umayALpuram k. sivarAman

Carnatic Musicians
mri_fan
Posts: 382
Joined: 15 Aug 2006, 22:12

Post by mri_fan »

Thank you very much sir

srkris
Site Admin
Posts: 3497
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 03:34

Post by srkris »

Sivaraman admits he is core traditionalist
Thursday March 29 2007 10:49 IST

T’PURAM: ‘‘Mridangam is the king of percussion and the queen of melodies,’’ said Umayalpuram K Sivaraman, the maestro who took Mridangam to new horizons.

Addressing a ‘Meet the Press’ at the Press Club on Wednesday, Sivaraman said that his artistic life was a journey of experiments and innovations.

The maestro is in the city to receive the Swati Puraskaram instituted by the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi.

Admitting that he is a core traditionalist, Sivaraman said that he, however, admires music and musicians of all genres.

‘‘If art fails to adapt to the changing times, it won’t survive. Like elsewhere, the ruling dictum in the field of art also is the survival of the fittest,’’ he said.

Recalling his association with Belgian-based Jazz troupe Aka Moon, Sivaraman said that he would tour Belgium and France in September and play Mridangam at the renowned Jazz festivals there. ‘‘Being trained in Carnatic music, I think I have an idea of the gamut of music that exists worldwide,’’ he said.

When asked about the artist whom he liked most to pair with, Sivaraman said it was like asking whether palpayasam or ‘pradhaman’ is good.

‘‘Everyone has his own style. You can accompany Madurai Mani Iyer only if you are a master of srutis. Chembai was particular about laya and it needs an extreme effort to match with the pace of G N Balasubramaniam,’’ he said.

‘‘I could gather experience by accompanying maestros and that had helped me a lot,’’ he said.

Though regarded as a legendary artist, Umayalpuram Sivaraman still prefers to accompany junior artists in concerts. Even in the state, he recently accompanied young musicians Madhavan Namboothiri and Sreevalsan Menon.

‘‘I don’t consider myself a legend. It’s for you to decide,’’ he said.

According to him, the greatest duty of an artist is to encourage the younger generation and see that the tradition is maintained. ‘‘Life is a process of learning. The more you learn, the more you achieve. I try to learn even from a child,’’ he said.

Umayalpuram will enthral the music lovers in the city with his solo performance on Thursday evening, after receiving the Swati Puraskaram.

A kathakali performance - Karnasapadham - by Kalamandalam Gopi and Kottakkal Sivaraman will follow.

Source: http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.as ... am&Topic=0

true_rasika
Posts: 20
Joined: 06 May 2007, 18:49

Post by true_rasika »

Dear Coolkarni Sir:

Namaskarams. I am a new member to this Group and a have been a diehard fan of UKS for more than 25 years. In fact, during my younger days, when I was swayed by film music, there one sole factor that drew me to Carnatic music and that was UKS's mesmerizing mridangam. I used to live in MICO Layout in the early 80's and as a young college student, criss-crossed the city on my bicycle (even to far-flung areas like IISc - a good 30 Km or so!!) just to listen to UKS. I did not care who the main artiste was, but just seeing his name in a concert announcement would result in goosebumps.. and I cannot recall a single concert where he has failed me. I have heard him live with SSI, Nedunuri, KVN, TVS, MSG (solo), DKJ, Santhanam, Voleti, KSG, Ramani, Jugalbandhis (N Rajam - TNK, LGJ - Emani, LGJ - Doraiswamy Iyengar, RK Srikantan, the famous VVV recordings), Mandolin Srinivas, Rudrapatnam Brothers, tAla vAdya kutcheris with Zakir, THV, Kishan Maharaj, Ramachar, etc. the list goes on..... Special mention must be made of MDR's concerts. After listening to Sivaraman play for MDR, I used to wonder if ANY other mridangist could play like he did. I watched in open-mouthed admiration and used to go into raptures listening to UKS play for the choukka-kAlam pace of MDR and fill the gaps (when MDR was adjusting his tuft or charging himself up with some snuff!!)....One other highlight was his teaming up with H P Ramachar on the kanjira - marvellous!! Oh - those blissful old days!!

I have been lucky to attend a few rare lec-dems of UKS in Coimbatore (with VVS on the violin), and in Chennai (Indian Fine Arts, Academy, etc.) - memorable experience, for he made it seem so easy for laymen like me. Thanks to my involvement with SPIC-MACAY in the eighties, I got a few opportunities to get a bit up close and personal with UKS and was even fortunate to have him grace my residence in Bangalore with a visit....

