Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 04 Apr 2005, 22:49

Hello Everyone,

Can you share your thoughts on Ariyakudi please. I will also contribute whatever I know.

Here is a picture of Ramanuja Iyengar

divakar · Post by **divakar** » 05 Apr 2005, 00:50

Dear srkris,

It is nice to see a thread on Ariyakudi. I was wondering how come there was no discussion on sangeetham forum about him, his music or contribution to CM.
Let me write what I read about him. He was the one responsible in setting the present kutcheri paddhathi (short in duration yet containing all the necessary items), which is followed by all musicians. I read that it was Poochi who had the idea but was implemented by ARI.
My impression about his music: He is like a Reference/Standard book for CM. All his renditions of ghana ragams are exemplary, especially Thodi and Bhairavi. One striking example of his style of rendition can be seen with KVN singing and TNK playing the raga sindhubhairavi. there may be more but this is my observation from what little I have listened.
I will be happy to learn more about him from others.
-divakar

pramodh · Post by **pramodh** » 08 Apr 2005, 01:49

That is a great photo. It looks like ARI, MVI, Alathoor Sivasubramania Iyer (squeezed in!) and SSI. Holding the tambura on the second row is GNB.

meena · Post by **meena** » 08 Apr 2005, 03:37

Thanks to Ramakrishnan for the photo. I guess it is from the 1950s. From whom I can identify are: ARI, MVI, Alathoor Sivasubramania Iyer, SSI in the front row and GNB (with thambura) and Alathoor Srinivasa Iyer (behind SSI). Very nice picture indeed.
-

kutty · Post by **kutty** » 08 Jun 2005, 19:05

Dear Sri SRK

About ARI, I want to share with the readers a few things.

I was told that he knew more than 100 krithis/songs in the raagam thodi itself.

He was one of those few vidhwaans who used to sing knowing the meaning of what he was singing. Once he was approached by a rich person of Chettinaadu to perform at the marriage reception of his daughter and ARI also agreed to do so. He had been paid advance. As promised,he was performing on that particular day when this person requested ARI to sing "Manasu Swaadheenamaina" in ShankarabharaNam which was not agreed to by ARI. The person expressed his displeasure stating that ARI was supposed to sing what his Rasika wanted. For this he was replied that the song under reference was not suitable to be sung on an auspicious day like marriage when the young couple was about to start a new life. ARI promised to sing to the heart content of the person that song later on any other day.

Unfortunately this sort of principle is not adhrered to by some of the vidhwans who used to sing songs/krithis that are unsuitable for a happy moment. I have personally heard a vidhwan singing at a marriage reception songs like "Piravaa Varam Thaarum" or "Manamae KaNamum" or "Vaazhvil KaaNaa Samarasam" etc.

Kutty

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 13 Jun 2005, 08:19

here is a photo , which i love .. of Ariakudi with Madurai Mani iyer.
Download-Link: http://rapidshare.de/files/2347332/ARI_MMI.jpg.html
I got it from one Mr Laxmi Subramaniam many years ago .It is such a wonderful snap of the two stalwarts , one whom I admire and respect and the other whom i simply Love.
I am not sure if the paucity of concert recordings(of Ariakudi) is responsible for this , but somehow there is such a contrast in the effects created by these two artists.
with Ariakudi, the more I listen, the more Hungry I feel at the end -for his music.just when I seem to be getting a peep into his soul, the shutters come down with a clang!
with MM iyer, there is a kind of fullness , a kind of satisfaction that I have been treated like a king.a full exposure to his thoughtprocess, sorrowful or otherwise.
Everytime I see this photograph, Ariakudis SUBRAMANYAYA NAMASTHE-with all its grandeur sets up the frame for me , as compared to MM Iyers Thookiya Thiruvadi in Sankarabharanam .

