Dear CRama

Thanks a lot for your encouragement.

One incident that come to my mind. I was traveling in a MSRTC bus from Sholapur to Kholapur during my travels in Maharashtra for audits during Dec 1980. The bus was crowded and I had to stand a long way . As I was standing I noticed a photo of our MSG sir in the local Marathi news paper which one of the passenger was reading. I immediately requested the seated passenger to show that page to me . He was not very impressed with my enthusiasm and told me curtly that he will give when he gets down from the bus. I waited patiently and I could only get a glimpse of MSG sir's photo when he flipped pages. Some how I controlled my urge and waited patiently. After about two hours , he got down and he handed that paper to me. This photo was a part of a review of a concert he played in Sholapur written in Marathi. I later got the translation of the same. I was honestly moved that he was so well received in Maharashtra. The reviewer presented a very good review of the Hindustani concert. Many times I have come across people ( artistes including )simply dismiss his Hindustani music stating that he is not well received in the North stating that he does not understand idiom of their music. I honestly felt nice and a good review of his Hindustani Music from a HM critic is some thing to be savored. I have heard him at Lucknow where the audience was in rapt attention. He is always called to perform in Gwalior 'gharana' sangeet samorohs' held in Gwalior, Delhi and other places. One of well known present day Tabla player Akram Khan told me that he played with MSG at Allahabad music festival which is a very prestigious venue. Akram told me that he, as a very staunch HM follower, really appreciated MSG sir's presentation and many musicians present in the concert were very moved .

More later.

With warm regards

http://www.mediafire.com/?y86treqes8sl7

vintage AIR Sammelan Concert

Thanks a lot Varsha for the recording and akriti53 for your memories with Sri MSG sir. Please continue sharing if you have some more recording and ofcourse, the anecdotes.

One incident about MSG Sir that I want to share....I was travelling from Singapore to Bombay. A young man sitting next to me and he was glued to his ipad with ear pieces on. About an hour to go before we reached Mumbai, he turned to me and asked if I am a south indian and whether I liked indian music. I replied in the affirmative. He said to me " I have some thing extremely devine, would you like to listen and tell me who could it be (meaning the artist). He turned over one side of the ear plug which I promptly put into my ear. And lo and behold, there was MSG Sir, playing Purya Dhanashri, in its most prestine form ! The young man asked me if I knew the artist. I replied, yes, indeed, MSG sir was my maanasiga guru. It turned out that the young man was learning violin in Bombay, worked in Singapore and while his teacher was some learned guru in Mumbai, his maanasiga guru was Smt N Rajam! Two diamond studded crowns from south india for the hindutani music!

Thanks for that, do you have the rest of the concert ??

last track of the program - a bhajan - added to the same mediafire folder . cheers.

Dear all,

Thanks Sam Swaminathan. It is always a great feeling to receive any information on our MSG sir and that too from an unexpected source. One night I was listening to a Natya sangeet piece played by MSG sir in Chalisgaon in Maharashtra in my room on the first floor. ( I had gone for an audit to the NTC mills there) The night was peaceful and I was enjoying the radio concert. As there was some radio noise , I must have increased the volume to hear clearly. Suddenly one of the junior clerk who deals with cotton waste called my name and asked who is singing the natya sangeet. I told him that it is not vocal and it is being played on the violin. He called one or two of his friends to recognize which natya sangeet is being played and thoroughly enjoyed the piece . He did not know who was playing and simply said that it evoked fond memories of his experience with nataya sangeet which due to circumstances, he could not pursue. I was honestly elated to see such a wonderful expressions on their faces after listening to our MSG sir.

In this same town, I had a rather heart breaking experience. Generally music is much appreciated in Maharashtra . Wherever you go, be it a village or a small town, one will come across traditional abhangs being sung with a lot of fervor. Many has taken to classical music and are keen listeners. I had even come across aged people who come a long way ( even as far from Kanpur) to listen to concerts in music festival such as Sawai Ghandarv festival at Pune. On my first day at Chalisgaon, I was a bit unwell and I was taken to a doctor called Doctor Dathe. He is just a dispenser of medicine and was not a certified doctor. His place was just a small room and as I was leaving his room I noticed a violin hanging from a hook . I immediately turned and asked him whether he plays violin. He asked me a return question as to whether I am interested in music. When I told him that I am very much interested in music, he became very excited and asked other persons to wait and went to another room and put on the shruthi box and started playing the violin much to the amusement of his waiting patients. He played a superb Megh alaap in the instrumental style. I was really moved to learn that he is disciple of Gajanan Bua Joshi ( Both vocalist and violinist). He has learnt directly from Gajanan bua for many years and as he could not get any concerts for a living , he had resort to being a dispenser of medicine to the locals. I then invited him to play at the NTC mills hoping some money could be given to him. from the fund available for such purposes. He came and played but there was no audience except myself and as if that is not pathetic, I later learnt that he was paid only Rs 100 for all the effort. I felt very bad that such a musician is not recognized and respected and he is treated as some unwanted guest. He played for me for more than 3 hours. He played Jinjhoti, Kedar, Malhar and Bhairavi. His technique was good and his music was very chaste and fulfilling. He had a very high regard for MSG sir whom he had heard many times in the AIR programs.

With warm regards,

happened to listen to this yesterday:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yS9BCWFYbw

and went on listening for about 100 times by now...!!

