The King who worshipped the Mother Goddess

Vid. KS Gopalakrishnan- Flute,
1984 Parvathi Ramanavami Concert

"Reveling in a Flautist's Magic" by R. Sachi

It is our great pleasure to share with rasikas worldwide the flute recital of Vid. KS Gopalakrishnan, of over 3 hours, with the best of accompaniment too, from two Sangita Kalanidhis, Vid. M. Chandrasekharan and Vid. Umayalpuram Sivaraman. The concert was held at Parvathi 33 years ago.

The bamboo flute creates sheer magic in the hands of an expert flautist. The home of Parvathi and its large audience of avid music lovers had a chance to listen to many great vidwans and vidushis on the flute: Mali, Ramani, KSG, Sikkil sisters, BN Suresh, and recently Chandan Kumar, among others. The warm April weather, with occasional showers of grace, the bedecked mantapa of Sri Rama Pattabhisheka, the fragrance of parijata and jasmine, combined with the mesmerising sounds of the flute, carried off listeners into a different world of ethereal beauty. This concert will give you a charming glimpse of that world. And Sri KSG, with Sri MC and Sri UKS, fills the three plus hours with infinite melody.

Vid KSG presents a concert of great poise and virtuosity, anchored in melody and replete with imaginative phrases in Bindumalini, Kanada, Shanmukhapriya, Yamuna Kalyani...The recording faithfully captures the aesthetics and the on-stage dynamics between three maestros. The concert is so gripping that one will go into a listening loop of many hours.

The kriti taken up early in the concert is the Devi kriti in Kanada, Mamava Sada Janani, by the composer king Swathi Thirunal of Travancore. Anyone who has visited God’s own country, walked in its green forests, on its golden beaches, prayed at the Padmanabhaswami temple, and heard the compositions of Swathi Thirunal, cannot but think of heaven on earth.

The composer king lived a short but extremely beautiful life, full of music and literature. His compositions, tuned in such wonderful melodies, represent the best of Carnatic music. Vid. Rallapalli Anantha Krishna Sharma, a great Sanskrit scholar, musicologist and disciple of Bidaram Krishnappa, has discussed in his book, “Ganakale””, the lyrical excellence and the high quality of Sanskrit used by Swathi Thirunal .In the song, Mamava Sada Janani, we get an inkling of the composer’s depiction of divine beauty. That is beauty that excels anything between heaven and earth. And that beauty showers grace, the grace of the Divine Mother. The mood harkens to the Devi Mahatmyam prayer, “Sarvamangala Mangalye ...”

Come, let us enjoy this great concert!

Details

K.S.Gopalakrishnan ---------- Flute
M.Chandrasekharan ---------- Violin
Umayalapuram Shivaraman --- Mridangam
at "Parvathi" on 15-4-84 during Ramanavami Music Festival.

Song List

01 Chalamela –VarnaNaattakurinji= M Rangaswamy Nattuvanar *** 02 Sri Mahaganapthe Surapathe-Nata-Mayavam Vishwanatha Shastri *** 03 Entamuddu- Bindumalini – Thyagaraja *** 04 Marivere dikkevvaru –Latangi- Patnam Subrahmanya Iyer *** 05 Kanada Raga*** 06 Maamavasada-Kanada-Swathi Thirunal *** Tani *** 07 Sarasamukhi-Gaudamalhar-Muthiah Bhagavatar *** 08 Shanmugapriya Raga*** 09 Tana*** 10 Pallavi-Ragamalika swaras (Shahana, Hindola, Hindustani Todi, Revathi) *** 11 Emani- Huseni-Thyagaraja *** 12 Krishna nee begane- Yaman Kalyani -Vyasaraya *** 13 Bhagyaada Lakshmi baaramma-Madhyamavati-Purandara Dasa *** 14 Thiruppugazh-Hamsanandi *** 15 Mangalam***

Rama - The Abiding Subject of Carnatic Krithis

Vid. K.S. Gopalakrishnan – Flute 1977

A Contribution from R. Sachi

1977: Vidwan K.S. Gopalkrishnan in “Parvathi”

We are pleased to share with rasikas a wonderful flute recital held in the Ramanavami festival in 1977 at Parvathi, Mysore. Vid. KS Gopalakrishnan has been rather elusive and inaccessible to most Carnatic rasikas all these decades, although he is readily hailed by the cognoscenti as a great flute maestro. In this concert, like the one we shared before with rasikas from 1976, he indelibly stamps the music with his melodious manodharma and virtuosity.

