Music Academy Lec dems

melakartha · Post by **melakartha** » 15 Dec 2008, 17:34

Hello friends,

I came across the Music Academy website's updates on the lecture-demonstrations to be held in the December season.
http://www.musicacademymadras.in/mornin ... s_2008.php

Being quite interested in the history of music, i am hoping to attend the ones on Swati Tirunal, Mysore, Oothukadu and so on. Any others that anyone could suggest in other venues?

Planning to travel to Madras to attend the season and also may be meet some fellow rasikas.org members!! ( that seems to be the season flavour!!)

melakartha · Post by **melakartha** » 23 Dec 2008, 09:13

Hello friends,

I was attending some lecture dems in Madras in the last week. Culd not identify any one from this forum, since as it is i am an old man with poor eye sight !! some of the lectures so far were truly brilliant. Three which interested me the maximum were Mr Achyuta Shankaran Nair's Demystifying Swati Tirunal, Dr Satyavathi's Manasollasa and Mr Vikram Sampath's Mysore as a seat of music. Mr Nair gave a very interesting talk on the swati issue, the proofs as to how he thinks he actually existed and cited many documents to support this. It was very enlightening, more so since i am v interested in the musical history portions. Dr Sathyavathi, the veteran that she is , spoke exhaustively on the manalollasa and the relevance to present day musicians, musicologists and listeners. Qualities of singers, listeners, gamka typs, types of prabandhas and various other details she shared. Yesterday i attended Mr Vikram's talk on Mysore. Having heard him in Bangalore earlier i knew it would be of a high quality and he didnt disappoint. He made a very lively and engaging lecture on the musical development in Mysore, the Veena style of Mysore, the many composers and musicians there and Sri Jayachamaraja's contributions. I was thrilled to hear Mysore Vasudevacharya's original voice that he played in audio clip. Interestingly, questions came on JCW cmposing his kriits or not on which this forum also had a long debate !!! Mr Vikram made a forceful defence of the Maharaja and rejected these charges.
M V Sriram seems to be covering all thse lec dems in detail . pls have a look
http://sriramv.wordpress.com/2008/12/
If anyone else has attended any other lecturs at MA or other venues, pls let us know. It is so wonderful to be in Madras as it is soaking in the music season finale !!!

-Ramabadran

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 23 Dec 2008, 09:32

melakartha sir/madam
What is manlollasa, could not get it, I am only a janyA

Jigyaasa · Post by **Jigyaasa** » 23 Dec 2008, 09:50

Question not directed to me but I'd just like to attempt answering...

Literal meaning:

mAnasOllAsa = mAnasa + ullAsa
(heart) (enchantment/revelry)
So it would mean a sense of joy and fulfillment in the heart... Hope I've conveyed it correctly @melakartha...

But it's the apparently also the name of the book that Dr Sathyavati took up to discuss in her lec dem...

melakartha · Post by **melakartha** » 26 Dec 2008, 00:48

Manasollasa is a 12th century music treatise. it was written by Chalukya King Vikramaditya VI's son, Someshwara Datta. But despite being so old, Dr Satyavathi had pointed out nicely about how relevant it is to modern day musicians.

Due to little ill health i couldnot attend the lec dems of last 2 days, though i was extremely keen on listening to Chitraveena Ravikiran on Oothukadu...did any one attend this one?

Seems like lot of people here are not too interested in lec dems which are the base for our theoritical understanding and enjoyment of music. The enthusiasm seen in discussing what Sri TMK says or someone else said abt someone else is sadly missing when it comes to discussing these high quality lectures on technical aspects!! Just an observation, i may be wrong...

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 26 Dec 2008, 02:43

melakartha: Thanks for posting the link to Srriam's blog. He is covering all these lec-dems in quite a bit of detail and it makes for very interesting reading.

Sriram mentions

Sarla Debi Choudhurani, the niece of Rabindranath Tagore was then in Mysore and she imbibed several facets of the music, inspiring her uncle to compose songs in Bengali to the tunes of songs such as Lavanya Rama and Meenakshi Me Mudam.

