Accompanied by Smt padma rangarAjan - vocal, parur Shri MS AnantharAman - violin and manakkAl sriram -mridangam. A great 2 hours and 25 minute concert with his trademark vigour was present in Shri rangarAjan's concert. I was late by few minutes , assuming nAttai was the first.
1.shakthi gaNapathim (S) - nAttai - HMB
2.nannu kanna thalli - kesari -T
3.gOpanandana valaripunuta (R,S)- bhooshavaLi - ST
4.tunai purindaruL(R) - varamu - pApanAsam Sivan
5.vara rAga laya - senchukAmbOdhi -T
6A. saraswati annayE enneramUm saram aDaindhEn unnaiyE(R,S,T)- kharaharapriya - pApanAsam Sivan
with swara rAgamAliga
6B. tani
7. navaneeta chOda nandakumAra ... malarAdi pani manamE? - tilang? - ?
8A.slOkham "krishna rekshAtumAm" - yamunakalyAni - ?
8B.krishnaa nee bEganE baarO - yamunAkalyAni - vyaasaraaya
9. thillAna - shenchuruTTi - veena seshannA
10 .....necchi rArA yeranaswami (javAli)? - atanA - dharmapuri subbarAyar?
11A. viruththam "nAn en seiyum ,vinai thAn en seiyum"- hamsAnandi -??
11B. nirai madhi mugham (thiruPPugazh) - hamsAnandi - arunagirinAthar
12. pavamAna (mangalam)
The concert was very good that too considering the age of the vocalist and violinist(80 plus). Having heard manakkAl only once before , I was wishing shri manakkAl to sing a main preferably in KAmbOdhi or s'bharanam and not kharaharapriya as I heard the same song before at IIT few months before. But manakkAl this time gave an entirely different manOdharmam tone to the same kharaharapriya. One cannot expect a 22 minute swara rAgamAliga in the main ,the swara patterns were in kAnadA(brilliant for atleast 5 minutes) ,ranjani(very good for atleast 4 minutes) ,kuntalavarAli (excellent that was quite fast and very good)and in bowli (it was just good) and then again he wrapped with kharaharapriya patterns(very good). Overall an excellent swaraprasthanam delivery with a lot of vigour ,that usually is not even demonstrated by most of today's peak artists.
Before main , manakkAl gave a good quality concert. Liked his nAttai swaram, kesari was sung with a lot of voice finesse . There was a lot of kanakku swarams in bhooshavaLi where violinst had to sing and then sriram followed exactly those fast brighas.
Post tani, the tukkadas were all very good with lot of selections being quite rare. Liked particularly the viruththam and a very rare atanA number.His tilang? was again good. The yamunAkalyAni krithi was a bit below average ,the shenchuruTTi tillana was sung quite well.
Shri MS AnantharAman was excellent , very very apt in return and I was just amazed with his shruthi suddham and his proportion play. His returns in swara rAgamAliga was razor sharp(kANadA was brilliant) , incidentally he tended to bow quite less but perhaps got lot of gamakams just by parur style of fingering.sriram played an energetic tani which was very good. His play for songs was just good. Smt Prema gave a good support.
Overall to me manakkAl gives a shade of three of the greatest jAmbhavAns gnb, mmi and ssi put together.In the concert his kharaharapriya krithi rendition and swaras and particularly kesari krithi had a lot of ssi pidi, the rAgamAliga swaras had a touch of mmi especially when he took kAnadA and ranjani in sucession,Gnb's racy style was fully there in the slOkham and viruththam , perhaps almost omnipresent in each of the krithi. I told this to him , he smiled and he said "I am very happy to hear that , there is somewhat little truth in what you say(romba santhosham,oralavukku unmai)". Perhaps if there was something a bit dissapointing ,that was he not even singing one neraval. Before I could tell that to manakkAl, I heard his wife already complaining that to him.
