Madurai Mani Iyer

[vgovindan]

rs.mk
Thanks for the information.

I find the 'so called' pakkavaj (pakka vAdyam) musicians have enriched CM more than many 'famous' vocalists. But I do not think they have been adequately recognised. I am rather amused by the word 'pakkavaj' applied to percussionists - Is there any swara without laya? - but the 'stigma' stays on. When will it go?

[Balummi]

Pakka Vadyam should not be understood as sideman ( Pakka - side ) It should be understood as
Pakka - the best Vadyam singing or playing or keeping beats for the concert . Sometimes for eg. when Srimathi MLV was singing and Palghat Mani Iyer was on the mirudangam , his name was highlighted more than even that of the vocalist

[unixguru88]

Is there any detailed recording of MMI singing Hindolam? I already have a Samajavaragamana from sangeethapriya. If anyone has any other Hindolam recording, I would be very grateful if someone posts it.

[Balummi]

Dear Unixguru ,
Yesterday I tried to send a message through this column expressing my willingness to send "Samajavara" of MMI in four concerts and subsequently removed it after seeing Sri skris 's (the moderator) message in the SSI page that these columns should not be used for sharing of music . And eventhough MMI passed away some 43years ago and no copywrites exists for non-commercial recordings I did not want to put the website hosts to any difficulty .

[cacm]

REMINDER
MMI REMEMBRANCE DAY CELEBRATIONS-JAN 9,2011.

I am happy to once again repeat the Details of the annual MMI REMEMBRANCE DAY for this season.

1) It will be held on January 9th(Sunday) at Raga Sudha Hall, Mylapore 5 P.M. to 9:30 P.M.
2) Time Break down& details:
A) 5 TO 5:40 P.M.------Invocation sung by MMI himself (Solo)----Suryamurthae, Introduction by VKV, PLAYING OF: Janakiramana, Vinatasuthavahana,& Vasudevayani from his concerts followed by:
B) 5: 40 P.M. TO 7:15 P.M. Analysis of MMI's Raga rendering techniques& patterns by Sri. Uday Shankar. In addition to being an expert musician & an expert in both classical Western & Carnatic Music himself, he has spent several years analysing& researching this topic, Observations of Sri. Trissur Ramachandran on a Non-Nadaswara Bhani approach to rendering of certain compositions by MMI as well other observations, a Lec-Dem type presentation by Dr. N. Narmada on "Janaranjakam" aspects of MMI's Music, & Summation of the views expresssed by the panelists by Dr. S.A.K.Durga along with her own views.
C) 7:15 to 9:15 P.M. Vocal Concert by Smt. Vidya Kalyanaraman acoompanied by: Dr.Narmada(Violin), Sri.Vellore Ramabadran(Mridhangam), Sri. Vichu Subrahmanyam, Disciple of Sri.Vellore Ramabhadran will assist him on the Mridangam in this concert.
I request all admirers of MMI to grace this occasion with their presence. Of course the event is free & open to everyone in the spirit of MMI himself...... VKV[/quote]

[VISHNURAMPRASAD]

Dear all,

An account of the well attended Madurai Mani Iyer rememberance day at Raga sudha hall, chennai on 9th January 2010. As a follower and fan of MMI's music. I was supposed to be there before the start of the function. But I could just manage to enter when MMI 's Jayanthasena was being played.

Among the musical elites, Shri T.R.S, smt. Suguna Varadachari, Shri N.Ramani, Shri Cleveland Sundaram, Shrimathi Charumathi Ramachandran, Mrs.MSG, Shri K.S.Kalidas were present from the beginning till the end of the presentation. Shri VKV welcomed them all and thanked them for making it to the function.

1. Soorya Murthe by MMI (which i did not hear), played from a private recording.
2. Vinathasutha vahana (with Chowdia, Palghat Mani Iyer, Madurai Krishna Iyengar), 1966 Venus colony (TVR confirmed this in his speech). The alapana, krithi and the swaras in Matha bedhamanu was well recieved by the audiences with most of the senior rasikas getting into nostalgic "ahaas" and "chuchus"
3. Vasudevayani (incidentally is being played for the 3rd year for the same occassion!, ), with neraval and swaras in ragathaalagathulanu.

VKV welcomed the panelists and introduced each one of them in his usual style and set the tone of the proceedings.

