Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 31 Jul 2008, 13:38

grsastrigal - thanks. I did a translation for few parts - it is in music and festivals -> semmangudi centenary

http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=6112

-hari

devi · Post by **devi** » 06 Apr 2009, 21:28

Would anyone please help me to find the full version of Amba Neelayathakshi (Dikshitar Kriti) in Neelambari rendered by Sri Semmangudi?

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 07 Apr 2009, 02:52

Devi, it's on Sangeethapriya (rarely check the site these days due to server problems). If you can't find it there, I can upload it for you (15 min rendition with out of the world krithi and kalpana swaras with TNK in tow).

devi · Post by **devi** » 07 Apr 2009, 07:12

I tried searching sangeethapriya. Didn't find it there

In esnips.com some kind soul has shared a clipping of Kalpanaswarams by Sri Semangudi. Would you be kind enough to upload the whole kriti? Thank you so much !

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 07 Apr 2009, 09:39

Devi, here you go:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/qgeagh

The recording quality is poor but that's no issue (for me) when the music is so good.

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 07 Apr 2009, 10:37

devi · Post by **devi** » 07 Apr 2009, 11:59

Dear Bilahari & Coolkarni I am overwhelmed by not one two fabulous recordings!!! Thanks a ton!!! Semmangudi Swami's ingenious rendering of such a magestic kriti is indeed something to be cherished. Thank you so much !

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 08 Apr 2009, 13:23

Thank you Coolji for that clip-- what a crisp nIlAmbari! I love the lazy manner in which he picks up the song after each swara segment -- it's so nIlAmbari-ish.

Devi, it's my pleasure.

srinivasrgvn · Post by **srinivasrgvn** » 28 Apr 2009, 19:27

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 28 Apr 2009, 21:16

No, no, no, SSI was not singing inside an airport! However, he was singing for a sabha somewhere near the airport, hence the background music and his irritated interjections. As for why he sings a concert full of classics, the songlist itself is typical of SSI and nothing new. I believe the decade was 1960s. Occasion--no clue.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 28 Apr 2009, 21:28

Adding to bilahari's view , there are 3 viewpoints about the location of this concert , of course the location was somewhere very close to runway of the airport

1. Few of them believe it was held in calcutta.
2. Many of them inclusive of me thought it was held in bombay somewhere near ghatkophar area.
3. IIRC ,venkatpv (our forumite) posted some time before that the concert was held only in tambaram area in madras, I think his source was that he heard from mrudangist Trichy sankaran.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 29 Apr 2009, 20:02

For a while I used to think it was held in an airport also. I figured either it was an impromptu singing while they were waiting in the lounge or it was some opening ceremony of an airport. Anyway, as Bilahari and Rajesh point out, none of this is true. It was just a regular concert nearby an airport.

Just out of curiosity, how many overhead plane noise interruptions are there in the recording? If it is 1960s, there should not have been a lot of planes whizzing by in a 3 hour period.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 08 Jun 2009, 05:57

BMK accompanies SSI on the viola (srIkanTa nI):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QOmZ2BcMG8

The viola overpowers SSI's voice, methinks.

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 08 Jun 2009, 09:16

Somehow it happens in many of the SSI recordings I have from sangeethamshare.org too!

vs_manjunath · Post by **vs_manjunath** » 09 Jun 2009, 08:52

bilahari - nice to see "Two Giants " in this video. SSI looks so religious.
By the by where is this video clipped ? Looks to be a Thyagaraja Aradhana.

padren68 · Post by **padren68** » 09 Jun 2009, 10:34

If this is SSI - BMK - T K Murthy, this was held in the Thyagaraja Samajam (??) in Mylapore - Chennai

vs_manjunath · Post by **vs_manjunath** » 09 Jun 2009, 15:58

padren68- Thanks for this info. I realised I have committed a mistake........

