Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Carnatic Musicians
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vs_manjunath
Posts: 1466
Joined: 29 Sep 2006, 19:37

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by vs_manjunath »

Kedaragowla,Saveri,Ranjani & Ahiri.Each raga has been sung by TSK so masterly and each raga is a gem by itself!!!

vasanthakokilam
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 00:01

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by vasanthakokilam »

Right indeed. Moreover, I thought of something which may sound crazy. Had that moving Ahiri by Kalyanaraman and the violinist been an alapana, any song following that would be so out of place. Crazy to think that lyrics and laya will be out of place. Not that there are no excellent songs in Ahiri but I felt, in this imagined situation, the emotionally fitting thing to do would be to take a break to let everyone recover and then move on to something else (just like this ragamalika slokam ). It is that good.

vs_manjunath
Posts: 1466
Joined: 29 Sep 2006, 19:37

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by vs_manjunath »

varsha wrote:celebrating his memory
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1ru6bh ... alyanraman
recommended starting track :)
http://www.mediafire.com/listen/0zic1pz ... malika.mp3

What a wonderful world this is . Why should I care for Moksha ? When such music surrounds me .More Janmas , the merrier. :-BD
Varshaji must have made this statement after the "out of the world Ahiri emotional experience". :-BD
Last edited by vs_manjunath on 12 Jan 2014, 14:41, edited 1 time in total.

varsha
Posts: 1978
Joined: 24 Aug 2011, 15:06

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by varsha »

You may not believe this but nevertheless ...
As I listened to these tracks while posting here , I was crossing the Ahiri part and was reminded of a review of the recent Lalgudi GJR-Viji duet which said something to the effect of Ahiri making the eyes moist .I continued to listen and said to myself - Why should I gild this lily ?
Touching our souls - How these artists manage that , is divine . I cant even make myself understood well , at home or office. Let alone .... :|

vs_manjunath
Posts: 1466
Joined: 29 Sep 2006, 19:37

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by vs_manjunath »

Varsha- "Touching our souls- How these artistes manage that, is divine"
Very much true! I totally agree with your sentiments.
"why should I gild this lily ? "
In addition to enjoying lovely music, I am learning good English too.
By the by, if you have TNK's Keeravani recording which came as an LP abt 40 years back...pl do upload.

kedharam
Posts: 419
Joined: 28 Sep 2008, 23:07

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by kedharam »

Remembering the legend on his birthday:

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

venkatakailasam
Posts: 4170
Joined: 07 Feb 2010, 19:16

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by venkatakailasam »

Concert 161- TSK-Shanmugapriya RTP TSK-MSG-TVG

RTP running to 1hour 20 mts.

http://mfi.re/listen/dpyixdiv1ucmixr/Co ... TVG-II.mp3

kedharam
Posts: 419
Joined: 28 Sep 2008, 23:07

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by kedharam »

Thanks.
What a technically daunting piece of music! One of SK’s most ingenious and breathtaking work - to be guarded and protected.

mahavishnu
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Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 21:56

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by mahavishnu »

kedharam wrote:Thanks.
What a technically daunting piece of music! One of SK’s most ingenious and breathtaking work - to be guarded and protected.
and shared and celebrated :)

kedharam
Posts: 419
Joined: 28 Sep 2008, 23:07

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by kedharam »

:) :) :) :)

kvjayan
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Joined: 05 Apr 2014, 17:08

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by kvjayan »

If not previously posted:

Tanjore S Kalyanaraman- Ashtapati in Raag Miyan Malhar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsN9F6TYEYM

(courtesy Raju Asokan)

Great Malhar. The violin accompaniment is equally good (name not mentioned).

rshankar
Posts: 13754
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:26

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by rshankar »

A small correction, s'il vous plait, mon ami, as the Belgian detective would say - it's an ashTapadi - a verse with 8 lines/meters. ashTapati is probably a polyandrous woman with 8 husbands.:-)

kvjayan
Posts: 62
Joined: 05 Apr 2014, 17:08

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by kvjayan »

rshankar wrote:A small correction, s'il vous plait, mon ami, as the Belgian detective would say - it's an ashTapadi - a verse with 8 lines/meters. ashTapati is probably a polyandrous woman with 8 husbands.:-)
Merci beaucoup pour votre aimable remarque. I lifted the details straight from the YouTube website and so any corrections may be directed to the uploader of the video.

kedharam
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Joined: 28 Sep 2008, 23:07

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by kedharam »

Jan 9th - remembering through an ethereal Naganandini:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtNH9rC ... 6&index=19

kedharam
Posts: 419
Joined: 28 Sep 2008, 23:07

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by kedharam »

Celebrating the genius on his Birthday with his transcendent music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRkMAk1LmTM

satyabalu
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Joined: 28 Mar 2010, 11:07

Tanjore S Kalyanaraman

Post by satyabalu »

"Tributes to S KALYANARAMAN (2 June 1930 – 9 January 1994), popularly known as SKR, popular Vocalist in the Carnatic tradition, on his Birth anniversary today.. Hailing from a famed musical family, where his great-grandfather was Komal Muthu Bhagavathar and his grand uncle was the celebrated vocalist Madirimangalam Natesa Iyer, S.Kalyanaraman became one of the foremost disciples of G. N. Balasubramaniam and established himself as an original musician in his own right.

