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].
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!
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 ]
