Jon B.Higgins

Carnatic Musicians
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kiransurya
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Post by kiransurya »

Amazing to know how these people though born into different culture and life style got absorbed into these art forms and mastered them so well....

srkris
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Post by srkris »

You know, everyone concentrates on Higgins, but dancers like Kay Poursine and Dr. Saskia Kersenboom, people who continue to propogate Bala's style of dancing here in the US are completely ignored.
That is because Higgins chose to play the game in the same arena along with the established giants.

Had he decided to stick to performing in the USA alone, he wouldn't have been as popular as he is now.

vasanthakokilam
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Post by vasanthakokilam »

And having good AIR coverage... That is the most important thing at that time for spreading the word and widespread name recognition.

srkris
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Post by srkris »

Yeah, right, of course!

vasanthakokilam
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Post by vasanthakokilam »

Did you read Higgins' thesis? although his PhD was in music, I think there is as much info on bharatanatyam as there is on CM in his work
Ravi
Yes, I read the excerpts in the Kay Poursine link you provided. Yes, his description of bharatanatyam history reads very nicely.

BTW, what was Higgins' contribution to bharatanatyam in terms of original research for his PHd? The stuff I read, though good information, is a literature survey which is just one required part of any thesis. Or he, thru field work and interviews, discovered some new stuff about Bharatanatyam history?

rshankar
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Post by rshankar »

VK,
Not really: his main thesis stuff was on music. He included Bharatanatyam music and made the dance a part of his thesis for a couple of reasons AFAIK:
1. He was trained by Balasaraswati's family, and
2. Balasaraswati preached and got him to believe that bharatanatyam was was not a mere dance form but essentially an extension of music.
This is what I have understood from all the reading that I have done. If I am wrong, I hope the correct version is posted.

kaumaaram
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Post by kaumaaram »

From Indiangyan.com

Jon Higgins was perhaps the best-known American performer of Indian classical music. His interest in South Indian music began when he first saw Balasaraswati and found himself entranced by the musical accompaniment as well as the dance. Higgins was a versatile musician who had studied under John Cage, performed in a chamber music group, formed his own vocal jazz ensemble and starred in an opera. "I felt myself torn between the traditional Western music and the avant-garde," he explained. "When I was introduced to Indian music, I fell into it like a duck into a pond." His university, Wesleyan, was already a center for the study of Indian music, and Higgins was able to study Carnatic music under Balasaraswati's brother, T. Ranganathan, before writing his master's thesis on South Indian drumming. Seeking the source of this music, Higgins came to Madras on a Fulbright grant in 1964, where he learned Carnatic music from Bala's brothers and other musicians close to the family. His Indian audience gave him the ultimate accolade when they accorded him the same honorific they give to their best musicians - Bhagavatar. Higgins' splendid voice was silenced by a fatal auto accident in 1985, when he was only 45 years old, but he inspired a generation of Americans, many of whom continue his work.

V. Thyagarajan, a friend and colleague of Jon Higgins, told this anecdote to SPAN magazine:

"A party of musicians, Jon among them, went to Udipi to see the Krishna temple. The American wore a dhoti and a kurta as was his custom in Madras . . . but he was much too fair complexioned to be an Indian, and the priests would not let him enter the temple.... So Jon stood where Kanakadasa the untouchable had stood centuries ago, to catch a glimpse of the idol from a distance as best he could. His musician friends stood with him, refusing to go inside the temple if Jon was not allowed. Then it occurred to one of them to ask Jon to sing the famous song, "Krishna, nee begane baro,â€ÂÂÂ

padren68
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Joined: 26 Oct 2005, 20:31

Post by padren68 »

A writeup by John Higgins. I got this from aperson by name Petr (Niraya) who was a participant in sangeetham BB
http://rapidshare.de/files/26278123/Jon ... _.pdf.html

arasi
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Post by arasi »

nallanchakra,
This one anecdote says more about Higgins than what the article tried to convey.
I was puzzled and somewhat vexed as I read the article--Vk as is his wont, voiced our concerns about that article in a lucid way.
Research is not my forte; still, I could see that not much effort had gone into it. I also think, even if the writer had started the essay with some enthusiasm, the result was like a fizzled out soft drink. What motivated him/her to write it, I wonder. It did not help in bringing into focus a one of a kind cm vocalist like Higgins...

