Ganesh Kumaresh Violin Duet

Small children running happily;

fire crackers cracking harmlessly;

flower-pots showeing thousands of colours in fire continuously;

water flowing calmly;

water-fall cascading from the top of a very high mountain;

a small mischievous boy teasing his mother with his pranks and the mother enjoying it though pretending to be troubled with all his pranks;

tired of the running around, going to sleep peacefully;

marbles hitting each other smoothly and making a kaleidoscope of colours and patterns;

running on a snow-covered peak not feeling the cold, but only the whiteness all over;

flowers of hundred colours falling from above with no design or pre-plan but forming natural patterns just by the simple act of falling down;

school-bell ringing and children running out of class-rooms laughing;

Temple bells ringing accompanied by the sound of Vedas being chanted in a gentle voice;

These are few of the feelings I got listening to Ganesh Kumaresh violin. They both are such happy people - the concert for 2 hours 30 minutes was full of happy - yes, happy moments - throughout non-stop - both laughing out while playing - talking to each other in soft tones with happy smiles - "sabhash"and "bhale"to the accompanying artists at the appropriate places - Oh My God! Million salutes to their mother! Enna thavam seydhanai!! Great musicians; 100% perfectionist; 1000% happy people - may be that is what makes their music divine.

Ganesh recited a Chidambaram Shlokam - a very difficult to say sanskrit shlokam with perfection for which Kumaresh played violin!

They played Ïndian"note unlike Ënglish"note as popularised by the great Madurai Mani Iyer.

Ganesh sang Govinda Bholo Gopla Bholo Ram Ram Bholo Hari Naam Bholo Allah Malik Eesa Nayak bhajan..

I am reminded of Swetha Raghavan, our neighbour in 62-B Brindavan Society, Thane, who used to sing this Bhajan in our Balvihar classes. Just the way she used to emote while singing this Bhajan - we all used to think that she is pretending, acting to emote - and it used to bring smiles to our faces - just for that we used to make her sing it every week and she used to enjoy that "limelight"... a real good childish child... I understand that she calls herself Swetha Srinivasa now and is in Australia doing very well in academics and aspiring to be a doctor! Great going Swetha! Good luck!

I think Ganesh chose to sing this song ( instead of just playing it on violin) as he wanted people to feel and understand the lyrics - Bhajan says, say any name, but say it with Prem and Shraddha - as all of them are the same - and they lead one to the same destination. How beautiful.........

I wish Ganesh Kumaresh live for 100 more years and give such divine music and enjoy good health wealth and prosperity!

Neyveli and Annavarapu continued

Balagopalam of Muthuswamy Dikshitar. He started it saying that the request to sing this song is from the Mridangist ! He mentioned that this song is very suited for Veena as the swara placing is so beautiful and sort of made for rendering in Veena. He specified "Vainika Gayaka Guruguha"to support this... he took this phrase for neraval. I am no expert in music but still I could sense the music flowing through all my senses and literally it took me to a trance status... all I had to do was just close my eyes and focus on the music.. that is it.. I was in a different level altogether; I had to come down with the Thani Avarthanam that followed.... I think he did a sort of better job now. Ghatam was good.

Govardhana Giridhara Govinda Gokula Palaka Paramananda was the next one with a Viruththam. This is by Narayana Theertha... and my first acquaintance with this song is that of seeing the LP record of Vyjayanthi mala in my college when I had to select a LP for a dance programme. Her eyes on the cover made me keep it aside.... it showed a searching.. an yearning.. and my dance Guru ( then) my cousin, Rengam and me discussed this song, the dancer, but not the song, as we both do not have knowledge of Sanskrit, which I regret even now.

Then Thirupughal in all its beauty was followed by Mangalam. The Pavamana Suthadu Pattu Padharavindham... the full song and not the shortened version!!

Pavamana Suthadu - Son of Wind God - Hanuman

Pattu Padharavindham - surrendering to the lotus-like feet of the Lord Rama...

Pattu cannot be just taken as "holding"... it is much more. Pattukotam in Telugu means so many things. The word Padharavindham also is such a beautiful word... the formation of the word itself brings the idea behind it and the meaning behind it...

Telugu is a beautiful musical language.. I am happy I can understand it to a large extent!

Thank you Neyveligaru for such a wonderful experience!

Chakri Toleti

Remember the small boy who is employed by Kamal Hasan in Sagara Sangamam to capture profile pictures of himself dancing and the guy goofs up.... some comedy scenes with this young guy capturing Kamal's bent position with only his pyjamas seen... :-))

The same guy has directed Kamal's latest release, Eenadu, a remake of A Wednesday. Kamal is doing the part portrayed by Naseeruddin Shah. I am waiting to see this movie.. may be in another two days when the crowds get little reduced, I have to watch this movie.

I am happy that this is a crowd puller and the theatres are full... good going Kamal.. you deserve more!

