Musical Anecdotes on famous musicians

[VRV]

Dear Friends,

I have inadvertently been subscribed to a yahoo group which sends me musical anecdotes on a weekly basis of famous musicians present and past. They make very interesting read and I thought our friends here at Rasikas.org may enjoy it too. Any other information about these artists are welcome.

Artist for today is violinist Sangita Kalanidhi M Chandrasekaran:

Shri.Chandrasekharan is an eminent classical violinist from Chennai. He was initiated into the violin by his mother, Charubala Mohan. She found that her darling child had lost his sight while yet a baby. And soon, she lost her husband too. Fortunately her musical training as a student of Sangita Kalanidhi T.K.Jayarama Ayyar and the musical aptitude of the child indicated the direction in which she should mould the future of her son . And she did it with satisfying results.She has been not only a mere mother, but Guru and God. The young boy turned out to be a prodigy and began performing publicly in 1949, at the age of eleven.

“ My Mother learnt Braille first and then taught me. Now I can read and write any Indian language in Braille. I know typewriting too. Here I have to mention about the bold decision taken by my parents and maternal grandparents at my young age. My eye-sight was affected when I was four months old. After that, when as a child I was dull-looking and the doctors suggested removal of the right eye as it could affect the brain, my parents thought it was better for me to live without the eye than with an affected brain and agreed for removal of the eye. I lost vision in the left eye also. And my mother, without forcing anything on me, made me stand on my own legs.”

He learnt music under his mother and later under Mannargudi Sambasiva Bhagavathar and Kumbakonam Viswanathan; Jayammal taught him padams, . Chandrasekharan soon became an accomplished violinist and a vocalist and made his debut in 1949 at the most befitting venue of Thyagaraja Vidwat Samajam.

Chandrasekaran has provided Violin accompaniment to stalwarts In recognition of his contributions to the field of music, the Government of India honoured him with the prestigious Sangeet Natak Academy Award . The Government of Tamil Nadu honoured him with the Kalaimamani Award.The Music Academy, Chennai, conferred on him the title Sangeetha Kalanidhi. He is the first recipient of the M.S. Subbulakshmi Award instituted by the Hindu.

M.Chandrasekharan is an excellent accompanist eagerly sought after by vocalists as his play blends with theirs like a flower and its fragrance and flows in rich unison. He gives solos with his daughter and has won laurels. The year 1999 marked the golden jubilee of his service to music. At the age of 13, he won the first prize in a violin competition conducted by the Music Academy, Madras. Chandrasekaran has taught many youngsters and continues to do so. He has about 30 accomplished students, some of them leading artists in their own right, such as his own daughter Bharathi, Kanyakumari, S. D. Sridhar and Madurai Balasubramaniam.

When Chandrasekaran is an accompanist, he openly appreciates the main artist's performance. He absorbs everything that is sung and when he plays gives the essence in perhaps a quarter of the time, according to Umayalpuram Sivaraman, who has played with Chandrasekaran for about 40 years now. Sivaraman adds that this violin maestro knows the value of sahitya, its bakthi and bhava and can bring all nuances and beauty in his violin and make the rasika visualize the raga devata dancing in front of him. He is an expert in the laya aspects too. He has an inner eye, as it were, through which he can see any intricacy in tala and play accordingly.

Chandrasekharan recalls with pride how T.N.Rajarathinam Pillai performed for his wedding and blessed him . Chandrasekharan played along with Dwaram Venkataswami Naidu and accompanied M. D. Ramanathan at the residence of late President Dr. S. Radhakrishnan.

Chandrasekaran founded the Charubala Mohan Trust which organises concerts for good artists who are not able to get adequate opportunities. The Trust confers titles on talented artists. "Veena Nadamani'' and "Sangeetha Visarada'' .These were conferred on Ravindran and A. S. Panchapakesan last year, and this year on the occasion of his golden jubilee "Violin Nadamani'' would be conferred on Kandadevi Alagiriswami.

He was a visiting faculty at the Palghat Music College.Chandrasekaran has also composed varnams and kritis in different languages. Chandrasekaran’s odyssey is of sheer grit and determination in the face of overwhelming odds.

Vinod Venkataraman

[hnbhagavan]

Very good write up.Request you to post regularly.

[ganesh_mourthy]

From a violinist point of view, his violin playing is unique and especially his viraladi ( the quick and brisk ornamentation done by the little finger). His disciple R.Rahul first demonstrated this to me once. The only thing that disappointing me is when M.C is excluded from the stalwarts mention often - TNK, LJ and MSG. Especially with the fingering techniques , and playing style MC is a unique school. On how he achieved this level is indeed a divine intervention I feel.