Mr. Udayshankar, a scientist who is well versed in both carnatic and western system started his analysis by playing the thodi alapana of MMI with Lalgudi (from the famous jamshedpur concert recording which featured vasudevayani). He pointed out at various stages of the clips where MMI gives gamaka emphasizing the raga bhaava and where MMI choose to dwell on the plain notes (here it is invariably the shadja in two octaves or madhy panchama).

He then proceeded to explain how the thambura was audible throughout the recording which created a great aura of sruthi and appreciated the thambura player (who was none other than the shri vembu iyer) on his ability to maintain the aura throughout the recording.

Then the neraval part of the krithi was played. Udayshankar then proceeded to appreciate the mridangam vidwan Vellore Ramabhadran who was present in the occassion who maintained the kalapramanam with his sarva laghu patterns to elevate the mood of the vocalist and violinist. "Kalinil Chilambu" was taken for analysis.

He pointed out at various points of the clip on how MMI developes the neraval with panchamam as the base and then shifts slowly to dhaivatham and then cuts down to madhyamam and rishabham and then aadhara shadjamam. Uday then pointed out the use of pure notes at various points and the little gamakas added during the thodi to embellish the raga mood. Pure notes are again an important attributes of Western music.

Then comes the glide from Mylapore to Europe!. MMI now moves his neraval to upper shadjam and then then casually strides down to aadhara shadjam which is an unusual aspect in any "typical" neravals. Then MMI moves on to grahabedham by moving into upper Rishabham with "Ri ni dha ma ga ri" then moves on to "ga ri ni dha ma ga" to "ma ga ri ni dha ma" and then finally to "dha ma ga ri ni dha". Though this was a shadja / panchama varjya (without shadhja and panchama) usage the mood of thodi and the upper shadja was well intact and he just awes the creativity of Mani Iyer and explained further how the grahabedham leads to mohanam, madhyamavathi, shudhasaveri, hindolam without anybody actually identifying it! This is a typical western music aspect where the chords are shifted to create a contrasting mood of the composition by shifting bases from one pitch to another and then bringing back the original mood.

Uday then explained how MMI amazingly gave a poignant pause to the whole neraval which was well accompanied by Lalgudi, to take it back to the upper shadjam with the essence of thodi prayogams "saa.. saririsadhanisaririsadhanisarrisanidhanidhamadhani... kaalinilchilambu...." Uday explains that only a musician of such a high sruthi consciousness and raga consciousness can venture into such varjya prayogams and that is why MMI was a original creative musician who could do graha bedhams without disturbing the mood of the raga but enhancing the mood of the whole presentation much to the delight of the audiences...

The excellent presentation of Uday concluded with an applause from both the panelists and the audience.

This was followed by Shri Trishoor V.Ramachandran's account on MMI. He did not choose to dwell on any particular aspect of MMI like how it was originally planned.

He thanked VKV for giving an oppurtunity to speak about MMI. He said GNB was a great fan of MMI and MMI was in turn also a great fan of GNB. He recalled how GNB could instruct his students to attend the concerts of his contemporaries and imbibe those finer aspects of their music. GNB used to say "every vidwan had some merits that made him big so you should listen to his music".

Mani iyer's music was very sruthi oriented and had lots of finer elements like replete ragabhava while rendering neravals and swaras. He was instrumental in popularising Sivan. Infact Sivan himself acknowledged that the krithis like Kanakkannkodi vendum, kaapaali became immortal due to MMI. MMI was one of the doyens of Tamil isai movements. He said MMI's music was highly resonating and it was his privilege to have lived during those glorious years when such great vidwans were performing. He also recalled the rare ragas that were popularised by Mani Iyer like Umabharanam, valaji, janaranjani, ranjani and hailed his contributions on popularising lots of Muthiah Bhagavathar krithis.

He also gave a note about the Jayanthasena piece that was played on that day, it was 1966 Venus colony concert where MMI performed on the same day when Trichur also performed in the junior slot. The kutcheri was dull for the first 30 minutes and then PMI and Chowdia looked at each other as if to come to have understanding to make it more lively by their support and the result is another memorable MMI concert!! Such was the camaraderie of the old vidwans. They were all close friends on and off the platform and they were all united by music!

