T.R. Mahalingam 1964 Audio

The audio here refers to the 1964 concert with interesting music and more interesting exchanges between Mali and Chowdiah! The original blog post is here: http://chowdaiahandparvati.blogspot.com/2010/01/t-chowdiah-and-tr-mahalingam-flute-mali.html
And now the music:

Music's Bylanes - II: 2012 - K.K. Murthy Music Festival and T. Chowdiah Awards

July 21, 2005
Late K.K. Murthy and N. Dharam Singh (Ex-CM) celebrate
the birthday of then KPCCI President Mallikarjuna Kharge
[Courtesy: THE HINDU - Photo: K. Gopinathan]

Readers can recall, that as our blog continued to progress, we often continued to reflect on the inspiring activities of the Chowdiah Memorial, that unique building consecrated to the memory of the great Violinist T. Chowdiah by the late K.K. Murthy ( younger brother to K. Srikantiah and youngest son of Sri. K. Puttu Rao).

Nov 24, 2012
India's Union Labor Minister M. Mallikarjun Kharge and Academy of Music Members are seen with award winners: Pt. Vasanth Kanakapur, Mysore Nagaraj, Mysore Manjunath and T.K. Murthy at the K.K. Murthy Memorial Music Festival in Bangalore.
[ Courtesy : The Hindu ]

As an exercise in “lateral thinking”, we also drew parallels with our many experiences of an Alice Tully Hall (in Manhattan), of a Washington Smithsonian and of the BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), so perfect within their individual identities.

We often reflected, also, on the many touches that a distinguished memorial like the Chowdiah memorial could do more with, as acts of ‘right’ embellishment.

These were things, that were easily within the reach of a “pro-active” citizenry of music patrons, and not necessarily dependent on any government agency’s help.

We often felt that a few deft touches would render a more complete identity to the man, Chowdiah, who once bestrode the landscape as a colossus armed but solely with a Violin, a man of towering musical knowledge and the command of a giant personality.

Nov 24, 2012
Mridangam’s great Vidwan T.K. Murthy is seen once again, honored with the K.K. Murthy Award by Union Minister Mallikarjuna Kharge and Academy office bearers.
[Courtesy: The Hindu]

(1) As starters, we had felt earlier that the building, recognized as a performing arts museum dedicated to Chowdiah’s illustrious name, needed indeed to house his famous violin for all to view permanently.

We remember having spoken about this and emailed even some people who would hear us out, from time to time. We are not sure , if any “wind” carried our message to any of the powers to be, but a recent report from The Hindu does gladden our hearts.

The Chowdiah Memorial now finds itself in the possession of the famous man’s violin ( click ).

R. Subbaraj Urs, Secretary, Academy of Music: “…Chowdiah’s violin would be under the safe custody of the academy. After all, the hall was designed after his violin..."

Readers will note that T. Chowdiah’s instrument was unveiled earlier, in “Parvathi”, Mysore on April 15, 1970 in the distinguished presence of Karnataka Governor Dharma Vira and Minister Rajasekhara Murthy.

Violin Virtuosos! Vidwan Manjunath and Vidwan Nagaraj celebrate being honored with the KK Murthy awards.
[ Courtesy: The Hindu ]

(2) As we have come to believe with some research, Chowdiah had in his lifetime of seven decades, provided for a staggering number of concerts. He had criss-crossed many a geographical boundary, and squeezed time and space sufficiently, to render many a performance even in a single day.

Granted that not all of his performances were recorded (he passed away in 1967 when the country had barely come to grips with tape recorders), it would still be a safe bet that many a recording by him probably lies scattered somewhere, largely uncared for , in worn out tapes junked in some ancestral holding.

It draws a parallel somewhat , with the findings of the notes of the mathematical genius Ramanujan; the accidental finding of scattered notes in a relative’s abandoned trunk; which discovery became instrumental in sparking a worldwide interest in Ramanujan!

The grass root patrons of music need to provide an 'all around call' for people to release any recordings that they may have of T. Chowdiah into a central custody at the memorial, so that an audio-visual display of a musical era can be dedicated to the legend and his peers in the open foyer of the memorial.

The permanent exhibit should be on anything related with T. Chowdiah: photographs, tapes, writings, compositions, notebooks with each item preserved, tagged and the names of donor persons acknowledged. The recordings should be cleaned and amplified and a playing booth created so that people may hear them at their leisure.

Then only, can a future generation, be made to understand the footprints of a cherished past and the value in a heritage associated in someone’s name.

We hope that another “gust” of the wind will carry our plea to the like minded preservers of the heritage.

Vidwan Vasant Kanakapur conferred with a Lifetime Achievement Award

Music's Bylanes - I

While we wait for our very learned friend in music, R.Sachi ( click ) to process another delectable concert for us, we thought we’d walk the Rasikas through some music's by-lanes .

The following pictures were the results of ‘prying’ into more “Parvathi” albums. This time though, it was courtesy of Shri K.L. Rao’s family. No, not the founding father of India’s Irrigation industry! but the third elder son of Sri. K. Puttu Rao, about whom we spoke earlier as having once lived in Chennai, next to the hallowed Music Academy in Mylapore, and who provided dedication as an engineer to the Chennai Harbor, during the 60’s.