It's " Three(3) Giants " and not " Two giants "

ALL OF THEM SSI,BMK,TKM are giants indeed.

padren68 · Post by **padren68** » 09 Jun 2009, 17:06

I think Harishankar or V Nagarajan has also accompanied. You can see some of the current artists (Sanjay, Unnikrishnan, TMK etc) in the audience awestruck

MaheshS · Post by **MaheshS** » 10 Jun 2009, 17:36

Yes it was in Samajam [where the Madras Thygaraja Aradhnai is conducted] in Thiruvanmiyur not Mylapore, I went to the concert.

MaheshS · Post by **MaheshS** » 11 Jun 2009, 22:13

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QOmZ2Bc ... re=related -> A clip from the concert

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 12 Jun 2009, 02:18

Wow, the viola simply merges into the sruti to such an amazing degree that its such a delight to hear, this is the stuff legends are made of.

For all this, BMK is not even a full-time violinist.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 14 Jun 2009, 22:17

What is so special about Shri Semmangudi SrinivAsa Iyer's Music
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Just thought of writing a long post of this great musician.

Semmangudi mAmA's music was initially not very interesting to me in 80's in early years of my carnatic music listening(remember one dinamani vamsa that my maternal thAtha used to put , I used to run away from my house then) , possibly I did not have maturity to like him then . But over the years listening to him and looking at his musical journey he is one of the most fascinating musicians and rightly considered the "Pitamaha" or the grand sire of modern Carnatic Music. Few interesting exclusive semmangudi musical attributes that kind of differentiated from many or almost all musicians

1. His neraval- Krithi pathantharam:
Many musicians have the style of singing neravlish phrases even during krithi renditions . For example if you listen to Shri TNS , lot of neravalish phrases do come even before the actual start of neraval, but semmangudi mAmA represented purity in krithi- nerval pathantharam . His style is always quick and he packs very quickly the lines of the krithis , just giving a lot of importance to lyrics and then elaborately going to neraval , in short krithi has no pre emptive neraval .

2. Every tukkada he sang had pure carnatic boundaries:
This to me is very fascinating , hear his bruhi mukhundedhi or sapAsya kausalyA , it has got so much of carnatic depth in it , it does not border on bhajana sampradaya or bhajans . I personally believe carnatic music is always one step higher in pedestal when compared to nAma sankeerthanam or bhajana or hindi bhajans . Semmangudi did import few of the numbers but he still maintained carnatic purity and never tresspassed into other boundaries.

3. Semmangudi had continous gamakams:
Even though his voice was nasal and he appearing fairly not that well built , he had the style of almost extending his voice with so much of continous gamakams . His continous gamakams are just there in every krithi that he had delivered ,kind of mesmerizing in the sense he achieved almost like a nAdaswaram , kind of human voice matching instruments .

4. Almost impossible to spot when semmangudi inhales or exhales :
His continous gamakam and absolute style of singing with very few breathing cycles is just fascinating, try spotting when semmangudi takes a short gasp in pantuvarAli or gowlipantu it is just impossible. Perhaps he exhaled only once in year 2003 when he left all of us.

5. Semmangudi certainly has the most performing disciples:
Certainly semmangudi wins hands down in terms of most performing disciples who have taken his style and inspired atleast 40 to 50% of performing musicians in the last 50 years.

6. Perhaps the greatest tAnam singer:
I dont think any one can ever sing tAnam like him in terms of presenting rAga bhAvam.

7.Longest musical innings:
He sang till almost 90 years and performed close to 8 decades and will be perhaps an unsurpassable achievement for centuries to come.

8. Semmangudi utilized his sishyas fully and yet dominated :
One of the reasons of his long musical innings apart from his asura sAdhakam , he trained lot of his immediate disciples and they all were there with him in every concert perhaps that gave him long musical innings . Of course to an extent his immediate sishyas of him did not make it that big unlike say GNB sishyas, but that is another story. Incidentally even when his sishyas sang he was still dominating him to that extent he was always a general and his sishyas were only lieutenants. U can also see few videos where santhanam and kvn in two seperate concerts sing with him , their voices are still only second in terms of azhuttam whenever semmangudi mAmA sang, even other musicians were only lieutenants and semmangudi was always in command .