Born in the ancient city of Thiruvengadu to N. Srinivasa Iyer, S.Kalyanaraman was born in a well-to-do musical family and received his initial music training under his father. Recognizing the boy's prodigious talents, his father realized that Kalyanaraman needs expert guidance from a respected musician. At that time, the reigning superstar of Carnatic music was none other than G. N. Balasubramaniam or better known as GNB & indeed, Kalyanaraman sang in the GNB bani even before becoming the disciple of his idol. In Chennai, a music teacher better known as Kittamani Iyer identified the boy's talents & upon realizing the impact of GNB's style on the boy's music, he introduced the young Kalyanaraman to GNB. Upon realizing the boy's immense potential, GNB took him under his arms and trained him for 15 years.

Like his master GNB, S. Kalyanaraman's musical acumen is beyond the ordinary and within less than a year of instruction under GNB, he was providing vocal support. GNB once remarked "What's there for me to teach, you are already singing so well".

So versatile was his voice that even before his debut in 1949, Kalyanaraman was already getting attention from the audience as a leading vocal accompanist to GNB. At times, realizing the rich manodharama of Kalyanaraman's musical intuition, GNB would hand him the reins for improvisations in his own concerts. The brief moments of Kalyanaraman's music captivated the audience who came to listen to GNB.

At his debut in the Gokhale Hall in 1949, guru GNB was in the audience and was carried away in musical wonder for Kalyanaraman's originality while retaining the mesmerizing bani of his own. GNB further added "The best respect to a guru is to follow his style in total. The best tribute to a guru is to embellish a style of your own. My dear boy... I am proud you are... indeed your own." Once while listening to Kalyanaraman's rendition of Nilayam Onru Enukku Arulvai, a Suddhananda Bharathi composition, GNB walked up to Kalyanaraman and demanded "Teach me this and give me the notation." So vast was his musical acumen and knowledge that G.B. Duraiswamy (the eldest of GNB sons) used to remark "the way he discussed intellectual queries and doubts with GNB was a treat to watch."

From then, S. Kalyanaraman's rise in Carnatic music was phenomenal. Like his guru, he emphasized on artistic individuality and won acclaim as a great artiste in his own right. His musical acumen transcended Carnatic music and when performing with Hindustani musicians, he would sing aptly with the Hindustani touch when rendering Hindustani ragas. Such was his admiration of Indian music, that he saw more similarities than differences in both Carnatic & Hindustani systems. He would go on to explain the gamaka technique in Carnatic music which most Hindustani musicians criticize as being detrimental to shruthi clarity. His climb to the 'A' Top rank in All-India-Radio (AIR) was meteoric. In his later years, Kalyanaraman gave some whistle concerts whistling away compositions of the Trinity, an art that he learnt with passion.

As a soloist he planned his concert items differently, often singing rare compositions while keeping popular numbers to a minimum, specializing in vivadi (dissonant) ragas rarely attempted by most popular musicians of his time and was full of musical complexities. He became a specialist in the handling of vivadi ragas and popularized the Śruti bhedam technique (modal shift of tonic note) introduced by his guru. He used nadais (transposed rhythmic patterns) extensively and unfortunately to the uninformed audience, his concerts are painstakingly challenging to be understood and interpreted. His renditions of vivadi ragas like Chandrajyothi, Sucharitra, Hamasanadam are well loved by the connessieur and the informed audience for the musical weight Kalyanaraman's genius had given. The buzz word that went around was "if it was easy, Kalyanaraman would not do it".

However, Kalyanaraman didn't completely ignore the legacy of his guru to forge that of his own, he popularized the GNB bani (style) of singing and also immortalized his guru's hallmark ragas like Shanmukhapriya, Kalyani (raga), Dheera sankarabharanam, Kapi Narayani and many more. He gave Hindustani touches to Hindustani ragas like Dwijawanthi, Brindavana Saranga and Hamir Kalyani. Such was his voice that it had an almost perfect substitute to the inimitable voice of GNB and while singing his guru's signature compositions it would often confuse the acute listener whether it is GNB singing or Kalyanaraman singing.