Link to Chakri Toleti's interview:

http://www.hindu.com/mp/2009/09/21/stories/2009092150730400.htm

Neyveli Santhana Gopalangaru & Annavarapu Ramaswamygaru

Annavarapu Ramaswamy, the famous violinist, who had accompanied vocalists like Mangalampalli BalamuraliKrishna and the great GNB was honoured with the title "Violin Ratna" by Nada Tarangam Trust, Hyderabad on 15th Sept.09 at the Megal Music festival that they held at Keyes Girls High School, Secunderabad.

It was a very small gathering of hardly 200 people, for such a big city like Secunderabad! It was not a holiday could be one reason - or is the interest for carnatic music reducing?? One more observation is, the crowd (if I can call it so) consisted of 80% old people in the age group of 60+.

What does that indicate?

Anyway, Annavarapugaru spoke after the felicitation. The gist is : he started his career/learning as a vocalist but shifted to Violin. Mangalampalli is the one who gave him a lot of confidence, encouragement and made him what he is today! He went on acknowledging his Guru for his career as a violinist and mentioned that on the same stage he had played for GNB in 1950s. He spoke about continuous practice and involvement in music.

Instead of 7 pm, the main concert started at around 7.40 pm. Neyveli was in his usual form - but I felt that the accompaniment was no match to his level. The whole concert had to be dominated by him - the mridangam especially was so pathetic. He went on adjusting the shruti but there was nothing matching the vocalist's flow. Violin was just alright - Neyveli went on encouraging him and making him play better. He had to literally tell the violinist what to do, as he was just giving shruti to him and not playing along with Neyveli.. a poor show, as far as the mridangam and violin were concerned. Ghatam was just alright - nothing bad, but nothing great. Ghatam player was the organiser and hence I think, his son was playing Tanpura.

Coming to the concert, Neyveli started with Patnam Subramanyam Iyer's Abhogi Varnam - Evvari Bodhana - wonder which language the composer spoke? Could he be a Telugu speaking person? But Ïyer" is slightly misleading, as it is used by Tamilians. Or could it be that, as the prevailing music world at his time was dominated by Telugu lyrics, he also wrote in Telugu?

http://www.ecse.rpi.edu/Homepages/shivkuma/personal/music/varnams/evvaribodhana.pdf

That is the link to this thana varnam. Varnam - in dance as well as in music is the piece where the artist shows his versatility in different speed while bringing out the beauty of the ragam.

Next was Kanchadhalayadakshi Kamakshi of Muthuswamy Dikshithar in Kamala Manohari ragam. This is a beautiful kriti

Raga Sasi Vadhanay... was elaborated. Though I am not an expert in raga, I felt as though Neyveli is decorating the Goddess with gems, pearls, corals and checking whether each jewel looks on Her and then adding more and more to make the jewels shine more by being adorned by Kamakshi. Somehow this thought came to my mind and I felt that every swara prasthabam he did fit into this imagination of mine..

Kanchi Nivasinay.. Mandha hasinay... beautiful. What lyrics, what selection of ragam, and what rendering. I am blessed !

Next was Thelisi Rama Chinthana .. in Poorna Chandrika. Thyagaraja says that the name Rama is to be chanted with understanding. He takes few words - Rama, Arka and Aja which mean different things. Rama also means woman! He calls woman as "chapalakshulu" :-(

But I think I agree with him... women have more chapalam and hence their eyes are wandering with chapalam, and hence akshalu ( eyes) with chapalam.

Arka means tree as well as Sun! Aja means goat as well as Brahma!

Hence he says that at least for a minute the mind should be focussed on the real Rama and then one should utter his name with conscience! Otherwise, just chanting the name of Rama with thoughts wandering from Illinois to Mumbai to Hyderabad is no use !!

Hence, Sivakamasundari... thelisi Rama Chinthana Cheyavay!!!

Here is the link to get the meaning of this song:

http://www.sangeetasudha.org/thyagaraja/t.html

Then was Eti Janmamidhi Oh Rama Rama... true, very true, what is this Janmam where it is spent not having enough time to enjoy the sculptures, the dances, the music, paintings and just fly around all over the world enjoying the beauty of nature!

Next was Nalina Kanthi Raga alapanai followed by Manavyalakim...

I wonder why he chose all Telugu songs to sing in Hyderabad. His pronounciation is very good, but still, I found one lady in front of me, commenting on it with little disappointment. Though I would not know how far she is correct, I suppose, when someone sings a song which is not his native language, there ought to be some small mistakes... God knows! Anyway, his patience was continuously tested by the violinist and mridangist and then by the microphone guys as well.. He carried on with patience and when he saw some people leaving, mentioned in Tamil, ëllorum sendhu vandhom.. sendhey aththukku pohalam. pinnala irukkarava ellam munnala vandhu utkarungo.."

If this is the situation for a A grade singer of carnatic music, what to say for budding artists? They have to just go on with their own interest and never expecting audience support.

to be continued....................