Srinivasan
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Post by Srinivasan »

Namasthe,

Kindly activate the links given for Higgins Bhagavathar as I was able to join only recently by which time all the links had been deactivated.

Please Please do this at the earliest.

Srinivasan

abadri
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Post by abadri »



dhanyasi
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Post by dhanyasi »

It is pity that whenever Jon Higgins's gurus are mentioned there is no mention of his actual guru Sangeetha Kalanidi Prof T.Viswanathan. It was this humble man who shaped Jon Higgins. He was a Professor at Wesleyan for close to 30 years and Higgins learnt most of the pieces from him and even the day he died walking a dog he was at viswa's house earlier to learn a piece.

kaumaaram
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Post by kaumaaram »

Dhanyasi,

Thanks for the info. Can you shed more light as we have only a few sources printed here and there to know about the artist and his gurus. Rasikas participating in this forum would be indeed keen to know more from you.

Kaumaaram

arasi
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Post by arasi »

Yes, Dhanyasi, please do share your information.
Though a dance related question, this pertains to the same family. I remember reading a few years ago that Sri. Viswanathan's niece (Balasaraswathi's daughter) Lakshmi had trained her son in bharathanatyam and that he was giving performances. Any particulars on that?
Thanks.

rshankar
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Post by rshankar »

Aniruddh Knight is a dancer in East Coast.
Kay Poursine is another of Balasaraswati's disciples who runs a dance school and performs in NY/NJ area. I think Sangeetha Kalanidhi Viswanathan's wife Josepha Comack Viswanathan works at Wesleyan University's World Music Archives.
Ravi

dhanyasi
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Post by dhanyasi »

Since i was a student at wesleyan and i was furtunate to learn for some time with viswa sir i know some info about Higgins. if any one is in the neighbourhood of wesleyan you should go the Wesleyan University's World Music Archives and you can listen to the numerous lessons of Higgins with Viswa sir. It also has some some great great collection of brinda, balasaraswati, MSS, Ramanad krishnan, KVN, ect etc the list is endless. at one time wesleyan had about 5 south-indian artist in residence, viswa, kvn/ramnad krishnan, tyagarajan(voilin), nagarajan (kangeera), ranganathan mridangam and they used to have concerts every friday called curry concerts.. you got to listen to some of those... out of the world.
Higgins's son Niko Higgins also learnt from viswa sir when he was at wesleyan then went to madras on a full-bright scholarship and learnt with rama ravi.. an awesome singer.. now i think he is doing is PhD at colombia university.. mostly does jazz these days...

Wesleyan celebrates an annual navatarti festival "the oldest south indian music festival in the country" it happens sometime in sepetember.. near the opening of the semester.. the festival is funded my the Higgins memorial fund. if you listen to the thesis tracks of Higgins.. you can hear viswa singing.. though he has only a few commercial recordings out.. he is just phenomenal... hope you guys can make a trip to wesleyan or go to sampradaya when there is recordings of his classes from the ford foundation.

arasi
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Post by arasi »

dhanyasi,
Thank you for your illuminating post on Higgins, his guru and contemporaries. Coming from an alumnus of the university it adds substance to the post. Connecticut has become part of recent carnatic music history (and a musical pilgrimage place?).

rshankar
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Post by rshankar »

Thank you dhanyasi...that was indeed nice. Do you know if the Wesleyan Univ has any commercial ventures where one can buy copies of their treasures? Mrs. Viswa has copies a recording of Smt. Balasaraswati dancing to krishNA nI bEganE bArO. I have her contact info if anyone is interested.
I had the opportunity to hear Sri Viswa play the flute...and the concert (reminds me of the topic in the Gen Discussion thread!) was a fabulous one...he was a born teacher...and he demonstrated some of his points by singing them..gave examples of where the 'God-made instrument' (the human voice) was superior, and situations where 'man-made instruments' held an edge.

coolkarni

Post by coolkarni »

T Viswanthan's Kalanidhi performance at academy

God Bless the soul who turned me away from the concert since I did not have a ticket .(I was yet to learn that one had to go and stand in a queue early in the morning to pick up one of the very few daily tickets on sale , for the day-Boy those meccademicians really make it difficult for a newcomer to be welcomed and get sucked into this wind tunnel!!)
I was to learn ,the next season , the art of entering music academy without a ticket-but i wont reveal it- since this is good decent forum-I dont want Srkris to have a problem with a rogue moderator :P

