Harper Collin book on MS to be released in December 2020

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vsn69
Posts: 152
Joined: 02 Oct 2017, 17:30

Harper Collin book on MS to be released in December 2020

Post by vsn69 »

https://twitter.com/HarperCollinsIN/sta ... 8690662400

Mr Keshav Desiraju, the author, is the grandson of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, former President of India.
Mr. Desiraju, a retired civil servant, was an IAS officer from the 1978 batch of the Uttarakhand cadre.

https://twitter.com/HarperCollinsIN/sta ... 00/photo/1



vsn69
Posts: 152
Joined: 02 Oct 2017, 17:30

Re: Harper Collin book on MS to be released in December 2020

Post by vsn69 »

Mr V Sriram's talk on women musicians

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQkvFu9J7RE

He talks about my mother, Smt Rajam Pushpavanam from 58:24

Cheers

vsn69
Posts: 152
Joined: 02 Oct 2017, 17:30

Re: Harper Collin book on MS to be released in December 2020

Post by vsn69 »

Extremely saddened to hear that Sri Keshav Desiraju is no more...


https://sriramv.wordpress.com/2021/09/0 ... ll-keshav/

shankarank
Posts: 4043
Joined: 15 Jun 2009, 07:16

Re: Harper Collin book on MS to be released in December 2020

Post by shankarank »

Keshav also did the unthinkable – he was critical of this idol, especially when it came to her concert planning at venues outside of the citadels of Music Academy, Tyagaraja Aradhana and the Tamil Isai Sangam. He had some sharp observations on Sadasivam but conceded that MS herself had made a choice and had to live with that. In that sense she too carried some of the blame for what her music eventually evolved to represent – bhajans and chants.
I would have had some questions asked of the author - but the best I could see happen is a discussion, where his facts themselves were questioned by Arunkumar Sridharan:

https://ibb.co/kKpp7n1 - sourced from comments section @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpAK3tbrugY

In his vaak magazine article, the author goes on to say Tharangambadi Panchanatha Iyer had a lone composition, who as a composer would not have been known but for Smt. M.S.S popularizing the same in many performances.

https://issuu.com/carnaticmusic/docs/vaak_03

However, Tharangambadi Panchanatha Iyer would stay etched in memory because of what happens here: https://youtu.be/JzmwoGc6vd4?t=379

If Smt. MSS sang that repeatedly would the rasika mahajanangal ( those of whom that thronged her performances) understand what the composition entails? Anyways they forgot it right? She is known only for her Bhajans and Chants!! Yeah?

Would Mr. Desiraju understand what happens in the SSI concert. What Sri Palghat Mani Iyer does? Great connoisseur isn't he? Yeah! He rebutted all the previous book writer clowns with "facts"!! Another assortment of "facts". A philosopher's family gave us another meticulous stamp collector, a philatalist! That is the greatest achievement of our education system post Independence! Including the IAS exams!

I will tell you, Smt. M.S.S and all the Women in music are sangeetham personified. That carries along with them no matter what.

However, Palghat Mani Iyer will forever make the otherwise unknown composer Tharangambadi Panchanatha Iyer with a lone composition etched in memory with his interpretation: https://youtu.be/JzmwoGc6vd4?t=379 - the youtube with a dozen views - yes just a dozen!

vsn69
Posts: 152
Joined: 02 Oct 2017, 17:30

Re: Harper Collin book on MS to be released in December 2020

Post by vsn69 »

Dear ShankaranK ji
"Would Mr. Desiraju understand what happens in the SSI concert. What Sri Palghat Mani Iyer does? Great connoisseur isn't he? Yeah! He rebutted all the previous book writer clowns with "facts"!! Another assortment of "facts". A philosopher's family gave us another meticulous stamp collector, a philatalist! That is the greatest achievement of our education system post Independence! Including the IAS exams!"

I could not understand what was being said here. Can you explain please?

shankarank
Posts: 4043
Joined: 15 Jun 2009, 07:16

Re: Harper Collin book on MS to be released in December 2020

Post by shankarank »

In that article you posted, the blogger refers to the author as a connoisseur - in a tweet that shows on the side of the blog.