The concert begins with the enchanting phrases of Ravichandrika. The raga name evokes images of the sun as well as the moon! The raga itself is a favourite of Saint Thyagaraja, with well-known krithis. The song Nirvadhi Sukhada is a special one. It is very popular with instrumentalists who render it at breathless speed. But here, Vid. Gopalakrishnan has created a wonderfully evocative mood and for the first time we feel like contemplating the meanings of the lyric. And the line śaṅkarādi gīyamāna sādhu mānasa susadana captures the Saint Composer’s sentiment about Rama. According to him, Rama is worthy of worship and therefore is the subject of his own songs: Rama is unparalleled in grandeur, grace and capacity to instil devotion. Lord Shiva himself sings Rama’s glories. And Rama dwells in the hearts of his devotees. No wonder that in the Ramanavami festivals at Parvathi, we have had a continual flow of wonderful music full of songs dedicated to Rama by so many stalwart musicians.

Pallavi

niravadhi sukhada nirmala rūpa
nirjita muni śāpa
Anupallavi
śaradhi bandhana nata saṅkrandana
śaṅkarādi gīyamāna sādhu mānasa susadana
Charanam
māmava marakata maṇi nibha dēha
śrī maṇi2 lōla śrita jana pāla
bhīma parākrama bhīma karārcita3
tāmasa rājasa mānava dūra
tyāgarāja vinuta caraṇa

Meaning:

O Lord who confers unceasing comfort!
O Lord of blemish less form!
O Lord who removed the sage's curse (on Ahalya)!
O builder of the causeway on the Ocean!
O Lord saluted by Indra!
One sung about by Siva and others, abiding in the hearts of pious people!
Please protect me, O Lord with emerald-like body!
One enamored by the precious Lakshmi!
O Nourisher of dependants!
One with terrifying prowess!
O Lord worshiped by the very hands of Bhima!
O Lord far-removed from people given to
inertia (darkness) and passion (action)!
O Lord whose feet is praised by Thyagaraja!

( Source: sahityam.net )

The concert features an expansive Abheri and the krithi Bhajare Re Manasa Sri Raghuviram of Mysore Vasudevacharya. The flute maestro is in a mood of creative exuberance as he develops the raga, the song and then embarks on an array of raga-malika swaras at the end of the song. This is like a shahi bhojan with a series of unexpected delicacies! The violin, mridangam and ghatam accompaniment are very good, too.

Details : Concert held on 7-4-1977 during Ramanavami at "Parvathi"

K.S.Gopalakrishnan ------- Flute
Chalakudy Narayanaswamy ---- Violin
Tanjore Upendran ------- Mridangam
M.A.Krishnamurthy ------- Ghatam

Song List

01 Niravadhi Sukhada – Ravichandrike- Thyagaraja *** 02 Manavinalakincha – Nalinakanthi - Thyagaraja *** 03 Abheri Raga *** 04 Bhajare re manasa-Abheri – Mysore Vasudevacharya Ragamalika swaras (Dwijavanti, Shekharachandrika, Mohana,Hindola, Bageshri, Sindhubhairavi) *** 05 Karunai daivame –Sindhubhairavi – Madurai Srinivasan *** 06 Cheline netlu Javali - Paras - T Chinniah *** 07 Ramgovind Hari (?) Kabir Bhajan –Desh *** 08 Thiruppugazh- Hamsanandi *** 09 Tillana –Kamach -- Patnam Subrahmanya Iyer *** 10 Mangalam ***

The cool breeze from Kerala’s climes – Flute Vidwan K.S. Gopalakrishnan

The year is 1976, Parvathi is again celebrating the Ramanavami music festival. A grand pandal is in place, and fills every evening with crowds eager to soak up truly classical music. And on this day, Lord Rama and his devotees decide to enjoy some flute music.

