this collection. Any idea of who the accompanists are? Do we have Dakshinamoorthi Pillai, Azhaganambi Pillai, Govindaswami Pillai in this? Any idea if any sound record exist having these great artists of early 20th century?

mri_fan · Post by **mri_fan** » 01 Feb 2007, 19:01

A student of TVG once told me that one of Chembai's pet peeves was when a mridangist would tune his mridangam for the thani after he sang he swarams. Apparently, if a mridangam did this, he'd say, play for the next song, and he'd end the song right there!

He was also a very jovial and laid back guy, according to a story relayed by Sri Guruvayoor Dorai some time back. When Sri Harishankar was very young, his father asked Dorai mamma if his son could join the concert. Problem was, there already was a kanjira artist for the concert. But Dorai mamma asked Chembai if it was okay to have two kanjira artists, and Chembai said in his loud boisterous voice...two kanjira artists? Why not! (I don't remember the tamil phrase). I'm sure gracious personalities like him were part of the reason for Harishankar's metoric rise in CM.

Dorai mamma's arrengetram was with Chembai himself, when he was just 8 years old.

And I've also heard that Chembai had an unquenchable thirst for harlicks!

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 01 Feb 2007, 19:59

mri_fan wrote:harlicks!

Do you mean Horlicks - that which is advertised in India as drink that provides health wealth and happiness, but everywhere in the world merely as a drink for a good night's sleep?:P

meena · Post by **meena** » 01 Feb 2007, 21:48

And I've also heard that Chembai had an unquenchable thirst for harlicks!

So did sree mdr

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 01 Feb 2007, 22:03

rshankar wrote:
mri_fan wrote:harlicks!
Do you mean Horlicks - that which is advertised in India as drink that provides health wealth and happiness, but everywhere in the world merely as a drink for a good night's sleep?:P

did you know the joke about hanumanta.

What is the secret of hanumanta's strength in jumping across the ocean?

He drank hArlicks before jumping (hAru in kannaDa means, among many other things to jump/cross)

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 01 Feb 2007, 22:21

mri_fan · Post by **mri_fan** » 01 Feb 2007, 23:50

I did mean Horlicks...i personally can't' stand its taste...I'm sorry to say

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 02 Feb 2007, 01:00

Me too, much as I like Chembai, not his fav horlicks

vasya10 · Post by **vasya10** » 19 Feb 2007, 07:18

in sangeethapriya.org, there is a set of songs sung by sri chembai - "poomuli navaratri series".. What is poomuli ? is it a city ? were the concerts a routine affair ?

kmrasika · Post by **kmrasika** » 19 Feb 2007, 07:39

srkris wrote:06. Karuna Cheivan - Yadukula Kambodi

ShrI Chembai holds that this is composed in a rAga originally called "puranIrmai" which is not found in any related traditional texts.

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 23 Feb 2007, 07:04

vasya10 wrote:in sangeethapriya.org, there is a set of songs sung by sri chembai - "poomuli navaratri series".. What is poomuli ? is it a city ? were the concerts a routine affair ?

Poomuli Mana is the name of a well-known feudal Namboodiri household in Palghat, Kerala. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poomulli

ShrI Chembai holds that this is composed in a rAga originally called "puranIrmai" which is not found in any related traditional texts.

It was originally composed in Sri raga, but Chembai retuned it to Yadukula Kambhoji, with the last charanam alone in the raga puranIr. There is nothing called "puranirmai".

KVN, on the other hand, usually used to sing it in Sri raga.

shrivathsa · Post by **shrivathsa** » 07 Mar 2007, 19:02

respected rasikas,

does anyone know whether the songs of lalitaa daasar have been published in a book form or not? in case it has been published, can you please give me the details of the same?

baboosh · Post by **baboosh** » 07 Mar 2007, 20:12

shrivathsa wrote:respected rasikas,

does anyone know whether the songs of lalitaa daasar have been published in a book form or not? in case it has been published, can you please give me the details of the same?

I have seen printed edition of his works.Probably his son Radhakrishnan,the flautist can help.I do not remember the publishers

Lakshman · Post by **Lakshman** » 07 Mar 2007, 21:30

They have been published in book for.
The title is "Lalitadasar Kirtanaigal"First edition 1949. Reprint 1984.
Copies available from: Kalaimamani T.K.Radhakrishnan, Flutist, 6 Second Street, Lalitha Nagar, Santhome, Chennai 600 004or Ghanavisharada T,K,Ramachandran, violinist, 26 Palace Road, Santhome, Chennai 600 004.

kamavardhani · Post by **kamavardhani** » 09 Mar 2007, 08:33

srkris wrote:There is nothing called "puranirmai"

Wrong! puranIrmai is the name of a paNN in Tamil Music. Its modern equivalents would be bhUpALam or bhauLi.

shrivathsa · Post by **shrivathsa** » 10 Mar 2007, 00:38

baboosh and lakshman... thanks a ton.

kaumaaram · Post by **kaumaaram** » 21 Mar 2007, 16:28

Have Jaya and Vijaya, the disciples of Chembai, rendered full-length concerts?