[hnbhagavan]

True.MC is very humble and he has great regard for the three TNK,LGJ,MSG.He is younger and perhaps he got recognition little later.But there is no doubt about his unique contribution.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7szJ5dOF7X8
Here is a great lecture by Sri MC.

[vasanthakokilam]

G_M, that is mainly because, it is in our generic makeup to restrict the set of great people in any particular domain to three. Not that we don't celebrate other numbers. Definitely 5 and 7 are great too. There are panchanadai and panchaloha. We can definitely have panchamurthy of violin to include KC and one other person. Like trinity for 3, what will be the word for 5? We can call them the Fab five but that is too western

[ganesh_mourthy]

VK,


"Naalvar".
Glorify Tamil. Oops Thamizh.

By the By, what is KC. I think this initialism is not very Indian as much.

[rshankar]

I think KC is a typo - I think VK meant MC.

[PUNARVASU]

VK, 'quintet'?

[vasanthakokilam]

Yup, KC was a typo, I meant MC.

Punarvasu, Quintet is a nice word and it works, though Violin Quintet gives the impression of a band of 5 violinist. doesn't it?. Violin Naalvar is probably a good compromise and at least MC gets in

[CRama]

Violin Aiwar is better and we should include VVS also in this group.

[ganesh_mourthy]

I agree there were greats in every field. But if we talk of trendsetters with unique fingering techniques and playing techniques I find only three to be unique.



Parur school, Lalgudi school, and MC School. This is a very educated view rather than going with mass triad views. Their system were radically different at that point - completely novel.

There are many famous violinists ; VVS,TNK,Dwaram,Chowdiah,Ganesh Kumaresh, Mysore brothers,LS brothers,KK.

[ganeshkant]

I have heard that he has performed duets with TNK quite a no.of times.

[ganesh_mourthy]

Indeed I have one of the recordings played by TNK and MC along with flute I guess.

[VRV]

Artist for today is my guru Palghat Ramaswamy Raghu. (1928-2009)

Palghat Ramaswamy Raghu was born on 9 January 1928 in Rangoon to Palghat Ramaswamy Iyer and Ananthalakshmi Ammal. As a child, he was immensely talented and inducted into mridangam lessons very early in his life. His first mridangam lessons were from Tinniam Venkatarama Iyer and Trichy Raghava Iyer. Later he learnt the art from Palghat T. S. Mani Iyer, to whose niece, Swarnambal, he was married. He was a graduate in mathematics.

His grandfather, Radhakrishna Iyer was a highly respected figure in Rangoon and was an authority in Carnatic music. Raghu began his early training under one Sri Swamy at Rangoon. However, it was the visit of Thinniam Venkatrama Iyer to Burma that brought sharp focus to the boy’s talents. He had a ‘crash course’ under Thinniam Venkatrama Iyer for about twenty one days and the teacher was most impressed with his pupil. The family decided to move to Palghat so that Raghu could undergo training with the stalwart, Palghat Mani Iyer. It is interesting to note that other than this , Raghu had no roots or connection to Palghat. The family belonged to Trissur, traditionally.

 In 1940, Raghu and his family moved to Palghat and he began his training under Mani Iyer. The initial lessons saw the maestro focusing on Raghu’s fingering techniques and making changes to suit his style of play. Thus began a long association that went on to see Palghat Raghu as his foremost disciple.

Being Mani Iyer’s disciple was like being a member of his family. Recalled Raghu, “ Mani Iyer would go for a walk every morning and I would accompany him, walking just a wee bit behind him. He would discuss various aspects of laya and also quiz me on what I had been doing. I would then say the ‘korvai’ or ‘kanakku’ that I was working on and he would listen very intently. He was always encouraging and wanted me to learn more by imbibing from listening than from actual one to one teaching. Mani Iyer was always of the opinion that a mridanga vidwan must know music and vice versa. It was at this time that Palghat K.V.Narayanaswamy would come for practice and I used to accompany him often.”

With Papa Venkataramiah on the violin, Raghu got to accompany the great Alathur brothers at the age of fourteen. Papa took him under his wings and they travelled together on many concert tours.Raghu was at this time studying in school in Palghat. He remembers how it was imperative to take the ‘selection’ exam as a qualifier to write the public exams. He was blissfully scheduled to play for the Alathur brothers in Bombay on the day of his exam! He explained his predicament to his principal. The gentleman asked him to play his concert well and also bring him a recording of the same, if possible! The school exempted him from taking the exam.