Here are some pictures of Carnatic music’s greats, in a more relaxed venue and in more informal postures.

Could we say that this was their way of “jamming”?

Supreme maestros all! (L to R): U.K. Sivaraman, M.L. Veerabhadriah (Palghat Mani Iyer’s disciple), K.S. Manjunath , T. Chowdiah

T.Chowdiah with Sri K.L. Rao.
It looks to be a respite after lunch,
as we detect the faint outlines of a ‘pan’
being chewed by Chowdiah!

The 'Krishna' of Music! [ click ]
Maestro M. Bala-Murali-Krishna and party!

[ If one views keenly one can also notice Vid. M.A. Narasimhachar in the audience]

Veena Maestro Chitti Babu
pondering away ‘dreamily’
amidst musical notes in a warm up !

Veena’s other great exponent Doreswamy Iyengar
seen with stalwarts Vellore Ramabhadran, K.S. Manjunath, T. Chowdiah

T. Chowdiah’s 'Krishnasarthaya' – Remembering a giant and his era

As we live out our lives in this supposedly great internet age, as we ‘facebook’ and ‘twitter’ away time, as we provide a mind with only moments in which to decipher an others destiny rendering instinctively a ‘raaga’ (‘I select you’) or ‘dvesha’ (‘I reject you’), we occasionally receive a stimulus which arrests us. Hopefully, the arrest provides us with a relief , wanting us to cast away that bedlam from life which we feel is so unrelentingly thrust upon us, notwithstanding any belief by newer generations that everything is just a matter of a material choice.

We would like to sometimes slink away into that other world, wistfully into the days when we were once young, into an age when time afforded us some reflection and contemplation to savor a quality ...

[1957 - Sri Chowdiah going 'solo' with disciple in "Parvathi" when Sri. K. Puttu Rao was still alive. Looking on is the revered 'Gamaki' Ramakrishna Shastri and young friend K. Srikantiah]

... when you were so poor it did not matter because you could lean on your friend for a ‘one by two coffee’ (is this just a Karnataka/Mysuru/Bengaluru phrase and feeling or is it a general one amongst all the citizens of Tamilnadu, Telangana and Karnataka who drew upon each other as one under the Wodeyars? ), where you could herald yourself to where the great Vidwans and Vidushis held magnificent courts , albeit with make shift platforms assembled as a ‘stage’, enough to give them a lift just so that you could see them in your insufficiency while you were seated far away, but sufficient enough to bask in the glory of their artistry as you let them transport you into some rapturous heaven through great god given skills.

[1959 - Sri Chowdiah preserves Sri. K. Puttu Rao's memory at the Bidarama Krishnappa Rama Mandiram, along with Sri K. Srikantiah]

Such a recent stimulus was given to this writer by a veteran member of a very popular ‘Rasikas’ forum, stylizing himself as Sri ‘Mankuthimma’, who in casting about a very few words 'I am full of Chowdiah, today!’ sent this writer into a sudden tizzy, a withdrawal of longing into those times, into that space that the once popular crooner of bygone years, the Anglo-Indian-Australian crooner Tony Brent described for us as “In my little room, I’m hiding away, planning to stay…..in my little room...”

So Rasikas, come with us.

Let us spend some moments with the great violinist of a bygone era, T. Chowdiah, and the equally brilliant great men and women of his times that drew upon him; immortal names like GNB, Madurai Mani Iyer, Chembai Vaidyanath Bhagvathar, Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, M.S. Subbalakshmi and Mannakal Rangarajan (who thankfully is still with us!).

As we prepare for our next posting from "Parvathi", let us take you into their world, drawing upon the words of Karnataka’s eminent science writer, music critic, cultural organizer, the late Shri G.T. Narayan Rao [ produced here from the book Sangeetharatna Mysore T. Chowdaiah by Sri. K.Srikantiah] [Click to magnify pages below].

Ah, is it only words this time or is there any music - you ask?

Yes, we have great music! However, not from “Parvathi” (as we prepare it's music for the next occasion), but from a concert which you may all have perhaps heard but which nevertheless is considered a classic of its times. It is from the AIR Sangeeta Sammelan of 1961 with the combo of T.Chowdiah - Madurai Mani Iyer - Palani Subramanya Pillai - Kodanda Rama Iyer, all of them perhaps at their brilliant best.

It wouldn’t hurt to listen to it once again in our company. For, it does pull quite a bit at those heartstrings!

OUR SALUTATIONS TO
PANDIT JASRAJ BEING HONORED
with the
K.K. MURTHY MEMORIAL CHOWDIAH AWARD
Nov 28, 2010
by
FORMER CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA
M.N. VENKATACHALIAH

[ Also seen is Vocalist Prof. Nagamani Srinath who won the State award ]

[ Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P. The Hindu Nov 29, 2010 ]

Harking Back to the Golden Era of the Voice : 'Ganakaladhara' Vidwan Madurai Mani Iyer

[ Courtesy: Arvindsdad Blogpost ]

The "Parvathi" team is back from their sabbatical! And with a bang. Not the bang associated with Diwali crackers or modern rock stars. We are talking of the high point of musical excellence that suffused the milieu of the 1950's and 1960's.

Let us not forget that these decades witnessed the most glorious era of Carnatic vocal music. The veritable doyens were holding court. And youngsters were coming up, those talented enough to peep out from under the canopy of these stalwarts.. be it in accompaniment or solo performance.