Smt. M.Narmada then gave her demonstration on Janaranjakam aspect on how MMI maintained a tempo for each krithi that he sang which contributed to success of every concert. She played Vathapi ganapathim in a faster kalapramanam and then proceeded to kaarvai aspect, where MMI used to have poignant sruthi oriented pauses which he used to savour and let the audience also savour. She also dealt with the swaras and how he used to build up the swaras with janta prayogas. She said if you want an instant recognition from the audience, it is best to adopt MMI style of swara singing and played a couple of phrases. She then moved on to Sarasamadhana by playing some of the sangathis popularised by MMI in the krithi and she emphasized on how MMI used to dwell in every swara of that rare raga by playing some swara phrases. Sarasamukhi was taken next and the kaalapramanam that she played was exactly like how MMI used to sing and she played almost all the sangathis (barring some dynamic ones that only a regular listener can find out from various versions of MMI's gowdamalhar) including the famous gamagaragarisa. She said nobody can sing that sangathi as it is not in any text books and only MMI can sing that and that was again a captivating aspect of Janaranjakam. She also coined MMI as Melody Music of India! She thanked VKV for giving her the oppurtunity and sang eppovaruvaro.....to express her desire to talk more about MMI's music in coming years!

Smt.S.A.Kumari Durga a double PHD holder and a senior disciple of MMI then summed up the analysis with her views. She said MMI took to grahabedham only in alapanas and neravals that too within the frame and bhava of that raga and never over did it which will lead to confusion. She also said that MMI always wanted to sing with the raga consciousness so that each and every sangathis are an expression of the raga in its original form. No matter if mohanam or hindolam could be found in grahabedham, when you listen to MMI it will still be the thodi that will dominate, as such was his conviction on raga bhaavam.
MMI's music was simple and profound. The simplicity was the main charasteristic of his music. She recalled her long association with Mani Mama since her childhood days and how she learnt music from him without knowing the greatness in her younger days. She could realise the greatness only when she became a musicologist and still wondering how great was MMI's music. Though very simple, he used to sing lots of rare ragas. She recalls with fond memory as to how the Jatkavaalas will be hooked to his concert till the end and how they did not bother about their savaaris. She used to wonder how this man is captivating such lay audiences while he is still singing ragas like malavi, janaranjani, valaji. What do these ragaas mean for those lay listeners? She then concluded that it was his sruthi oriented suswara singing with poignant pauses that made his music unique.

She also observed that MMI's music could not be copied and even if some one tries it would be a very futile and terrible attempt. His music was so original that every small aspect of his music needs a serious observation to really repeat it on stage with such spontenity. That is why his style was unique. He did not believed in shouting, so even while he teached he used to re-iterate not to sing aloud at the higher octave. He never taught those dynamic sangathis that he used to sing in the concerts and only teaches the original sangathis of the krithi and leaves the student to observe and take the dynamic ones!.

He was a believer in navagrahas and used to always advice his disciples to sing the Vara krithis of Muthuswamy Dikshithar everyday which he did at his home as a part of his prayer.

He also never believed in having more sangathis for krithis and believed that simplicity will have better impact on the audiences to savour the song rather than complicating them with sangathis. MMI's life was so unique that he lived only for music and never bothered about money. He could satisfy both the learned and lay listeners till the very end of his life with his enthralling and divine music. He was a divine personality and a rare phenomina and it is important that people should learn and try to follow the underlying aspects of his music, the melody and purity! Thanks everyone!

VKV then thanked all the panelists and then gave a note about MMI's centenary to be celebrated with the assistance Mr.Venugopal (son of chitti) and few other fans. He proposed that a monthly listening session of MMI's music will start from coming month at a venue which will be announced later. He also said that the next MMI day will be focussing on Papanasam Sivan and MMI chaired by Rukmani Ramani (daughter of Sivan).

The hall was packed till the end of the function.

With this the MMI rememberance function concluded and a concert by Smt.Vidyakalyanaraman followed with Narmada on Violin and Vellore Ramabhadran on Mridangam assisted by his disciple.

Vidya aptly took up all popular songs of MMI and sang well in her own style (she is a student of Smt.Suguna Varadachary). Thathvamaria tharama, Sooryamurthe, Sarasasamadhana, Apparama Bhakthi, Sarasamukhi, Kaanakankodi Vendum and Eppovaruvaro were the items. Her alapanas were neat with sruthi shudham and raaga bhaavam, though the creative aspects could have been little more expounded during her swara kalpana. It was on the whole a good concert with apt selection of krithis and well packed within 90 minutes.

