Vikatam Ramaswamy sastrigal.

[thanjavooran]

Shri Rramaswamy sastrigal of Thiruvisanallur was an exponent of Vikatam, an art which would keep audience spell bound for more than three hours. His performance was known as Vikata kutcheri and used to be arranged in temple festivals and also in few sabhas , in early 50s. He used to speak Telugu, English and Tamil fluently during his performance. He will imitate Kumbakonam Rajamanickam pilai, TNR, Kanchipuram Nainapillai and other musicians of fame in those days . His speciality was Laya vinyasam a full bench Kutcheri with Mirudhangam, kanjira , morsing and konnakkol. His mimicry of violin and nadaswaram used to be very interesting. He used play Ghatam putting his mouth on the opening of the pot as a last item mentioning the art is Vee Ghatam. There is no disciple for him and nobody is practising this art now, I presume. In early 60s S/S Santhanam and Chandru were performing with loose skits and presently as Asathapovadhu Yaru in TVs. By any chance clipping of Shri Ramaswamy Sastrigal's performance is available so that we can once again enjoy the beauty of this art. Kind attention-- Shri Venkata kailasam Avl.

Thanjavooran 06 03 2011

[VISHNURAMPRASAD]

Shri Vikatam Sastrigal was a great devotee of Mahaan Thiruvisanallur Sridhara venkatesa ayyavaal (a great sanskrit scholar, saint and advaitin, a devotee of lord siva who attained videha mukthi at Thiruvidaimarudhur temple in early 18th century). He was instrumental in conducting the early Ganga avatharanam festival at Ayyavaal's Matam during Karthika amaavaasya day for many decades. He used to perform at various places and collect money for the festival which was a one week program with the final day falling on the amaavaasya day of karthika month. 1000s of devotees from various place used to congregate during the festival, they were all taken care and fed well by Shri Ramaswamy Sastrigal. He used to arrange for kutcheries and Madurai Mani Iyer was a regular performer in the utsavam for almost through out his illustrous musical career (barring his last few years owing to ill health). Though the concerts were thengamoodi concerts (no remuneration), the musicians came forward themselves at the invitation of Shri Ramaswamy saastrigal and performed at the utsavam. They had great respect for Shri Sastrigal and they lent their support for the noble endeavours of Shri Sastrigal. We could still see Shri Ramaswamy sastrigal's photo at Ayyavaal Matam (the house where shri Ayaaval lived). Sastrigal's descendants - he had only daughters and grand children. His grand children (now most of them are in their 60s) and great grand children are living in chennai. One of them has a recording of Shri Sastrigal's live performance. Dinamani kadir also carried an article about Shri Sastrigal in their music season special issue about 4-5 years ago. Sastrigal's vikatam was appreciated by Shri kanchi maha periaval who bestowed him with titles and awards. Mahaperiaval also encouraged shri sastrigal on his initiatives for the cause of Shridhara Ayyavaal, by visiting thiruvisainallur during the utsavam and stayed their for a month with his pooja.

Those were periods of such great selfless human beings who believed in virtues and great saints and dedicated their life for their cause.

[minu123]

Vikatam Sri. Ramasamy Sastrigal is my Grandfather. I would like more details about him. Please let me know.
Thank you for posting few details. I was indeed very delighted to read about him.

[thanjavooran]

minu,
Welcome to the forum. In his programmes he used mention that nobody is coming forward to learn this art and hence could not promote any sishyas. IIRC All India Radio Vijayawada several years back broadcast his concert. Hence AIR must be having this spool in their archives. Being a descendant you can also very easily locate from any of your relatives during family gathering. One of his grandsons in a marriage reception performed for 15 mts. vikatam. This Art also has become a rare spice like Konnakol.
With wishes,
Thanjavooran
11 02 2016

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Late S Rajam once spoke about vikatam and mentioned another name IIRC Mangudi chidambara Vadhyar or so (pardon me if I am wrong), a gigantic figure who used to mimic various voices & sounds with an undetlying musical theme. He was too a multi linguist. All musical instruments were in his tongue tip.

