Vidwan Trichy Ganesan passes away - tribute by MAK

[makham]

A tribute by violinist MA Krishnaswamy:

Its always paining when our fraternity has lost a very great vidwan who was versatile in singing with ease a difficult pallavi or a new way of singing swaras. A sad loss that Trichy Ganesan passed away yesterday. I am not able to digest this great vidwans loss. He was simple, humble and with lot of vidwath. Always smiling and friendly but forthright in acknowledging good music. But vehemently pointing out mistakes without hesitation to any vidwan. Once a senior vidwan did not sing a particular song correctly. Ganesan did not hesitate to point out which the vidwan accepted. Myself M.A.Krishnaswamy, V.Ramaiah and Palladam Ravi did hours of practice in our house in Madurai in 1987 when we were all bachelors. I learnt a lot of musical intricacies from this great vidwan. He used to sing vidwan T.N.Seshagopalans pallavi and korvai with ease. Myself, TNS, and Ganesan will have hours of discussion in TNS sirs house when I went to teach violin to T N S Krishna . Ganesan and TNS Sir will discuss lot of intricacies about the korvais and different laya aspect. It was a great feeling. More than 6 hours we used to spend in the house of TNS sir. Recently Ganesan has sung thirukkural which is broadcast in AIR chennai and all stations. Lot of feature programmes one about Sri Raghavendra Swami which was produced by me in 1988 Ganesan sung many songs. Happy that he married of his daughter last year which I attended. A very great human. When I played for him in a concert in Kerala four months back lot of his students prostrated to him on stage which was very touching. Lot of memories going through. With tears. M.A.Krishnaswamy

[ajit]

Heartfelt condolences to his family and disciples.

[rshankar]

Condolences to his family and disciples. May his soul RIP!

[rajeshnat]

condolences to sishya parampara and his family. I just googled in youtube and saw this concert - antha kalathu musician typecast with fiery fast brighas atleast having heard the first vAthapi with swaras and seethamma in vasantha in the below link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDLugSV0UHM

May I know his gurus please?

[thanjavooran]

Deepest condolences. RIP.
Thanjavooran
24 08 2016

[K Nagarajan]

A great vidwan who appears to have preferred to maintain a low profile.

May his soul rest in peace.

K.Nagarajan

[CRama]

Condolences to this family and students. Thanks to MAK for those words which are outpourings of his heart. Ganesan was a student of Trivandrum Music Academy and we could see lot of TNS influences in him in his music in the early days.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

I listened to Sri Ganesan for the first time at a concert in Theerthapaada mandapam,Trivandrum in the early 1980s. IIRC he sang Vinataasuthavaahana sreeramana, Vanchatonu(Karnaranjani) etc.which were hugely popular during those times -thanks to DKJ / TNS.

I was listening to him next only after a gap of more than 30 years at the Mummoorthy Isai Vizha in the Big temple, Tiruvarur where he gave a few 'Semmangudi special kritis' like Maarubalga(sriranjani) with all those spirited Sangatis. He was really happy when I mentioned to him about his Trivandrum days. The 'festival crowd' didn't give me a chance to talk to him for long though I really wanted to ask him "where he had been all those years"!!.

He had a large following in Kerala (due to his stint at Trivandrum). His untimely demise shocked music lovers and and the social network was full of condolence messages. Sri P R Kumarakerala Varma ( a senior disciple of Semmangudi) had given a touching tribute (in the facebook) to Sri Ganesan - his dear student at the Swati Tirunal College of Music.A rare gesture from any Guru!

It has been really intriguing to me why he was not seen in Chennai concert circuit all these years. I don't remember to have heard him over AIR!.
May be he was a contended teacher happily settled in Trichy. That was the only information I could gather about the Vidwan!

Our deepest condolences to the bereaved.

[rajeshnat]

It has been really intriguing to me why he was not seen in Chennai concert circuit all these years. I don't remember to have heard him over AIR!.
May be he was a contended teacher happily settled in Trichy. That was the only information I could gather about the Vidwan!
.

Possibly Folks like you (SRK and CRama) should have opened a thread and talked about him in the last 15 years being part of forum . I personally only know him only after his demise.

I would humbly say at times in chennai rare vidwans from Kerala have few trickling chances in few sabhas during Dec season . But if you are from other pockets in TN like trichy and madurai , the branding / recollection is even lower than Kerala. Based on the url that i posted , I am not just hearing Semmangudi touches but a signficant bit of GNB too , may be we can call him as Manakkal Rangarajan Jr.