9. Semmangudi choice of sequence of krithis , his accompanist chemistry:
His choice of krithis and the way he sequences kind of covering all trinity was always nice one. Incidentally each of the accompanist who played with him gave their best of their concert s when he sang. To that extent he was an inspirational musician.

10. We owe a lot of Swathi tirunAl and Ambujam krishna krithis to him:
He did his own research and certainly presented lot of krithis and kind of became standard renditions followed by all musicians like ST,AK and also few memorable slokhams of appaya deekshitar and also few krithis like nArayanagowlai all only to him.

11. He was very good in political maneuver:
Semmangudi mAmA was indeed a master in aligning with the right people in the right time . He influenced and maintained his lead . Kind of learnt the other side of music quite well.

12. Sense of humour:
His sense of timing and sense of humour just helped throughout , I have had only one chance to hear him speaking (never heard his concert live), thoroughly enjoyed it.

Overall one of the most brilliant and inspiring carnatic musician, government of india should have given a bharatratnA to him ,certainly my all time #2.

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 15 Jun 2009, 15:21

Good Post Rajesh

kam · Post by **kam** » 16 Jun 2009, 21:17

great post rajesh keep it up

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 19 Jun 2009, 13:03

A picture of the Pitamaha during a chamber concert in Kalki Gardens in the year 1967 in honour of Lord and Lady Harewood.

On the violin is Sri. Papa Venkataramiah and mridangam is Sri.M.S.Shekar, ( son of art critic Late Sri K.S.Mahadevan ). Giving vocal support to Semmangudi Mama are his disciples Sri V. Subrahmaniam and Sri P.S.Narayanaswamy.

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 19 Jun 2009, 13:17

Purist · Post by **Purist** » 19 Jun 2009, 14:59

In all probability it is P S Narayanswamy

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 20 Jun 2009, 03:54

Ah Papa Venkataramiah! What a wonderful picture.

balusatya · Post by **balusatya** » 20 Jun 2009, 22:06

Looks likeSKA.PSN.

SangithaRasika · Post by **SangithaRasika** » 23 Jun 2009, 21:15

Does anyone have the complete RTP in Kedaragowla that SSI has rendered in Perambur Sangeetha Sabha -1966 with LGJ and UKS. I was listening to the one on Sangeethapriya but unfortunately it is incomplete and stops shortly after Tanam. It will be great to listen to the full version .

Thanks, SR

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 24 Jun 2009, 03:38

SR, here you go:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ub49eo

This is one of my favourite RTPs of all time, and LGJ is superb as well. I have the whole concert if you're interested--great mAru balka.

SangithaRasika · Post by **SangithaRasika** » 24 Jun 2009, 05:14

bilahari,
Thank you very much. It is fantastic. I had liked this so much that I was listening to the incomplete one several times and just couldnt resist asking the forum to help me get the full one..... Thank you once again. Also, can you translate what he tells in Tamil between 17:00 and 17:28 ? Usually SSIs remarks are very witty.

I have rest of the concert d/l from the sangeethapriya.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 24 Jun 2009, 05:32

You're most welcome, SR. I listen to this RTP very often--I just love his flowing alapanai and thanam in KG, and the pallavi neraval is also nice. UKS provides an explosive finish as well. At 17:00, SSI remarks, "It's rare to get to listen to this raga, and now even the rains have come." At 17.15+, he asks a section of the audience (I presume) to move inside so they don't get rained on, and then makes a trivial comment about some object he'd left somewhere that was moved.

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 24 Jun 2009, 06:45

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 24 Jun 2009, 09:16

It's rare to get to listen to this raga, and now even the rains have come.

Just to explain, it is believed that when something unusual happens, it is likely to rain. (Especially off-season.)
===
WHAT A KEDARAGOWLAI!

SangithaRasika · Post by **SangithaRasika** » 24 Jun 2009, 20:06

and he also exclaims .. "ahaa haaaa" when UKS starts off ... it is for the great start that UKS gives to the Thani I guess..... Overall a great RTP ! SSI has done the 'pancharatna' ragas quite a few times I guess ... sometimes the first 5 songs in this raga (I like the mamava meenakshi - Nereval and swara is out of the world) and now the tanam in this 5 ragas ! Simply superb. Recommended to all to listen !

bilahari, Thanks for the translations ..

