Remembering Sri.S.Rajam -- Invitation

[HR]

[venkatakailasam]

A versatile artist remembered - The Hindu dtd. 12-02-2011


http://www.hindu.com/2011/02/12/stories ... 380200.htm

An Art by Shri S Rajam Sandya Thandavam





venkatakailasam

[Gamakam]

It was a fantastic function. I was especially moved by Sri.Keshav's speech. It was nice meeting our fellow forumite Semmu86 and Nageeswaran sir . It was truly an honor to have VKV sir on the function. I say this because, he was the real pioneer in making a documentary on S.Rajam. His efforts in archiving Rajam's music and paintings for posterity is truly great! Thank you sir for all the help and encouragements. I was hoping to meet Nick too. May be next time:-)

[cacm]

THANKS!.......I Hope your poineering efforts to bring Sri.S.Rajam's Contributions to the fore & Especially presrving them for posterity will bear fruit.....VKV

[Nick H]

.. I was hoping to meet Nick too. May be next time:-)

Well, I had thought to go too,even though you will appreciate that I do not understand the greater part of these functions (my fault entirely). Even before I knew who the artist was, I, as is everyone else, was familiar with his work.

I bet the concert was good too. Unfortunately, I missed it.

[semmu86]

It was an absolutely wonderful documentary. Beautifully conceptualized, written and directed. Sorry that i had to leave after the docu screening. Am sure the concert would have been good too...

[Jyeshtha]

It was a programme that left a warm glow all around. I was talking to Shankari, (daughter of Vijayalakshmy Subramaniam) who summed it up beautifully saying any programme on Rajam Sir has to be good as everyone has such nice things only to say about him!
A clipping from the film also said how Rajam Sir always held in high esteem housewives who made time to learn music -- more than professionals-- as this called for a greater level of dedication and love for music. It was apt that the prayer was rendered by members of a Ladies Club where he had taught for many years.
The audio clippings were amazing! What a Chandrakauns! The Madhuvanti-- Sarvam Bramhamayam-- is still haunting! Wish such great artists are honoured in their own lifetimes ..... No Padma awards, not even a kalaimamani! He probably was above all this kind of recognition!
Kudos to NGS for taking the initiative.

[Gamakam]

Nick: I thought you would say, 'I wont meet you until you post your articles in English"

[Gamakam]

Jyestha,

It was my dream to bring the documentary out when he was alive. unfortunately it will always remain as a dream

[Nick H]

Oh, Gamakam... I sincerely regret not being able to read your articles, but, opinionated and loud-mouthed though I can be, I cannot come between a man and his mother tongue. One, indeed, of the mothertongues of this entire culture of music.

I was at the Harishankar memorial do --- and spell-bound by T K Murthy's speech, even though I didn't understand it!

[HR]

What an amazing function it was!!! ... it was an moving experience - the speeches, and the documentary, which brought out glimpses of Rajam sir as a person , as a musician, as a painter, as a teacher … Rajam Sir had so many positives in him, which itself added such positive energy and warmth to the entire function. The audio clippings in the documentary were fantastic! Like the other rasikas have shared, wish there is more recognition to these great artists during their life time. Following were some of the songs rendered by Sri T.V.Ramprasadh (missed the first two pieces)

Kanda karpaga - Syamalangi - Kotiswara Iyer - Misra Chapu - R , S

Muripemu - Mukhari - R, N , S, T

Alagade - Hatakambari - Adi

Senjuruti Thillana

[vsrani]

Re: (missed the first two pieces)

I am one of the privileged persons to attend this event from the start to thillana, with my friend! Awesome documentary film it is.

The first two krithis T V Ramprasadh sang were
1. Dikshithar krithi in praise of and starting with Suryan - Sowrashtram - think Chatusra Dhruva talam
2. Muthiah Bhagavathar krithi - Charanam Vijayasaraswathi.... - Vijayasaraswathi ragam

[cacm]

Dear Gamakam,
At the excellent function you had organised at NGS, S.Rajam's eldest son passed out TWO typed sheets with sub-titles: A rare combination of Mozart & Michelangelo, Pain& Passions of S.Rajam, Demise of my father S.RAJAM. I do not know whether you received a copy of them as you were very busy with the Function Activities.
I feel you shd. either let him read parts of it by HIMSELF identifying himself as the Eldest Son of S.RAJAM or Summarize it in some fashion in your great Documentary you are in the process of completing if its not done already. I thought those 3 pages were an excellent analysis of facts as well as INSIGHTFUL Observations about S.Rajam.....VKV

[Gamakam]

Dear VKV Sir,

I missed out on the hand out. Is it any different from this article that I published an year back? http://varalaaru.com/Default.asp?articleid=974

Btw. for people who have missed out, the issue number 68 in http://varalaaru.com/Default.asp is dedicated as a special issue on S.Rajam.

I will definitely include portions of Shri.Ramamurti's article in the documentary.

[S.NAGESWARAN]

PREVIEW OF THE FORTHCOMING DOCUMENTARY ON LATE SRI S.RAJAM.

On 12.02.2011, a preview of the forthcoming DVD release of the documentary on late Sri S.Rajam was held at the NGS Mini hall.