On a side note I feel as a prerequisite to appreciate manakkAl ,one should look his style where there is more and more emphasis on vigour , in that process there is sometimes little emphasis on refinement. Despite that as a rasika I find it very very impressive as there is so much vidwat in Shri manakkAl's head .Overall a very good concert with an excellent swara rAgamAliga.
manakkAl rangarAjan@SKGS on July 15th,2007
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cmlover
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- Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:36
I fully endorse having heard all of them in their prime. I wish I had stayed back to relish this concert (in your companyOverall to me manakkAl gives a shade of three of the greatest jAmbhavAns gnb, mmi and ssi put together
than depart and get caught in the disasterous AF flight. Thanks Rajesh for the nice review. Hope a recording will be available (commercially ?) sometime. Knowing the strength of the maestro in kaambodhi/tODi/sankarabharanm I don't doubt his excellence in kharaharapriya. MaNakkaal is a masster of jAvaLi and I wish you had commented on that piece specially!
It is 'nAL en Seyum..' (what can a day even with inauspicious star combinations do..) from Arunagirinathar kanda alankaaram.
A maNakkaal MSA combination is one to celebrate if Sriram also had the spark of PMI from his training of yore!
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ramanathan
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rajeshnat
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ravi,rshankar wrote:Rajesh,
Shouldn't
2. be 'nannu ganna tallI'?
6A. ...'ennEramum SaraN aDaindEn unnaiyE'?
7. 'navanIta chOra nandakumArA'?
BTW, is kEsari the same as sindhu kAnaDA?
You had earlier corrected the same , I went with the consensus as kEsari , again it may be sindu kannaDa ,definitely not sindu kAnaDA. Just to refresh your memory see the url http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=1365 ,see from post #7
6A for sure you are right, 7 may be you are right there too!.
Last edited by rajeshnat on 17 Jul 2007, 18:18, edited 1 time in total.
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mahakavi
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rajeshnat
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Lji,Lakshman wrote:# 7 is navanIta cOra nandakishOra in nAgasvarAvaLi by E.S.Sankaranarayana Iyer.
I see the url where there is information about Dr E S SankaranarAyana Iyer,the composition is mentioned as telugu. I certainly heard few distinct thamizh phrases like "malarAdi pani manamE?", may be it is a manipravAlam krithi .Check this url
http://essfamily.tripod.com/kirthana.html
Interestingly there is a nice write up on Dr ESS iyer in the url http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:JFq ... =clnk&cd=1
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manakkalsriram
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- Joined: 10 Feb 2006, 11:00
The song 'Navaneetha Choran' was composed by Late Sri Manakkal Varadarajan(my Periappa) set to tune by Appa(Manakkal Rangarajan) in the Tilang raga. The pallavi is
'Navaneetha Choran, Nandakumaran Malaradi Pani maname Diname'
The Charanam begins as 'Kapata nadaga Sutradharan, Gajaraja Varadan, Karuna Samudran' and so on it goes. My periappa has composed a lot of compositions some of which have been set to tune and popularised by Appa(Manakkal Rangarajan) in his concerts. Periappa was also a expert teacher. Periappa uses the Mudra 'varadan'(can note in this song also) , his name being Varadarajan. He has composed mainly hundreds of songs on his Ishta deivam Lord Muruga where he uses Mudra as 'Kaliyuga varadan'. Periappa's favourite singer was SSI. Periappa lived in nagpur and he was known there as 'Vadanattu Semmangudi'.
'Navaneetha Choran, Nandakumaran Malaradi Pani maname Diname'
The Charanam begins as 'Kapata nadaga Sutradharan, Gajaraja Varadan, Karuna Samudran' and so on it goes. My periappa has composed a lot of compositions some of which have been set to tune and popularised by Appa(Manakkal Rangarajan) in his concerts. Periappa was also a expert teacher. Periappa uses the Mudra 'varadan'(can note in this song also) , his name being Varadarajan. He has composed mainly hundreds of songs on his Ishta deivam Lord Muruga where he uses Mudra as 'Kaliyuga varadan'. Periappa's favourite singer was SSI. Periappa lived in nagpur and he was known there as 'Vadanattu Semmangudi'.
