For those of you seeking music, you may find some under 'Audio' (below) or in an index regarding the others under the 'Audio Postings' Label . We will either be embedding some concerts of the Vidwans in the 'Audio Postings'section itself or providing pointers to the appropriate posting in which they could be found
This article authored by Shri R. Sachi has been reproduced with kind permission from Sree Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira's fine newsletter available at http://www.srlkmandira.org/newsletters/LalithaKalaTarangini_April2015.pdf
[ Please use the magnifier below the article to magnify its engrossing contents ]
AN ADDENDUM by Shri K. Srikantiah: " Before B.K Padmanabha Rao and others took over as secretaries of the Mandiram, Sriyuts S.K.Ramachar and D.K.Kapanipathi Rao rendered worthy services as secretaries to the Mandiram"
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: The following pictures of the Mandira and Violinist T. Chowdiah's house were taken by K.R. Dinanath who probably has the last word on anything that is connected to Mysore. We urge readers to make his acquaintance at a superb blog called 'MYSOREAN MUSINGS':
We are happy to share on the eve of Ugadi a beautiful veena concert from 1997 of Vidwan Doreswamy Iyengar. His concert in the first year of the Ramanavami festival, 1970, has already been shared here.
The featured concert of 1997 would be his last in Parvathi since he left his mortal coil in the same year.
In this concert, even at the age of 77, Sri Doreswamy Iyengar has shown his famous touch of class. Ragas like Narayanagowla, Harikambhoji, Purvikalyani and Todi come out in splendid finery. His veena speaks and sings with such melody. The tempo is really easy on the ears. The concert shows what Sri Doreswamy Iyengar was most loved for... the true sweetness of the Mysore Veena bani.
Sri Iyengar shared a close friendship with Mr. K. Srikantiah and used to spend long hours with him and RK Narayan, the famous writer in the beautiful city of Mysore. The three formed a kind of three musketeers. Sri Doreswamy Iyengar was honoured by the home of Parvathi during the silver jubilee of the Parvathi concerts in 1994 (photo here).
Here is a translation of the page on Sri Doreswamy Iyengar in the Kannada musical encyclopedia, “Karnataka Sangita Vishaya Vishwa Kosha” (author Dr. V.S. Sampathkumaracharya, pub. DVK, Mysore, 2012):
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Veene Doreswamy Iyengar (1920-1997)
A famous contemporary vainika, V. Doreswamy Iyengar was born in 1920 in the family of Veena and Flute maestro Venkatesha Iyengar. He began his musical training under his father on the veena and later received advanced training under Asthana Vidwan Vainika Venkatagiriyappa. He performed when he was 14 in the presence of Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar and received the king’s appreciation. He passed BA in Mysore Maharaja’s College.
His first public performance was in 1943 Ramotsava in Bangalore. Since then he has performed at every venue known for Carnatic music, and also Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi and other cities. Apart from solo appearances nationwide, he has performed with Ali Akbar Khan and Halim Jaffer Khan. He has performed duets with T. Chowdiah for over 10 years. He has performed with Dr. Balamurali Krishna in a veena-viola duet. He represented India at the international music conference in Shiraz, Iran in 1969. He travelled and performed in many concerts in Europe and America. He served for several years until retirement as the music producer in AIR, Bangalore. He was awarded the Central Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 1970. He was the eighth president of the Bangalore Gayana Samaja conference and received the title Sangeetha Kala Ratna. The Mysore University awarded him an honorary doctorate.
Iyengar’s veena style touches the heart. His plucking is majestic in gait, pleasant always and melodious. His raga essays are filled with rich manodharma and his kalpana swaras show great expertise. His style of play is predominantly gayaki. Natakurinji, Hamir Kalyani, Todi, Kalyani, Shankarabharana, Kharaharapriya, Kambhoji, Shanmukhapriya, Jinjhuti, Darbari Kanada – in these ragas, his renditions showcase his unique style. He received the Padma Bhushan from the Government of India. He served as the head of Karanataka Sangeetha Nataka Academy. He presided over the 1984 conference of the Madras Music Academy and was conferred the Sangeetha Kalanidhi title.