I went home and recorded the excerpt , broadcast over AIR on a tape.
Priceless gems !!
It is the quality of the Bansuri that speaks out.
A feeling that visits me , everytime Balasai picks up his bat with the long handle in the earlier parts of his innings !


http://rapidshare.de/files/28966882/Vis ... amboji.mp3
Avathanamendu-Harikhamboji

http://rapidshare.de/files/28968108/07- ... havali.mp3
Thanameedane-Bhushavali
and this track from the Heavens !!
78 seconds of mind blowing (no pun intended) alapana and i dont even realise that he has descended in to this beautiful song..
http://rapidshare.de/files/28965799/04- ... alyani.mp3
Krishna_Nee_Begane

kaumaaram
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Post by kaumaaram »

August 15, 1975 â€" Madras Doordarshan went on air. Earlier, Madrasis had the finest moment of watching a cricket match on the TV â€" with West Indies in Madras. People used to hire a TV (famous being Krish TV) for those five days. Crowds will be thronging at those houses trying to get a glimpse of the match.

Ri sa Ri Ni Sa … Pa da sa ri ga…. People will turn around to check who was privileged enough to own a TV. B&W wonder. Specific timings were allotted to music, vayalum vazhvum, mudhior kalvi, oliyum oliyum, natakam, etc. Come the ASIAD games, we migrated to colour TV. But then the one and only channel, DD laid clear emphasis on Arangisai. 45 minutes were easily allotted every week. The programme will start at 8.30 PM and end at 9.15 PM.

Listen to this clip of John Higgins on DD. [Moderators may note that the concert is a truncated version and hence not a full-length concert]. The first song, Sobillu Saptaswara starts somewhere in anupallavi. The main song is “Ammaravammaâ€ÂÂÂ

vasanthakokilam
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Post by vasanthakokilam »

Thanks kaumaaram. Vazhimaraithirukuthu was my introduction to Higgins..This TV rendition sounds pretty similar to what I remember hearing a long time back ( I forgot the source of that now ).

kaumaaram
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Joined: 14 Oct 2005, 17:38

Post by kaumaaram »

Some Compilations:

Jon B. Higgins was an extraordinary musician, scholar, teacher, and human being. An inspiration to many, he lived much of his student and professional life at Wesleyan University.

Born on September 18, 1939, in Andover, Massachusetts, Higgins had his high school education at Phillips Andover Academy, where his father taught English and his mother taught music for many years. He attended Wesleyan University and received his B.A. as a double major in Music and History in 1962, his M.A. in Musicology in 1964, and his Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology in 1973. He founded the Indian music studies program at York University in Toronto with Trichy Sankaran in 1971, and returned to Wesleyan in 1978 as a professor of music and Director of the Center for the Arts. He continually sought to strengthen the quality of Wesleyan's curriculum, and immersed himself in numerous cultural activities inside and beyond the university community. He also maintained a very deep relationship with his family, nurturing his role as husband and father. His generosity and warmth touched many people.

Jon Higgins was a superb singer of European and Western classical music. He is also recognized as the first non-Indian to perform South Indian classical Karnatak music at a high level of proficiency. He began his Indian music studies in Wesleyan courses taught by Robert Brown and T. Ranganathan, and was quickly captured by the subtle beauty of the art form. He decided to fully dedicate himself to learning the language of Karnatak music, and went to India on a Fulbright scholarship to learn from T. Viswanathan. Within a short period of time he performed to great acclaim at the Tyagaraja Aradhana, an important music festival in South India. He later continued his studies under the renowned dancer T. Balasaraswati, and wrote his dissertation on the dance music of Bharata Natyam. Higgins returned to India as a Senior Research Fellow of the American Institute of Indian Studies. He continued to perform Karnatak music, recorded several albums, and due to his widely-recognized sensitivity was honored with the sobriquet "Bhagavatar" (scholarly musician). A tragic accident cut short his dynamic life on December 7, 1984. We are thankful for his enduring legacy of promoting cultural understanding through the arts.

The Jon B. Higgins Memorial Fund was created in 2000 to support the South Indian music and dance program at Wesleyan University. The fund is used both to bring visiting artists to Wesleyan and to fund faculty and student research in India. For more information, please contact Pamela Tatge at (860) 685-2693, or ptatge@wesleyan.edu.