He notated a book, the first volume of GNB compositions with Trichur V. Ramachandran which was released by the GNB Foundation.

As a musical innovator he faced much criticism in his time for creating new ragas such as the dwi-madhyama ragas in which he eschewed the panchama of the first 36 mela ragas substituting with the prathi-madhyama. Apart from theoretically creating a new set of 36 of his ragas, he demonstrated them at a lecture held in the Music Academy in 1993. He was also ridiculed by critics that he would only handle the "rare stuff" of Carnatic music. But nothing bothered his style and preference. He also composed several varnams, krithis (some in ashtaragamalika format) and thillanas in both popular and vivadi ragas and like his guru, he refrained from using a mudra.

He was a strict teacher and expected nothing less than devotion to the art from his students. As such many of his students, unable to understand his teaching methods, left him. He would also take a back seat and analyze his teaching methods whether anything went wrong in his teaching. Noted among his disciples are his wife Bhushany Kalyanaraman, Prof. Gowri Kuppuswamy, Brinda Venkataraman and the popular cine playback singer, Anuradha Sriram.

Above all, he emphasized a lot on shruthi clarity which he felt Carnatic musicians lacked unlike their Hindustani counterparts. He formulated and tested methods to improve shruthi clarity in Carnatic musicians as well as some of his innovative teaching methods. He planned for the release of a book of all his findings, but it was never published.

Kalyanaraman's influence undeniably bore the GNB mudra. Though criticized many a times for his unique and misunderstood musical prowess, his renditions and contributions are finally gaining popularity among the younger generation as well as recognition. Held in high regard by most of his senior contemporaries like T. N. Seshagopalan, Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna, M. S. Gopalakrishnan and Lalgudi Jayaraman, Kalyanaraman's contribution to the world of Carnatic music is noteworthy.

The SKR Trust, established by his wife and student promotes his music and his legacy. A documentary of his life and work, is released by Kalakendra Sanskriti Series "The Sunaadha Vinodhan" in an audio visual DVD format."
Courtesy G Venkatraman.


varsha
Posts: 1978
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Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by varsha »

https://archive.org/details/04RTPShaNmukhapriya

ShaNmukhapriya is the air . the GNB school mood is wrapping me

kedharam
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Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by kedharam »

Me too :) Thanks.

rajeshnat
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Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by rajeshnat »

All
I have heard for the past few years that SKR wrote an article in either The hindu , Indian Express or some other magazine titled some thing
like " The birth and death of GNB baani". SKR was objective and he wrote characterizing the greatness of GNB and also the fall of GNB in terms of strictly musical acumen . Some folks say SKR wrote that article when GNB was alive and some say it was written only after many years since GNB passed away.

Does any one have those writings or can one of you recollect what that was ? Please share all details on that. Recollect the source , may be the year, hearsay info about what you read.? Let us collaboratively search with very little information to start with?

rajeshnat
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by rajeshnat »

Gentle reminder on what I asked on the above post about SKR writeup of GNB- old timers help?

kedharam
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Joined: 28 Sep 2008, 23:07

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by kedharam »

Jan 9th, Remembering the master with his masterpiece :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EkD1Wx0E6Y

varsha
Posts: 1978
Joined: 24 Aug 2011, 15:06

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by varsha »

https://archive.org/details/Nidayakalgu ... ubramanian

Time to kick myself again . For never bothering to attend his concerts.
What sweetness !!! MSG-UKS-MFAC 72

varsha
Posts: 1978
Joined: 24 Aug 2011, 15:06

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by varsha »

DUPLICATE
Last edited by varsha on 09 Jan 2017, 06:44, edited 1 time in total.


kedharam
Posts: 419
Joined: 28 Sep 2008, 23:07

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by kedharam »

Lovely writing gamakam. Thanks.

Thanks a ton varshaji!

Here is some more magic :)

https://youtu.be/BuIcRPTewww

rajeshnat
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by rajeshnat »

IIRC S Kalyanaraman has sung nannu brova nee in lalita . By any chance has SKR sung hiranmayee in lalita. Just checking , if there is a recording of lalita i would appreciate it. I am just asking this as today I had heard kalyanaraman'sque lalita.

semmu86
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 09:39

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by semmu86 »

varsha wrote:https://archive.org/details/Nidayakalgu ... ubramanian
What sweetness !!! MSG-UKS-MFAC 72
Brilliant concert. Thanks so much Varsha Ji.

meenaakshi
Posts: 82
Joined: 05 Apr 2010, 22:47

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by meenaakshi »

