Guruprasanna - kanjira artiste

Carnatic Musicians
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semmu86
Posts: 960
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 09:39

Post by semmu86 »

I wanted to write about this talented artiste for long but couldnt do so .. Anyhow , guruprasanna in my opinion is a wonderful kanjira artiste , who i dont think is performing in chennai music circles very often ( atleast i have not seen him performing often ) .

I first heard him couple of seasons back at at bharath kalachar in a mandolin srinivas concert with sankaran sir. He has amazing control over the instrument , great pair of hands and a wonderful grasping memory . I still remember how he replied sankaran sir phrase to phrase effortlessly when sankaran sir played a khanda koraippu in thisram gathi . ( I have only heard harishankar play that koraippu in the kanjira with such mastery.. ) Again i had the oppurtunity to listen to him last week (22nd) in bangalore at r.k.srikantan concert with trichy sankaran sir.. He effortlessly played the thisram and the sankeerna koraippu in khanda chApu thAlam which sankaran sir played.

But sadly i dont know much about his whereabouts or his lineage. Would be wonderful if kanjira artists in our forum like nerkunam sankar can tell us about him.

Thanks
Last edited by semmu86 on 27 Jan 2010, 12:54, edited 1 time in total.

babaji
Posts: 85
Joined: 01 Dec 2006, 14:55

Post by babaji »

I am also eager to know about him some info will do good. If not here then where are we going to learn about them.

raghavt
Posts: 224
Joined: 10 Jun 2007, 11:56

Post by raghavt »

semmu86 - "i had the oppurtunity to listen to him last week (22nd) in bangalore at r.k.srikantan concert with trichy sankaran sir" how was the concert??? pls post a review... I'm hoping to catch up Sankaran sir for TMK concert on Feb 15th...

~ raghav

vijayaraghava
Posts: 2
Joined: 02 Oct 2008, 06:48

Post by vijayaraghava »

Guruprasanna is a wonderful artiste and I think his main strength is his capacity to understand the manodharma of the non percussionists and percussionists alike. I have heard him play with many senior artists.

Here is some links about Guruprasanna.

Guruprasanna playing for Simhanandana tala Part1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71Kz8i0D ... re=related
Guruprasanna playing for Simhanandana tala Part2 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6gJGPcG ... re=related
Guruprasanna tani solo : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIUMKRYzMfw

n s sankar kanjira
Posts: 49
Joined: 21 Jan 2008, 19:28

Post by n s sankar kanjira »

Nice to see this post about Sri Guruprasanna:
.. here some info about him:
He is Dis.ple..Of kanjira Vidhwan C P Vyasavillala from Banglore... Vyasa villal is a senior dis..of Kanjira Wizard..G Harishankar.. he Has His Won School Of kanjira.. And teaching to Many students.. Guruprasanna Is one of the fine Dis of Vyasa Anna... He is A software Professional..and..Playing kanjira.. i Heard his Playing at youtube.. only.. its so nice.. i have Association with him..
thanks

raghavt
Posts: 224
Joined: 10 Jun 2007, 11:56

Re: Guruprasanna - kanjira artiste

Post by raghavt »

I happened to hear him on the Arangetram Concert of Poovalur Sriji Sir's disciple (a young boy) in the month of June 2013 (June last week). Saketraman was on the vocal and Vittal Ramamurthy on violin. I forgot the Arangetram boy's name.

He accompanied superbly without interrupting the newcomer, encouraging him always; and when his turn came during the thani or during the violin reply sessions he was in top form. The thani he played was simply superb...I remembered Sri Harishankar's misram. Excellent control and voice modulation, the patterns reverberated throughout the hall.

Excellent artist indeed.

arasi
Posts: 16774
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30

Re: Guruprasanna - kanjira artiste

Post by arasi »

Semmu,
I'm glad you started this thread. How's your mridangam training going?

Yes, percussion artistes from Karnataka aren't that well-known in Chennai as they should be.

After a veteran like Ramachar passed away, I started noticing the young players more (more than one with the moniker guru there).

I wish I had remembered who sang that evening at Gayana Samaja, two years ago. I do not even remember the other accompanists (not that they did not do credit to themselves), but Guruprasanna's playing stood out. You have observed the technical side of his playing in detail, and as a novice, I can only speak about how a naive rasikA was taken by his playing that evening. I saw the anusaraNai and heard some masterly strokes and more, because there was feeling and vigor in his playing which was touching. I'm a sucker for a well-played khanjari anyway, and it turned out to be a treat for me.
His guru is Vyasa Vittala (not villala).

rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Guruprasanna - kanjira artiste

Post by rajeshnat »

Lovely writeup from The Hindu dated Nov 27,2020. Best wishes to this vidwan. Since I am based in chennai, I dont hear him that much like bangalore .

https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/ ... 186019.ece

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