Among his numerous disciples are his son D. Balakrishna and Mysore C. Krishnamurthy.
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Concert Details
V.Doreswamy Iyengar ----------- Veena
D.Balakrishna ---------- Veena accompaniment
Cheluvaraj ---------------- Mridangam
M.A.Krishnamurthy ----- Ghatam
on 24-4-97 during Ramanavami.
Vid. Rajkumar Bharathi – Vocal Concert 1998: "Parvathi" Ramanavami Music Festival
By R. Sachi
We are pleased to share with rasikas worldwide the
concert from the Ramanavami series 1998 of Vid. Rajkumar Bharathi. This very
enjoyable concert has traditional Carnatic fare as well as a lovely “English”
note of Thyagaraja-swami and also a patriotic song of the famous Tamil
literateur Subrahmanya Bharathi, the renaissance poet of the early 20th
century, who stridently voiced the spirit of the Indian freedom struggle and gave
a whole region much inspirational poetry.
Rajkumar
Bharathi is the great grandson of Sri Subrahmanya Bharathi.For Rajkumar Bharathi it was but natural to
be associated with music owing to his family’s keen interest in art and
literature. By the instructions of his music guru, Sangeetha Kalanidhi T. V.
Gopalakrishnan, Rajkumar decided to quit his engineering job in an R&D
division and devote his time for classical music.
Rajkumar
Bharathi has given Classical Carnatic music concerts throughout India and
abroad. His career spans classical music, bhavageethe, film playback singing,
composing for classical dance, international fusion and choir music and
teaching. He has many audio cassettes and CDs to his credit. His voice is very
popular across Karnataka for his clear diction and melodious singing of Kannada
compositions.
The concert has excellent accompaniment
from Sri Manjunath and Sri Cheluvaraju.
The concert features an interesting
composition, not often heard, of Saint Thyagaraja, which sounds very much like
an English note. The words are meaningful and clever. We reproduce the lyric
and meaning, taken from sahityam.net:
The Subrahmanya Bharathi song in Behag reflects the
aspirations of a resurgent India, a century ago, when the population was just
30 crores! The spirit of the nation and also the “modern” spirit of national
pride was the product ironically of the efforts of the English rule to create a
single nation patched up from several smaller princely states. The result was a
“critical” mass of national spirit.
Vid. K.J. Yesudas in 2000 : "Parvathi" Ramanavami Music Festival
Reminiscences by K.Srikantiah
" We are pleased to present this time, in our blog, a full length concert of Sri. K.J.Yesudas during our Sri Ramanavami Music Festival on April 19, 2000 at Mysore.
I also take this opportunity to wish my dear friend, Yesudas, a very Happy New Year ! January is also the month when he performs Pooja and Homam at Mookambika Temple on the occasion of his birthday. May Goddess Mookambika Bless him with perfect health, longevity of life, and may he continue to enthrall his countless fans inside and outside of India. "
" When I go down my memory lane, I vividly recollect the day I first met him on April 18, 1976. Our friendship began on a rather discordant note. Yesudas was to sing at my Ramanavami Festival on April 14, 1976. Music of films like 'Chit Chor' , 'Apoorva Ragangal' etc, were a super hit by then, and Yesudas was a heart-throb of thousands of music-lovers. He was a versatile singer in both carnatic classical music and film music, which was very rare. A massive crowd had gathered to listen to him,but he didn't turn up, even at 7 in the evening.Nor was there any word or message from him. I was fuming by then.Somehow I pleaded with Neyathangara Vasudeven, and he agreed to sing in Yesudas' place.