INS-MSG 016-Padma Bushan MS Gopalakrishnan-rAgam_tAnam_pallavi-bEgaDA.flv

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8Fo4f8bnK0

Parur brothers-MSG-MSA-Violin duet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYqSet41bxQ

An AIR recording of MSG-Narmadha featuring a rItigowLa, sowrASTRam, vijayaSri, rudrapriya, and sahAna:
http://www.sangeethamshare.org/vignesh/ ... 0/002-MSG/

It is really difficult to come across a violinist or even a musician who has so beautifully imbibed the two different traditions of music, carnatic and hindustani, and presented them without one getting in the way of the other. Most Carnatic musicians trying their hand at hindustani bring a carnatic "saayal" to it, and vice versa!

Among the violin trimurthis, I have greatly enjoyed Shri. MSG's dexterity over the instrument and Shri. TNK's powerful bowing and sound. The two have an unmatchable sound.

---

Pardon my words, I did mean to write "have"! Thank you srikant1987.

kanchi perivaa,

Hello Sir,

Very nice tributes to MSG Sir.Indeed a great personality conquering both Hindustani and carnatic forms.
But I could not understand your reference to TNK in the context.In case You mention TNK,then LGJ should find a place too.

dear hnbhagavan,
my reference to Shri. TNK here is out of my humble appreciation for the tonal quality produced by a violinist. What I wanted to say earlier was, along with Shri. MSG's tonal quality, another violinist that I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to is Shri. TNK, in this aspect.
Thank you.

Hello kanchi perivaa,
Sir,

Thanks for your reply.Still my doubt remains unanswered.In the history of Violin in carnatic music,the contributions of MS Gopalakrishnan,Lalgudi G Jayaraman and TN Krishnan is widely recognize and referred as violin trinty.
Each have individual styles and most of the violinists today follow one of the 3 styles.My question to you more clearly is why you have not mentioned Lalgudi sir in your
posting?
When you are paying tributes to MSG,if you have not referred to other violinists,I would not have responded.Since you made reference to TN Krishnan,I have a doubt that you are not recognizing the Lalgudi Bani.

Where would one stop? Why should one stop at three?

It is not obligatory in any way to mention all three of these names when one or two are mentioned. With no disrespect whatsoever to the mentioned or the unmentioned, why should a person be browbeaten to mention all three, or have demands made to know why they did not. What is the use of that? He is free to mention or not to mention. Let him be.

Dear nick,

Of course,there are many more great names.One is at liberty to mention or not.I only pointed out the three major schools in Violin which has dominated for decades.
I have nothing further to say and will not write further on the topic.

We should of course include Chowdiah and his bani - In the 40's and 50's his name was synonymous with the violin!

A BRIEF SUMMARY OF FOUR OCCASIONS TO REMEMBER M.S.G.
I have carefully listened & read the following four occasions meant to commemorate the GENIUS & MEMORY OF M.S.G.:
1) THE MEMORIAL TRIBUTE CONCERT BY Dr.M.Narmadha(M.S.G'S CHIEF DISCIPLE & DAUGHTER) at Chromepet on the 10th day- I don't know how she did it- but as one who has been listening to him from 1950- she has managed to CAPTURE the technique & spirit of M.S.G. in an unbelievable fashion & may have paid the ULTIMATE TRIBUTE TO M.S.G. NOT ONLY WAS EVERY ITEM SUPERB but her choice of KUMADAKRIYA brought out what M.S.G. was ALL ABOUT! UNBELIEVABLY WELL PLAYED & M.S.G. would have been happy & proud of his student.
2)The "KATRINILAE VARUM GEETHAM" PROGRAM on Dhoordarshan on M.S.G. was again superb due to M.S.G.himself and
Dr.M.Narmadha & gave insights& knowledge of why the Parur school is a MAJOR SCHOOL. The moderator(SRI.Kannan(?) was great too!
3) The condolence meeting at Raghasudha Hall with all the musical giants starting with TNK gave colleagues & experts regards & whys of M.S.G'S GENIUS.
4) The SRUTHI issue & esp. the two masterly articles by Dr.N.Ramanathan(himself a violinist & professor) & Dr.M.Narmadha were SUPERB. Dr.M.N'S article was very moving while providing expert details about M.S.G. a difficult task
I wish to congragulate Dr. M.Narmadha for PROPERLY educating & celebrating the man & genius M.S.G. In these days while most of the Disciples USE the names of their Gurus mostly to gain ADVANTAGE while crassly violating or wrongly claiming great
adherence etc it is VERY REFRESHING to find an exception in Dr.M.Narmadha. I wish her all the best in her efforts to propagate the Parur Tradition & REQUEST ALL THE FANS OF M.S.G. to encourage as well as support Dr.M.Narmadha in her efforts. THIS IS THE BEST TRIBUTE TO M.S.G. WE CAN PAY. VKV

Actually greats like MMI & GNB even well after the fifties considered SRI.Chowdiah to be an all time great & insisted on having him as accompanist. The '63 M.A.Concert of M.M.I.- T.C.- V.R.-A.R. is in my opinion is certainly one of the BESTMMI CONCERTS & in my opinion ONE of the ALL TIME great concerts in no small measure to T.C. who brought out the best in the main artist as well as the other accompanists. CERTAINLY ONE OF A KIND GENIUS. VKV