Sri B N Suresh was an exceptionally good flautist.
I remember to have seen him in a wheel chair.
He was a handsome man.
With his hairstyle, he was also an attractive man.
Here is some information about this wonderful artist.
B N Suresh
The tonal quality of his flute reminds one of Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar’s voice. Suresh, who died of of Liver Cancer at the relatively young age of 44 in 1990, was very well known in Karnataka but was only selectively known outside (Sudha Raghunathan, the vocalist lists him as one of her favorite instrumentalists along with S Balachander and Chitti Babu).
As far as I am aware, his discography consists of just 2 albums – one which has an excellent Hemavathi (”Sri Kanthimatim” of Muthuswami Dikshitar) and a sweet “Kanjadalayatakshi” in Kamala Manohari (also by Dixitar), among others (HMV STHVS 56903). He is accompanied by Lalgudi Jayaraman, Vellore Ramabhadran, and Bangalore Venkataram. This is a must have. The other album is of Purandaradasa’s kritis accompanied by Mysore Manjunath (Violin), Praveen (Mridangam), Bangalore Venkataram (Ghatam), and HP Ramachar (Kanjira). If you are aware of other albums by him, please let me know. I wish All India Radio releases his radio concerts from its archives.
(The recording being presented here is an addition to what is mentioned above.)Suresh’s style was characterized by strong, clean, and clear tone without any hiss and an incredible control over laya (you can time him with a stopwatch – I have seen him in concerts become irritated with the mridangist or the violinist if they tended to speed up or slow down – he would put down his flute and start keeping the tala!). Like Mali, he also used a high pitched flute (5-kattai) believing that it was only when the flute was played at 4 or 5 kattai, that its sweetness, beauty, and clarity came through. His style (bani) was his own, having taken lessons on the flute only for a short while – he admired Mali and was influenced by him but did not try aping his style. His guru, I believe, was the Ghatam/ Mridangam player, Bangalore Venkataram who taught him by singing and having Suresh vocalize on the flute. He has also said that he was influenced by the Alathur brothers.
This is a slightly edited version from a source on the net.
Here we have a beautiful collection of items from one of Suresh's disc.
Items:
01-Viriboni_Varnam-Bharavi.mp3
02-Darini_Telusukonti-Suddha_Saveri.mp3
03-Shanmukhapriya_Ragam_Tanam.mp3
04-Pallavi-Shanmukhapriya.mp3
Link:
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=10f3f26dc390f408ab1eab3e9fa335ca6d0d1d9114265088
Let us enjoy good music.
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2 comments:
Well written sir. I am his nephew and October 7 is his 20th death anniversary. I was searching if there are good records of his available for download on the Internet and I came across this.
Thank you.
cheers
Madhurranjan
Yeah u look like him a bit. Now in LA, am just listening to flute recitals to somehow pass time till I leave for B'lore by Aug 1st! U just can't miss Suresh's flute right? I think it was in late 80's I requested him to play Kambodhi in one of his rendering at a marriage reception. Well, "memories ling around-as the days go by.."(pl listen to this song)he had obliged me immediately then. This Raga, that too with BN playing, more so with his high pitched flute - is like a Kogile singing somewhere on top of a tree.
Well, did he breathe his last in the first week of 91 Oct? My dad had died just then (Gandhi Jayaanti)& a week later I saw, Suresh's & cried. I came back home & wept more. Wondered silently why on earth (several)things happened to him? U never get answers for some, right
Love u Suresh,and your music, because u were simply out of the ordinary
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