Semmangudi and Swathi Thirunal

sivachinta1965 · Post by **sivachinta1965** » 22 Feb 2008, 09:22

dear Rasikas

In one of his recent books, the contraversial Music critic( C-C critic) , Madhu Vasudevan has noted that Semmangudhi has not sung Swathi Thirunal Kritis outside Kerala. Is this statement has any justification? Can anybody throw some light on this aspect?

uday_shankar · Post by **uday_shankar** » 22 Feb 2008, 09:35

Utter nonsense. Now can we move on ?

ignoramus · Post by **ignoramus** » 22 Feb 2008, 10:00

i love that.

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 23 Feb 2008, 21:45

There is no truth in this. In his MA 1964 concert, he started the concert in Gana panchaka raaga - Naatai, Gowlai, Arabhi, Varali & Sri - like Mahaganapathim, Thyagaraja palayasumam, Narasimha Mamava, Mamava Meenakshi & Namakusuma mula, and then other songs.... Narasimha mamava is Swathi Thirunaal composition...

That concert is awsome, with RTP keeravani, appan avatharitha, Janani ninnuvina etc...

-hari

sivachinta1965 · Post by **sivachinta1965** » 25 Feb 2008, 10:12

dear Hariji

Thank for the info!

Sivaprasad

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 25 Feb 2008, 10:54

dEva dEva is there in pretty much every SSI concert. If I recall, that's a Swati Tirunal krithi. Who are the 'critics' who write this nonsense?

rajumds · Post by **rajumds** » 25 Feb 2008, 12:24

In fact I have heard that SSI prefered to open his concert with Swati Tirunal kriti.

harish.krishnan213 · Post by **harish.krishnan213** » 25 Feb 2008, 16:57

i remember one of my friend arguing with me a few months back that SSI preached that one shouldnt sing kritis other than the trinity and he specifically didnt sing in Tamil. I sent him some recordings that SSI has sung of non-trinity and he never argued with me again.. i feel very sorry that such false rumors spread about great personalities.

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 25 Feb 2008, 17:08

Appan avadaritha.. of papanasam sivan is one of SSI's favorite

jnaanasoonyam · Post by **jnaanasoonyam** » 25 Feb 2008, 19:37

Umm.... who exactly is this 'controversial critic' Madhu Vasudevan and what's his signal contribution to the advancement of CM?? Something along the lines of 'legends' like Subbudu & SVK I presume... :p

Having heard umpteen concerts of SSI live and about 300+ full-length recordings, I can vouch that almost every concert has one or more ST compositions: Deva Deva, Pankaja Lochana, Kintu Cheyvu, Kanakamaya, Alarshara Paritapam, Paripalaya & Sarasaksha (Pantuvarali), Paripalayamam (Ritigaula)... to name a few.

As for Tamil kritis, there is this wonderful Tamil Isai Sangam concert (circa 1960) consisting almost entirely of Tamil kritis! Non-trinity other than ST & Sivan? Sure... Pahimam (Janaranjani), Gajavadana (Todi), Rama Jogi (Khamas), Parthasarathi (YK) are a few stellar examples. Plus, SSI's patronage of Sadasiva Brahmendra is well known. Why do people make sweeping statements without proper homework?

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 25 Feb 2008, 22:21

It is quite possible that T never sang anything other than Thyagaraja kritis

(Though historically it is claimed that as a child he was taught by his mother and sang Purandara as well as Ramadas kritis... They don't count of course

Das · Post by **Das** » 05 Mar 2008, 16:52

Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer is a doyen in the field of Carnatic music. The 'Pita Maha' as some would put it. His work at the Swathi Tirunal college enabled him to set to tune many of the Maharajas compositions. And it has been mentioned that this was done with the assistance of other great musicians. The controversy over Swathi Tirunals compositions not being his own would be another story all together. However it would most certainly be blasphemous to exclaim that the maestro never sang any of the Maharajas compositions outside Kerala. There is one thing our musicians have proved to us,good music has no boundaries. Coming from a prodigious Maharaja,his compositions are certainly majestic; or maybe they have been tuned in such a manner by our great musicians( Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer..). Semmangudi in a way popularised Swathi Tirunals compositions,though some may argue that that was the job of Musiri. MLV popularised Purandaradasars kritis. These musicians sang these compositions in most of their concerts. Cities,states and countries never acted as barriers to them.