Sri Lalitha Ram [our forumite Gamakam] has interviewed Sri S.Rajam when he was alive at Sri Rajam’s house about the multifaceted vocalist and painter.
Interview with Smt. Vedavalli, DR.N.Ramanathan, violinist and Musicologist, Sri B.M.Sundaram, Musicologist, Sri HMV Raghu about late Sri S. Rajam were captured excellently by Sri Lalitha Ram. Sri Kanthan had done a wonderful editing for making the DVD.

The speech by Sri Kesav about his interactions with late Sri S.Rajam about his excellent paintings and many guiding information’s about the art of painting was also excellent.

The DVD is likely to be released in about 2 to 3 months.

The contents of the DVD will be a archival material worth buying by all Rasikas.

I commend the efforts of Sri Lalitha Ram for his passionate idea of making
Documentaries of legendary artists one by one [He had released a documentary on late Sri GNB earlier.

S.NAGESWARAN.
18.02.2011

[Gamakam]

Thank you Nageswaran sir for your nice words. One clarification: The GNB documentary - Isai Vaseegaran - was released by Swati Soft and was directed by SB Khanthan. The documentary was made based on my research for my books on GNB (one biography and the other a centenary commomeration volume).

[venkatamakhi]

Dear readers:
I am new to this forum. I would love to share this videoclip of a rare interview with S. Rajam. I had an opportunity to visit him in July 2009 and am happy that I had a Flip Video recorder with me; he kindly consented to being video-graphed as he talked about the inspiration behind the portraits of the Trinity that he had created.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8XS5Bn_BDk

Here is a related article that I posted on Chennaionline.
http://chennaionline.com/Columns/Mostly ... -Rajam.col

Thanks and regards,
Kanniks Kannikeswaran

[rshankar]

Venkatamakhin (Kanniks) Welcome to the forum! I have been an admirer of your work from afar. Love your work on 'vismaya'.

[Pratyaksham Bala]

venkatamakhi:
Thanks a lot!

[mahavishnu]

Venkatamakhi: Thanks for that wonderful video.

[Enna_Solven]

Sri. Kanniks, thank you very much for this excellent video.

I love your version of pAyum neer arangamtannuL.

[cacm]

Dear VKV Sir,

I missed out on the hand out. Is it any different from this article that I published an year back? http://varalaaru.com/Default.asp?articleid=974

Btw. for people who have missed out, the issue number 68 in http://varalaaru.com/Default.asp is dedicated as a special issue on S.Rajam.

I will definitely include portions of Shri.Ramamurti's article in the documentary.

I managed to read your article referred to but do not have the time to make an "Ike& Mike" COMPARISON. If you are interested I can mail what was distributed if you give your postal address thru' email at: [email protected]. It would appear the hand out has more stuff....VKV

[viji subramaniam]

Dear All
Thank you for your warm wishes and to all those who were present for this function. A big thank you to Gamakam, SB Kanthan, TV Ramprasadh and of course, Sri R Krishnaswamy of NGS for making this programme possible. It was indeed a mark of affection and respect that Rajam Sir commanded that was evident that evening. Since we had the caption as 'Remembering S Rajam', someone asked me if it is possible to forget him! It was an occassion for collectively remembering him
Some voids can never be filled. This is one of those........
Vijayalakshmy Subramaniam
(Sorry, I could not login under my old id--- so had to create this one!)

[mahavishnu]

Thank you for your lovely post, Smt Vijayalakshmi.
Glad to hear that the event was successful and well attended.

[venkatamakhi]

Sri. Kanniks, thank you very much for this excellent video.

I love your version of pAyum neer arangamtannuL.

Thank you so much for your kind words. S. Rajam's vivid portrayal of his inspiration behind creating the iconic portraits is crystal clear. I am grateful to have been able to record his elucidation.

Thanks also for your kind words on 'paayum neer'. I had orchestrated and recorded it in 1991-1992 along with 24 other paasurams in 9 songs. It has almost been two decades!

Many regards,
Kanniks Kannikeswaran

[venkatamakhi]

Venkatamakhin (Kanniks) Welcome to the forum! I have been an admirer of your work from afar. Love your work on 'vismaya'.

Shankar:
Thanks for your warm words.
'Vismaya' was a very joyful project to work on.
Regards,
Kanniks Kannikeswaran

[rajeshnat]

For all those who donot know SB Kanthan the director is the son of harikatha exponent TS balakrishna sastrigal.

Gamakam/Vijisubra
Best wishes .

[Enna_Solven]

Thank you so much for your kind words. S. Rajam's vivid portrayal of his inspiration behind creating the iconic portraits is crystal clear. I am grateful to have been able to record his elucidation.

What amazed me is his excellent recall and diction at his age. I think the lamp only shone more brilliantly at the end. I agree with what you said in your podcast interview. Most of our history goes unrecorded and is either eventually forgotten or turned into folklore/apocrypha.

Thanks also for your kind words on 'paayum neer'. I had orchestrated and recorded it in 1991-1992 along with 24 other paasurams in 9 songs. It has almost been two decades!

I have this song and amalAdipiran that I got from from my friend (when I was trying to learn to recite the latter) many years ago. Is this recording available commercially? I can ask my niece to buy it in Chennai.

[cmlover]

Welcome back
Viji Subramanian
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[viji subramaniam]

How nice..... thank you