Can someone post a link to these two Tagore songs, if they are available online? Thanks.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 26 Dec 2008, 07:31

The composition that is patterned after 'mInAkshI mE mudam dEhI' is a lovely song that, IIRC, describes the bounties of nature. I saw a performance many years ago where a kalAkshEtra-trained Bengali dancer presented several such compositions of Sri Tagore that she had choreographed at the urging of musicians from SAntinikEtan. They were all of really good musical quality. The dancer had cleverly blended the pallavi and anupallavi of original CM piece which segued seamlessly into Sri Tagore's.

melakartha · Post by **melakartha** » 26 Dec 2008, 22:45

Yes Vasanthakokilam. I was also quite surprised to know abt this when it was mentioned during the lecture by Shri Vikram. However he didnt state which were the songs of Rabindra Sangeeth which are the equivalent of these krutis. I will perhaps send a mail to Shri Vikram to find this out becuase like u i am also eager to know which are those Bengali songs.
Thanks !

melakartha · Post by **melakartha** » 27 Dec 2008, 23:17

vasanthakokilam wrote:melakartha: Thanks for posting the link to Srriam's blog. He is covering all these lec-dems in quite a bit of detail and it makes for very interesting reading.

Sriram mentions

Sarla Debi Choudhurani, the niece of Rabindranath Tagore was then in Mysore and she imbibed several facets of the music, inspiring her uncle to compose songs in Bengali to the tunes of songs such as Lavanya Rama and Meenakshi Me Mudam.
Can someone post a link to these two Tagore songs, if they are available online? Thanks.

Hello Vasantakokilam,

This was the response i received from Mr Vikram regarding my query about the Bengali songs that you had enquired about...
Thanks

Hello Sir,

Greetings! Thanks for your encouraging mail and for attending the lecture at the Music Academy.
Regarding your query, the equivalent songs of the Bhanga Gaan genre of the Carnatic kritis are as follows:
1. Lavanya Rama-- Eki labonye Purno Praano
2. Meenakshi Me Mudam Dehi- Baashonti hey bhubono mohini

Currently i dont have audio clips of these but I have heard these from a very talented friend of mine in Kolkata who is a Hindustani singer and also specializes in Rabindra Sangeeth, Shri Sounak Chattopadhyay. They truly have an uncanny resemblance to our kritis and are largely in praise of nature and its bounties. Of course the typical Bengali lilt in a way "de-carnaticizes" the Gamakas and the way we are used to hearing these kritis !! May be if you google these songs you might find audio clips. I will also enquire with Sounak and try to see if i get any clippings of may be his rendition of the same atleast at the earliest.

Hope this helped?

Many thanks once again,
Yours sincerely
Vikram.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 27 Dec 2008, 23:50

Thanks Melakartha.

My search got me this far

Lavanya Rama ( Poornashadjam ): http://sangeethamshare.org/tvg/UPLOADS- ... .76-MB.mp3

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=VLi5zYKPrPs ( EKI LABONYE PURNO PRAN )

Hope the above two is one of the pairs Vikram is referring to

I could not yet find an audio link to Baashonti hey bhubono mohini

melakartha · Post by **melakartha** » 28 Dec 2008, 00:43

Vasantakokilam,

Vikram mailed me an audio clip of the 2nd song bashonti hey...how do i upload that on the forum ? Pardon me, my tech savviness is inversely proprtional to my age

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 28 Dec 2008, 00:57

See if you can put it up at esnips.com . But if you are not comfortable with it, I will send you an email to your email address of record on this forum, you can email the clip back to me and I will upload to esnips.com. Hope it is not a commerical recording.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 28 Dec 2008, 02:54

http://www.esnips.com/doc/e3bcf764-8eb5 ... bonomohini ( bashonti hey based on MD's meenakshi memudham )