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rajeshnat
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- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04
Sriram,
Tx, can you clarify if the nannu kanna thalli was sung in kEsari or sindu kannaDa. Also if your dad knows the difference between the two with few krithi examples that would be great .
In addition you could also clarify if the same nannu kanna thalli was sung in both rAgas by possibly yesteryear's vidwans. To me your father's rendition matched what SSI sang(I am assuming SSI sang in kEsari).
Tx, can you clarify if the nannu kanna thalli was sung in kEsari or sindu kannaDa. Also if your dad knows the difference between the two with few krithi examples that would be great .
In addition you could also clarify if the same nannu kanna thalli was sung in both rAgas by possibly yesteryear's vidwans. To me your father's rendition matched what SSI sang(I am assuming SSI sang in kEsari).
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manakkalsriram
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- Joined: 10 Feb 2006, 11:00
Rajesh,
I asked Appa. He says that both Kesari and Sindhu kannada are the same. Only the names are different just like Udayachandrika and Sudda Danyasi. I was going through the web and found this link.
http://www.geocities.com/vasudevanvrv/c ... aagams.htm
Just try this out. Kesari is given as the janyam of Mararanjani(25th Melakartha) and
Sindhu Kannada as Janyam of Harikambhodi(28th Melakartha) . Appa sang the song as the janyam of Harikambhodi(i.e. Sindhu kannada).
I also referred a very old book of those days named 'Hindu Sangeetham' where the same details are given. I am not aware of how it came to be mixed as Kesari and Sindhu Kannada but the song is sung by SSI also in Sindhu Kannada and Appa also sang the same.
Rajesh, it is really interesting that whenever Appa sings you get something to explore.
Food for thought. Wondering whether there is some relationship between him and you.
I asked Appa. He says that both Kesari and Sindhu kannada are the same. Only the names are different just like Udayachandrika and Sudda Danyasi. I was going through the web and found this link.
http://www.geocities.com/vasudevanvrv/c ... aagams.htm
Just try this out. Kesari is given as the janyam of Mararanjani(25th Melakartha) and
Sindhu Kannada as Janyam of Harikambhodi(28th Melakartha) . Appa sang the song as the janyam of Harikambhodi(i.e. Sindhu kannada).
I also referred a very old book of those days named 'Hindu Sangeetham' where the same details are given. I am not aware of how it came to be mixed as Kesari and Sindhu Kannada but the song is sung by SSI also in Sindhu Kannada and Appa also sang the same.
Rajesh, it is really interesting that whenever Appa sings you get something to explore.
Food for thought. Wondering whether there is some relationship between him and you.
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arunk
- Posts: 3424
- Joined: 07 Feb 2010, 21:41
Hi Sriram,
Udayaravichandrika <=> Suddha Dhanyasi equivalence apparently is applicable only in the Tyagaraja school. In the Dikshitar parampara Udayaravichandrika takes kakali nishadam. Dikshitar has a krithi on it. Prof SRJ has lecdem (available on Sangeetapriya) which talks about raga and also includes rendition of the krithi. DrS has also talked about this in the thread on Wodeyar.
This scale with N3 (very beautiful and haunting) is also featured in some famous Ilayaraja tamil film songs.
Arun
Udayaravichandrika <=> Suddha Dhanyasi equivalence apparently is applicable only in the Tyagaraja school. In the Dikshitar parampara Udayaravichandrika takes kakali nishadam. Dikshitar has a krithi on it. Prof SRJ has lecdem (available on Sangeetapriya) which talks about raga and also includes rendition of the krithi. DrS has also talked about this in the thread on Wodeyar.
This scale with N3 (very beautiful and haunting) is also featured in some famous Ilayaraja tamil film songs.