I had left the venue when eppovaruvaro was concluding.

VKV sir's devotion to MMI is unparalleled and his energy and enthusiasm in conducting this function every year is something rare. I am sure he will have lots of surprises for us during MMI's centenary.

Namaskarams!

[venkatakailasam]

A graphic disposition of the proceedings -one gets the feeling of having attended the meet itself!
Thanks so much Shri Vishnuram prasad .
I can also imagine your childlike laugh for which I am now accustomed after seeing you in the photos .

venkatakailasam

[cacm]

Dear Vishnu P,
THANKS VERY MUCH FOR YOUR EXCELLENT & ACCURATE ACCOUNT. THE WHOLE MEETING AS WELL AS THE ANALYSES WERE OUTSTANDING& at least to me - I have been listening& re-listening to MMI Concerts for more than 60 years- it was FULL OF NEW INSIGHTS INTO A TRUE GENIUS AS WELL A GREAT HUMAN BEING.
Only one minor correction: Vasudevayani was played for the first time this year. Actually we try NOT to repeat any song tho' the presenters can choose to illustrate their points with any song they wish.....Once again thanks for an EXCELLENT report. VKV

[vasanthakokilam]

Vishnuramprasad: Thanks for the excellent write up. It was quite captivating. Thanks VKV for organizing the event. Your dedication, enthusiasm, energy and execution skills make such events possible. When Vishnu says you conducted the event in your own unique charming style, we know what it is after having watched you at the rasikas meet.

[kapali]

During the MMI remembrance day special mention has been made of MMI's creativity. In this connection I recollect the weekly articles on carnatic musicians in the Illustrated Weekly of India published from Bombay( the premier english weekly those days, now ceased publication) some time in early sixties. One of the weekly articles featuring MMI was captioned "The creative musician". While paying eloquent tributes to MMI , the article mentioned how MMI sprang to prominence with his rendering of a none too familiar song Sarasa SamaDhana in what the article termed as a serpentine raga Kapinarayani. The article highlighted his creative and imaginative alapanas,niravala and swaras. Before concluding, the article mentioned on MMI's mastery over Behag and Sindhubhairavi ragas.
I had the rare privileged to attend a few of his concerts and the experience was something special to be felt to hear him in person. When he passed away I was only 31yrs old and wished he were alive for a few years more to enjoy many more of his concerts in person!

[Enna_Solven]

the thodi alapana of MMI with Lalgudi (from the famous jamshedpur concert recording which featured vasudevayani).

Is this concert available in Sangeethapriya?

[gmohan]

@Enna_Solven.


The particular MMI concert is available in sangeethapriya, KSJ folder.

MMI-042-Jampot.

[Enna_Solven]

Thanks gmohan.

Some noise-cleaning and then listening is in order

[uday_shankar]

Vishnuramprasad, excellent recall and recap ! Did you make notes ?!

In my nervous anxiety to get on with the presentation in front of so many great vidvans, I lapsed in my duty to thank the amazing Dr.VKV (and the Cleveland Aradhana Committee) for "giving me the opportunity"! If my presentation bombed, I was going try a unique way to bail out VKV...by thanking "my maternal uncle Shri VKV" for giving me this wonderful opportunity. I figured that for a scientist it is worse to be accused of poor judgment than of nepotism, which is a universal Indian weakness anyway ! For the record, I am not related to VKV except as a respectful admirer.

Some other thoughts...

1. I had intended, but forgot to remark on the excellent and melodious "pin-pattu" by Shri Vembu Iyer, which stands out particularly in this recording of Thaaye Yashoda.

2. I was trying to minimize the use of the phrase "graha-bhedam" and instead use the western term "modulation" (i.e., of the key or tonic). As you correctly stated, the graha bhedam "springs out" naturally from the Todi. If there was more time, I could have dramatized it by creating various tambura pitches and playing the same clip over and over again, showing people how these various ragas "spring out" of the same melodic phrase template. Perhaps another time....

3. The "overarching" intent of the presentation was to provoke the notion that one need not look to the light "english" note for western motifs in MMI's music. Instead one need look no further than that most traditional of Carnatic ragas, Todi !! And hence it may be concluded, you know, that "music is universal" and all that ! Cliche !

I thought Dr.Narmadha's presentation was excellent and she sings really beautifully too. She should be giving vocal concerts too.