Raghu continued living in Palghat and traveling from there for his various assignments. In the meanwhile, he did become a part of Palghat Mani Iyer’s family by marrying his sister’s daughter Mahalakshmi. He had not completed his graduation yet. On the same day, good friend and colleague Palghat K.V.Narayanaswamy married Mani Iyer’s Chithappa’s daughter.


Raghu has the unique credit of combining the two schools of mridangam- the Tanjore School, which featured his guru, Shri Palghat Mani Iyer, and the Pudukottai School, cemented by the great Shri. Palani Subramaniam Pillai- into one style of his own, the “Raghu Bani”, which, by now, manifests in the traditional definition of progress, as a cult movement endorsed by the future generation of mridangam players.

Raghu was a percussion master known for his distinctive style of playing. Using different techniques, he adjusted his playing style to not only different artists and instruments but also captured the bhava and sahitya of music.

Raghu was a constant accompanist to many leading artistes spanning generations such as Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, G.N.B, Alathur brothers and Madurai Mani Iyer.He played for his peers such as T.N.Krishnan, Lalgudi G.Jayaraman, ‘Flute’ Ramani and M.S.Gopalakrishnan. Lalgudi Jayaraman teamed up with Raghu for innumerable GNB concerts and recalled “GNB would refer to him as one of his eyes.”

He remembers his first experience with GNB quite vividly. The concert took place at the Corporation school in Nungambakkam. The organizer was known as ‘Churchill Kuppusamy’ or ‘Black Churchill’ with reference to his complexion and resemblance to Winston Churchill. He was particular that Raghu must play for this concert. Apparently, GNB was rather preoccupied and did not give much attention to the new boy on the mridangam. But within a few minutes, his comfort level was very high and he had visibly thawed towards Raghu. At the end of the concert, he expressed great happiness and the desire that Raghu must accompany him whenever and as often as he could. ‘I felt as comfortable as while singing with your Guru’ was GNB’s reaction. Palghat Raghu remembers that GNB invited him and KVN to his home the next day for a meal

Earlier in 1960, Raghu visited UK for the Bath festival and in 1963 he was invited to perform at the Edinburg International Festival. Raghu toured extensively in Europe, USA, Australia, Mlaysia and Singapore. He performed with artists such as Sitar Maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar , Flute Hariprasad Chaurasia , Santoor Shivkumar Sharma and Alla Rakha in numerous concerts in India and abroad. He had also been involved in East-West fusion music. He had been visiting professor of music at Wesleyan University in Connecticut and University of Berkeley.


Awards came to Raghu in profusion.He was selected as fellow of the Kerala Sangeet Natak Akademi and had received the title of Sangeetha Choodamani. For his eminence in the field of music and his contribution to its enrichment, Shri Palghat R. Raghu received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Carnatic Instrumental Music in 1983.He was the first recipient of the Palghat Mani Iyer award . He annexed Padma Shri, Mridangam Chakravarty award, Kalaimamani (Tamil Nadu) and Sangeetha Kalanidhi .


He regularly conducted advanced mridangam classes for the benefit of his students and upcoming mridangam artists.Palghat Raghu's musical traditions are being carried forward by grandsons -- carnatic musician Abhishek Raghuram and mridangam artist Anantha R. Krishnan . Abhishek Raghuram says of his grandfather --. “I am indeed specially blessed to have Sri Palghat R.Raghu as my grandfather – a loving grandparent, a patient teacher, a strict disciplinarian, a prudent professional and an immortal percussionist. Many a time have I looked up with awe not only at the way he handles his instruments but also at how he nurtures it. His commitment is such that his heart and head ever blend in ‘layam and nadam’. In fact, I am indebted to my grandfather, for whatever musical inclinations and proficiency I have imbibed ever since I was an infant. Truly said – for music – he is my prophet.”

A disciple recalled Raghu’s dedication and sincerity of purpose.” I have personally known him to test every single of his nearly 25 instruments on all days regardless of whether there is a concert or not by applying the “mavu” to the “thoppi” to ensure they are all in good shape. This must be one of the contributory factors for his superb overall balance between the ‘thoppi’ and ‘valanthalai’ apart from the high level of aesthetic sense.”

[ramamantra]

Never knew MC was married.

His disciple (who never finds mention), violin Hariharan in Kochi had unfortunately gone blind in one eye. They used to say in Kochi back then that he was the perfect disciple of MC (in a jocular manner). He is not married.

[cacm]

MC & HIS DAUGHTER BHARATHI play violin duets many times & have performed over the years. vkv