Arun
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manakkalsriram
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- Joined: 10 Feb 2006, 11:00
When CMLover mentioned about appa's mastery in Javali, I remembered about the Carnatica release of Appa. This Javali in Atana 'Mera Gadha lechi rara' (Chinniah) is there in it. I have a special liking for this Javali . When Mr. Ramanathan of Carnatica discussed with me about the selection of songs, I was particular that this Javali should be included. It was my choice.
For this javali, Violin Maestro T.N. Krishnan and myself have accompanied Appa.
CMlover, hope you have recovered well and your health is better now.
For this javali, Violin Maestro T.N. Krishnan and myself have accompanied Appa.
CMlover, hope you have recovered well and your health is better now.
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drshrikaanth
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manakkalsriram
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Thanks Arun . It was just a common example .As soon as we say Udayachandrika or Suddha dhanyasi, immediately our mind spontaneously goes to the song 'Entanerchina'
There is a lot of difference in the Thyagaraja school following the Govindachari's Sampoorna pattern of Melakartha and Dikshitar school following Venkatamukhi's asampoorna pattern. Dikshitar's udayaravichandrika is the janya of 9th Melakartha Raga Denuka(Venkatamukhi) and Thyagaraja's composition is the janya of 20th Melakartha Natabhairavi. Kottiswara Iyer,Muthiah Bhagavathar etc. follow the Govindachari pattern like Thyagaraja. You cannot forget the Himagirithanaye of Muthiah Bhagavathar. Kottiswara Iyer's Thandurul composition is in Nasikabhushani while Dikshitar's composition Sri Rama Saraswathi is in Nasamani.
(different names of Ragas and order of arohana avarohanam) Thyagaraja's rara Sita
(hindola vasantham) and Dikshitar's Santhanaramaswaminam differ.
Too much of theory in some cases does not work out. I remember Vidwan S. Rajam's speech recently in a function stating that the beauty of the composition is more important and advised all to stop exploring or deep researching.
There is a lot of difference in the Thyagaraja school following the Govindachari's Sampoorna pattern of Melakartha and Dikshitar school following Venkatamukhi's asampoorna pattern. Dikshitar's udayaravichandrika is the janya of 9th Melakartha Raga Denuka(Venkatamukhi) and Thyagaraja's composition is the janya of 20th Melakartha Natabhairavi. Kottiswara Iyer,Muthiah Bhagavathar etc. follow the Govindachari pattern like Thyagaraja. You cannot forget the Himagirithanaye of Muthiah Bhagavathar. Kottiswara Iyer's Thandurul composition is in Nasikabhushani while Dikshitar's composition Sri Rama Saraswathi is in Nasamani.
(different names of Ragas and order of arohana avarohanam) Thyagaraja's rara Sita
(hindola vasantham) and Dikshitar's Santhanaramaswaminam differ.
Too much of theory in some cases does not work out. I remember Vidwan S. Rajam's speech recently in a function stating that the beauty of the composition is more important and advised all to stop exploring or deep researching.
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manakkalsriram
- Posts: 88
- Joined: 10 Feb 2006, 11:00
Dear Sri Vinayo,
As one who has listened to my uncle Manakkal Sivarajan, you must be an elderly gentleman. You can call me just Sriram. Appa had four brothers Natarajan, Thiagarajan, Sivarajan, Varadarajan. Appa is the youngest of the brothers. All of them knew nothing but music. They could speak volumes about music. SSI speaking about Appa in a function said that they were not only Rajas in name but also in Music. Late S.S. Vasan was the disciple of my uncle Nataraja Iyer. Though Nataraja Iyer had a thin voice, when he gave support to Appa who had a strong voice, the contrast would be so interesting especially in songs like Nagumomu, Ninuvina,ethavunara, etc.