Is it a coincidence that Hindi film music of the '50s and 60's stands for the very best in pure vocal excellence, shorn of digital enhancements and airbrushed glamour of today? In the '50s and '60s, Carnatic music too had only rudimentary mike amplification. Avid listeners would throng the small halls, and get a crick in the neck getting a glimpse of the performers on stage. And each stalwart would pour out wonderful soul-stirring music over many hours that had the stamp of his or her unique style. Listeners would not be thinking of MP3 and You Tube. They lived in the moment.

And the purest ray serene of this effulgence in vocal music is Ganakaladhara Vidwan Madurai Mani Iyer (1912-1968). He had a voice that clicked from the first note in a concert. He did not cause headaches for the accompanists nor fatigue to the audience with pyrotechnics. He gave melody its true place. His voice was always sruti-aligned, a kind of yogic “samatwa” that Lord Krishna talks of in the Bhagavadgita. He was so obviously enjoying the melody and the intrinsic laya in any composition that he would only embellish it, not hide it nor distort it with his extrapolated manodharma.

It is perhaps some indication that there have been NO me-too Madurai Manis. Like there has been no Hemant Kumar again nor again a master poet in the mould of Walt Whitman. Another interesting aspect that many veterans who have heard Madurai Mani Iyer's music always say is that they think of is his version as they hum their favourite songs, be it in Tamil, Telugu or Sanskrit. His ever-tuneful, clear, and balanced presentation brought out the lyrical beauty in the song most eloquently.

And now for the Parvathi concert. Held during the Ganesha Festival in 1963 – 47 years ago! - the concert has grand accompaniment. None other than T. Chowdiah on the violin, and a spirited Umayalpuram Sivaraman on the mridangam. It seems that day Vidwan Mani Iyer was running a high temperature. But he was not to be deterred, and presented a grand concert. He began with Vatapi, in obeisance to Lord Vighneshwara, and continued with Diwakara Tanujam.. a song in praise of Lord Shaneeshwara. With their double blessings, the concert turned out to be a memorable one, Coincidentally, this year the Ganesha Chaturthi is celebrated on September 11, Saturday! So Ganesha and Shani are both coming together to bless us again!

As if on cue, both Chowdiah and Sivaraman go to great lengths in their turn to embellish the concert and we have many interesting moments in the Ragamalika after the Pallavi as well as in other songs.

Concert Details

Madurai Mani Iyer ----Vocal
Vocal accompaniment -Vembu Iyer
T. Chowdiah ---------Violin
Umayalapuram K Sivaraman -----Mridangam
Sheshagiri Das ------Khanjira

"Parvathi" Ganesha Festival on August 23, 1963
For a photograph please click here

[Note: Only a few pieces of this distinguished concert were posted earlier on the blog since the audio tape was corroded, but with some effort we have now managed to restore a semblance of the whole ]

1. Vatapi Ganapathim-Hamsadhwani- Muthuswami Dikshithar *** 2. Diwakara Tanujam -Yadukula Kambhoji -Muthuswami Dikshithar*** 3. Enta bhagyamu -Saranga – Thyagaraja*** 4. Brochevarevarura - Khamach – Mysore Vasudevachar*** 5. Seethamma Mayamma – Vasantha – Thyagaraja*** 6. Vallabha Nayakasya- Begade – Muthuswami Dikshithar 7. Mahaganapathim – Thodi – Muthuswami Dikshithar*** 8. Darini – Shuddha Saveri – Thyagaraja*** 9. Sarasamukhi-Gowda malhar- Muthiah Bhagavathar*** 10.Ragam Thanam Pallavi in Simhendramadhyama followed by Ragamalika*** 11. Virutham Dhanyasi, Shloka-Hamsanandi-Thiruppuzhal*** 12. Vellai tamarai – Bhimplas – Subrahmanya Bharathi*** 13. English note – HM Bhagavathar***


In case the audio doesn't play, please click here






Felicitation of artists by Musicologist and Veena Virtuoso M Cheluvarayaswamy.

REMEMBERING SRI LALGUDI IN HIS 80th YEAR! (click)
( also please click here for an earlier posting )

Festival food being served in "Parvathi"?
Participating (L to R): Krisna Gana Sabha Secretary Yagnaraman, Lalgudi Jayaraman, Veena C Krishnamurthy, Vellore Ramabhadran, Yesudas, Mrs. Yesudas (Prabha)

RELIVING THE PAST

Sri. Krishna Vattam happens to be one of Karnataka’s and Mysore’s most reputed journalists. His contributions over several of these decades , starting from the early 50s, are about as wide and varied as his multifarious interest in causes. One can catch a glimpse of him here or perhaps here or one can take their pick over a lifetime’s compilation from any of the Internets search engines.

Recently, Sri Vattam picked up his pen to re-live a certain glorious past and wrote to The Editor, The Star of Mysore on July 25, 2010. We are honored to reproduce his words, below:

Sir,

As I was reading M.R. Shivanna's write-up titled "Great musicians on blog", the blog titled as "A Home called Parvati" (SOM dated July 21), I was reliving the past.

It was not a mere dwelling house built with brick and cement but true to its name the Home had a distinct character, the like of which we can find in two or three homes in Lakshmipuram.