Do we atleast have a 78 rpm of Chembai playing the violin?

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 22 Mar 2007, 17:25

kaumaaram wrote:Have Jaya and Vijaya, the disciples of Chembai, rendered full-length concerts?

I heard that they used to perform in Music Academy evening slots during seasons of 1970s and 1980s, but after one of them (Vijayan) died, the other brother stopped performing actively. He composes music for devotional music albums these days. His son Manoj K.Jayan is a mallu actor.

I have also heard the brothers have composed music for various malayalam films even during Chembai's lifetime, which apparently Chembai didnt like very much.

Do we atleast have a 78 rpm of Chembai playing the violin?

There is one concert of Mali held in 1963 in which Chembai has played violin and Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer has played mridangam, and this recording is available in private circulation. It starts with Sarasijanabha (Khamboji Ata tala varnam), and has Parithapamu (Manohari), Evarani etc., plus one RTP in Kapi among others.

I am not aware of any other extant violin recordings of Chembai.

ninjathegreat · Post by **ninjathegreat** » 22 Mar 2007, 20:59

srkris, any way of obtaining the very interesting 1963 concert?

SangithaRasika · Post by **SangithaRasika** » 22 Mar 2007, 21:00

Wow !! That is a collection to have

Hmmmm ........

kaumaaram · Post by **kaumaaram** » 23 Mar 2007, 13:49

Yes indeed..

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 25 Mar 2007, 11:16

kamavardhani wrote:
srkris wrote:There is nothing called "puranirmai"
Wrong! puranIrmai is the name of a paNN in Tamil Music. Its modern equivalents would be bhUpALam or bhauLi.

Yeah it is a pann, but I was not aware that it is called as puranIrmai. Thanks.

srkris, any way of obtaining the very interesting 1963 concert?

I had it with me in Madras. I have to check now.

kaumaaram · Post by **kaumaaram** » 26 Mar 2007, 13:30

srkris wrote:[I had it with me in Madras. I have to check now.

Will be waiting of course, impatiently!:D

manakkalsriram · Post by **manakkalsriram** » 03 Apr 2007, 23:14

this is an excerpt of the kutchery of chembai in kapaleeswarar temple utsavam where i accompanied him on the mridangam at the age of ten in front of a huge crowd L subramaniam was on the violin [just a sample] hope srikris is pleased with it

http://www.badongo.com/file/2654452

meena · Post by **meena** » 04 Apr 2007, 04:00

Sriramji

thanku very much. Aha so was this the conc. u mentioned where sree chembai came home and told ur father u should accompany him on the mridangam?

manakkalsriram · Post by **manakkalsriram** » 04 Apr 2007, 06:20

thank you Meena I am amazed at your memory power

meena · Post by **meena** » 04 Apr 2007, 09:03

Sriramji

At that young age were u intimidated playing for sree chembai? Having accompained him many times can u pl. share ur memoirs with us. Thanku

alphakrishnan · Post by **alphakrishnan** » 05 Apr 2007, 16:47

I used to have an old Extended Play record of Chembai with "Brahmaadi Yogi Muni Poojitha" on one side and "Nidi vendum karuna nidhi vendum" on the other side

Would any one have these ragamalika? I would love to listen to them after all these years

Thanks

Krishnan

kaumaaram · Post by **kaumaaram** » 09 Apr 2007, 16:31

Alpha: How long would the duration of these songs be? Second, what are the ragas in the ragamalika.

divakar · Post by **divakar** » 09 Apr 2007, 20:13

sriram,

that was awesome! chembai really tested your potential at that tender age, esp. during the end. he encouraged you very much.

what does he say at 12:15 in the clip ?

thanks for sharing this clip.
please do share your experiences accompanying chembai.

Sundara Rajan · Post by **Sundara Rajan** » 11 Apr 2007, 07:39

At 12:15 in the clip Chembai says: "bayappadAtha vAsi (Play without fear) niruthappaDathu( Should not stop) nAn sonnapparamthAn niruthaNum ( should stop only after I say so) and the young lad DID PLAY WITHOUT ANY TRACE OF FEAR INDEED! A remarkable feat at that age.

divakar · Post by **divakar** » 12 Apr 2007, 11:10

sundara rajan
thanks for the information.
at 10 one needs to have lot of energy to play the mridangam that hard and clear. sriram did a great job.. wonderful!!
chembai is a remarkable person. he encouraged talented kids aged 7, 9, 10 etc.. it seems TNK accompanied chembai when he was just 9.

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 16 Apr 2007, 14:05

Sriramji,

Wow, many thanks for the clip. I didnt notice this thread for two weeks

At work now, so waiting to hear it once I get home