Nataraja Iyer was so proud of Appa's music that he would go on saying everyone 'Nobody can sing like Appa and that nobody can beat him. It is good that he felt like that about his brother but anything which goes to the extreme is dangerous. He would go to the extent of meeting SSI and saying 'Can you sing one sangathi like my Thambi'. He was nice but not so wise. I think this was sometimes harmful to my Appa's development and reputation those days.(though it was only out of affection for his thambi) . I was unfortunate not to see my uncle Sivaraja Iyer as he passed away before I was born. I have heard about him that he was nice as well as wise. He was a strict disciplinerian and a perfect gentleman. He knew how to move with people and how to maintain the balance and proportion always. Even personalities like MKT were his friends. Sivaraja Iyer himself had a great personality and would look like a Cine actor. He was a true wellwisher of Appa and he was a pillar of strength for Appa. But unfortunately he died early. Personalities like Vyjayanthimala, Kalanidhi Narayanan were his disciples. It would be surprising to note that Appa did not have any Gurukulam or did not learn music from his brothers either. Music came on its own to him and it was nothing but self development. Music is Appa's breath. He has done Asura sadhakam. As a child I have seen him practice in the swing with sruthi box in his hand. He would forget himself, hunger everything. My patti at the age of over 90
would also be waiting without eating. She would eat only after her son would eat. In those days, the will power was there. Even now at this age appa is able to sing any number of hours due to God's grace and the will power he is having.
As one who has listened to my uncle Manakkal Sivarajan, you must be an elderly gentleman. You can call me just Sriram. Appa had four brothers Natarajan, Thiagarajan, Sivarajan, Varadarajan. Appa is the youngest of the brothers. All of them knew nothing but music. They could speak volumes about music. SSI speaking about Appa in a function said that they were not only Rajas in name but also in Music. Late S.S. Vasan was the disciple of my uncle Nataraja Iyer. Though Nataraja Iyer had a thin voice, when he gave support to Appa who had a strong voice, the contrast would be so interesting especially in songs like Nagumomu, Ninuvina,ethavunara, etc.
Nataraja Iyer was so proud of Appa's music that he would go on saying everyone 'Nobody can sing like Appa and that nobody can beat him. It is good that he felt like that about his brother but anything which goes to the extreme is dangerous. He would go to the extent of meeting SSI and saying 'Can you sing one sangathi like my Thambi'. He was nice but not so wise. I think this was sometimes harmful to my Appa's development and reputation those days.(though it was only out of affection for his thambi) . I was unfortunate not to see my uncle Sivaraja Iyer as he passed away before I was born. I have heard about him that he was nice as well as wise. He was a strict disciplinerian and a perfect gentleman. He knew how to move with people and how to maintain the balance and proportion always. Even personalities like MKT were his friends. Sivaraja Iyer himself had a great personality and would look like a Cine actor. He was a true wellwisher of Appa and he was a pillar of strength for Appa. But unfortunately he died early. Personalities like Vyjayanthimala, Kalanidhi Narayanan were his disciples. It would be surprising to note that Appa did not have any Gurukulam or did not learn music from his brothers either. Music came on its own to him and it was nothing but self development. Music is Appa's breath. He has done Asura sadhakam. As a child I have seen him practice in the swing with sruthi box in his hand. He would forget himself, hunger everything. My patti at the age of over 90
would also be waiting without eating. She would eat only after her son would eat. In those days, the will power was there. Even now at this age appa is able to sing any number of hours due to God's grace and the will power he is having.
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arasi
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vinayo
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Dear Sriram,
Thanks much for your posting. As you have guessed I am on the wrong side of 60!
It is a great pleasure to know about your illustrious family.
As sbala puts it "If your father can sing like this at this age, he must have been incomparable at his peak" Indeed he was. We are blessed to be at this age when such masters have been in the forefront of cm.
Thanks much for your posting. As you have guessed I am on the wrong side of 60!
It is a great pleasure to know about your illustrious family.
As sbala puts it "If your father can sing like this at this age, he must have been incomparable at his peak" Indeed he was. We are blessed to be at this age when such masters have been in the forefront of cm.
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manakkalsriram
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- Joined: 10 Feb 2006, 11:00