Now a resident of NJ, USA, if there is one thing I badly miss here, it is Sri UKS's live mridangam accompaniment / lec-dems (he has not visited NJ even once in the past 12 years that I have been here. I saw him at Cleveland last year). While in Chennai a couple of years earlier I picked up a 1967 KGS concert of LGJ with Srimathy, UKS and Alangudi. What an outstanding concert!! All the artistes, particularly LGJ and UKS were at their best with their brilliant performances!! The khanda-chapu thani was electrifying....

Now my 10-year old son is learning mridangam in NJ and is from the Pazhani Subbudu school (I am a big fan of that school and Sri Sankaran as well). My son, like me, has become a huge fan of UKS....

I would be most grateful if you could provide me access to the links for the thanis of UKS you have referred to in your earlier postings. I am unable to download any of them. I will dig into some of the old recordings that I have and try to upload them.


Thank you!


True_rasika

true_rasika
Posts: 20
Joined: 06 May 2007, 18:49

Post by true_rasika »

One other point about Sri UKS playing for MDR. In a Sruti magazine interview, UKS has mentioned in his younger days, he used to practice playing mridangam for Sri Mahadeva Bhagavathar, a master at singing krithis / varnams in choukka kalam. UKS mentions that this experience came in handy in later years when he started accompanying MDR....

sankirnam
Posts: 374
Joined: 07 Sep 2006, 14:18

Post by sankirnam »

The thani in the above concert is in misra chapu, for Deva Shri Thapasthitha (Madhyamavathi).

coolkarni

Post by coolkarni »

true_rasika
i will wait for some time to see if previous downloaders , can offer to re-upload.Very often I do not have those tracks in the manner in which they were uploaded-Since I have to convert from DIVX , then slice etc.So I will have to go through all that again.Hopefully someone will pitch in.
In the meanwhile i will put up some sizzling main pieces of concerts which have a Thani by UKS.You can expect two such tracks (TMT and SKalyanraman) by tomorrow.

true_rasika
Posts: 20
Joined: 06 May 2007, 18:49

Post by true_rasika »

Sankirnam:

Thank you for pointing out that the 1967 thani was in M Chapu and not K Chapu - I guess I got a bit carried away with my nostalgia!

Coolkarni Sir:

I will be waiting with great anticipation for someone to upload the thanis that you had previously uploaded - and do look forward to the new ones due tomorrow! Lovely! Thanks very much in advance....

mri_fan
Posts: 382
Joined: 15 Aug 2006, 22:12

Post by mri_fan »

I have several UKS thanis that I will upload in the next few days ...veterans of this group will probably have them, but I'm sure some people would benefit

coolkarni

Post by coolkarni »

http://www.sendspace.com/file/uyel3u
with TMT

http://www.sendspace.com/file/i3i0jk
with Kalyanraman
etc. the list goes on.....
I have picked up two artists , not listed above.Will try some more.

pgaiyar
Posts: 113
Joined: 27 Jan 2007, 07:59

Post by pgaiyar »

To : mri-fan: May I please request 2 thanis by UKS one with TH Vinayakaram and the other with G Harishankar?. God bless you. I have been trying for long but to no avail.

Regards

P. G. Aiyar

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

Post by raghavt »

Hi everyone !!!

I'm noone to comment upon gr8s like UKS sir. I was fortunate to observe his playing from a close angle many times. This is how I explain his mastery over the drum:

Passengers traveling by train buy packaged drinking water. They crush the bottle by twisting it. They hold each edge of the plastic bottle and twist it.

Simlarly, UKS sir can twist the mridangam. That's the control he has on the instrument.

One more thing that I've observed is that he is the most suited person for jugalbandis and fusions. He makes the other artist's life difficult on the platform with his unexpected fast phrases. I've seen it a number of times.

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

Post by arasi »

Another perspective to the playing prowess of UKS.
Learnt something today that there is a new hobby (?) of crushing water bottles by twisting them on train travels. If this persists, would it be considered a ritual one should follow, as time goes by? Or a popular sport? Hope it isn't that prevalent a habit to take those turns...

new1
Posts: 36
Joined: 17 Jun 2006, 21:08

Post by new1 »

He was in Mysore for a Dasara concert with OST. It was a nice concert with UKS providing excellent mridangam support. He is old now but the tone and rhythm were quite nice to hear. Since both artists are conservative and not flashy it was quite nice. Mysore Manjunath (or was it his brother) was on violin.