On the legend's Birth Anniversary :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn3JfeSqgMI

kedharam
Posts: 419
Joined: 28 Sep 2008, 23:07

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by kedharam »

Jan 9th - remembering SK :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hZKHvX1RvQ

kedharam
Posts: 419
Joined: 28 Sep 2008, 23:07

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by kedharam »

June 2 - Celebrating the master on his Birthday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn3JfeSqgMI&t=227s

meenaakshi
Posts: 82
Joined: 05 Apr 2010, 22:47

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by meenaakshi »


meenaakshi
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Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by meenaakshi »


rajeshnat
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by rajeshnat »

June 02nd was the birth anniversary of SKR, nattaikurinji is a great raga , Tx meenaksh

All inclusive of @meenakshi ,
I have heard for the past few years that SKR wrote an article in either The hindu , Indian Express or some other magazine titled some thing like " The birth and death of GNB baani". SKR was objective and he wrote characterizing the greatness of GNB and also the fall of GNB in terms of strictly musical acumen . Some folks say SKR wrote that article when GNB was alive and some say it was written only after many years since GNB passed away.

Does any one have those writings or can one of you recollect what that was ? Please share even a bare minimum details on that or what you heard. Recollect the source , may be the year, hearsay info about what you read.? Let us collaboratively search with very little information to start with,

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

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by rajeshnat »

This musician Tanjore Kalyanaraman had a bit of struggle in stamina and energy that too he followed some himalayan greats like SSI MMI and his own guru GNB. His challenge was to establish with say santhanam or mlv or kvn or somu who all were known by more rasikas for sure .

But SKR intensity to present with so much originality is so unique . He had his special charm in classical music.He pushed carnatic music to another level . I think i have seen him once or twice . When TRS mama passed away i took two of my family one was TRS mama friend who is my periappa . Then the next day when there is The HIndu writeup of TRS , my chitappa knowing that i and my periappa went to TRS mama house told me i dont know TRS at all . Once when i was driving for 1 hour i just played in my car Ranjani RTP of TRS , chitappa got floored for life. TRS mama was following Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar paddhati for sure. Today i played in my car this neelamani song for my chitappa . I did not know this song at all.

In case of SRK he unfortunately moved on just a day after kanchi chandarasekhara swami passed on . Due to timing of his death critical mass of people did not know him. Press coverage for many unknown great musicians is critical, that year perhaps all the writeups went towards kanchi mahaswami on that Jan year 1994, so many lost the opportunity to know SKR.

SKR presents real rare compositions and he sticked with Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar Paddhati . Ofcourse i dont know how the whole concert was , there is still a chance that he following paddhati prior to this tukkada may have given not his best :P :P .

TRS and SRK what can one say about their musical brilliance ,one was ekalavya and another disciple of the great GNB but they fell at the feat of Music devata. I am connecting TRS mama here because last time when i spoke to TRS few years back he only talked about GNB . I clarified few points about SKR with TRS mama, that was an eye opener to hear one legend talking about another legend.

Most of you may have not heard this rare composition in neelamani . May be SKR tuned it . I am assuming this composition came as a counter for a very popular enna kavi paadinaalum - Neelamani - Anayampatti Adisesha Iyer.

Thanjavur S Kalyanaraman - Kannanin kallam - Neelamani - Krishnasvami Iyengar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCGMuwrcbZ4

Hear hear hear and wind up your day or night . My energy is waning due to oppressive heat. There is a lovely comment by Ashok Subramanian in above youtube link who has given the words in thamizh . Lucid thamizh with neelamani(sivaranjani is her close sister) muse touches you deeply . The more popular Lord Muruga focussed Ennakavi is challenged by Lord Krishna focussed Kannanin kallam.

See the charanam lines that is part of Ashok (youtube) comment

KannilUllE ninRu KaruthanilE ..... Kannanin Imaikku Munn kanavai Karaintha . Neelamani muse fits those lines for sure

@rshankar , @arasi
THere is a word Nanni vanDE enai , what does the word Nanni mean, i donot get it

rshankar
Posts: 13754
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:26

Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by rshankar »

I think naNNutal means “to approach”.

shankarank
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Re: Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

Post by shankarank »

A phenomenal concert , sort of late in life period I believe from Sri . Kalayaraman with MSG and Mridangam is by Sri CSM and not Palghat Sri Raghu as noted in the youtube. Hope they correct it. I have posted there.

Nijadasavarada is preceded by a very deliberative Kalyani:

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

And a mind blowing reply for Kalyanai Alapana by Sri MSG.

In kanulutaka another rare piece in Kalyana vasantam, one can see how Sri CSM supports weightily during kriti and also svarams. There is a majestic gait tension all through.

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