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 24 Jun 2009, 21:30

Aha, the snuff box. THAT'S why he's so irritated that somebody moved this object!

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 24 Jun 2009, 21:41

SR, I agree that SSI's mamava mInAkSi is excellent. Here is a recording from a great concert with TNK/UKS providing stellar accompaniment: http://www.sendspace.com/file/k0olz3

perarulalan · Post by **perarulalan** » 25 Jun 2009, 12:04

What a Kedaragowla.. and What a tanam !!! as Sangita Rasika has put.. The RTP is definitely one of the out of the world types!!

semmu86 · Post by **semmu86** » 25 Jun 2009, 13:51

ah what a masterpiece !!! perambur sangeetha sabha is famous for ssi-tnk/lgj-uks masterpieces . I have heard that there is a rare recording doing the rounds of SSI-TNK- a young UKS , at the same venue somewhere in the early 50's . Apparently the concert was at the eve of UKS sir's law exam. SSI it seems apparently told this while singing.. Can anyone please share this gem , if you happen to posses it . Maybe coolji can help.
Extremely sorry i just know the time of the concert is in the early 50's and no more info..

Arvind...

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 26 Jun 2009, 12:48

Aditto · Post by **Aditto** » 26 Jun 2009, 13:44

Eagerly waiting for the uploads sir

Thanks and Regards
Aditya

Purist · Post by **Purist** » 26 Jun 2009, 13:50

Cetainly ' most welcome '

semmu86 · Post by **semmu86** » 26 Jun 2009, 13:52

thanks a lot .. eagerly awaiting for the upload.. meanwhile will try to get the info about that concert as soon as possible..

Thanks

Arvind..

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 28 Jun 2009, 05:42

Purist wrote:In all probability it is P S Narayanswamy

yes. it is PSN (i have edited my post accordingly)

johnlovescm · Post by **johnlovescm** » 28 Jun 2009, 10:54

bilahari wrote:SR, here you go:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ub49eo

This is one of my favourite RTPs of all time, and LGJ is superb as well. I have the whole concert if you're interested--great mAru balka.

Thanks a ton Bilahari. What an alapana. The thanam is sparkling.

semmu86 · Post by **semmu86** » 29 Jun 2009, 12:36

coolkarni wrote:
semmu86 wrote:Maybe coolji can help.
Extremely sorry i just know the time of the concert is in the early 50's and no more info..

Arvind...
Cant proceed without details.

the year is 1955.. it seems the concert starts with " intha parAkkA " , thani in mArubalka , the thukkadA section has solla vallAyO , chenchurutti thillAnA ,....

Arvind.

srinivasrgvn · Post by **srinivasrgvn** » 03 Jul 2009, 07:04

Dear rasikas,
I just wanted to tell you about this great concert of SSI uploaded recently by Sri Manjunath of Sangeethapriya.
Here is the link:
http://www.sangeethamshare.org/manjunat ... me_in_70s/

This was a Music Academy 1973 season concert held on 2.1.74. The Accompanists are Lalgudi Jayaraman and U.Sivaraman.

Many of you may have listened to it but for the others, it will be a treat altogether! An excellent RTP in varAli, starting like this: 'brahmaivaham kila' which was also sung by TMK in mArgazhi rAgam!!
As usual, this concert is also full of sub-main pieces, typical of SSI.
Please listen and tell me your thoughts.

=)

ragam-talam · Post by **ragam-talam** » 08 Jul 2009, 14:07

Can someone provide a pointer to the famous Airport concert of SSI, if it's available in the public domain. If not publicly available (and not copyrighted) please upload if you have it with you.

Also, can you provide an item list of this concert?

Many thanks in advance.

Sathej · Post by **Sathej** » 08 Jul 2009, 14:24

Oh but the 'airport' concert has been available here for quite a few years now - http://surasa.net/music/karnatak/contri ... port_songs

Sathej