TN Krishnan in tow in both the cases -
respectfully following the vocalist in one case
and a shadow like response in all those mournful variations of Ethaniyo Piraivi in the other.

inconsequential · Post by **inconsequential** » 24 Jun 2005, 23:15

dear kulkarni

thanks a million for the picture. also, you simply spoke my mind on the 2 great stalwarts. truly sad we have only a small no:of recordings of the elder stalwart

regards

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 25 Jun 2005, 00:36

coolkarni sa'ab,
I have a live concert recording of ARI,s that I am SURE you have: it is in aac format. In the VERY unlikely event that you do not have this, will it be possible to email these to you?
Ravi Shankar
varNam - bEgadA endharO - Sri apparAma - panthuvarALi
evaranI - dhEvAmrithavarshani marivErE - AnandhaBairavi
srInArada - kAnadA kalithIra - thOdi nidichAla - kalyANI mArubalka - srIranjani
RTP - Part 1 and Part 2 sonnadorvani - KamAs Ongi ulagaLandha - sinDHuBairavi Hari Bhajan - sinDHuBairavi

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 25 Jun 2005, 03:35

rshankar
what is aac format please?
email will pose problems.will not reach me due to size restrictions.
please upload it on rapidshare.com and post the links here.
thanks in advance.

abadri · Post by **abadri** » 25 Jun 2005, 04:26

AAC/m4a format (from http://www.dbpoweramp.com/codec-central-mp4.htm)
Successor to mp3, m4a is a container that can store many sub-formats, of which the main would be Advanced Audio Compression (AAC). Also using .m4a is Apples Lossless format (ALAC), this format is like WinZip for audio and looses no audio quality to compression (unlike aac and audio tracks purchased from Apples iMS store). There are also .m4b files, these are identical to .m4a except the iPod knows to use them as audio books and allow book marking.

Adding ID tags to mp4 has standardized on the Apple iTunes format. Files ending in .m4a are audio content only, .mp4 can contain both audio and video, .m4v are video files.

Apple supplies protected mp4 files in a .m4p format from its online audio store (whilst dBpowerAMP cannot decode these see Forum for details on fair use). Files ending in .aac are raw audio files.

To answer Sri Ravi's question, Winamp can play both aac and m4a files. I don't know how many portable players support them.
If not one can always convert them to mp3s using dbpoweramp with the appropriate codecs (all available at the link above).

Thanks.

meena · Post by **meena** » 30 Jun 2005, 10:17

the winamp 'latest' version plays aac and m4a files.

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 02 Jul 2005, 14:06

Just uploaded ariakudis concert with tnk-uks on the x drive.
a thanksgiving upload to Mr Lakshmi Narasimhan who has hosted the X drive for our use at this forum.
in the same breath I would also like to thank the other two members who offered the use of their x Drives for this forum.

Mr Lakshmi Narasimhans X drive will be available for a year from Now.

I will comeback on the password issue to the team members after a word with Lakshmi Narasimhan .

meena · Post by **meena** » 03 Jul 2005, 00:37

Sir Lakshmi Narasimhan thanku very much.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 03 Jul 2005, 10:12

I second meena's vote of thanks to Lakshmi Narasimhan as well as the others who offered generously their storage spaces.

rsrini · Post by **rsrini** » 03 Jul 2005, 14:19

Can I please get the link to Lakshmi Narasimhan's xdrive account? Thanks.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 03 Jul 2005, 19:25

Dear srini
Try to link here
http://plus.xdrive.com/u/166915332/1089 ... KNPWRfsWiT

rajesh74 · Post by **rajesh74** » 11 Jul 2005, 19:45

Dear Sir,
The above link doesn't work for me.
Can you please report the correct one.

Thanks

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 11 Jul 2005, 21:27

it is here.

http://plus.xdrive.com/u/170273287/6924 ... KTrxK8uVaA

Sivaraman · Post by **Sivaraman** » 05 Feb 2006, 01:36

I marvel at the virtuosity and creativity of the Late and Great Maestro, ARI, who was the first musician to give structure or paddhathi to carnatic concerts.Even today, after half a century one can appreciate the genius of his music. Here is a zipped file of his live concert.The accompaniments are the other greats:TNK on violin and PMI on mridangam

http://rapidshare.de/files/12560789/Ari ... r.zip.html.