[makham]

From the horse's mouth - from the Facebook entry of Vidwan Trichy Ganesan
Quote:

Well - it is very easy to describe me as i am not an introvert. I am a happy-go-lucky guy with lots of zeal for life. I am employed in All India Radio, Madurai, as an Instrumentalist 4 the past two and half decades. I have learnt the nuances of carnatic music initially from my father Shri Trichy Subramania Iyer and mother Smt.Lakshmi.

I' ve dedicated my life to carnatic music. I do not claim myself to be a great carnatic musician of south india. I have been in this field for the past 35 years. It is for the public to judge and rate whether i ve done justice to music.

I have been honoured with the title of INNISSAIBHANU. Besides, I have been conferred with the following awards also viz., MADURAI KALANIDHI, MADURA GANA SUTHA, SANGEETHA CHOODAMANI,SANGEETHA SEVARATHNA,SANGEETHA POORNASHREE,SANGEETHA THILAKAM,PANCHARTHNAM AWARD,KAANCHI KAAMAKODI AASTHANA VIDHWAN AND SINDHOORAM AWARD.

I breathe music and live for the music. It is my dream to train many youngsters in this field so that every house would reverberate with carnatic music in the years to come. I pray to Almighty for the well being of the carnatic music fraternity in general and music lovers in particular. Jai Hind !!!

End Quote

[Sivaramakrishnan]

rajeshnat,
That's a good suggestion to write about Kerala Vidwans - known and unknown. Let me remember some yesteryear Vidwans/Vidushis. (The contribution of Sri Swati tirunal college of music Tvm where many great masters taught must be acknowledged in this connection)
SSri KR KEDARANATHAN, KR KUMARASWAMY IYER, KR KAILASAM IYER, KS NARAYANASWAMY, KS HARIHARA IYER, MK KALYANAKRISHNA BHAGAVATAR, SVS NARAYANAN, PAZHAYANNUR PARASURAMAN, NELLAI TV KRISHNAMURTHY, PUTHUCODE K KRISHAMURTHY, NEYYAATTINKAR VASUDEVAN, A KRISHNA IYENGAR, MK MOHANACHANDRAN, R KRISHNASWAMY, MAVELIKARA PRABHAKARA VARMA, SHERTHALAI R GOPALAN NAIR, MAVELIKARA KRISHNANKUTTY NAIR, MAVELIKARA VELUKUTTY NAIR, R VENKATARAMAN, K VENKITACHALAM, GS RAGHUVEERAN, PALGHAT CR MANI IYER, CHALAKUDI NARAYABASWAMI, CHALAKUDI N S BALAKRISHNAN, GS SRIKRISHNAN, KAMALA KAILASANATHAN, VAIKOM VASUDEVAN NAIR, V DAKSHINAMURTHY,KALANJUR CHANDRASEKHARAN, MG RADHAKRISHNAN ...................................

[braindrain]

Trichy Ganesan was very popular in Kerala and have performed extensively. He was a regular, especially during Navarathri times, in the area where I come from. He also had a good students base there.

I remember him for a short TV concert, where he sang the ragam 'sudhabhairavi' ( Swathi Composition 'vihara mAnasa sadA'). A bit nasal voice, high bhriga laden singing, cherish in 'vyavahara'. Very scholarly approach to singing.

[CRama]

That was good info about Trichy Ganesan. Do you have that TV concert were he sang Viharamanasa. That song is rarely heard.

[CRama]

Sivaramakrishnan, Thanks for remembering the great souls. Some more additions.
C.S Krishna Iyer
K.K.Sivaraman (Veena)
Thrissur P.Radhakrishnan
Vayyankara Madhusudanan
M.A.Kalyanakrishna Bhagavatar
Vechoor Hariharasubramaniam
K.Bhagavatheeswaran
There may be many more.....

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Thanks CRama.
KC KESAVA BHAGAVATAR was another doyen.

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

Sivaramakrishnan: Nice summary of the Alumni of Swati Tirunal Music Academy.There are many more UNSUNG heroes/heroines who are from the School. SSi is generally believed to be--wrongly I might add- not very supportive of his wards and disciples. Although this thread is about the late Trichy Ganesan--I must confess I have never heard of him nor his name mentioned to me or my father(it was well known in Chennai that my father was a true champion of the "underdog" cajoling/fighting with the Chennai establishments) Apparently the LOSS is ours. Today with Social Media and blogs like our forum artistes of true merit no matter which part of the country they belong to,can aspire to be noticed and encouraged.

