Saturday, November 28, 2009

Maharajapuram Sri Santanam - Concert

I saw and heard Sri Santanam in Seventies. Not his Seventies of course!
I was not really impressed.
Later I heard a lot of his music.
I am nobody to comment on his music but, you could see his rising throughout!

This is what I found about Sri Santanam on the net.

Endowed with an enchantingly sweet voice and dedicated to the practice of classical music in his individualistic style, Maharajapuram Santhanam has earned the admiration of a massive majority of music lovers. He was the second son of his illustrious father, Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer. Fondly called "chinna kothandu" by his family, Santhanam sang with his father in concerts over a number of years from an early age.


Santaanam had his initial training under Melattur Sama Dikshithar and under his father. While joining his father in concerts, he simultaneously completed his schooling from the Town High School, Kumbakonam in 1945.

Though Santhanam's initiation into carnatic music began in 1948, at a marriage, to be quickly followed by a formal debut at the South Indian Club in Calcutta, he emerged as a 'complete musician' only in the 1970s, music critics say.

Santhanam gave a recital at the Thyagaraja Aradhana festival at Thiruvaiyaru in 1952 and made his appearance at the Music Academy in Madras, the Mecca of Carnatic musicians in 1958-59.

During 1960-65, Santhanam served as the HOD of the Ponnambalam Ramanathan College of Music in Jaffna in Sri Lanka.

Endowed with a 'genuine classicism', Santhanam was on the expert committe of the Music Academy for a number of years.

He won several titles and honours, including the 'Padmashri' in 1990,
'Sangeeta Kalanidhi' from the Music Academy in 1989,
Sangeeta Natak Academy award in 1984,
TN Govt's 'KalaiMamani' award.
"Sangeetha Sudhakara" by the Yoga vedanta University at Rishikesh.

A former "Asthana Vidwan" of the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam and the Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt. Sri Santhanam was also bestowed with the "Gana Kalanidhi" by Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati of Sringeri, and "Sangitha Sagaramritha Varshi" by Sri Jayendra Saraswati of the Kanchi mutt.

The forte of Santhanam's singing technique was the art of communicating profound musical expressions with an easy to absorb simplicity. Towards this end he modulated his voice effectively to stress the nuances of a raga sanchara or to bring out the elegance of the sahitya in a song. In his kutcheris one could not discern the distinction between a weighty song and a thukkada, for he treated each song with consummate embellishment that long after he stopped singing the piece, it lingered in the ears of the listener.

It used to be said of Vidwans of yesteryears that their kutcheri pattern was marked by proportion - raga alapana, songs, and swaras. Santhanam was out-and-out a follower of this great tradition. In another aspect too he belonged to the galaxy of Viswanatha Iyer and his contemporaries. He had immense faith in the grandeur of familiar ragas, uplifting the quality of performancc- say Kalyani, Sankarabharana, or Khamboji.

Like his father, Santhanam took classical carnatic music to people in his melodious style and was marching with vigor and determination winning the hearts of overflowing audiences. Without deviating from the classical style of good quality, he made his recitals highly entertaining. He had a rich repertoire of songs. His mellow presentation, the pieces and rendition of ragas, neravals and swaras had a pleasant style of classicism satisfying common AND elite listeners. His many commercial cassettes are treasured in the homes of his admirers as a valuable possession.

Maharajapuram had respect for fellow musicians. The Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer trust founded by him in the name of his father in 1985 has been honouring senior musicians every year with awards and financial assistance and arranging concerts of eminent and young artists.

Santhanam's encouragement and sincere appreciation of the accompanists was as generous as his music was great. He was one who could create the satisfaction of a 4 hour concert in 2 hours. Programming was such that while neraval and swaraprasthanams moved with grace, the alapana threw open the magic casement of the aesthetic charm, the song bridged both.

The concert being presented here is exceptionally good!
Sri Santanam and the accompanists enjoyed every bit of it!

 The Team:


Sri Maharajapuram Santanam - Vocal
(Vocal Support by Sri Ramachandran?)
Sri M S Gopalakrishnan - Violin
Sri Guruvayur Dorai - Mridangam

List of items:

01 Rajarajeswari Sive Pahimam - Poornachandrika.mp3
02 Brihadambikayai - Vasanta.mp3
03 Anandamritakarshini - Amritavarshini.mp3
04 Tripura Sundari - Sama.mp3
05 Kamakshi - Varali.mp3
06 Kalyani Ragam.mp3
07 Pahi Pahi Sharade - Kalyani.mp3
08 Himachalatanaya - Anandabhairavi.mp3
09 Shanmukhapriya Ragam Tanam.mp3
10 Devi Sri Tripurasundari - pallavi.mp3
11 Srichakraraja - Ragamalika.mp3
12 Tunga teera Virajam - Salaga Bhairavi.mp3
13 Suttum Vizhi Chudar.mp3
14 Senthamiz Nadu.mp3
15 Mangalam.mp3



Link:
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=10f3f26dc390f408ab1eab3e9fa335ca7647b3753b845f8b

Enjoy great music!!
************

1 comment:

Anjana said...

thank u very much sir