Vidya Kalyanaraman's concert was simply superb and Narmadha's violin blended so well. And there's a reason for that too:

One unique aspect of Dr.Narmadha's violin accompaniment is that she transposes the string tuning. Normally, a violin is tuned, starting from the highest string (E-string) as PA-SA-PA-SA. For female artists who sing around 5.5 kattais or G#, the E string (PA) would fall at D#. This is close to the pitch at which the violin is tuned in western music but it is too shrill for Carnatic music. It would be ideal if all the pitches were an octave lower. This is exactly what Dr.Narmadha achieves by tuning the violin, again start from the highest string, as SA-PA-SA-PA. So whenever Dr. Narmadha accompanies female artists, you will not hear the normally heard "shrillness". As an additional bonus, she has an entire thanthi for the Mel sthayi. Of course, pulling off this string transposition is difficult unless one is a supremely confident and accomplished artist like Dr.Narmadha.

[mahavishnu]

thanks, Vishnuramprasad for a very thorough report. You have spared no details!

Uday, Felicitations for what sounds like a great presentation. Wish I had been there...I did not know that about Dr. Narmada's tuning technique. I have to listen to a recording (of her accompanying, say, Sowmya) more carefully.

And special congrats to Sri VKV for pulling off another successful iteration of this event.

[anandasangeetham]

Dear Sri VKV Sir,

Due to some pre occupation I could not attend the celebration. IS there a recording of the event?

[cacm]

Vishnuramprasad, excellent recall and recap ! Did you make notes ?!

In my nervous anxiety to get on with the presentation in front of so many great vidvans, I lapsed in my duty to thank the amazing Dr.VKV (and the Cleveland Aradhana Committee) for "giving me the opportunity"! If my presentation bombed, I was going try a unique way to bail out VKV...by thanking "my maternal uncle Shri VKV" for giving me this wonderful opportunity. I figured that for a scientist it is worse to be accused of poor judgment than of nepotism, which is a universal Indian weakness anyway ! For the record, I am not related to VKV except as a respectful admirer

Not having the Expertise of UDAY, I have to resort to the usual strategems like: "last but not least", "I will be failing in my duty if I don't thank" & others etc to survive brilliant, talented, and knoweledgeable persons I am fortunate to interact with. If he was related to me he would probably have refused my invitation! The brilliant session at Cleveland lunch hall involving Trissur R, M K Ramasubramanian(whom we sorely missed), UDAY I was lucky to be part of; I am glad it has resulted in a healthy discussion in some depth providing new insights.....
I hope to continue such exchanges & may be the propposed monthly MMI get together to listen to is concerts can be a forum for this.......VKV

[rajeshnat]

She recalls with fond memory as to how the Jatkavaalas will be hooked to his concert till the end and how they did not bother about their savaaris. She used to wonder how this man is captivating such lay audiences while he is still singing ragas like malavi, janaranjani, valaji. What do these ragaas mean for those lay listeners?

Till this mmi day , I have only heard few rickshaw wallahs in mylapore awaiting to hear mmi's tukkadas . But the above point that VRP mentioned happened in kumbakonam. SAK durgA told specifically when mmi had concerts in Gandhipark (If I have got the name right),all the jatkavaalas of kumbakonam will go there to listen to his concerts. That is more like todays top film star.

[cienu]

Thanks to Vishnuramprasad for the wonderful write up (and to Rajesh too in another thread. Maybe the mods can merge the MMI function reporting and keep the Kutcheri Review part of Vidya Kalyanaraman as it is)

The function was indeed exceedingly well organised and kudos to VKV for taking so much effort in keeping alive the memory of one of the most outstanding musicians of our times.
Uday's presentation was superb. He brought out the fact extremely well that MMI achieved this cascade of Graha bedams without affecting a tonic shift

For any listener all these remarkable patterns would be happening under a solid framework of Todi and Todi alone!

Narmada too made a wonderful presentation on the Janaranjakam aspect of MMI music. (Well covered by Vishnuramprasad)

I never knew that she tunes the violin for musicians who sing at G sharp plus as - starting from the highest string - SA-PA-SA-PA. As Uday mentioned only a highly accomplished violinist can pull this off and surely Narmada is an outstanding musician.

The speeches by Sri TR and Dr.S.A.K.Durga were from the heart. It was remarkable when Sri Ramachandran mentioned that his concert was just before the MMI concert (from which we in the audience had heard a snippet) and added his inputs to a concert heard live in 1966!