I had only heard of him, seeing him live that too in a small venue (pandal on small street) was a good experience.

hindolam
Posts: 87
Joined: 04 Oct 2006, 12:39

Post by hindolam »

well, he may be getting on in years, but age has not diminished one bit his crystal clear chappus and arai chappus , and of course the tremendous clarity of the strokes in spite of the astounding speed at which he can play. Truly amazing he is indeed.

thenpaanan
Posts: 635
Joined: 04 Feb 2010, 19:45

Post by thenpaanan »

I have heard stories about how Sri UKS is the only living mridangist who can match speeds with the top tabla players. I have heard snippets of UKS (with a famous tabla player whose name I have forgotten - perhaps Swapan C.) where indeed the mridangam and the tabla riffs sounded similarly clear and crisp. Usually you can tell the difference in the sawal jawaabs in jugalbandhis and not just by tone of the instrument but not so in this case with UKS. So it does seem that Sri UKS has achieved a unique position even in this regard in addition to all his other marvelous capabilities.

This question may be incendiary so I ask with some hesitation -- is it true that the average tabla player can use his fingers faster than the average mridangam player? if so is it because of technique differences or because of the different architecture of the instruments? I would have thought that the sidelong stance of playing the mridangam would be an advantage over the "straight-out" stance of the tabla player. Are there things that one can play easily on one instrument that would be relatively harder on the other?

-Then Paanan

ars
Posts: 15
Joined: 22 Feb 2007, 02:16

Post by ars »

From earlier posts, I have heard that UKS performing with P.Raghu for Alathur Brothers. Is a recording of this available on the net?

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

Post by arasi »

I may be a novice, but this much I know. TablAs sing too, they do, can produce faster notes in the hands of experts too--but the way the mrudangam of UKS sings is something else. Fast? Yes. Intricate? Of course. But the sound! It is music of a high order...

mohan
Posts: 2806
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 16:52

Post by mohan »

I wrote this on my (now non-existent) blog several months ago:

The legend of mrudangam

I had the priviledge of hosting Sri Umayalpuram Sivaraman for a few days last week while he was in Sydney for a couple of concerts. Sri Sivaraman is truly a living legend of Carnatic music and perhaps the last true link between the current generation of musicians and those of yesteryear. He still accompanies and encourages a number of young artistes and if you heard and saw him play you would never guess he is 71. Sri Sivaraman mentioned he has played for four generations of artistes and as an example he mentioned he played for Maharajapuram Vishwanatha Iyer, his son, Mahajapuram Santhanam, his sons Ramachandran and Srinivasan as well as their sons!

However, longevity is not a true measure of success. What is amazing is the way Sri Sivaraman plays. He makes the mrudangam literally sing. The nadham he is able to bring out from his instrument is so wonderful, the sound of his araichapu so crisp and the rumble of his gumiki so sweet. The energy he plays with lifts all around him.

There was one place in TM Krishna's concert where Krishna and Mysore Nagaraj were doing neraval. Sri Sivaraman also had a round and it was like there was another voice there. There were so many points in the concert where the incredible beats made the audience turn away from the vocalist and violinist and focus on the mrudangam artiste. In many concerts people walk out from the auditorium during the mrudangam solo, when Sivaraman plays they walk in!

His anticipation is phenomenal. We think of vocalists having large repertoires but it seems Sri Sivaraman knows every song in the book. As the song moves from the pallavi to the anupallavi or the anupallavi to the charanam, Sivaraman gives the perfect interlude to join the two sections.

Away from the concert stage, you must see how meticulous he is with his preparations. Every day he checks his mrudangams, applies the ravai and tunes them. Before a concert he gives them even greater attention. When travelling he covers the instruments in bubble rap and foam and stores them in hard plastic containers to ensure their safe travel. All this preparation shows his immense dedication to the art.

As a person he is a kind gentleman, always enquiring about the wellbeing of everyone. He has a great sense of humour and wit and often speaks in puns! If you get chance to hear him play don't miss it!!
Last edited by mohan on 06 Nov 2007, 09:25, edited 1 time in total.