Next morning at 5 AM, Yesudas called me and calmly explained what had happened. The car in which he was travelling from Bangalore to Mysore broke down midway. The driver left him alone in the car and went to get help. It was almost 8pm in the night by the time the car problem was finally resolved and by which time it was too late to reach Mysore and perform. After explaining all this, Yesudas agreed to sing on April 18, 1976. That was how we first met. His genuineness, sincerity and warmth completely melted away my previous anger. From that instant, I became an ardent admirer of Yesudas the person, besides Yesudas the singer. "
" His words to me on that day still ring in my ears - 'I wish I had met you earlier' was what he said. Thus began our friendship of four decades, a friendship which has been steady without ups and downs. This was the exact sentiment which Yesudas also expressed during his recent concert at our K.Puttu Rao (my father) festival in september 2014. Innumerable are the days and hours that we have spent discussing music, men and matter, and pulling each others legs. "
" I am deeply indebted to Yesudas for accepting without a second thought my invitation to sing at my festival about 15-20 times during these four decades.I can only repay the debt by praying to Lord Rama to always bless my beloved friend and his family with HIS protective shield.
Vid. Chandan Kumar – Flute, 2013 K. Puttu Rao Festival
An Appreciation by Shri R. Sachi
We extend our season’s greetings to Rasikas worldwide as we share a lovely flute recital recording. Vidwan Chandan Kumar, the great-grand son of the legend Mysore T. Chowdiah, is a well-known, highly talented, flautist with concert engagements around the globe. He has a pleasant blowing technique and brings considerable vidwat into play with a wide repertoire. In this concert, he offers a range of krithis with some excellent violin and percussion accompaniment.
In his remarks to the audience, Mr. Srikantiah shares his appreciation of Chandan Kumar’s flute technique and states how, per his request, the concert includes famous compositions of Mysore Vasudevachar. The youngster’s music carries the blessing of the violin legend Vid. Chowdiah.
Mr. K. Srikantiah also records his affection and appreciation for the long musical career, as a performer as well as an excellent teacher, of Vid. H. K. Narasimhamurthy, who has produced many violinists shining on the concert stage today.
Coming to the fare in this concert, Vid. Chandan Kumar presents a rare krithi of Sri Muthuswami Dikshitar in the raga Dharmavati (called Dhaamavati in the asampurna paddhati). The song itself is a prayer to Parvathi (the text is reproduced below from Vid. T. K. Govinda Rao’s compilation):
It is a notable aspect of Carnatic music that all vaggeyakaras, from Purandara Dasa to the Trinity as well as the 20th century composers like Papanasam Sivan and Vasudevachar, have composed works in praise of the mother goddess.
Just like the presiding deity of Mysore is the goddess Chamundi, the presiding deity of the family of Mr. Srikantiah is goddess Parvathi. The genius of our civilization is exemplified by the worship of the mother goddess. We combine the ideas of the Eternal Principle, earthly beauty and filial affection in a unique way in our worship. Sri Adi Shankara’s Soundarya Lahari is a veritable blueprint for seeking salvation through prayer to the Mother Goddess. In this composition, Sri Dikshitar gives a quick résumé of Parvathi: the youthful consort of Shiva, the Eternal Light and ever-loving Mother.
Come, let us enjoy an excellent flute concert of nearly three hours.
Concert Details
M.A.Chandan Kumar ----- Flute
H.M.Smitha ------------------- Violin
C.Cheluvaraj --------------- Mridangam
G.S.Ramanujam ----------- Ghatam
on 2-9-2013 during K.Puttu Rao Memorial Music Festival at Mysore.
We are very happy to share with Rasikas worldwide excerpts from a brilliant vocal duet of the senior vidwans, D. Seshachary and D. Raghavachary, popularly known as Hyderabad Brothers, held during the Ramanavami festival at "Parvathi", Mysore, in 1998.
The Hyderabad Brothers duo made a mark for themselves during late 1970’s and have won many honours since, especially the prizes for for the best concerts of the season in the Music Academy, Madras, year after year. They have a beautiful vocal duet technique and employ a deeply classical idiom to connect instantly with their audiences. They received the Sangeet Natak Akademi award for the year 2013.
The excerpts we share here have an enduring musical value. Consider the range of ragas essayed: Nata, Sriranjani, Ravichandrika, Kambhoji, Bhairavi, Tilang, Durga…What a range of krithis, and what contemplative lyrical depth. Many of the compositions dwell on the aspect of divine grace. What is divine grace and how does one become ready for it?