thanjavooran · Post by **thanjavooran** » 28 Dec 2008, 19:13

The day was dedicated to shri Periasamy Thooran. He presented few compositions of him with the vocal support of his disciple one from Pits burg and the other smt geetha ramji disciple of DKJ with violin support by MAK . Following are the few points noted. Kindly bear with me for poor expression .
shri Thoorn was a B.A.,LT and a school teacher for few years. He learnt music for few years. He was a congress man and used to wear only khadi dress. He composed all these songs out of his own experience His compositions were set to swaram by TKG and DKJ. He rendered the following compositiions of Thooran. As he was very fond of Palani Murugan and also kazhani [ agricultural land] he composed many songs in praise of him.
1 kazhanikal soozhnthidum pazhanimalai natha. in shanmukapriya tuned by TKG,
2 nenjamae nee anjathae in gowrimanohari
3. kartuthinil ennalum kooluvar in poorvi kalyani
4 srothasuthi , nindhasthi a satire sahithyam Pichai edukka vandhan in ragamaligai sankarabaranam, nayaki, nattai, sriragam, thodi, kamaz, dhenuka and lastly in suruti
5. kanbatheppo inimel gandhijai ippol shantha mahathma [ this was composed immidiately on hearing the bad news of Gandhji's murder set in in a sad tune]
. A photograph of Thooran was presented to MA by his family members who were also present for this progm. He has received lot of honours including the one by TN govt. TKG earlier mentioned that CM alone keeps him trim even at this age [ 80 ] In earlier years only musicians were vice president of MA and his guru Musiri was in this post for many years. The prominent musicians present were PSN., TRS to mention few.

Thanjavooran

thanjavooran · Post by **thanjavooran** » 28 Dec 2008, 23:06

Shri AKC Natarajan and Dr. BMS on clarionet and nadaswaram at MA on 28th dec 08

The day was dedicated to Alathoor venkatesa Iyer.
Invocation song by Bhavadharini disciple of DKJ . Swara Raga sudha in sankara bharanam
The points noted are given below.
Chengleput spoke initially few words about the artiste.
AKC needs no introduction. He is also a disciple of guru Alathoor Venkatesa iyer. He raised himself to this position because of his honest and sincere efforts in learinig CM. He is an all rounder. His knowledge in legal points are immense. An advocate by name Krishnamoorthy shastrigal [ trichy] used to mention very often that had he not chosen music as his profession he would have become a lawyer and a rival to him. This was evident when he worked full time in getting the house of MD at Thiruvaroor after fighting legally camping there for a month .Due to this he could not even attend his grand dau's marriage. For charities he has donated a lot. He has lot of things to mention about him and the time does not allow him to talk more.
Pappu Rao:
AKC is marabu thantha manickam. Once he was denied platform at thiruvayaru . Later he became the secretary of that aradhana committee. Because of clarionet AKC achieved fame and vice versa.
BMS is an mobile encyclopedia in CM. He is a doctorate in temple instruments confirred on him by Annamalai university.
AKC Natarajan
His property is only Goddess Saraswathi and has no property other than Rasikas. BMS will answer any questions as he is not well versed in theory other than his sadhakam in CM.
Nadhaswaram is the oldest instrument known as mangala vadhyam. In olden days only single raga used to be played for purappadu . Nattai and Pallavi . ragamaligai . Thattu sutruthal is the last item after 5 to 6 hours of rendering recital while swamy coming back to temple. This item is from thirupugazh.

BMS
There are references for the existance of nadhaswaram in skandham and the 9th century lyric Nandhikesam.
Harmonium came to india in 1719 AC
The Thimiri nayanam sruthi is reduced from 8 kattai to 4. Later TNR reduced it further 2 kattai
The other variety, Pari nayanam is on 1 or 1 1/2. This is now played only at Thiruvaroor.

AKC
some 65 years back clarionet was used for sadhir kutcheri. In all dance archestra it finds a place. This is used for thevaram rendering also. Base sound is possible only in clarionet [ as compared to nadhaswaram] He was playing nadaswaram for quite sometime and due to its long form he did not want to handle the instrument and resorted to learning clarionet. For playing any instrument vocal sadhagam is a must and he learnt vocal under Alathoor venkatesa iyer. All clarionet will have 24 holes. He worked night and day and made all possible experiments and finally reduced to 8 and presently to 6 holes. He has done away with the cup and lever arrangement and playes with fingers directly operating on holes as nadhaswaram. This modification is his own patent. { Few months back I wanted a clarification through our forum in one of the threads as regs to lever and cup arrangent after listening to his concert in TV } After effecting this modification he played in a sabha where Ariyakudi was secretary near Egmore.
In 1950 he was denied from paying homage to the Saint at thiruvaiyaru by the then secretary Musiri stating this western instrument will not suit the kutchery. Later the very same Musiri made him secretary of the committee and he ran the show for more years. This is because of his guru's kadaksham.