However inasmuch as Sivaramakrishnan's roster of people who came out of the Academy ,is exhaustive and impressive, I wish to add a few points of my own to the Academy and its Alumni.
Besides the list provided by Sivaramakrishnan and CRama, there was H.A.S.Mani(affectionately known as Chellamani)--the father of the playback singer Hariharan. In the mid forties(when SSI was in his late forties) SSI sent a letter to my father introducing Chellamani Sir(who incidentally was also the guru of my sister ,Bombay sisters and Alamelu Mani--whom he married subsequently)--that he does not have the voice for a concert singer but an excellent teacher(Chellamani Sir was in his mid twenties at that time and had just graduated out of the Academy--shows what a shrewd judge of talent and capabilities SSI was ). My father was instrumental in recommending him to the Bombay Sisters(they had initial training from a veteran Teacher in Bombay but Mr. Chidambara Iyer the father of Bombay Sisters wanted a different school and bowed to my father's suggestion to switch which he did' . Subsequently it was my father who advised Mr. Chidambara Iyer to "pack" his bags and move the sisters to Chennai to learn under Musiri as they needed advanced training for their talents.Mr.Chidambara Iyer had a large family to support,had a good standing in the Community in Bombay,was from Palghat originally,had no base in Chennai to speak of and given the parochial and hierarchal milieu in Chennai with entrenched institutions and more deeply entrenched "individuals" at that times -it was understandable that MrIyer was very dubious about my father's suggestion. But he took the bold step and the rest is history.

SSI also recommended another student of his-Mr. Vaidyanathan(see reference to this person in the Mrinali Sarabhai's Obituary in the Forum).He had an average voice but was noted for his patience and musical pedagogy.My father arranged some tuitions for him. Earlier SSI had recommended him to be the singer for Mrinalini's overseas tour in the early forties.

Likewise SSI's First Lieutenant was K.R.Kumraswamy Iyer( eldest brother of K.R.Kedaranathan) at the Academy--an excellent teacher with superb Gnanam but not much of a voice. Again SSI sent him at my father's request to train the daughter of a good friend of my father(from karnataka--a prominent citizen of the South Indian Community in Bombay in the Mid-forties) for two months when the Academy had its Summer vacation.

In my own family two of my lady cousins were SSI's students--one of them is Kalyani Sharma who retired as Vice principal of the Shanmukhannada Sabha School in Matunga Bombay.

Ofcourse in each of the instances quoted above, the "wards" themselves were committed individuals and can all boast of a roster of disciples for them. But it must be emphasized that the Academy itself has produced outstanding musicians/teachers(TMT,TNK,PSN). Anybody who has ever learnt at the Academy wishing to learn further will not have to "UNLEARN" anything-- eschew bad practices or techniques!!


Sorry for the digression. This thread is about Trichy Ganesan and I have 'stretched" the Trivandrum connection a tad further!! I am sure both Sivaramakrishnan and CRama will understand my fondness for SSI,the Academy and Trivandrum in that order!!!! ARASI can also relate to this nostalgia!!!

[CRama]

Just now followed the url posted by Rajesh. There are many songs/concerts of Trichy Ganesan. I am not a very frequent visitor to you tube.Hence I had not seen earlier. I will hear them now on.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

..........Sorry for the digression. This thread is about Trichy Ganesan and I have 'stretched" the Trivandrum connection a tad further!! I am sure both Sivaramakrishnan and CRama will understand my fondness for SSI,the Academy and Trivandrum in that order!!!! .............

Thank you MKR Sir for the fund of information!
Why don't we open a new thread 'Musicians from Kerala' in the 'General Discussions' forum (not under 'Vidwans & Vidushis' to ensure focus on the subject)?

[Sivaramakrishnan]

AIR is broadcasting a recordrd concert of Trichy Ganesan today ( 28 Aug ) in the National prog at 9.30 p.m

[rajeshnat]

Tributes in The Hindu about vidwan Trichy Ganesan.
http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday ... 055023.ece

[kasiram.sivaram]

He was my father's(Kovai K Sivaramakrishnan)closest friend. His demise shook our family. Besides singing, he could play violin and kanjira too, just out of instincts!