I was lucky to have attended from 1960 all concerts arranged on the occasion of Ganesha Chaturthi and Sri Ramanavami. They were literally a treat for all music lovers.

If MS, MLV, DKP, Mangalampalli Balamurali Krishna, Semmanagudi, Madurai Mani Iyer, Madurai Somasundaram, Maharajapuram Santhanam, Par-weena Sultana, Lakshmi Shankar came out with soulful divine vocal recitals, there were giants like Violinist T. Chowdaiah, Flute Mahalingam, to mention a few, who elevated the 'bhava' of the listeners.

While the Ganesha festival concerts were held in the hall in Parvati, Sri Ramanavami concerts were being arranged in the open space abutting the Home. What was striking about Parvati was the divinity that permeated the premises, inspiring the artistes to feel a sense of bliss as they rendered. The open ground where Sri Ramanavami concerts were organised was in no way less in importance in the awesome ambience it was graced with. A photo, very big in size, of SriRamachandra, Seetha, Lakshmana, Satrugna and Hanuman used to be placed on the dais and a parijata tree just above the photo, serving as it were a divine umbrella, was dropping its fragrant flowers on the photo to the sweet strains of music, evoking a feeling of "ananda."

All good things should come to an end, they say. Parvati had its "anthya". K. Srikantiah's passion was to make people listen to good music and he found supreme satisfaction if the rasikas enjoyed it. It was good of him to have made use of the online technology so as to enable lovers to continue to listen to the music of stalwarts. However, the blog needs to be updated and concerts of all artistes mentioned in the blog may be posted there.

� Krishna Vattam
Mysore
25.7.2010

T. Chowdiah and T.R. Mahalingam (Flute Mali)

"Chowdiah had a paternal affection for T.R. Mahalingam (1926 ~ 1986), popularly known as Mali. Mali was a child prodigy, a flute wizard and a maverick too. Recognizing the boy's genius the elderly Chowdiah willingly accompanied him on the stage and introduced him to the connoisseurs of music. And, in turn Mali had the greatest regard bordering on a little fear too for Chowdiah. Like all geniuses, Mali was also highly impulsive "

Mali being honored in "Parvathi" March 14, 1964 along with Madurai D. Krishna Iyengar-V. Sethuramiah-M.S. Seshappa (Kanjira), Rajanna (Ghatam)

"... I had arranged a flute recital by Mali in our home Parvathi. Chowdiah's senior disciple V.Sethuramiah was on the violin, Madurai D. Krishna Iyengar on mridanga and M.S. Seshappa on Khanjira. Since Chowdiah was in the city on that day I had requested him to attend it. About half way through the recital Mali resorted to his favorite pastime Kanaku - mathematical jugglery in svara patterns. As this dry drill went on for too long Chowdiah suggested to him to stop those meaningless gimmicks and come out with lofty ragas like Kambhoji, Bhairavi, Kharaharapriya etc. of which he was a master. Chowdiah added that the accompanying artists were in perfect alignment with Mali's Kanaku."

"Mali wouldn't relent"

"The arguments went out of control when Mali snatched the violin from Sethuramiah's hands. Here again, the program ended in a disaster"

"Next morning, Chowdiah walked into my home in an apologetic mood. He felt perhaps his intemperate interference was the cause of the chaos, and as such he would issue a press statement accordingly. I convinced him how he was on the right track and thus had upheld the dignity of the platform."

"On the same evening, a pensive and repentent Mali, known to be a thorough gentleman in normal conditions, visited me. He apologized profusely for his despicable conduct and desired to issue a press note to clear the cloud of misunderstanding. However, I dissuaded him also from doing it.

"True, to err is human, but to forgive is noble and not to repeat is divine"

[ All text excerpted from "Sangeetharatna Mysore T. Chowdaiah" by K. Srikantiah, Attorney,

Prasaranga, University of Mysore, 2007. ]

[ 1. Evarani-Devamrutavarshini-Thyagaraja; 2. Rama katha sudha-Madhyamavati-Thyagaraja 3. Sanatana Paramapavana-Phalamanjari-Thyagaraja; 4. Srirama padama-Amritavahini-Thyagaraja; 5. Bantureethi-Hamsanadam-Thyagaraja; 6. Nagumommu-Abheri-Thyagaraja ]

Redflag: Song name descrepancies - editing is blocked, sorry!

[ Post Script: One is not sure of what demons lurk inside each of our mortal frames. This brilliant concert had to be terminated that day because of Mali's volatileness. Something started to simmer inside of him in the course of the evening as he saw Chowdiah, even as he started to warm up towards some brilliant renderings ( of course his temperament has always been legendary ). While he would continue to visit "Parvathi" many times after this incident ( which did gain a certain notoriety in musical circles ), he never performed again and remained forever petulant. The void left in him in "Parvathi" was filled in later years by Dr. N. Ramani and B.N. Suresh, who were left to shine in their own brilliance ]

Chowdiah: "I call them but GNB in sarees! "

Whenever the name Radha & Jayalakshmi pops up these days a simultaneous void is cast in many a heart, as is echoed in these sentiments from many members of a well known forum:

“I have an impression that the music world has totally forgotten this duo”

or
“I agree. I was floored by an astounding amruthavarshini and have been searching for more from this duo” or

“Their music is a beautiful breeze” In 50s, they were most sought musicians by almost all the Sabhas.

etc. "

There are any number of reasons (all but only known to the one above) why anyone’s life takes a particular pattern. Ours can only be one of speculation, till the sources themselves decide to reveal the real reasons. Till then, we can only draw upon their beautiful memories and recall them as fresh as they were during the days when theirs was but to command.

