MannArkoil Balaji

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

MannArkoil Balaji

Post by rajeshnat »

MannArkoil J Balaji is very special to all of us here. While 95% artist just browse and donot write , 4% peep and write in irregular intervals , balAji is a phenomenal contributor for our forum. He along with erode nAgaraj have been stellar in sharing and encouraging all his fellow artists. His play has always sowkhyam and he adjusts and adapts his play to suit the main artist. He is a student of Tanjavur ramadas and rAmanathapuram MN kandaswamy pillai.

He works in reserve bank of India . He says" I have always wanted to take it as a full-time profession. I am sure the day is not far off". Hopefully that wish comes true (I do know there is another collegue of him who just has the same wish). When his wish comes true I wish mridhangam is in the reverse side of the 100Rs note(I meant mridhangam the instrument not the id ;) )

Very nice interview of his in
http://www.carnaticdarbar.com/interview ... Balaji.asp
Last edited by rajeshnat on 19 Aug 2010, 12:13, edited 1 time in total.

VK RAMAN
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 00:29

Re: MannArkoil Balaji

Post by VK RAMAN »

Great coverage for Balaji. Congratulations. May your passion become your full time vocation!

Nick H
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 02:03

Re: MannArkoil Balaji

Post by Nick H »

A fascinating article. Just reading it is like having a great conversation!

Thank you Balaji!

rshankar
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Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:26

Re: MannArkoil Balaji

Post by rshankar »

A wonderful interview indeed.

Nick H
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 02:03

Re: MannArkoil Balaji

Post by Nick H »

And a very nice site, with much more great material on it.

A carnatic bookmark must.

thanjavooran
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 04:44

Re: MannArkoil Balaji

Post by thanjavooran »

An excellent article. Very good coverage. His role as one of the organizers of Pazhani Subbudu's function at the MIni hall of NGS recently is praise worthy. Wish him good luck.

Thanjavooran 19 08 2010

arasi
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Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30

Re: MannArkoil Balaji

Post by arasi »

Rajesh,
Thanks for sharing the interview with us.

Balaji,
I know how well you play. Your sound is soothing to the ears. You are also known in the forum for your super 'from the stage' reviews like Erode Nagaraj. This interview tells me more about you, of course. Not that anything I read about you comes as a surprise.
Look forward to listening to you this season too!

cienu
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Joined: 04 Feb 2010, 11:40

Re: MannArkoil Balaji

Post by cienu »

Lovely interview Balaji. :)

vasanthakokilam
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 00:01

Re: MannArkoil Balaji

Post by vasanthakokilam »

Excellent, Balaji. You said "My aspiration is to retain the traditional glory by continuing the traditional methods of learning, teaching and performing.". Your postings on Korvai here at rasikas are great educational material for us and enhanced our appreciation of thani avarthanam and layam in general.

bilahari
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 09:02

Re: MannArkoil Balaji

Post by bilahari »

This is a beautiful interview. Sri Balaji's responses are very candid and succinct. Never knew our mridhangam has an M.A. in literature!

mankuthimma
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Joined: 11 Jul 2010, 13:38

Re: MannArkoil Balaji

Post by mankuthimma »

If one expects a lifelong association with such fine arts to make the practitioner become a work of art him(her)self , then one need not go further than Mannarkoil Balaji , to have proof.
A gentleman in the very unruly world of today. In every sense of the word.

mridhangam
Posts: 976
Joined: 04 Dec 2006, 13:56

Re: MannArkoil Balaji

Post by mridhangam »

Oh thank you very much . But i still dont see whether i deserve a place in Vidwans and Vidhushi's section of our esteemed forum. It could have been done in the General Discussions. I have not contributed anything to ART as such. A humble practitioner and a humble student always, living in the glory created by our past-masters and remembering fondly their greatness. Would not have been here but for their continued guidance and their support especially my Gurus.

Actually i casually browsed this section and found an interesting article about K.Arunprakash (my good friend and co-disciple). When i scrolled down, i found, to my surprise my name has been figured here and i couldnt believe my eyes.

Thank you Rajeshnat for starting this thread.

J.Balaji

Nick H
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 02:03

Re: MannArkoil Balaji

Post by Nick H »

i still dont see whether i deserve a place in Vidwans and Vidhushi's section of our esteemed forum
Oh, you most certainly do deserve a place!