The very first song, a classic composition of Muthuswami Dikshitar, gives an inkling…
So at a basic level, the Lord protects and nurtures us. At the next level, He fulfils our desires and wants. But His grace has its full effect in enlightening us on the ultimate reality of divine bliss, and taking us beyond worldly wants.
The following songs also highlight the same theme:
Who else, but you, oh Rama, will take me across by hand over the ocean of worldliness.
Niravadhisukhadaa..saadhumaanasa susadana
Dwelling in the pure heart, you confer eternal bliss…
The Kshetrayya padam sung here, Rama Rama in Bhairavi, may appear at one level to depict the pangs of a lover, but Shringara is one of the nava vidha bhaktis. Radha, Andal, and Meera, all represent the yearning for the Lord that results in Mukti.
We also have in the concert an interesting admonition to the worldly man by Purandara Dasa. This Durga raga composition Dharma Shravanavidetake was made famous by GNB. The words used by the composer are quite strong, stating that it is totally futile for a man, even if born in the upper caste, to observe religious rituals and listen to spiritual discourses, until and unless he realises the futility of pursuits in the material world and yearns for liberation. He says, huttukurudage deepavidetake bhrashtanigeke kuladharma, meaning that the light of a lamp is useless for a man born blind, just as a depraved man should not flaunt the rituals of his high birth.
We can thus conclude that being eligible for grace is the only thing within our powers. Grace flows and confers on us the pleasures of this world, but more importantly, the bliss of liberation. And as all the saint composers stress, it is a question for us of looking for the true enduring reward of existence and not the trinkets of material prosperity.
Come, let us enjoy a brilliant concert recorded at Parvathi 16 years ago!
Concert Details
Hyderabad Brothers
(D.Seshachary and D.Raghavachary) -------- Vocal
We feature this time the well known Vidwan, Sangita Kalanidhi Nedunuri Krishnamurthy, one among the many stalwarts who have come and performed in Parvathi over six decades. Endowed with a very resonant voice, and presenting a large repertoire in Telugu, Sanskrit and other languages, with chaste diction, with a pleasant, engaging, manodharma, Nedunuri has achieved success with audiences as well as accompanists for a long time.
In this concert from 1971, he is accompanied by Vid.Lalgudi Jayaraman, Vid. Umayalpuram Sivaraman, and Vid. TH Vinayakram. This is a star-studded ensemble and you can surely look forward to some wonderful music, the result of great team-work. After a very emotive Mohana and Nanu Palimpa, we have three very rakthi-filled renditions. There is also a percussion interlude between Umayalpuram and Vinayakram. The whole concert exudes a sense of balance and melody.
The following two excerpts from “An Incurable Romantic”, the authorised biography of Vid. Lalgudi Jayaraman, by Lakshmi Devnath, show what an excellent rapport Nedunuri enjoyed with Lalgudi.
Recently, when Nedunuri was conferred a title by a reputed Sabha in Bangalore, a glowing tribute was paid by Vid. Umayalpuram Sivaraman.
For the past 40-50 years, these three artistes have been shining stars on the Carnatic concert platform.
We read in the “Karnataka Sangita Vishaya Vishwakosha”, by Dr. V. S. Sampathkumaracharya, that Nedunuri was born in East Godavari district in 1927. He comes from a family of musicians. He went to Dr. Pinakapani in 1949 for advanced studies. In his long career spanning more than six decades, apart from being a very respected concert artiste, he has held many teaching positions in several established institutions all over Andhra Pradesh. His lessons on radio and television have helped thousands of music students. He has received the title of Asthana Vidwan from Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam for his great contribution to popularising Annamacharya compositions. In fact the song, in Revathi, “Nanati Bratuku” made famous by MSS, was tuned by him. He has also set to music the compositions of Kaivara Yogi Narayana, hailing from a small town in Karnataka.
Come, let us enjoy a vintage concert from the masters.
Concert Excerpt details
Nedunuri Krishnamurthy-Vocal
Lalgudi Jayaraman-Violin
Umayalpuram Sivaraman-Mridangam
TH Vinayakram-Ghatam
6-4-71 at "Parvathi" during Ramanavami.
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