An old woman in our native agraharam used to present a song featuring names of stations one would come across in a train journey in from Madurai to Trivandrum via Punalur interspersed with whistling sound of the steam engine; vendors 'noises' and voices of popular singers of those times.
Vikatam or mimicry of carnatic music singers is not easy though.

[thanjavooran]

Shri sivaramakrishnan,
It is Mangudi Chidambara Bhagavathar an Harikatha exponent with huge structure. I have not seen him but my mother used to refer very often about his proficiency in all the field of Art and he used to perform sitting on the dais because of his big body. As you correctly put in this mimicry is a very difficult art for practice and perform.
Thanjavooran
12 02 2016

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Thanks Sri thanjavooran for the details.

And something about my efforts in this connection:

I pay my tribute rarely ( say in family / friends circle ) to the yesteryear vidwans ) by singing like them ( I wont call it mimicry as it would be blasphemous). My 'training ground' was the very Navaratri Mandapam in Tvm where I could closely observe and listen to MDR, Semmangudi, Alathur srinivasa Iyer and other stalwarts for several times. Radio listening was also another source. I tried to ensure that my attempts were not confined to 'pidis' but a whole kriti or niraval segment. This I did out of reverence and admiration of their unique styles and not win over the small audience at such get togethers.

Madurai Mani Iyer, Chembai-yesudas combination, Voleti, TRS, GNB, Brindamma(only snatches) are also my cherished attempts. Sruti background is a must.

Once I mustered courage to demonstrate my art before Vidwan S Rajam (who told me about Mangudi) at his house in Mylapore. He listened, 'happily but critically identified' the artists and said it must be based on a theme and not merely a vikatam of styles! He gave me a couple of tests too!

Endaro Gaayakaalu Andariki Vandanamu!

[thanjavooran]

Excellent venture ! If you have any clipping please do share. We too enjoy.
with wishes,
Thanjavooran
13 02 2016

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Thanks Sir!
No clippings yet.

[varsha]

http://www.mediafire.com/listen/bfvkoh0 ... _Vocal.mp3

columbia records ... after a big struggle to manage the noise
not substantial , just for the records, anyway

[thanjavooran]

varsha,
Thanx for the link. Not bad. Should be more than 60 yrs old.
Thanjavooran
14 02 2016

[minu123]

http://www.mediafire.com/listen/bfvkoh0 ... _Vocal.mp3

columbia records ... after a big struggle to manage the noise
not substantial , just for the records, anyway

Wow really great! Thanks much for sharing this.

[minu123]

Thanks a lot for sharing the audio file.

[minu123]

Please listen to my singing in the below link:

http://youtu.be/rEFv91QdYyU

Kindly give me your feedback.

My father says that I have inherited the art of mimicking nadaswaram from Vikatam Sri. Ramasamy Sastrigal.

[minu123]

http://seethasriraman.blogspot.com/2009 ... allur.html

INTERESTING READ ABOUT MY GRANDFATHER

[minu123]

https://plus.google.com/117847622060221 ... 0221638536

[minu123]

http://www.allmusic.com/album/indian-ta ... 0002892705
http://www.allmusic.com/song/t-v-ramasw ... 0052721290
T. V. Ramaswami Sastrigal and Vikatam VidwanSky Lark Squirrel Country Oil Mill Red Bird (1937)

Listen to Disc-2 / Track 23 - Sound of bird by my grandfather Vikatam Ramaswamy Sastry.

[rshankar]

Please listen to my singing in the below link:

http://youtu.be/rEFv91QdYyU

Kindly give me your feedback.

My father says that I have inherited the art of mimicking nadaswaram from Vikatam Sri. Ramasamy Sastrigal.

Very nice!

[thanjavooran]

Please listen to my singing in the below link:

http://youtu.be/rEFv91QdYyU

Kindly give me your feedback.

My father says that I have inherited the art of mimicking nadaswaram from Vikatam Sri. Ramasamy Sastrigal.

Minu,
Excellent ! You have very high potential. Constant practice/ sadhagam will raise to a great height. BTW practise mimicking other instruments too besides Nadaswaram. Happy that this Vikatam thread is gaining momentum after 5 yrs.
With wishes,
Thanjavooran
25 02 2016