BMS
In 1655 this instrument came to existance in [West] Germany. It is a single reed instrument whereas nadhaswarm is double.reed. 24 keys reduced to 13 and now to 6
shri Balaraman was the 1st vidwan and presently AKC. He is the only Everest who handles this instrument effectively for CM.
This instrument came to Tharangam padi first from Dutch during 1658 by Albanius. Later it was brought to Thanjavoor during 1801-1879 by Aganis williams

AKC played Bhiravi, Thodi and Kambodhi. He was assisted by his disciple Manikumar a lecturer in nadaswaram at Thirupathi. He mentioned that Varali is very difficult to play in clarionet which he played nicely for few secs. He mentioned that mainly for clarionet, lips and fingers should coordinate meticulously for rendering gamakams.
TRS and Suguna purushothaman asked few technical questions that were answered by BMS

The entire programme was quite enjoyable and within the allotted time both did their best.
I would not have left some important points . Kindly excuse.

Thanjavooran

vidya · Post by **vidya** » 29 Dec 2008, 03:41

thanjavooran wrote:Shri AKC Natarajan and Dr. BMS on clarionet and nadaswaram at MA on 28th dec 08

Thanjavooran,
Thank you very much for the coverage of this interesting lecdem. Did BMS sir also mention anything about how it is Nagasvaram (per historical and other references) and not nadaswaram?

thanjavooran · Post by **thanjavooran** » 29 Dec 2008, 08:33

vidya wrote:
thanjavooran wrote:Shri AKC Natarajan and Dr. BMS on clarionet and nadaswaram at MA on 28th dec 08
Thanjavooran,
Thank you very much for the coverage of this interesting lecdem. Did BMS sir also mention anything about how it is Nagasvaram (per historical and other references) and not nadaswaram?

He made few references on this subject. An article in HIndu dt 06 12 36 contains the details on this doubt raised by one musicologist S S Sharma. But as mentioned in the write up above skandham and nandhikesam refer as nadhaswaram only. Even in one of MD's kriti he mentions as nadhaswaram only. The name nagaswaram came as the shape of the bottom looks like hood of a cobra and the seevali portion as tail. Hence it is called nagaswaram. Later days the Nagachinnam [ wind pipe with the shape of a serpant] came to be known as nayanam after undergoing few changes in the soll vazhakku. In persian language Nai means kuzhal [ pipe] This also contributes to the word nayanam. Mambzha kavirayar mentions only as nadhaswaram. He mentioned that this can not be disputed and can be called as Nadhaswaram only. I would have left few more important details. Forumites who attended can throw more light.
Again I request to excuse for poor expression

Thanjavooran

vidya · Post by **vidya** » 29 Dec 2008, 09:40

Thanjavooran,
Thanks again for all the additional information - There was a thread earlier on the etymology of nayanam etc on this forum and your post would clear atleast some people's confusions regarding nAyanam nAgaswaram etc. However I would like to make one small clarification:

The Dikshitar kRti refers to the instrument as nAgasvaram only (tyAgarAja mahadwajAroha - shrI rAga - "nagasvara maddaLAdi vAdhyam which rhymes with Agama siddhAnta pratipAdhyam). As I understood from his various books and other citations, the position of Dr.B.M.Sundaram has always been as follows :
- That Nagasvaram , the word as exemplified in that composition and mentioned in earlier literature as nAgachinnam etc is the older, original and hence the correct word to be used for the instrument.
- All literary and inscriptional evidences contain the word nagasvaram only. Hence his point has always been that nadhaswaram is recent term and as a word has no etymological, literary evidence and the instrument must be referred to as nagasvaram only.

Here is a link to the last year's lecdem at Parthasarathi Swami Sabha (towards the end of Lakshmi Devnath's article) that says the same (nagasvaram not Nadhaswaram)
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/fr/2004/1 ... 410800.htm

thanjavooran · Post by **thanjavooran** » 28 Jul 2009, 04:54

Lec dem on Ganam singing at MA this year by Prof SRJ ,TVG or BMS is most welcome. Eagerly waiting to know more about Ganam .
Thanjavooran