Aditya Karikalan and Rajiv Gandhi

This could be the 6th or 7th round of my reading PS - yes, Ponniyin Selvan. Whenever I have time, and feel like "reading"and not "seeing"something, I look for books - authors - sometimes, I find it boring to start a new book. Because, once I start reading a book, I feel compelled to finish reading it and it can prove to be a laborious process, if the writing does not match my taste!

At such times, PS comes to my rescue. I have a pdf version downloaded and kept ready in my laptop - this has to be just opened to travel back in times of Kings and Queens, palanquins, scheaming Mandiravadhis, Drogikal, benevolent temple builders, religious queens, beautiful princesses and horse-riding princes.

Kalki has his style of talking to the reader and making the reader feel like a participant in the story. Alwarkadiyan, Vandiyathevan, Arumozhi, Aditya Karikalan, Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar, Aniruddha Brahmarayar, Sundara Cholar, Kundavai, Vanathi, Ravidasan and even Soman Sambavan sort of characters - all have their unique features, style, mind... many have attempted writing history based novels, imitating Kalki. But no one, NO ONE has come even near him.

Today I am in the chapter where Aditya is going to be murdered. This is the 8th time I am reading this book and I know what is going to happen. But still, my heart beats faster, my mind is feeling sorry for Nandini and Aditya Karikalan. Handsome Prince charming, with valour and good intellect who feels tormented for past mistakes and wants to redeem himself. But life does not give him second chance - his father never comes to stay in his Pon Maligai while Aditya was alive; his sister Kundavai is more partial to Arumozhi than to Aditya. His parents are self-obsessed with themselves and in the future of Chola Naadu than to worry about their son. His maternal grandfather is the only one who understands him, feels for him and is concerned about him. But alas, he also is far from him and Aditya's fate leads him to his end.

Aditya Karikalan's death is a puzzle in history. Many have attempted to solve it with the available kalvettu, copper-plates etc. But, in absence of concrete evidence, the needle of suspicion moves and can touch any character in the story (real life) except his own parents.

Similar to Aditya, Rajiv Gandhi also did not want to rule. He wanted to lead his life away from his power-hungry mother and brother. No one had any aspiration about his future. But he was crowned ( Aditya got Yuvaraja title on him) and had to get into politics.

Both got murdered - while in the prime of their youth - suspicions, investigations etc. will not bring back the dead.

In fact, the CBI officer who was involved in Rajiv Gandhi assasination investigation looked at Aditya Karikalan's murder case and tried to find out the culprit and has written articles in the PS yahoo group!

The fact remains that a royal family murder of the crown prince is unsolved for now 1000+ years. Power makes history creators, makers to cover up things. No one will ever know who killed AK and how.

Mysterious death! I can think of one more death of a near and dear one in this category! What use?? AK, RG or GJ will not come back to life with the findings of the truth!!

1000 pillars

That is 1000 pillar temple at Warangal - Hanamkonda. Are you thinking where are the 1000 pillars?

Have you visited Ayiramkal Mandapam in Madurai and counted the pillars? Could you count 1000 pillars there? Then why the name?

I got answers for these in a beautiful temple of Vishnu in Tadpatri, Andhra Pradesh. The temple Archaka doubles up as tour guide explaining the various sculptures in the temple. He showed two pillars in the main hall of the temple and called it "Vaisthambalu"and explained the concept.

A pillar is made wherein 1000 small pillars are carved all around it. 10 rows of pillars on the one big pillar - with each row having 10 sthambams and each sthambam having 10 sthambams on it.. got the calculation? 1*10 equals 10; 10*10 equals 100; 100*10 equals 1000. Amazing... not the calculation :-), but the idea of coming up with 1000 pillars on one pillar!

Now, wherever you see 1000 pillar, take a closer look and you will be pleasantly surprised to see that the sculptor had poured his heart out and made a magnificent sthambam.

Thanks to the Tadpatri Archaka and millions of salutes to all those sculptors who conceived such a grand idea and executed it... I should add the great Kings who patronised such art!

Andhariki Vandanamulu!!

Laddu..sweet laddu

That is the picture of Tirupati laddu in preparation. Nearly 1.25 lacs laddus are prepared and distributed everyday in the Tirumala Hills after being offered as Naivedyam to Lord Balaji.

So, how does it help someone associated with the Devasthanam? I thought may be he will get some extra laddus paying nothing or little less.

I am wrong. There is more to it than common people like me can perceive, or rather say, taste?

It can come out as a shopping mall in districts of AP. It can come up as private colleges in AP.

Now, whenever I get to eat Tirupati Laddu it might leave some taste other than the sweet taste also in my mouth!!

All one needs is to become a power-broker in the right place with right contacts. I went on rolling my eyeballs on hearing the news first time when I heard it, and I think I can do some eye-movements better than any famous dancer as a result!

Power, money corrupt... corrupt anything and everything.

Vande Mataram! Bharat Mata Ki Jai! Tirupati Balaji Ki Sweet Jai Jai!