Similarly it was nice to hear from Dr Durga that MMI never used to teach his special trademark "pidis" during classes, but nevertheless would not mind it if his disciple sung the same after hearing him during a concert.!

Unfortunately could not stay fully for Vidya's concert and was able to hear only the first song. She sings wonderfully and am sure she has a great future.

Kindly find a few pictures attached below
A view of the speakers on stage.

Sri VKV listens and Dr Durga speaks

The hall was fully packed as can be seen below

[cienu]

The brilliant session at Cleveland lunch hall involving Trissur R, M K Ramasubramanian(whom we sorely missed) & UDAY ( which I was lucky to be part of); I am glad has resulted in a healthy discussion in some depth providing new insights.....

This is the session at the Cleveland Lunch hall (April 2010) which VKV is referring to in which Ajit is also present. (Picture credit to Minakshi )

[thanjavooran]

Vishnuramprasad Avl,
Thanks for the excellent write up. It was quite interesting and captivating.
with wishes,
Thanjavooran 11 01 2011

[Balummi]

I am amazed at the presentation by VISHNU on the days proceedings at Ragasudha Hall at the MMI remembrance function on 9th .I was sitting along with him ( can be seen in the photograph) and he had done it remarkably well.

[rajeshnat]

Thanks to Vishnuramprasad for the wonderful write up (and to Rajesh too in another thread. Maybe the mods can merge the MMI function reporting and keep the Kutcheri Review part of Vidya Kalyanaraman as it is)

Cutting the mmi part of post from there and pasting it here
vvv

I attended the lecdem -speech of MMI day, where Uday was just wrapping . THen heard fully Trichur ramachandran, SAK durga and Dr narmada speaking about "gAnakAladhara madurai mani iyer". Looked like Uday spoke beautifully his last 5 minutes was comparing mmi's kAlanil silambu neraval with western harmonics. Since I attended only a small segment of that could not write more

Any speaker should always prepare and speak is a fact.While Trichur ramachandran had very less touch points of mmi and gnb in general . I wish he talked with his insight as a musician than as a mere layman rasika . Dr SAK durga was very overwhelmed with the occassion , she talked more about her tutelage with mani mAmA in her kumbakONam mayavaram days. When she wrapped up she talked bit better , particularly she telling that mmi used to say "mELa pAdum Bothu kathapadAthu" she got a thunderous applause for that phrase.

Dr narmada was most prepared I would say. Dr narmada spoke well ,she took few points like kArvai of mmi with a vAthApi krithi explanation, right musical punctuations and janaranjakam aspect of his music . Overall she went in a mode of making a single line statement , then singing few sangathis to support the statement and then playing in violin , it was very contextual . I felt may be as she herself sings quite well , possibly she could have done her talk only with vocal context. At times the momentum was lost in speech , then vocal and then playing few sangathis in violin . But certainly I appreciate her sincerity in preparation.

As usual the chembai vaidhyanatha vengala kural MC Dr VK Vishwanathan was orchestrating beautifully the proceedings of mmi day. In short if you like MMI's music and donot know much about MMI's personality ,you would have enjoyed a lot. Certainly for a diehard fan of MMI like me , It is always nice to have these kind of annual days, perhaps I missed the best of content as I did not hear Uday's talk.

In crowd there was as such a generation of old timers who made up the bulk of crowd. The post mmi era crowd was very less , cienu, vishnuramprasad and perhaps cienu's daughter aishwarya must have been the youngest. Few Other musicians like TRS, saranathan, charumathi ramachandran ,parents of suryaprakash , kAlidas were all there.Apart from the doyen Shri nAdabadran, Flute ramani was also was there along with cleveland vv sundaram.

[annamalai]

Sabhas had organized GNB centennial - India Fine Arts, Narada Gana Sabha, Music Academy, ....
The IFAS program had speakers Lalgudi Jayaraman, TN Krishnan, M. Balamuralikrishna, Trichur V. Ramachandran, ... and had a monthly concert series for a year. Semmangudi centennial had a series of concerts - Parasala Ponnammal, Ranjani & Gayathri, TMK @ Music Academy ... Books and recordings released ...

Any plans of sabhas celebrating MMI centennial ?

[rajeshnat]

When Dr SAK Durga spoke, she was mentioning that MMI usually scans different groups of audiences during concerts, and sometimes seeing pockets of rasikas enjoying his music , he at times repeats the same sangathis for their enjoyment again.