We offer the following (close to our hearts) picture of the duo performing in “Parvathi”, Mysore in 1962.

[Courtesy: Book "Sangeetharatna Mysore T. Chowdaiah" by K. Srikantiah; Prasaranga, University of Mysore 2007]

During their performance, a very distinguished guest, a great admirer of theirs and a well known colleague and a friend of their Guru, GNB, happened to drop in to offer them his encouragement; it was none other than Sriman T. Chowdiah , himself! (please look for picture displayed elsewhere). What greater tribute can one obtain than the one that Chowdiah bestowed on them by calling them “GNB in Sarees!” and by adding “Listening to their heavenly performance I have lost my mind!”

We offer you Chowdiah’s living voice from that day:


And, finally, a concert

[01-Paripalayamam-Reetigowla; 02-Rararajeeva-Mohanam; 03-Evarimata-Kambodi; 04-Emani-VeeraVasantham; 05-RTP-Shanmukhapriya; 06-Sharavana-Shanmukhapriya; 07-Tharakka- Tilang ; 08-SHLOKA-Kedaragowla, Saveri;]

A Work of this Nature

We are sometimes hard pressed to describe a work such as ours; not that anybody cares in this overwhelming and impersonal age of hustle and bustle, nor is there anyone really asking. Of course, one cannot also ask of that which one does not know.

The arrival of a state, where we are looking at our own work mostly in a manner of self-contemplation, comes after one has undergone a journey of some lengths, a journey where each trial encountered leaves behind a mixture of feelings, and the feelings hopefully take you into the next step of some learning and philosophy.

When we first started, our view was but a minimal one from a distance; thoughts of just being able to gather up a few old things, dust them up (in a manner of speaking), and put them up on this modern mantelpiece called a blog. Whatever initial euphoria there was, however, began to wear off quickly as we started to examine each detail in terms of providing it with an assignment, and then started to discover that all too familiar feeling of being overwhelmed.

There were just way too many things to contend with; way too much music to start with, all in several entities of boxes, spools, reels upon reels of magnetic tapes, many of them (particularly the older ones) in different stages of relapse or decomposition or stickiness, not to mention the confusion over labels versus the contents of the print matter given to us; way too many photographs and albums to inspect and a long span of history to rework, solely through discussions; all of which was topped by the logistics of a team scattered in different continents, spread over different time zones and whose members could only work intermittently in between more important commitments to life.

If this was the front to our domain, we also had to learn much in terms of how to deal with our inner selves, how to relate the pieces of that which we had discovered or encountered in great excitement, to literally paring that excitement down to a nothing in dealing with the practicalities that dictated the presentation - critical evaluations of how it would be received by both skeptical and knowledgeable viewers, evaluations of it adding appropriate content to our perceived goal, whether we needed to produce everything in an evidentiary form to a skeptical world who were always likely to wonder "did all of this suddenly come out of a woodwork?". Did we have a sample photograph illustrative of what we were going to write? Did we even have a small paper cutting or a sound bite to go with it? etc. The biggest suffering lay in the wait for information that was badly needed, and about which information one couldn’t say whether it existed or not?

For example, our central character was the grand old man K. Puttu Rao and we were told that he was an advocate as capable of springing a surprise in court, as a Perry Mason. Don’t a famous advocate’s cases get reported and where could one find them? On enquiry, we were told that Mysore’s famous papers of yester years such as ‘Samyukta Karnataka’, ‘Prajavani’, ‘Thainadu’ or a Deccan Herald might carry the stories. But, online searches (in all combinations of key words) for content from these papers including the present online ‘Star of Mysore' yielded nothing. Now, who else could help us out with this? Where and of whom does one possibly seek? Who would be the one that would have cared to preserve cuttings of such a long, long time ago? Or could we hope that a rusty trunk like in the case of the famous mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan’s papers would suddenly show up one day?

We were also informed in Chowdiah’s sound bite that Puttu Rao himself was not just about law and law courts but that he was a great aficionado of music! But, the latter had passed away in 1959 and in quick succession so were those whom formed the theatre of his world of music, Mysore Vasudevachar (1961), Pazhani Subramaniam Pillai (1962), GNB (1965), Chowdiah (1967), Ariyakudi (1967), Madurai Mani Iyer (1968) etc. Which way should we turn, now?

Consider also, an example from the time when we were told that Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, during his visits to Mysore would often prefer to spend some time in "Parvathi". On one such occasion he brought along a close friend, a high court judge from Chennai, and in introducing the visitor to "Parvathi" was overheard to remark in Tamil to the effect that "...every brick in this house oozes music!..", and we had to pause ourselves in time to wonder "Great! but on what evidence shall we produce this other than hearsay?"

