AndyMusicBlog-thodi

T Mukta, of the famed Brinda-Mukta duo of jugalbandi singers and the only surviving grandchild of Veena Dhannamal passed away on Sunday. She was an authority on Padams and Javalis, Shyama Shastri and Dikshithar Kirtanams, a patient and loving teacher and the torchbearer of the much-adored Dhanammal bani (style) of music. May her soul rest in peace. I am sure she'll be singing in heaven with her sisters T.Brinda and T.Abhiramasundari on the violin. Or they might be having a Sangeet-mehfil (music session) with the entire Dhannamal family participating. Its only the Gods and demigods who can listen to these concerts live. We mortals have to content ourselves with the few available recordings of these Gandharvas of music. Adding this link with a well written article on her. http://carnatica.net/nvr/edit-nov2004-mukta.htm

I blogged about the power of TSK 's music yesterday;today it was another stalwart's turn to keep me spellbound. I continued playing the same mp3 CD I mentioned about. Listened to part of a live concert by MMI. The concert commenced with the Thyagaraja Krithi- Telisi Ramachandra in PoornaChandrika Ragam.This was followed by a Dikshithar masterpiece Angarakamashrayamyaham in Suruti and Nijamarmamu in Umabharanam (another MMI favourite which he used to render in a lot of his concerts and thus popularised.) But the best part of the concert was yet to follow. Another MMI favourite - Mohanam. I have heard his Papanasam Kriti Kapali before and assumed during the aalapanai that this would be another rendition of the same. However the composition that followed was Saint Thyagaraja's Mohana rama. I have decided (though it might be difficult to implement) not to listen to old-timers of Carnatic music if I need to be in office early.

27-March-2007, 6:45 PM - Kadri Gopalnath, A.Kanyakumari, B.Harikumar, N.Amruth, B.Rajasekhar 28-March-2007, 6:30 PM - K.J Yesudas, Mahadeva Sharma, B.Harikumar, T.K Radhakrishnan 29-March-2007, 6:30 PM - Suma Sudhindra (Veena), Shubhendra Rao (Sitar), Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma, Ravindra Yavagal 30-March-2007, 6:30 PM - Dr.N.Ramani (Flute), Nagai Muraleedharan, K.V Prasad, N.Amruth 31-March-2007, 6:30 PM - Sanjay Subrahmanyan, Nagai Muraleedharan, Guruvayur Dorai, M.A Krishnamoorthy 01-April-2007, 9:00 AM - A.Kanyakumari (Violin), K.V Prasad, N.Amruth, B.Rajasekhar 01-April-2007, 6:30 PM - Hyderabad Brothers, Mysore Shrikanth, D.S.R Murthy, D.Mohite 02-April-2007, 6:30 PM - Vidyabhooshana, M.A Krishnaswami, K.V Jayachandra Rao, B.N Chandramouli 03-April-2007, 6:30 PM - S.Sowmya, Embar S.Kannan, H.S Sudhindra, Sukanya Ramgopal 04-April-2007, 7:15 PM - T.N.S Krishna, Jyothsna Shrikanth, M.T Rajakesari, Shrishailam 05-April-2007, 7:15 PM - Vijayalakshmi Subrahmanyam, Usha Rajagopal, M.T

I have been hunting for a recording of "Krishna Nee Begane baro" by Balasaraswati ever since a grand uncle of mine remarked (about 10 years ago) that only 2 musicians can claim to have done full justice to this song. One is KVN and the other the legendary dancer Balasaraswati. I had a few recordings of the song by KVN but none by Balasaraswati. A close friend and colleague of mine, Vinod, who is an avid music lover sent me the following link and told me to listen to MDR's Kalyani. http://www.sawf.org/newedit/edit01282002/musicarts1.asp I then found that this link contained a link to T.Balasaraswati and T.Vishwanathan's "Krishna Nee Begane baro" . After listening to this, I fully agree with my grand uncle. It was an amazing rendition indeed. Another record I have been hunting for since the last 15 years is a jugal-bandi of Raga Basant Bahar by Hirabai Barodekar and Saraswatibai Rane. I hope to get it someday someplace just as I got to listen to Balasaras

I had decided that I would come to office early today as I had some tasks to complete today. That however was not to be and I came in an hour later than I had planned to. I was listening to an MP3 CD containing recordings by Shri T.S.Kalyanaraman (he was one of the seniormost disciples of GNB) .His brilliant rendition of a Ragam Tanam Pallavi in Ragam Shubhapantuvarali ensured that I stay glued to my seat at home; I couldn't move till this pallavi concluded. Pandit Bhimsen Joshi is the only other artist (this is my personal opinion) who has woven such magic in his Miyan Ki Todi -the Hindustani equivalent of Shubhapantuvarali.