Sivaraman.

sumram99 · Post by **sumram99** » 18 Feb 2006, 23:22

This concert of great maestro ARI is a treat! Thank you. Is it KVN giving vocal support?

Sivaraman · Post by **Sivaraman** » 19 Feb 2006, 01:06

I also think that it is KVN in vocal support, since he was the prime disciple of ARI.
Glad that you enjoyed the concert.Will post more such concerts of the masters, if the forum members so desire.
Sivaraman.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 19 Feb 2006, 12:19

Thanks Sivaramanji. Great concert. Thanks.

murthyhmg · Post by **murthyhmg** » 20 Feb 2006, 05:34

Great music. Thanks. Sometime back i downloaded Ariakudi's Subramanyaya Namaste from some Japanese site. The album is Thirumagal065. 27 minutes. Singing and voice quality are superb. If any of u are interested i can upload.

vrbadri · Post by **vrbadri** » 20 Feb 2006, 06:07

murthyhmg,

If it is not copyrighted, can you kindly post the same?
Thanks,
Badri.

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 24 Apr 2006, 00:13

Ariyakudi, Chowdiah and Mani Iyer

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 24 Apr 2006, 00:53

Ariyakudi, TNK, Mani Iyer

bala747 · Post by **bala747** » 10 May 2006, 14:14

ARI has to be a vidwan whom I can never appreciate beyond a certain level. I don't know, his singing just sounds too contrived and devoid of spontaneity to me and it often seems to me that its PMI Who is carrying the show. Also, to me a kutcheri with 10 different major ragas not even reaching 2 1/2 hours is like eating a only a mouthful of dishes at a huge buffet. Not satisfying (work with my analogies here please!!)

I don't know. I would rather hear SSI (who idolised ARI), or Somu, MDR any day.

Mahesh · Post by **Mahesh** » 10 May 2006, 16:21

I agree with Bala, I've never been able to appriciate his concerts, maybe because there are only a very limited amount of his concerts in circulation.

Oh, in the first pic above, I *think* it's [a young] KVN on the thambura.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 10 May 2006, 17:00

I know a well known vocalist with whom I sometimes discuss about CM. Once I told him .
I understand that ARI is credited with the Kutcheri structure , that is a phenomenal achievement.Apart from that I feel he was just lucky to be born in 1890, and since brightest stars like GNB/MMI/SSI/PMI were born in 1910's hence I postulated that age group difference of + 20 years has been the reason for these later stars to awe the musical aspect of Ariyakudi.I compared Shri Ariyakudi like the eldest male child in a family, where SSI/MMI/PMI/GNB's are the younger siblings .

The vocalist said , you have not fully understood ARI much . He is the only musician to sing all RAgas in <u>pure Absolute terms(everything in exact proportion , no overdoing and staying long in one RAga and there is always a sense of Viruvirrupu( a sense of urgency)).

Perhaps many rasikas like me find him little less appealing and hyper esoteric (In one concert singing atleast 3 ghana ragas like Bhairavi,Todi,KalyAni and Shankarabharanam...) . But maybe the performing community connects better ! For sure I need more time to fully assimilate ARI.

sriucl · Post by **sriucl** » 10 May 2006, 19:24

The reason for more songs in his concerts was due to the fact, that he was too good in assessing the audience and would lower his standard of performing by being simple and short with ragas and swarams and sing more songs instead.

But in the chamber concerts and small private gatherings, my guru recalls, that he had many occasions just listening to him sing in a small hall of 30/40. Those concerts and his performance used to be so good , a contrast to his more public/temple and esp.marriage concerts singing. His ragas would be quite long and more interesting swarams then.