Even if I did not begin with a bias towards your school of playing, I hope I would still recognise your sensitive and musical accompaniment as well as your on-stage presence.

rajeshnat
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: MannArkoil Balaji

Post by rajeshnat »

There is a small snippet of Q&A about mannarkoil balaji- This year I like The Hindu giving lot of importance to non main artists by featuring them as Q&A . It is a new addition from this season.

The url is a brief Q&A with mannarkoil balaji , adambakkam shankar and s venkataramanan representing mrudangam , ghatam and kanjira respectively.

http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday ... 529967.ece

rajeshnat
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: MannArkoil Balaji

Post by rajeshnat »

Mannarkoil Balaji is an excellent communicator. He was prolific contributor in the first 7 years or so then he decided to bit be away from our forum . He has talked a lot on tani avarthanam in written form in the forum . Here is a lovely video link where he gives enough information and not too much information about a tani. Keep it up Balaji .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP7pz6sv6Jw

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

Re: MannArkoil Balaji

Post by rajeshnat »

Mannarkoil Balaji is an excellent communicator. He was prolific contributor in the first 7 years or so in this forum along with erode nagaraj who were both very prolific. Then he decided to bit be away from our forum . He has talked a lot on tani avarthanam in written form in the forum . Here is a lovely video link where he gives enough information and not too much information about a tani. Keep it up Balaji .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP7pz6sv6Jw

Ranganayaki
Posts: 1760
Joined: 02 Jan 2011, 06:23

Re: MannArkoil Balaji

Post by Ranganayaki »

It is not complete. The remaining parts seem not to have been uploaded yet.. This is only the initial section so far.

Really looking forward to the rest! 🙂

Ranganayaki
Posts: 1760
Joined: 02 Jan 2011, 06:23

Re: MannArkoil Balaji

Post by Ranganayaki »

Thanks to Rajeshnat for the link to part 1, here’s part 2:

https://youtu.be/f5CT9BUZIS8

tvr
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Joined: 21 Mar 2020, 18:49

Re: MannArkoil Balaji

Post by tvr »

https://youtu.be/RKFGIzWcMgg
.
Much of what I want to say is written by Balaji sir himself in the video's description.
This a beautiful Thillana in the raagam Madhuvanthi, penned by Balaji sir. YES! He composed it!
.
All of us usually begin a concert with a salutation to Vinayaka and thillanas are generally sung towards the end of the kutcheri. But this thillana has been uniquely composed in praise of the 'Layakarakan', Sri Vinayakar.
.
Enjoy the music!

rajeshnat
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: MannArkoil Balaji

Post by rajeshnat »

Well done Mannarkovil Balaji. There is a madhuvanti thillana by Lalgudi Jayaraman sir. So nice to hear another thillana in extremely haunting raga madhuvanti. Great of you to choose one on lord vinAyaka

mridhangam
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Joined: 04 Dec 2006, 13:56

Re: MannArkoil Balaji

Post by mridhangam »

rajeshnat wrote: 15 Mar 2020, 16:44 Mannarkoil Balaji is an excellent communicator. He was prolific contributor in the first 7 years or so in this forum along with erode nagaraj who were both very prolific. Then he decided to bit be away from our forum . He has talked a lot on tani avarthanam in written form in the forum . Here is a lovely video link where he gives enough information and not too much information about a tani. Keep it up Balaji .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP7pz6sv6Jw
Rajesh sir thanks for your concern. I havent been visiting rasikas these days is the plain truth though i have been using the Tala and Laya sections a lot for my humble learning purposes and no day passes without thinking about the seminal conteibutions of Akella garu in this section about the various aspects. Due to my other literary commitments to magazines, journals and other mediums i am a bit tied up. There are lots of projects that i am currently involved with that requires my focussed attention and hence not able to contribute like i used to do before. If anything is absolutely required i shall definitely do so in the interest of the elitist forum and also for the greater good of the Art.

Please do not read me otherwise.
Anything musical i am always around

Thank you for keeping this thread active by submitting Sruti appreciation of Tani avartanam and also posting my Madhuvanti Tillana (created on the fly on a small spark of inpiration).

Mannarkoil J Balaji

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