About Trichy Sankaran: Year 1971 marked the beginning of a new era for Trichy Sankaran. That was the year he came to Canada to start the South Indian Music Program at York University in Toronto, along with the American singer Jon B. Higgins. The late Jon Higgins was one of the very few Americans who became a popular and well- respected Karnatak music singer. When Jon left Toronto in 1978, Sankaran, the co-founder, continued to build a respectable South Indian Music Program at York University over the years. In the last 30 years he has trained many North Americans in the history, theory, and performance of South Indian vocal and drumming. He is highly acclaimed for bridging the Eastern culture with the Western musical tradition in his academic teaching.
Last edited by kaumaaram on 23 Aug 2006, 15:29, edited 1 time in total.

bala747
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Post by bala747 »

I wonder if any of his concerts are available anywhere.

My mother would remark that whenever the thani came, during his early days performing in different venues in India he would actually stretch his legs out a little bit, not used to sitting on stage this long.

What was amazing about Jon Higgins was his gimmick free approach to music. His alapanas were always chaste, his diction was very passable for someone from the west (In face in my opinion the occasional mispronounciation or stressing the wrong syllable was rather quaint and endearing).

The first track I heard of his was a Varali and then a Bhairavi. I was actually surprised that he could handle these difficult ragas pretty competently. My personal favourite of course was his rendition of Nattakuranji, Vazhimaraindirukkuthu. (especially the way he sang "maadu paduthhirukkey ayya"). He could do a pretty competent alapana in that vakra raga too.

I think that though his death was certainly unfortunate, what was more 'unfortunate' was that he didn't pick up Indian music earlier. Considering how late he started and the level of mastery he reached, had he picked it up earlier (by some unknown miracle), who knows? We could have had another legend.

My grandfather would remark that his concerts were always jam packed just because people then could see a white man on stage singing Keeravani! (He would call him "Ikkins Bhagavathar").

Incidentally why is he called a "Bhagavathar"?

kaumaaram
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Post by kaumaaram »

Jon Higgins drew my attention whenever my father used to scold us at home for not learning carnatic music (we were more interested in film songs!). My father used to say that an American was able to appreciate carnatic music whereas his children were useless, wasting their time by not learning carnatic music. Well, "Thanthai sol mikka mandhiram illai"! [Those days AIR used to regularly relay his LPs between 7.00 AM and 7.15 AM- Isai Amudham].

Jon Higgins followed a discipline of rendering a sangati twice, adhering strictly to rules, etc. If you hear the TV program that I have uploaded you will notice that he follows the rules of the game pretty well. Possibly that was a great success that he earned in a short time. I do not know the answer to your question, "why was he called a Bhagavathar?".

Kaumaaram
Last edited by kaumaaram on 24 Aug 2006, 13:27, edited 1 time in total.

rshankar
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Post by rshankar »

http://www.hindu.com/fr/2008/07/11/stor ... 310400.htm

A nicely written article except for
S. RANGARAJAN wrote:Gataksham
:P

kaumaaram
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Post by kaumaaram »

Thanks R Shankar. I have got hold of one of the AIR concerts with great difficulty. I will be uploading this in my folder in Sangeethapriya.org. I am sure that all of you will enjoy this concert.

rshankar
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Post by rshankar »

Sri Kaumaram,

That will be wonderful - thanks! I look forward to it!

kaumaaram
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Post by kaumaaram »

Please download from:

www.sangeethamshare.org/kaumaram

Item No: 19. Thanks.
Last edited by kaumaaram on 19 Jul 2008, 13:52, edited 1 time in total.

Jim
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Post by Jim »

I have a photo I took of Jon and his wife in Madras about 1971. Also photos of S. Nagarajan and Nageswara Rao, both of whom visited Wesleyan in the 1960s. Should I upload these? Jim
Last edited by Jim on 22 Nov 2009, 05:19, edited 1 time in total.

thanjavooran
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Post by thanjavooran »

shri Jim ,
Please do. Adavance thanks.
Thanjavooran

Jim
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Post by Jim »

How do you post a photo?
Last edited by Jim on 22 Nov 2009, 05:36, edited 1 time in total.

cacm
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Post by cacm »

Jim wrote:I have a photo I took of Jon and his wife in Madras about 1971. Also photos of S. Nagarajan and Nageswara Rao, both of whom visited Wesleyan in the 1960s. Should I upload these? Jim
Jim,
When I bought a house in New City, N.Y.(Vicky lives in Nyack next town where Helen Hayes lived!) Nageswara Rao who was staying with us in Manhattan also was one of three who moved into the house!...If you have the pics in JPEG can I request you to send one to vkv43034@yahoo.com It will mean a lot to both my wife& myself. VKV

Jim
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Post by Jim »

OK VKV, Will do. I took this in Madras. He is riding his motorcycle! Jim
Last edited by Jim on 23 Nov 2009, 06:50, edited 1 time in total.

vasanthakokilam
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Post by vasanthakokilam »

Jim: Upload to http://www.tinypic.com/ and post the resulting img link here.