On a similar note, we had to curtail ourselves from being able to talk in sufficiency of K. Puttu Rao’s late son, K.K. Murthy, of whose emboldening ways we were told (before the creation of a Chowdiah memorial) lay in wanting to convert a Bangalore into a Bollywood / Hollywood much before the city’s advent of being recognized as a Silicon Valley (as the reams of photographs of his wooing of movie thespians such as V.Shantaram or a Dilip Kumar from those days came to light). We were told that issues of yesteryears such as a ‘Cine Advance’ or ‘Screen’ might be the ones that might have carried a story. But, here too, we arrived at but a dead end.

We found, too, to our loss, that there were not many members left from the immediate family nor from its wider circles nor from the circle of any of Mysore’s old luminaries, dignitaries, colleagues and friends who could provide us with the type of intimate first level details that we needed to sufficiently build a portrait of K. Puttu Rao; a thing we wanted to do so badly considering the many things that we learned of his fascinating house "Parvathi" and its "home away from home" to the Carnatic musicians. We were, at least, glad to have come across some lucky ‘in their own voices’ type of tributes, from Chowdiah, R.K. Narayan, music critic Chalurayaswamy, Sangeeta Natak Poet P.T. Narasimhachar and from a few exaggerated sound bites of some musicians as they enjoyed themselves in “Parvathi”. They provided us with some evidences of the old times. While adding to the significances, these discoveries also heightened in us the fact that too many things had just been lost.

We also had to keep many a turmoil all to ourselves, one of which was in discovering the violence of a modern day world (no, its just not HAL! from Stanley Kubric’s classic ‘2001 Space Odyssey’), when third party servers (in whom you innocently trusted) came to just wipe off all your work without a sign or warning. We also had to keep a lingering disquiet all to ourselves, that of the loss of an age old world of a lyricism, grace and tempo, as we discovered the quintessential world of Mysore, created from a totally different lens and script; a world that could only be reacquainted with someone who would stop and listen, who could be touched through the arts of a gentle ‘story telling’ or as the people of Karnataka themselves alluded to as a ‘ Yakshagana’.

Along with our own discoveries of Mysore we are equally happy in letting you know of another couple of beautiful blogs that unites you with those times, as in Churumuri, (Swalpa Sihi, Swalpa Spicy) ‘Once upon a Time' and as in Kamat's Poutpurri ‘Mysore Collection’

Finally, we did make a discovery, but all in a few words reminiscent of a ‘needle in a haystack’. It was in the quote of the late Prof. G.T Narayan Rao (well-known science writer, music critic, cultural organiser, and a prominent citizen of the city of Mysore, India) in a 1987 issue of that beautiful music magazine Sruthi dedicated to Chowdiah (shown first above).

“K. Puttu Rao, 1894-1959, was a leading advocate of Mysore. His love of music and regard for artists were proverbial. “Parvathi” the spacious bungalow where he lived, was second only to the Mysore Palace in its benevolence to art and artists. The bungalow was always overflowing with music. It was but natural that in such a household the violin maestro Mysore T. Chowdiah should have carved a warm niche for himself”.

- Prof. G.T. Narayan Rao

GNB on "Sound Iyya"

The two great maestros GNB and Chowdiah used to have a great regard for each other in terms of their music and also shared a deep friendship with one another. Invariably, they would be joined by K. Puttu Rao (and a younger K.Srikantiah) who would host GNB whenever the latter came into town (Mysore).

In this respect we quote some words from the original article by B.V.Shastry, published in Gayana Samaja Volume 7, 1996 and which currently reposits in http://www.gnbalasubramaniam.com/ArticleBani.htm.

"My friendship with late G. N. Balasubramaniam started in peculiar circumstances - with a friction. During early 1950s I started writing a column entitled 'Musings on Music' in the Deccan Herald. One week it carried a review of an AIR broadcast of GNB's recital wherein I had criticized his off key singing. I knew that there would be protests by some GNB fans and I did not mind because I was living at a safe distance, at Mysore city, from where I was filing the reviews. A couple of months later Balasubramaniam visited Mysore and gave a concert at the Sri Prasanna Sitarama Mandiram (Bidaram Krishnappa Rama Mandiram). I attended the concert but left early because it was a long drawn one due to the Radio relay starting only at 9.30 p.m. I had to trudge a long distance to my home.

Next morning the President of the Rama Mandiram, K. Puttu Rao, a respected advocate of Mysore, came to my place. I was surprised and when he said “I say what have you done to GNB? Yesterday night after the concert I took him home for Dinner and he scarcely touched the food saying repeatedly that gentleman has done me an injustice,” referring to you. What is the matter?” I was taken aback. I did not realise that the review which I had almost forgotten had hurt Balasubramaniam as to spoil his appetite even several months after its publication. Then I decided that during my next visit to Madras to meet GNB in person and have a straight discussion about this subject, as to what points did really hurt him etc., because after my talk with Puttu Rao I had dug up that review and found nothing wrong.