The author lists a litany of things about Smt. M.S.S and observes this:

Image

https://ibb.co/4wb2kbB - Page 5 of https://issuu.com/carnaticmusic/docs/vaak_03 - Reference to the composer Thangambadi Panchanata Iyer! << I have to take images since, the magazine has a browse format with no copy/paste allowed>>

So the connoisseur in the author did not check out who else has sung this song, and in what fashion that performance is, but simply makes an unsubstantiated observation. Second, he also makes comments on the musician's spouse. That is totally unwarranted. Finally the blogger contradicts him: “People remember Smt. M.S.S only for Bhajans and chants!”. So, they all forgot this composer?

This generation of so called “educated” had their own misunderstanding of what is all this creativity and imagination. There is a lot of inferiority complex that went into it and complete lack of any knowledge of our philosophies or musical tradition. Instead, they have signed on to these museum-art-gallery-cult bandwagon intellecting on everything. That entire generation appears to me as a clueless generation. All half baked colonial education. Yes, they somehow fought off the British and lot if it is some stroke of luck! Lot of other things happened to help it.

In reality the Carnatic performance is only as old as musicians like Smt. M.S.S. Before that nobody knows what they were singing ( enna pADinArgal enda maharAja edukku talai ATTinaannnu oruttunakkum teriyAdu!!) and which zamindar – vassal of the British , nodded their head for what!

And they are some connoisseurs who pass judgement on not only the musician, but also their spouse and the rasikas too! What they know about music is actually taught thru the performances of musicians including Smt. M.S.S. As SSI would observe: "If I did not sing and show these people, they wouldn't know what music otherwise is! - nAn pADi kamikkalEna pATTunnAlE ennannu teriyAdu".
“Smt. M.S.S. created some magic on her rasikas, but repeated songs , neravals, svarams and whole hemavati Alapanas as a standard fair, and rasikas sang along”
– that is the kind of commentary.

And this is happening when good music is struggling to get a decent audience. And most music is lacking in tone, practice and expression!

I am asking with all their supposed “intellect”, these blowhards, have they even listened carefully to what music is presented by other musicians? Specifically have they understood what Sri Palghat Mani Iyer played in that SSI rendition of the Tharangam Padi Panchanata Iyer’s kriti – Birana BrOva itE.

If not, we should just call them half-baked frauds!

What Smt. M.S.S. did is unique between her and her rasikas. She chose the path appropriate to the rasikas that sought her music! And there is aging factor too! Nobody talks about that when it comes to Smt. M.S.S. Everybody expects her to sing like she did in her 20s until the very end. But they talk about it when they enter their 40(s). To read into it, Women’s rights , liberty and ones own flawed, definition of creativity – from a half baked education - is abominable.

If lets say Smt. M.S.S were to sing like her male counterparts , will the society including these knowledgeable appreciate it, I mean the style, with all that sigu-bigu! Which is required in fact to create a varying expression in neraval.

Instead of complaining about Smt. M.S.S. and her husband, why don't they write a book on the all creative Smt. M.L.V - explaining to us how to appreciate her? Or explain Smt. D.K.P's laya expositions? It won't sell would it!! That shows their utter dishonesty!

Today there are many vidushis who are singing with all that. Has any of them paid attention? They have formed their own sense of music, and simply declare - so and so's music is not my cup of tea!! Do they even have the open mind they claimed to have?

Frauds!!

RSR
Posts: 3427
Joined: 11 Oct 2015, 23:31

Re: Harper Collin book on MS to be released in December 2020

Post by RSR »

