Valangaiman Shanmugasundaram

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parivadini
Posts: 1190
Joined: 22 Oct 2013, 22:44

Valangaiman Shanmugasundaram

Post by parivadini »

I realised there was no thread on this great vidwan.

This year being his centenary - it would be nice to hear from the ones who have insights to share on the legend.

Posting the info I collected to compile a calendar on him (to be released next week).

The legendary Thavil artiste Valangaiman Shanmugasundaram Pillai was neither born in Valangaiman nor did he spend his childhood years in Valangaiman, a town in Thiruvarur district. He was born in Segal Madappuram – a village near Thiruthuraipoondi on 02 Apr 1920. His family moved to Srilanka when he was five years old. His tutelage started under his father V.Arumugam Pillai and later he continued his training under Inuvil Chinnathambi Pillai and Rajagopala Pillai. He gave his debut performance when he was just 15. He later joined the legendary Vidwan Nachiarkoil Raghava Pillai for advanced training. Early in his career he was known as ‘Yazhpanam Shanmugasundaram Pillai’.

He performed alongside his Guru. This gave him the opportunity to play for legendary Nagaswaram artistes such as Thiruvavaduthurai Rajaratnam Pillai and Thiruveezhimizalai brothers. Playing alongside his Paramaguru Needamangalam Meenakshisundaram Pillai and his Guru Nachiarkoil Raghava Pillai brought much attention to him as a Thavil artiste. He quickly established himself as a front-rank player and was much sought after to perform across South India despite living in Jaffna. Continuous engagements forced him to shift his base to Valangaiman in Tamilnadu. By the time his career reached its pinnacle the prefix ‘Valangaiman’ got firmly attached to his name and the state of Tamil Nadu accepted him as its own artiste.

He inherited from his gurus not only the art of playing Thavil but also inherited the stature of his gurus and came to be the foremost Thavil player of his times. His playing was a unique blend that contained strokes that dripped with inherent sweetness yet not compromising the majesty of the instrument. Present day leading Thavil vidwan T.R.Govindarajan says, “The Thavil Syllable ‘Tha’ was often equated to my guru Nachairkoil Raghava Pillai. If there was one artiste who could reproduce it with the same effect – it was Valangaiman Shanmugasundaram Pillai. He was a role model for the artistes of my generation both in his behaviour as well as his playing.”

V.Seetharama Pillai – Shanmugasundaram Pillai’s uncle – was regarded as a master in complex rhythmic calculations. Despite honing his skills under the master and achieving commendable competence in various nadais and the lesser known 108 talas, Shanmugasundaram Pillai never set out to display his ability in his concerts. He was a true team player and would play only the patterns that would enhance the overall aesthetics of the concert. In a published interview he said, “Should not music appeal to heart? Would rhythmic acrobatics be able to achieve this? Pyrotechnics may appeal to the mind, but the sowkhyam (the ease) would be lost.”

A good accompaniment is not the one that has patterns that numerically fits the beat. It involves embellishment, enhancement and elevation of the overall musical experience of the concert. It takes into account the concert ambience, comfort of the nagaswara artiste, overall mood of the musical piece played and the ability of the co-percussion artistes. Even in short bursts of Chatustra nadais played during the raga elaboration one can easily understand Shanmugasundaram Pillai’s playing uplifting the listening experience. Making a mark with firm yet unobtrusive strokes were the hallmark of his playing style. This can be seen even in the recordings where he has accompanied vocalists such as Sangita Kalanidhi Madurai T.N.Seshagopalan.

He forged several significant musical collaborations with several legendary Nagaswara artistes of his time. One such partnership was with Sangita Kalanidhi Sheik Chinna Moulana. Leading Nagaswaram exponent Vidwan Kasim says, “My grandfather and Shanmugasundaram thatha played together for thirty-three years. In all those years Shanmugasundaram Pillai had never enquired about the song list or the tala in which he should play his Thavil solo. His playing was always apt for the occasion in length and content. They could totally understand each other just through body language.” He happily encouraged and accompanied upcoming talented musicians and took it on himself to ensure that their concert turned out to be a success.

Valangaiman Shanmugasundaram Pillai is seen as a trendsetter in many counts. One of his pioneering ventures is to play for instruments other than Nagaswaram. In the 1960s, he started accompanying the famous violin trio of L.Vaidyanathan, L.Subramaniam and L.Shankar. A newspaper report from 1969 reads, “One might shudder to think of the Thavil for a Violin Trio concert but the results of the experiment at Vani Mahal were surprisingly satisfactory. Valangaiman Shanmugasundaram accompanied the Trio with controlled softness without resorting to the stick. The highlight of the recital was a commendable exposition of the main raga Pavani and the Sankirna nadai Pallavi designed to extract work from the Thavil vidwan. Shanmugasundaram easily rose to the occasion.” He also accompanied other artistes such as Flute Mali, N.Ramani, Mandolin Shrinivas and Ganesh-Kumaresh.