Oldtimers who listened to mmi:
--------------------------------------
Is the above statement a sure fact or was that some kind of bit of poetic license of the speaker ? .or Did I not completely understand there? Just curious there

I have heard from Ashtika samAjam narasimhan that in a concert near mayavaram junction , as mmi finished kalyAni krithi, a bit later a kumbakonam - mayavaram shuttle arrived with a bunch of mmi rasikas , they all requested MMI to sing kalyAni again and MMI again obliged and sang kalyAni. This is definitely understandable when compared to the previous.

Overall just collating these kind of rasikas - vidwan interaction was prevalent those days which must have produced more aesthetic concerts.If at all we find any of these touch points right now in internet days , our whole reaction will be entirely different .

[thenpaanan]

...

Similarly it was nice to hear from Dr Durga that MMI never used to teach his special trademark "pidis" during classes, but nevertheless would not mind it if his disciple sung the same after hearing him during a concert.!
....

I believe this is standard practice. Many (most?) musicians revert to their "standard" paataantharam of a composition when teaching even though their concert version of the same could be very different. This might be the reason for the remarkable stability/consistency in compositions across artists before the recorded era, in spite of the obvious diversity in performance.

Thanks for a very informative writeup.

-Then Paanan

[kapali]

Iam posting here a reel tape recording of portin (sukhi evvaro and Sarasamukhi) of a MMI concert held at Malleswaram sangeetha sabha in 1957 with Govindaswami Naicker on the violin, Murugabhupathy on the mridangam and Alangudi Ramachandran on the ghatam followed by a portion of 1961 AIR recording of MMI's ravichandrika alapana with Lalgudi on the violin ;
http://rapidshare.com/files/443497017/M ... ndrika.MP3

[Balummi]

My father had attended one MMI concert in1930's in Triplicane and there were only nine rasikas . The main reason for that low turn out for his concerts , according to my father was that he sang lot of rare compositions and unnecessarily elaborated and spent lot of time singing swaras for those appoorva ragas! Lateron he realised this and sang only what the rasikas wanted .

[kapali]

I posted the above recording here because MMI's rendering of sukhi evvaro and Sarasamukhi in the above concert recording had a special and unique trait different from his other versions of the same .It may be seen that in Sarasamukhi here the mridangamist and Ghatam vidvans also seem to really enjoy and revel with each other capturing the mood of the concert while playing during the swara rendering!

[Enna_Solven]

I posted the above recording here because MMI's rendering of sukhi evvaro and Sarasamukhi in the above concert recording had a special and unique trait different from his other versions of the same

kapali,

Please, please could you give me the whole concert, if it is not commercial? Both songs are superb! His voice quietens my monkey-mind. If it commercial, please give me the CD details.

[kapali]

Enna_solven.
I retrieved the above songs from my sister-in-law's personal live recordings and I am not sure if she is having the remaining portions of that concert.If it is available with her I will definitely post them. This concert recording being a personal one it is not available as CD or recorded cassete and so I have now posted in the net for the first time.

[Enna_Solven]

Thank you kapali.

[Balummi]

Dear Kapali ,
Your posting of Sukhi Evaro and Sarasamukhi are excellent . I am eagerly waiting for the remaining portions of the concert . MMI never prepares for any concert . I have some 28 different versions of Vatapi Ganapathim and each one has some unique aspect. Once when I escorted him from his house to Mylapore Fine Arts Club , he asked for my suggestions and he himself enumerated a few compostions that he proposed to sing and he never sang them!

[ravimandalam]

A large collection of MMI concerts have been uploaded in Sep and Oct 2010 at the following link:

http://cid-5f3305198bd47502.office.live ... ani%20Iyer

This collection has so many previously unheard MMI renderings such as Ninuvina (Navarasakannada), Manasa Sancharare (Sama), Paramaukam enayya (Karaharapriya), Karthikeya Gangeya (Thodi), Sree Ganapathini Sevimpa (Saurashtram), Sree Saraswathi Namosthuthe (Arabhi), Indha Paramukam (Poorvi Kalyani), Mahaganapathim (Thodi), Enta Nerchina (Udaya Ravichandhrika), Madarpirai (Thevaram) and many others that forum members may find it a very valuable source.