The tender breeze that prefaces the onset of monsoon is specially delightful in these idyllic parts of old Mysore state. It blows over the western ghats from Malabar, and in Sanskrit it is called Malayamaruta….

[ Courtesy: The Hindu ]

On this day in April 1976, the music blows across from the flute of Vidwan K.S. Gopalakrishnan. Vidwan KSG as many refer to him fondly, hails from Kerala and lives in Trivandrum. After initially impressing everyone with his vidwat on ample display in many memorable concerts, Vidwan KSG had turned reclusive and subsequently was not seen in the active Chennai concert circuit for reasons unknown. But many Carnatic aficionados have been blogging about his excellent music and also his wonderful serene personality. He seems to have made a deep impression among the cognoscenti.

Vidwan KSG reportedly had his initial training under his father, K.Shankaranarayana Iyer and later studied under K.Raghava Warrier of Thiruvananthapuram.

In this Parvathi concert from 34 years ago, a young Vidwan K.S. Gopalakrishnan is accompanied on the violin by Vidushi T. Rukmini, whom many consider Karnataka’s gift to Chennai. Over many decades, she has accompanied many stalwarts like Mali and Balamurali and younger vidwans like Gottuvadyam Ravikiran. In this concert, her violin has a limpid tonality and adds a very cheerful touch.

Vidwan Tanjore Upendran,, a southpaw, has enlivened the concert on the mridangam. He has a solid presence in all songs, especially brisk ones like Vathapi and Marivere in Lathangi, where again Vidwan KSG has played with a sparkle.

In the middle of the concert, Vidwan KSG takes up Kharaharapriya. To many of us, it seems that the Parijatha and Audambara trees in the Parvathi precincts harboured not only well-known gods but also the Raga Kharaharapriya. Almost every top artiste has exulted in presenting this wonderful raga in his or her Parvathi concert. Merely as an archive of the kaleidoscope of Kharaharapriya manodharma and its wide lyrical repertoire, this blog would occupy a great place in Carnatic music. Vidwan KSG’s elaborate Kharaharapriya and his delectable rendition of Raama nee samaanamevaru lasts nearly 60 minutes. Vidushi Rukmini gives an excellent swara response at the end of the song.

The Parvathi Concert
( Ramanavami Series April 11, 1976 )

Vidwan K.S Gopalakrishnan ---Flute
Vidushi T.Rukmini -----------Violin
Vidwan Tanjore Upendran -----Mridangam
Vidwan M.A.Krishnamurthy ----Ghatam



[ 01.Vathapi Ganapathim – Hamsadhvani – Muthuswami Dikshithar*** 02. Mokshamu galada – Saramathi – Thyagaraja *** 03. Marivere Dikkevvaru (first part) – Lathangi – Patnam Subrahmanya Iyer *** 04. Raama nee samaana– Kharaharapriya – Thyagaraja 05. Alasara paritapamu (padam)– Suruti – Swathi Thirunal*** 06. Marulu konnadira Javali – Khamach – Ramnad Srinivasa Iyengar*** 07. Piloo??? *** 08. Bhajan - Desh *** 09. Dhanashree Thillana – Swathi Thirunal 10. Mangalam ]

Acknowledging our Rasikas

Thanks to the keen interest evinced by 'Rasikas' towards the music brought forward from "Parvathi", the internet, somewhere, might have reached some sort of a critical mass bringing to its fold the attention of a reputed journalist of Mysore like Mr.M.R. Shivanna who wrote the following piece on July 21, 2010 in the popular paper The Star of Mysore. We are pleased to reproduce the article in our indebtedness to both the 'Rasikas' and to Mr.Shivanna.