In the 1980s, Shanmugasundaram Pillai along with talented mridangam player and his son-in-law, Thanajvur Upendran, played a significant role in the ascent of Child Prodigy U.Shrinivas’s career. An article from Sruti magazine says, “He was merely present at a Kumbakonam function to felicitate the young musical prodigy and he spoke a few words blessing the boy and suggesting that the music world should support the boy’s career development. Then someone suggested that he, Shanmugasundaram, shouldn't restrict himself to providing verbal encouragement but step in and agree to play Thavil for the mandolin wizard. Valangaiman quickly saw the justice of this suggestion and agreed to play for Shrinivas.” They went on to perform hundreds of concerts together.

While he came across as an amicable personality, he never compromised on his self-respect. Mr. Senthilkumar, a music aficionado and someone who moved closely with Shanmugasundaram Pillai, reveals, “When the famous Tamil movie Thillana Mohanambal won accolades to actor T.S.Baliah for his role as a Thavil Vidwan, he attributed the success to him imitating Shanmugasundaram Pillai. When the actor mentioned this to the Thavil Vidwan, Shanmugasundaram Pillai immediately responded by asking him, ‘You have imitated me alright. But when did you see me stand submissively next to a Nagaswaram vidwan with my hands folded?’ Such was his self-respect.”

Valangamain Shanmugasundaram Pillai passed away on 22 Apr 1994. In his glorious career spanning over five decades, several titles and awards have adorned him. Notable among those titles were ‘Kaliyuga Nandi’ and ‘Jatiswara Kalanidhi’. The Tamil Nadu government bestowed upon him the Kalaimamani award and honoured him by making him the State Artiste. The Music Academy presented him with the TTK award in 1978. He was the first Thavil artiste to win the Central Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 1985. He trained several disciples. Notable among them were Kuzhikarai Ramakrishnan, Thiruveezhimizhalai Chelliah, Thirukannamangai Padmanabhan and Thiruvotriyur Balasundaram. His son S.Muruganandam and grandsons Navaneetham and Dhanapal have carved a niche for themselves in the music field as instrument makers. His great grandson Thanjavur K.Praveen Kumar carries his legacy as a leading Mridangam Player in the field today.

parivadini
Posts: 1190
Joined: 22 Oct 2013, 22:44

Re: Valangaiman Shanmugasundaram

Post by parivadini »

My centenary tribute (in Tamil)here: https://carnaticmusicreview.wordpress.c ... gaiman100/

rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: Valangaiman Shanmugasundaram

Post by rajeshnat »

Superb Writeup LalithaRam. Can you give the link of TNS-Valangaiman combo if at all it is available in web ,even if you share commercial recording it is fine.

parivadini
Posts: 1190
Joined: 22 Oct 2013, 22:44

Re: Valangaiman Shanmugasundaram

Post by parivadini »

rajeshnat wrote: 10 Jan 2021, 15:01 Superb Writeup LalithaRam. Can you give the link of TNS-Valangaiman combo if at all it is available in web ,even if you share commercial recording it is fine.
Here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piDqeHjeK0Y

parivadini
Posts: 1190
Joined: 22 Oct 2013, 22:44

Re: Valangaiman Shanmugasundaram

Post by parivadini »


rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: Valangaiman Shanmugasundaram

Post by rajeshnat »

parivadini wrote: 10 Jan 2021, 16:46 One more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_7iU2rs270
Lalitharam,
More than the first song of madhuvanti , i loved this shree ragam varnam. Thank you , more than Valangaiman and TNS , the joy of seeing young TNS Krishna occassionally singing not picked by microphone, atleast his attention to his appa and the way he tries to absorb Classical Music of his appa is a mastercard moment. It is a joy to see how young kids pay attention to this ocean CM.

On valangaiman he is just brilliant not too much hitting with the stick but just the variety of rolling strokes with right hand is wonderful. But nadaswaram with vocal is bit difficult to sustain interest, but the joy of TNS and Nadaswara vidwan belting sangathis in nadaswara fashion needs extreme knowledge .

Thank you by any chance do you know the exact year of this madras telugu academy-Spririt of INdia concert . Some time in 1989 to 1991 when my home bought the vcr , i recorded my first vcr recording of maharajapuram santhanam - NagaiMurali-TVR bhaktavatsalam where santhanam sings mohanam ninnu kori varnam , pantuvarali sundara tara deham then a brilliant ksheerabadhi kanyaku , THe program just gets cut towards the end where santhanam just wraps the manirangu start of ksheerabdhi. Those Spirit of India was one of a kind , i am assuming TNS -Valangaiman may have followed a year or two later after santhanam sir rendition.

Also by any chance if you have valangaiman playing taanam let me know that link please...

rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: Valangaiman Shanmugasundaram

Post by rajeshnat »

B Kolappan with some inputs from Parivadhini did write up in The Hindu , dated Jan 12th,2021
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ ... 553963.ece

RSR
Posts: 3427
Joined: 11 Oct 2015, 23:31

Re: Valangaiman Shanmugasundaram

Post by RSR »

@vsn69
Dear Sir,


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