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

Post by raghavt »

arasi wrote:Another perspective to the playing prowess of UKS.
Learnt something today that there is a new hobby (?) of crushing water bottles by twisting them on train travels. If this persists, would it be considered a ritual one should follow, as time goes by? Or a popular sport? Hope it isn't that prevalent a habit to take those turns...
Didn't quite understand this. BTW, I'm not an ardrent fan of UKS sir... Of course, he is a legend and as an artist and student of the art of percussion, I respect him. Certainly not a fan. :)

thathwamasi
Posts: 274
Joined: 12 Aug 2006, 01:15

Post by thathwamasi »

<raghavt> I belong to your class as well. I admire him immensely for the kind of saadagam that he should have done to get that kind of speed and naadam in his playing. The chances of him missing a Arai Chaapu is slimmer than that of batsmen being able to read Murali's doosra. He should have sweated for hours and hours that I can't even imagine. However, I am not an ardent fan of his either.

Naada Priya
Posts: 67
Joined: 29 Sep 2007, 13:11

Post by Naada Priya »

respected all,

when I try to open the links posted by coolkarniji, the following website --"http://www.stanpost.com/" opens, instead of the link. Pls advise if it requires any membership to view the posted links.

sramaswamy
Posts: 366
Joined: 24 May 2006, 22:29

Post by sramaswamy »

The link must have expired. You can request someone who downloaded to re-upload.

ram
Posts: 705
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:48

Post by ram »

Check out Sri Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman's blog at http://umayalpuramsivaraman.blogspot.com/

braindrain
Posts: 587
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 09:25

Post by braindrain »

Wow.. who is behind this ?

mohan
Posts: 2806
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 16:52

Post by mohan »

This is great! Is Sri Sivaraman going to update regularly?

erode14
Posts: 726
Joined: 21 Jan 2007, 21:43

Post by erode14 »

some photos of UKS Sir from the DVD "mridanga cintAmanih"

Image

Image

erode14
Posts: 726
Joined: 21 Jan 2007, 21:43

Post by erode14 »

I also reuest the moderator to change the name as "umayALpuram k. sivarAman"

( Mod note: Done )

cienu
Posts: 2387
Joined: 04 Feb 2010, 11:40

Post by cienu »

Great photos Erode.

Thanks

lswaminathan
Posts: 33
Joined: 26 Aug 2006, 05:14

Post by lswaminathan »

Today (12-17-2008) is Sri UKS's birthday.
He turns a glorious 73 . . .
HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!!

rshankar
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Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:26

Post by rshankar »

Best Wishes for many more years of Sublime performances!

srkris
Site Admin
Posts: 3497
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 03:34

Post by srkris »

I bought the first 5 volumes of the seven "mridanga cintAmanih" DVDs a few days back, Shankara Hall didnt have the rest two.

Set me back by a few thousands, but as I anticipated, the contents were more valuable than the price I paid for it. I would call it "power packed".

Our "Erode14" features prominently along with the master :-)

prashant
Posts: 1658
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 09:01

Post by prashant »

UKS Sir looks dashing as always!! Happy Birthday to the great master!!!

Nick H
Posts: 9379
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 02:03

Post by Nick H »

Oh! Is it?

All best birthday wishes indeed :)

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

Post by semmu86 »

ah let me share an anectode when i went to get his blessings yesterday.. After i did namaskAram, he said to me "good that you have remembered dec17th and have come to wish me"....

after he said that , i confessed to him that i had a doubt whether it was on 12th or 17th... then i told him that i found out later that 12th was rajinikAnth's birthday..

then he said that "adhunAla enna pA??? EdhO oru superstar birthday you thought of...thats enough " :D :D

sudhakarks
Posts: 73
Joined: 06 Dec 2008, 09:08

Post by sudhakarks »

We tried our best to meet the demands for this product, we have managed to ramp up to the demands and now all products are available in stock at Shankara Hall. You could also order from our office (044-24984050) or online at http://www.kalakendra.com/shopping/adva ... .Sivaraman and we will deliver to your home.

As far as the value of the content, the full credit goes to "Super Star" and his team. Incidentally for the team at Swathi he is known as Super Star.
srkris wrote:I bought the first 5 volumes of the seven "mridanga cintAmanih" DVDs a few days back, Shankara Hall didnt have the rest two.

Set me back by a few thousands, but as I anticipated, the contents were more valuable than the price I paid for it. I would call it "power packed".