Jim
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Post by Jim »

Image

Jim
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Post by Jim »

I took this of Jon and Rhea somewhere in Tamil Nadu, perhaps it was Chennai, in 1971. Jim

cienu
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Post by cienu »

Jim wrote:I took this of Jon and Rhea somewhere in Tamil Nadu, perhaps it was Chennai, in 1971. Jim
What a wonderful picture Jim !

Thanks for sharing :)

rajeshnat
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Post by rajeshnat »

Beautiful photo , both of them look more like Indians (especially John Higgins looks like the thamizh actor Arvind Swamy )than Americans

ragam-talam
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Joined: 28 Sep 2006, 02:15

Post by ragam-talam »

Does anyone know where Smt Higgins (Rhea) is these days?

It would great to get a record of her reminiscences of the great Bhagavathar. Could add a dimension to what we know about him.

khanjirachavana
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Joined: 21 Apr 2008, 16:19

Post by khanjirachavana »

Hi Everyone... I need an info... Can some body pls tell me the audio company that has released the below recording...

Vocal - John B Higgins
Violin - M Chandrashekar
Mridangam - Guru Karaikudi mani
Khanjira - G harishankar

I have got only the list of krithis in the audio... Please help

ardhanariswar
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Post by ardhanariswar »

If possible, can someone enable/re-upload the audio links please? Thanks!

srkris
Site Admin
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Post by srkris »

Copyrighted recordings are not allowed to be shared here.

khanjirachavana
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Re:

Post by khanjirachavana »

srkris wrote:Copyrighted recordings are not allowed to be shared here.
Atleast can anybody tell me if the recording is still available? I am in Bangalore..

Sivaramakrishnan
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Re: Jon B.Higgins

Post by Sivaramakrishnan »

There's a LP record of Higgins (released during the early eighties) which is a demo of how a typical concert should be. It was hugely popular those times ; I wonder why it is not frequently heard / discussed now.

It starts with the Viriboni varnam, covers Darini Telusu (Sudhasaveri) etc. and ends with a Tillana. It includes a padam too. Krishna nee Begane (though in an anglicised accent) explains the utmost care Higgins has taken for the Saahitya aspect.

I have felt that the same menu can be practised by upcoming artists to have a grip of the concert idiom.

rajeshnat
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Re: Jon B.Higgins

Post by rajeshnat »


smala
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Re:

Post by smala »

coolkarni wrote:CML
all these are AIR Recordings-courtesy SRkris.

all of them are with the V Thyagarajan-trichy Sankaran- V Nagraj Combo

next two
http://rapidshare.de/files/7395525/Higgins-2.mp3
http://rapidshare.de/files/7396706/Higgins-3.mp3

kaumaram-- are you feeling better :roll


Anyway to reactivate these download links?

Found this shiva shiva enarAda by Jon Higgins very captivating.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueWwPzom ... r_embedded#!

venkatakailasam
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Joined: 07 Feb 2010, 19:16

Re: Jon B.Higgins

Post by venkatakailasam »

A (constructed) concert by Jogn Higgins...Courtesy Shri HMG Murthy..SP Archives

viribONi_ninnE_kOri-VARNAM-bhairavi
dinamaNi_vamsha_tilaka-harikAmbhO
sogasugA_mrudanga_tALamu-shrIranjani
kaligiyuNTEgadA_galgunu-kIravANi
amba_nIlayatAkSi-nIlAmbari
tillAna-mOhana-mysUr_vAsudEvAcArya-mangaLam

John B Higgins
Y.Rama Rao - Violin
Trichy Sankaran - Mirdangam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk85K_aXdAE

parvathiakhilesh
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Re: Jon B.Higgins

Post by parvathiakhilesh »

Namaskaram,

Could someone please advice on how to get a copy of “ the music of Bharathanatyam “?. A pdf version or an ebook which can be purchased online would also suffice.

Thanks in advance


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