During the December Musical festival I went to Madras. But I could not meet him. Next year I visited Madras again during the music season. This time I met Balasubramaniam through my friend M. A. Narasimhachar. GNB was very cordial and invited us to the AIR station where he had assumed charge as the Deputy Producer of Karnatic Music recently. During the following three or four days I met GNB several times, at his home, at AIR, Music Academy. We discussed various topics related to music and musicians. But GNB did not refer to my review of his broadcast even once. Finally I raised the subject myself and asked him “Balasubramaniam, I was told that you were hurt by my review of your Radio broadcast sometime back. May I know what part of it did hurt you?” GNB said "Let us forget about it Sir. It is not an important matter." But I was not convinced and persisted. Finally he said "No doubt I was hurt like any musician when unfavourable remarks are made about him or his music. Besides I was also a bit concerned abut the effect the review would have on the organisers of my concerts. After all I am a professional musician. I was unwell on the day of the broadcast and could not cancel the broadcast at the last minute. That is the reason for my off key singing, which of course you could not know". I retorted "Balasubramaniam, you are an established musician and a highly popular figure. Even if unflattering reviews appear in the press every day for a whole year they will not affect your concert opportunities in any way. But you must remember that you are almost a cult figure especially for the young musicians, who try to emulate you. And if they hear your off key concerts, they will certainly follow giving 'apasruthi' concerts and point at you in case anyone criticised them.

Anyway after this heart to heart talk we became close friends. "

GNB was always regarded so highly in "Parvathi" that it is not a mere coincidence that both Musicologist Cheluvarayaswamy and Chowdiah mention him in their speeches (in Kannada, audio posted).

Reproduced (below) is an article, from yesteryears, of what GNB had to say on Chowdiah. We found the article from an old magazine belonging to the famous Carnatic Organization of Kolkata, Rasika Ranjani Sabha.

(click on the pages below if you need to obtain magnified images)

The Maestro : T. Chowdiah ( " Pakkavadhya Chakravarthy" )

The great violinist T. Chowdiah (1895 ~ 1967) stands as a resplendent star in the galaxy of eminent musicians and composers who formed the nucleus of Carnatic music during its heyday in Southern India. One could fix a commencement for this heyday as 1895, the year in which Chowdiah himself was born or refer to it as the year of birth of the grand-sire of Carnatic vocalists, Chembai Vaidyanath Bhagvathar. Either way we could we could frame the very same words on Chowdiah that the music critic 'Aeolus' [Shankar's Weekly 1963 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chembai] used for the Bhagvathar "as a musician who has meant the most to Carnatic Music in the first fifty years of the 20th century”.

Not only did the eminent Chowdiah combine supremely with the eminent Bhagvathar but also perhaps with anyone else who rose into the great semblance of music maestros from those elixir years.

"During the last half a century Chowdiah was a compelling and dominating violinist, much sought after by musicians of repute. His playing on the violin is equalled by few and surpassed by none"

- Musiri Subrahmanya Iyer

Chowdiah was, at those times, the lone figure that loomed huge (no pun intended) from the princely state of Karnataka, whose great kings, the Wodeyars, proved to be the great benefactor’s to India’s art and culture, not just to those who belonged to the southern tract of the country but also to people like Swami Vivekananda who sought to spread the wisdom of the Hindu spirit in foreign destiny’s. It was also a time when the great coterie of musicians, whom Chowdiah accompanied as a violinist, all seemed to emanate abundantly from anywhere but Mysore and mostly from the states of Tamilnadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

Not withstanding his own brilliance and not withstanding the genius of any of the musicians whom he accompanied during his lifetime, Chowdiah seemed, however, to loom larger than life following his own demise.

The Memorial

"Chowdiah was like a lion. Nobody possessed his courage, conviction, and musical skills. It is time an endowment is started in the name of Chowdiah either in the University of Mysore or Madras..."

- T. Sadasivam (Husband of the renowned singer M.S. Subbalakshmi)

To generations and generations of human beings in the future, not only would his memorial in the shape of a huge and beautiful violin in the very cosmopolitan city of Bangalore, India, provide a venue for both budding and virtuoso performances for future times, but in some ways it would go down in the pages of world history as the only memorial to exist for a musician of any instrument. Greater still would be the hope that visitors viewing the Memorial from all around the globe (not to mention the country’s own young citizens) would likely perk up at some given moment to ask “Who is Chowdiah?” and “Why is this building shaped like a violin?” and in some ways learn a little of a memorable musical past.

The Visionary to a Memorial

“… KK Murthy (who built the Chaudiah Hall)….”

- Vidwan Bangalore K. Venkataraman (Ghatam)

speaking to Sandhya Vinjamuri-Giri (click)

These might have been the very thoughts that may have shaped the desire of the late Mr. K.K. Murthy to work passionately towards bequeathing such a memorial to a city he loved. Mr. Murthy happened to live to celebrate the memorial’s magnificent existence for a quarter of a century in 2005. The spate of articles on the web, following those celebrations, not only managed to shed light on Mr. Murthy’s dynamic personality (he was after all the first President of the Academy of Music,Bangalore; the first Managing Director of the Karnataka State Film Development Corporation (KSFDC); Chairman of the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) and amongst other things a political king-maker at the ripe old age of 32 !) but more importantly, the articles managed to mention (if not reveal) the background to the real reason that a memorial came about; a certain influence of the father K. Puttu Rao who happened to be a music lover in his own right and who happened to be a close friend of Chowdiah.

How close could such a friendship be? Who was Mr. K.Puttu Rao to Karnataka and why is there a music award instituted in his name? What was the atmosphere, then, that might have allowed for a son (or sons) not to have created an endowment in the name of their own parent but a memorial to the friend of a father long after both were gone? How many such cases would one encounter in human history?