Our "Erode14" features prominently along with the master :-)

erode14
Posts: 726
Joined: 21 Jan 2007, 21:43

Post by erode14 »

Hi everybody,

The preview of the Mridanga Cintamanih - DVDs is available in UKS Sir's blog now.... :)

http://umayalpuramsivaraman.blogspot.co ... danga.html

Is there a problem in watching youtube.com with Bsnl Broadband?
I am unable to see the latest youtube videos... :(

erode14
Posts: 726
Joined: 21 Jan 2007, 21:43

Post by erode14 »

Kerala University (on Tuesday) has decided to confer honorary doctorate on Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman Sir. :)

my praNAms to shrI sir....

erode14
Posts: 726
Joined: 21 Jan 2007, 21:43

Post by erode14 »


erode14
Posts: 726
Joined: 21 Jan 2007, 21:43

Post by erode14 »

Hi... ENjoy this video... UKS sir on the mrudangam and Suresh Talwalkar on the tabla...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DDG1KpgjA4

krishnaprasad
Posts: 8
Joined: 02 Mar 2009, 11:59

Post by krishnaprasad »

WHEN Umayalpuram Sir plays on the Mridangam , he brings out a rare qulity of melodic beauty into the layam.His tonal quality and mellowness in presentation are admirable especially in the context of percussion music.

rsn.mridangam
Posts: 9
Joined: 16 Jan 2008, 20:09

Post by rsn.mridangam »

U.K.S sir stands for Universal King Sivaraman sir :)
Last edited by rsn.mridangam on 09 Jun 2009, 03:59, edited 1 time in total.

erode14
Posts: 726
Joined: 21 Jan 2007, 21:43

Post by erode14 »


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

Post by raghavt »

erode14 wrote:Hi... ENjoy this video... UKS sir on the mrudangam and Suresh Talwalkar on the tabla...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DDG1KpgjA4
I remember viewing this on Doordarshan in 1992 or 1993, when I was a kid :) Pt. Suresh Talwalkar (with due respect to him) is no match for Sivaraman sir. The same thing happened in a jugalbandi between Sankaran sir and Ustad Zakir Hussain. Zakir Hussain could not play the exact (or to reproduce the same mathematics or the impression) played by Sankaran sir during Koraippu session. And you all know how expert Sankaran sir is in Koraippus :)

erode14
Posts: 726
Joined: 21 Jan 2007, 21:43

Post by erode14 »

this is new in youtube, i think.. enjoy....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S1lM8CCIWg

srkris
Site Admin
Posts: 3497
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 03:34

Post by srkris »

I wanted to discuss about the fruitlessness of comparing mridangam and tabla vidwans, but thought a separate thread would be warranted. So here it is http://rasikas.org/forums/post135883.html#p135883

ambika.sundaram
Posts: 24
Joined: 18 Sep 2009, 11:46

Post by ambika.sundaram »

Who after Palghat Mani Iyer ???? Atleast 70% of genuine music would lovers would have the answer " Itz Umayalpuram" ...... What a speed ...... What a perfection ....... No words to say .....

kam
Posts: 38
Joined: 13 Jun 2009, 15:32

Post by kam »

I think its undoubtedly Padmashri Palghat Raghu.I heard many concerts supporting his great guru also.He is perfect accompanist after his guru.

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

Post by semmu86 »

oh my god.. no not again..wish this dosent blow into a " who is the better mrudangam artiste " kind of thread ..
Last edited by semmu86 on 20 Sep 2009, 08:53, edited 1 time in total.

tharunthilak
Posts: 36
Joined: 17 Sep 2009, 17:15

Post by tharunthilak »

kam - I don't think itz Palghat Raghu. Itz obviously Umayalpuram.

semmu86 - Whatz wrong in a healthy comparison ? Music lovers would naturally compare among desicples as to find who is the real successor of the great guru. The person with maximum traits as that of the guru would naturally emerge.

Palghat Raghu, Umayalpuram Sivaraman, Mavelikara Velukutty Nair, Kamalakar Rao, Mani Iyer's son T R Rajamani, G Harishankar (Kanchira) - All these are senior desciples of Mani Iyer.
Last edited by tharunthilak on 25 Sep 2009, 14:03, edited 1 time in total.

vignesh_Rasika
Posts: 4
Joined: 27 Sep 2009, 17:32

Post by vignesh_Rasika »

ok
Last edited by vignesh_Rasika on 02 Oct 2009, 19:59, edited 1 time in total.

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