@shankarank
"I will tell you, Smt. M.S.S and all the Women in music are sangeetham personified. That carries along with them no matter what. "
--
Well said! Smt.MS concert performances began around 1934 ( may be even earlier- ( said to have given a concert at Trichy- Chowdiah playing the violin!)she was 18 then) and went upto 1996 ( age-80)
. A span of 62 years!. Her entire life right from childhood was a saga of immersion in classical music- HM included!... She never had any gurukulam training- she could not. -she could not afford.
--
Nor did Smt.DKP . Nor Smt.NCV. Especially NCV. She has sung so many Thamizh songs and we do not know who tuned them Nothing improbable ,if she herself was the tunesmith.( piLLaip piraayatthile, sanga naadham ketkuthu( a haunting melody- lyrics by Naamakkal Ramalingam Pillai), a requiem on Gandhiji( thanthai thaay kaattidaatha),
-
All the musicians were indeed 'thapasvins.' ,
Popular success or failure - financial / fame) were mere accidents.
-
Let us revere them all, irrespective of our personal tastes.
And our tastes are all formed by environment, and unlike things in print, determined by genes and sensitiveness and response of our ears. which may differe widly from one person to another. Even appreciation of poetry , as you often remark, is sensitiveness to the 'sound' . True. It does not depend on knowledge of the language.
-
--
Popular though Smt.MS was even before 1938 ( age 22 - film SevaaSadhanam - it was anything but a ;'romantic' film)- it was her music that made her well known to the lay people. and the architect of her career was undoubtedly her husband Sri.Sadasivam and she herself has acknowledged it in her Music Academy Presidential address...Music does not depend on the theme of the lyrics , literary value and message , to a rasika who does not know the language. But , to the audience which knows the language, the vocalist should choose such kruthis which have a spiritual message. Smt.MS guided by great scholars like TKC Mudaliyar , Rajaji and Sadasivam himself, chose the correct path. as expounded by her in her Music Academy address.

-
When classical music is your entire life for 70 years, the repertoire can easily reach a thousand kruthis especially in the case of a humble and continuous learner.like her. How can any one showcase all those kruthis in concerts? Who are we to judge?
--
One cannot be the same person in voice and orientation, in 20th year and 80th year. It is in poor taste to complain that her concerts in old age were appealing to the religiously oriented people alone. Actualy, It would appear that her mere recitations had more devotees than very artistic and erudite performances. Desiraju, needlessly, catalogs all the kruthis sung by her. These are all well known. And, her orientation was genuine.- not just affected public propaganda posture.
.
High time that people stopped writing about Smt.MS . We will be doing greater service in collecting all her recorded songs and concerts and placing them in public domain. The same applies to all the artistes of that dedicated era ----1935 to 1965.
NaadhaBrunga , VaaK, Vidwan K.S.Kalidas are all doing exactly that great work. Commendable.
.
That said, let us not be too harsh on Desiraju and his friend.
The blog post by Sriram was really moving tribute. to his close friend.


RSR
Posts: 3427
Joined: 11 Oct 2015, 23:31

Re: Harper Collin book on MS to be released in December 2020

Post by RSR »

I have read this book line by line. It is a hopeless book. The author was born around 1955 and by the time he got exposed to Smt.MS's music, say, by 1970, her best period was already over. The MS that took her home state and the entire country by storm was from 1935 to 1950.

In the decade 1940- 1950, immediately after her marriage to Sri. Sadasivam, her voice and theme of numerous records, soared higher and higher , doubtless due to Sri.Sadasivam's guidance and association with great minds.

Unfortunately, there are no recordings of her concerts - for that matter- of any of the greats in CM -in that glorious decade.

The influence of pseudo-left gang is very much evident in the book.

Extremely poor editing. And snide remarks ,bordering on calumny, totally unbecoming of a grandson of a famous scholar who was ambassador to Soviet Union of Stalin and did much to change the view of India and Nehru in Stalin's mind, favourably.

It does not need an IAS officer, to make a list of the post-1960 concerts and the songs rendered. Any body can do that. And the posts in this forum ,when collected and compiled can give much more information of the formative years 1935 1955 of Smt MS.
AND the Trinity.

Book is Best ignored totally.

Beware of condescending 'pseudo-progressives ' who belittle a great personality as Sri. Sadasivam. It is a matter of regret that the blogger of Madras Musings ,reluctantly, approved of this drivel of a book.

Only people like Sri. VKV and MKR can do full justice to the decade 1940-1950. Better still, Sri.MKR's mother would be the best person to share her reminiscences of Smt.MS

The book is of no use to most members of this forum... All 'the information is 'old hat to them but may be a sort of crude introduction to American audience. - plainly, it is meant for them.

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