Srivathsan

param · Post by **param** » 20 May 2006, 16:56

check this

http://www.geocities.com/~maniiyer/pict ... kudi1a.jpg

jaisree · Post by **jaisree** » 28 Nov 2006, 12:14

A live concert album of Shri. Ariyakudi with TNK and PMI is being relased by Carnatica on Dec. 3rd, along with a live concert recording of Ariyakudi's disciple Alleppey Shri. P. Venkatesan. There will also be a concert performance that day by Shri. Venkatesan accompanied by Shri. MA Sundareswaran, Shri. Raja Rao and Shri. Sundarkumar.
(See http://rasika.carnatica.net)

vsnatarajan · Post by **vsnatarajan** » 28 Nov 2006, 22:05

coolkarni wrote:Ariakudis SUBRAMANYAYA NAMASTHE-with all its grandeur sets up the frame for me , .

Dear Coolkarni.
is there any chance you may have ARI's Ariakudis SUBRAMANYAYA NAMASTHE?. I have renderings from other legends like Chembai, GNB and the immitable DKP.

There is an anecdote where kanchi Swamigal invited ARI and requested him to sing this song.
would apprecaite ur reply

padren68 · Post by **padren68** » 29 Nov 2006, 09:51

Sri VS Natarajan
Pls check this link:
http://www.sangeethapriya.org/Downloads ... svpmi.html
This has the kriti you requested.

padren68 · Post by **padren68** » 29 Nov 2006, 09:51

If the link does not work, let me know I will u/l and send u the link to your email.

vsnatarajan · Post by **vsnatarajan** » 29 Nov 2006, 18:36

padren68 wrote:If the link does not work, let me know I will u/l and send u the link to your email.

Dear sir,

the link you mentioned does not work.
is there any way you can point to some other resource?
Apprecaite your help.

meena · Post by **meena** » 30 Nov 2006, 00:26

vsnatarajan

i just checked u can d/l the file from megaupload.com or individual tracks (right click and save)

jaisree · Post by **jaisree** » 30 Nov 2006, 20:00

Here's the Ariyakudi 3-CD album that will be officially released on Dec. 3rd:

http://carnatica.net/shoppingarcade/Prd ... php?id=196

vsnatarajan · Post by **vsnatarajan** » 30 Nov 2006, 20:28

hi thnaks.
have to buy that.
But no Subramanyaaya namasthe there
the other links are all dead.

let me see.

meena · Post by **meena** » 01 Dec 2006, 00:51

Deleted

vsnatarajan · Post by **vsnatarajan** » 01 Dec 2006, 07:58

Dear Meena.

I frankly had given up on hearing this ARI rendering of this Dikshidhar's magnum opus.(rather one of his many)

Thanks for giving me the link. i just down loaded it and listening to it

stumbled on this site by destiny and relishing it.

Appreciate your help.

Good day to you

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 01 Dec 2006, 08:02

Does anyone have the details about the controversy between Ariyakudi and Papanasam Sivan regarding Karthikeya Gangeya in Thodi?

meena · Post by **meena** » 14 Jan 2007, 06:33

Deleted

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 14 Jan 2007, 06:57

Excellent article Meena. Has that endearing personal touch. Thanks for posting it.

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 14 Jan 2007, 07:00

Excellent article, its a huge article in today's newspaper (front page of magazine section)

mahesh3 · Post by **mahesh3** » 14 Jan 2007, 07:25

Whether it was his ..............Or the "fractional non-alignment of sruthi."

First, with intense discipline and practice he developed a large repertoire: it is rumoured that he knew the most number of songs, almost a hundred, in thodi alone!

That could very well have described the TNS of today...he must know atleast a 100 songs in thodi....

baboosh · Post by **baboosh** » 14 Jan 2007, 09:06

Though Ariyakudi was credited with the designing of present Katcheri paddathi,Veenai Dhanammal and Rangaramanuja iyengar who compiled the Kritimani malai were not very happy about that.When somebody quipped to Dhanammal that Ariyakudi was given a title as "sangeetha ratnakara"she had a dig that she thought it was a name of a book.

meena · Post by **meena** » 14 Jan 2007, 10:17

DRS

vsnatarajan · Post by **vsnatarajan** » 14 Jan 2007, 14:45

how I wish he was in this generation.

God comes in all forms to uplift us, through the venerable ARI too.

so much to tread and travel to reach, even mortal heights for me