The Lighter side of Carnatic Music

[Oldposts]

I think the following will be appropriate to share with you all in this thread for lighter side of music. During the music gala last December at Chennai, Neyveli Santhanagopalan gave a program 'Sangeetham Rasippom Varungal' (tips for music appreciation) at Parthasarathy Sabha. This was an open house interaction with rasikas. Neyveli had decorated the podium with his NRI disciples. After formal introduction of each one of them, he narrated several anectodes of vidwans of yesteryears. Some rasikas also shared their personal experiences with senior vidwans. It was fun to watch Arusuvai Natarajan interrupting this dialogue by serving a steaming 'Davara' of coffee to Neyveli on stage. Neyveli brought the roof down by mimicking the Niraval and Swaraprastharam of a few carnatic music stalwarts. Neyveli also played Mridangam accompaniment to a song rendition on request from one of his disciples. The whole session was filled with fun and puns depicting the lighter side of Carnatic music & musicians. BTW, for a moment I thought, why shouldn't Neyveli take up 'Vikatam' to fill the vacuum left by Thiruvisanalloor?

[Oldposts]

i enjoyed mostof the jokes.Let's have more of Maharajapuram Sthnm and Balamurali's anectodes thanks

[Oldposts]

i enjoyed mostof the jokes.Let's have more of Maharajapuram Sthnm and Balamurali's anectodes thanks

[Oldposts]

About 50 yrs earlier, Ariyakudi's shasti abdha poorthy function was celebrated on a grand scale with weeklong non-stop concerts in Sangeetha Mahal inside thanjavur palace. The entire festival was organised by leading advocates [Raghavachari, Krishnamachari, Ganesa iyer , Jagatrakshakan etc. to name few] of thanjavur. All eminent musicians of yester years participated by offering their musical abilities. In one such concert Palladam Sanjeeva Rao at the end of his concert requested Iyengar to excuse him for not giving him any currency gifts as he was not rich enough. He said he would instead present him with a note and proceeded to play the sankarabaranam note. Everybody enjoyed this gesture when Ariyakudi came near the podium to accept the offer. This remains green in my memory.



<a name="last"></a>

[sasibaloo]

In early sixties mylaporeans had a strange experience. In one concert at Thyagaraja vidwat samajam, Flute Mali was accompanied by Chembai on violin and Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer on mirudangam.

[srkris]

Among yesteryear musicians, Chembai was undoubtedly the master of on-stage humour.

When the great violinist Papa Venkataramiah was accompanying him in a concert once, Chembai was singing swaras. Pointing to the violinist, he sang "Pa Pa Nee Dha(an) Pa Pa"

In another concert, when Chembai was old, he was being accompanied by a middle aged violinist and a mridangist who was just a kid. Chembai was singing swaras. He sang:
(pointing to the violinist) "mama mama";
(pointing to the mridangist) "papa papa";
(pointing to himself) "thatha thatha"

Once when M.S.Gopalakrishnan and T.V.Gopalakrishnan were accompanying him on the violin and mridangam respectively, Chembai was singing Thaye Yashoda. While singing the line "Intha maayan Gopalakrishnan seyyum jaalathai keladi", he pointed to the violinst. He repeated the line again, this time pointing at the mridangist. The 2000 strong audience laughed like anything.

In another concert Chembai was being accompanied by Lalgudi Jayaraman (violin) and Umayalapuram Sivaraman (mridangam). Chembai was singing Rama Ninne Nammi Nanu (Huseni), which goes like "Rama Ninne Nammi Nanu Nijamukha Sita... Rama....". Chembai substituted the word Sita with Jaya (pointing at the violinist) and sang the line again by substituting the same word with Siva (pointing at the mridangist). The predominantly keralite audience were very amused when they considered the meaning ("Jayarama and Sivarama, I really depend on you")

Once, while demonstrating the raga Puraneer in a concert, Chembai mentioned that it was a malayala ragam, and it was not to be found even in the Sangeeta Ratnakara or in the sangeeta shastras. One of his disciples mentions that it is a 'Pann Ragam'. Chembai says "Panno manno, adhellam enakku theriyadu" [Pann or mann (mud), all that I dont know].

In another concert, Chembai wanted the organisers to keep the microphone nearer. Finding that the microphone cable (wire) was too short, he said "Namma Vayaru than perisa irukku" [Only my vayaru (belly) is big].

Once, when he sang a Tamil viruttam "Orumaiyodu Ninadu Thiruvadi" in Hamsanandi, he pointed to Chowdiah, who was accompanying him, as he sang "Unnai maravaadirukka Vendum".

His rendering of Tamil songs had traces of a Malayalam accent. There was a Tamil number in Mohanam he used to sing often. It went "Idhiname Shuba dinam" and Chembai sang it as "Ee diname Shuba dinam". Once, one of his disciples, keen on the right pronunciation, sang "Idhiname..." almost chewing and spitting out the first few letters, hoping his guru would notice and render the song with the right pronunciation. Chembai must have noticed, for he decided to have some fun. The more the sishya emphasised the first few letters, the more Chembai drew out his "Eee diname". The Malayalam versus Tamil match continued for almost three minutes much to the delight of the audience.

At a concert at Shanmugananda Hall in Bombay, a member of the audience asked Chembai if he could sing a song on Bombay. Chembai, with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, said he could. He went on to sing "Aadu paambae, vilayadu paambae".

Parveen Sultana's first concert in Madras was another occasion for a quip. Chembai, who was asked to preside on the occasion and "speak a few words", made just this observation: "I don't know much about Hindustani music. But this I know: I have a good saareeram and the lady here has both good saareeram and sareeram." The second was a reference to Parveen's attractive appearance.

The above are just illustrative examples, and there are indeed a lot more. In fact Chembai was always in a jovial mood in his concerts, making jokes every now and then as a contrast from the seriousness and orthodoxy of his music.