..... a friendship that went way back even before 1939 !

K. Puttu Rao felicitating Mysore's 'Sangeeta Ratna' in 1940

(with many other 'Ratnas')

It is precisely to share such an in-depth story, that this blog was created. We believe that for any great event to transform itself worthily into a ‘cause’ there has to be an abiding reason, and that which abides sufficiently becomes a genesis; a genesis in the shape of a large 'karmic' undercurrent of indelible impressions and inspirations that drives human acts singularly into a consecration.

The genesis in this case (as the creators of this blog found out) lay in a home called "Parvathi".

"Parvathi"

"Parvathi", regal, and ever in bloom!

Welcoming all beneath its wide swathe!

"Parvathi" was a home in the erstwhile Mysore city, a city of palaces, large spaces, beautiful gardens, huge tree lined roads, and where an ordinary person’s vocations lay in a certain peace, pride and quiet brought about by the arts. It lay in its music, in paintings, in drama, in writings, in Yoga (Pattabhi Jois, Krishnamachariar, B.K.S. Iyengar) and in the gleaning of divinity by a reflection on scriptural passages. It was a home that Puttu Rao, then a young, upcoming and successful attorney built and named after the matriarch of his large family. It was a home to which, very soon, music and prayers and congregations would resound at all hours of the day. It was a home away from home to which Chowdiah (and an RK Narayan or a Veena Doreswamy Iyengar) would come at all hours, unheralded, to rest, to play, or to revel in passionate ideas of artistic merit.

"...and who would have thought he could be one in an audience!"

Chowdiah enjoying Radha-Jayalaxmi in 1962 within the quadrangle of "Parvathi"

The maestros Madurai Mani Iyer, Chowdiah, Shivraman perform in the quadrangle inside "Parvathi" in 1963

Chowdiah with the great doyens Semmangudi, Shivaraman, Vinayakraman inside "Parvathi" 1965

The "Parvathi" Concert
April 2, 1965

Vidwan Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer (Vocal)
Vidwan T. Chowdiah (Violin)
Vidwan Umayalpuram Sivaraman (Mridangam)
Vidwan Vikku Vinayakaram (Ghatam)

01-Mahaganapathim-Natai; 02-Evarani-Devamruthavarshini; 03-Kshinamai-Mukhari; 04-Janani-Reetigowla; 05-Vinaradhana-Devagandari, 06-SrikrishnamBhaja-Todi; 07-Chakkaniraja-Kharaharapriya; 08-Biranabrova-Kalyani; 09-Paripalaya-Purvikalyani; 10-Parulana-Kapi; 11-Virutham; 12-Sapasya-Jonpuri; 13-Mangalam

It was a house to which every musician worthy of music came from all over the land, to perform, not for an hour, not for a day or two, but sometimes for as long as thirteen days during the annual ‘Rama Navami’ festival. It was a home that also brought the literati, the writers and the journalists, the thespians of India’s large stage and movie world, the country’s rulers and governors and ministers and the holy Shankaracharyas. Above all, thanks to the bountiful space and desire of its residents, this house came to be looked upon as a "heritage" house to share its music for decades with an entire public....

.....yes, the crowds at "Parvathi" were for real !

...and buses would ferret hundreds of music lovers to any vantage point from which they could lend their ears to the musical concerts, even as the house went about its own everyday private life.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the world wide web and to all fellow bloggers for the scope of the material that they have put out there in terms of Chowdiah, his music and the music of many other eminent personalities.

We have borrowed freely where necessary in the spirit of sharing and have done our best to acknowledge those borrowings. Where we are still remiss, please feel free to point it to us and we shall put in the necessary corrections.

The story of Mysore and of 'Parvathi' proved somewhat of a unique story, never before told and which needed to be expressed from the perspective of Chowdiah and his memorial. In the spontaneous exclamation of a great and living legend of our Bollywood cinematic world, Parvathi was a home that had "such a great character to it".

We may never have made it to this story but for Mr. K. Srikantiah's sharing the same at a public platform on being invited by the College of Fine Arts, Mysore University to speak about Chowdiah at the 'Nada Namana' program on 1-12-2005. Subsequent to this speech he was requested (as mentioned in an earlier posting) by the Vice-Chancellor of Mysore University, Dr. Sashidhar Prasad to put his experiences into writing. What followed was a delightful little book in 2007 replete with photographs of eminent musicians and dignitaries and full of original anecdotes on Chowdiah. We were also made to realize that there was not a single name of any reputable mention in the Carnatic world that had not performed in 'Parvathi'.

Readers are urged to obtain a copy of this very elegant book by writing to the Director, Prasaranga, University of Mysore, Manasgangothri, Mysore 570006.

Needless to say, this blog is a growing one. We are still scouring through voluminous albums and reams of recordings made available to us by the KK Murthy and K Srikantiah families and by the other spheres of influence in Chowdiah's memorable life. We take this opportunity to invite readers to send us original stories, anecdotes on Chowdiah and on 'Parvathi' not captured on the web. Of course, your comments are always appreciated.

Finally, we are most appreciative of the creative powers of Mr. Prakash Venkatakrishna in Bangalore, Mr. Jim Gaines in New Jersey and Mr. Sachi R.Sachidananda in Australia for making this blog come alive. Thanks a whole lot, Gentlemen!