[pvs]

My sincere Thanks Ravimandalam! This is a treasure horde. like eldorado!! thanks again.

[Enna_Solven]

I downloaded a few concerts from that link a couple of months ago. The ones I downloaded were in poor shape - recording-wise. Just heads-up.

[ravimandalam]

Enna Solven, May be you should apply some of your magic clean-up solutions to those recordings in not very good shape. I heard the Mali-Chembai-Maharajapuram concert after your clean up (in the TR Mahalingam thread). It is superb with all the background noise virtually eliminated. Look forward to your treated versions. Many thanks

[Enna_Solven]

Thank you Ravi. The rest of the songs are being uploaded; should be done in an hour.

I tried to clean a few of the concerts but gave up; they were too 'incoherently' noisy. I could not do a uniform job even within a song. If you think any of them is promising, let me know, I will try.

[ravimandalam]

Many thanks. Yes, I saw your post on the Mali thread -the entire TRM-CVB-MVI concert is available now. Thanks a ton. I am hearing those MMI concerts one by one. I will let you know if there are any recordings whose quality could be improved.

[anandasangeetham]

Sirs,

I am searching for the Ninnuvina piece of MMI. Please guide as to which folder this is available

[ravimandalam]

Dear Sir,
The Ninuvina piece is in vol 3 of the 1956 Nangavaram concert with TSI (Thiruvalangadu Sundaresa Iyer). The link is:
http://cid-5f3305198bd47502.office.live ... m-tsi-1956
Happy hearing, it is delightful, especially the niraval and swaras. The first few minutes are the tail portion of the tani after Enduku Peddala. It also has Sree Rangapura Vihara and Soga Suga Mridanga sung to the request of a member of the audience. MMI's music - it is simply enchanting!

[Balummi]

Dear Anandasangeetham ,
Ninnuvina can be found as file no.31 in my MP3 CD Mani - 10 ( poor Rec )
and CD - Mani - 13 file no.35 (better Rec) . In fact all the uploading by Sri Veeraraghavan that Ravimandalam
refers are only from our collections and I have found that the uploading is rather bad not as it is with us . The Enthanechina piece is very good with us and not so with the downloads from Sri Veeraraghavan .

[Balummi]

Pl. follow the link below to get a mood elevating experience of listening to MMI's Sahana (Kolarupathikam) and Baktha Paya ( Dhanyasi)
http://www.mediafire.com/?wtp3cl33ea99s

[ravimandalam]

Dear Sri Balummi,
Many thanks. MMI's Kolarupathikkam is always very inspiring, sung with many variations and in different ragas each time.

[kapali]

Further to post 583, i am now posting the balance portion of the 1961 AIR, Bangalore recording of Niravadhi sukhada etc which version is herewith being uploaded for the first time. Ihope you enjoy it.
http://www.mediafire.com/?b7lr207rxcr5zbg

[Enna_Solven]

Thank you very much, kapali.

[unixguru88]

Oh my lord! I actually found a hindolam recording in this folder! It is the famous MaRamanan track which is incomplete and very noisy and but is still amazing! If only some one can dig up a complete and noise free version, it would be even more amazing.

[Enna_Solven]

Further to post 583, i am now posting the balance portion of the 1961 AIR, Bangalore recording of Niravadhi sukhada etc

kapali, I noise-cleaned and split the tracks into separate songs. The AIR recording was unbalanced and noisy. They are uploaded here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?dt4uzmkldhqa9
01 Sukhi Evvaro-Kanada 16:08
02 Sarasamukhi-Gowda malhar 7:54
03 Alapana-Ravichandrika 6:20
04 Niravadhi Sukhada-Ravichandrika 10:06
05 Sogasujuda-Kannada Gowla 7:36
06 Jalandhara Supeetasthithe-Valaji(incomplete) 4:14

If only we could have rest of the songs of the 1957 Malleswaram concert. It is so fresh and clear. thanks again!

[vasanthakokilam]

E_S, fantastic job. Your star is going to rise very high among the MMI fan circles!!

This nirvadhi sukhada is quite brilliant. I sense some influence and inspiration of this in Tanjore Kalyanaraman's version which I love very much. ( just in my perception, not that I know one way or the other if TSK was inspired by MMI )

[Enna_Solven]

thanks vk. when I go to Chennai next time, I am going to kenjik kUtthADi get MMI/SSI/MDR concerts from balummi, coolji and yessel...