Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan - The passing of a Violin Maestro

[NOV]

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Chennai (PTI): Violin maestro Kunnakudi R Vaidyanathan died in a hospital here on Monday night after prolonged illness here.

He was 75 and is survived by wife and two daughters.

Vaidyanathan was admitted to the hospital following cardiac problems and the end came around 8.45 pm, family sources said.

Vaidyanathan, known for introducing novelties in his violin concerts, had performed all over the world. His concerts with 'Thavil', a traditional south Indian drum instrument, was welcomed by music lovers in the country.

He also composed music for several films.

He had headed the 'Iyal Isai Nataka Mantram' (Sangeetha Nataka Academy) of Tamil Nadu for several years.

He was also the Secretary of Thygabrahma Sabha, Tiruvaiyaru in Thanjavur district, which organised the annual Aradhana Festival of the great Carnatic music composer Saint Thyagaraja.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200809090327.htm

[NOV]

Condolences to the family of Sangeetha Maamani Shri K. Vaidyanathan. His 64 year journey into the music world will never be forgotten.

ulagangal yaavum un arasaangamE, ovvondrum nee seyyum adhigaaramE

[Thalafanz]

Deepest condolences to his family & reatives.
A big loss indeed to music world. :cry2:
May his soul rest in peace...

[jumbo]

Hearty condolences to his family. A Man who who gave music lovers so much joy will be missed. May his soul rest in peace.

[joe]

கண்ணீர் அஞ்சலி! :cry:

[Shakthiprabha.]

Offering my respects and praying for his peace!

:bow:

[P_R]

Most enjoyable violinist, particularly for uninformed listeners like yours truly. But even nuanced listeners did have a lot of nice things to say about him.

He once came on NayyAndi Durbar and explained why he was expressive with his face when he played. He said when he played, he cannot distance himself from the music. And then he played "Thiruchendoorin KadalOrathil" with an expressionless face to show how lifeless that would be :lol:

He will be missed.

PS: One of the earliest violin memories was a cassette I listened to by Kunnakkudi Vaidyanathan with keyboard support by one Dilip Kumar !

[wrap07]

A Wizard who made the violin look like childs play for him. A brilliant improviser who mastered in both classical/light music. His wide of knowledge of music is well known. He was one of those who gave demonstration of how ragas if sung/played in true spirit could cure certain illness.

He was instrumental and enthusiastic in the Thyagaraja Aradana Festivals every year. NO one can forget "Maruthamalai Mamaniye Murugaiya" sung soulfully by Madurai Somu tuned by Kunnakudi as mentioned in Hindu. He was giving a programme on ragas with his enriched knowledge to viewers on Jaya TV for quite some time. Sure he will be missed.

May his soul rest in peace :notworthy:

[Nerd]

Rest in Peace. Doorsarshan (and later sun TV) used to have this program on deepAvaLi days - anRum inRum. Kunnakkudi sir plays an old song and a new song with his violin. He always started with maruthamalai maamaNiyE. It was a blissful experience watching the program. He will be missed for sure.

How many movies has he composed for? Deivam and agathiar are on top of my head.

[NOV]

many movies. the song I quoted is from thiruvarul.

he last appeared in anniyan and also helped organise the function.

[selvakumar]

Violinnu nenachu enakku therinja orae nabar ivar thaan.. May his soul rest in peace :(

[madhu]

May his soul rest in peace :(

[app_engine]

Heartfelt condolences!

Phenomenal talent in violin...will be missed by all ThamizharkaL:-(

[Sureshs65]

He used to be a major draw in concerts that were organized in Vadapalani temple. This was during the summer months long time back. The concert would start a bit late in the evening and would go on to the wee hours of the morning. The crowd would be sitting there patiently listening to him and waiting for him to play their favorites like 'Marudamalai Mamaniye', Magudi etc. He used to interact with the audience well and though it was open air sitting, the atmosphere was one of a chamber concert. The audience could connect easily with the artist and Kunnakudi encouraged such participation. Madurai Somu was also a major draw here.

May his soul rest in peace.

[Bhoori]

In hindsight, I should have moved my post on kunnakkudi - http://awardakodukkaranga.wordpress.com/2008/09/10/வயலின்-நாதத்துக்கு-ஒரு-வ/ - here. Is there a consolidated list of Kunnakkudi movies, songs etc. somewhere in these pages?

[karthik_sa2]

:cry2: RIP

[RC]

What a great talent! May his soul rest in peace!

[yvsmani]

I had the chance to witness his music concert 2 years back at delhi and after playing carnatic music, he started blending around 50 cine songs and played continuously without break for around 15 minutes.
Great talent.

[NOV]

A Tribute to Sri Kunnakudi Vaidhyanathan
Pookadaikku Vilambaram Edhukku?

(based on an interview to Malaysian radio almost 10 years ago, and from figments of memory of yonder days.)

playing in the background: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifRoii_Yk2o&feature=related

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Sri Kunnakudi Vaidhyanathan was born in the temple town of Kunnakudi on 2 March 1935 to Ramaswamy-Meenakshi thambadhigal, in a family reknown for music.

He was initially made fun by his family members as he was not keen on music quite unlike the rest of his relatives. That came to a sudden change when a scheduled violinist didn't turn up for a katchEri by his father, who then publicly appointed Sri Kunnakudi as his next violinist!

Folk tale: When he was a young boy, a man appeared and slapped Sri Kunnakudi for using the vibuthi wrongly. He then showed him the correct way of applying it. When Sri Kunnakudi returned to the scene with his father, the man was missing and Sri Kunnakudi belives that the man was none other than Lord Murugan himself! Since then, Sri Kunnakudi had always spotted his trademark vibuthi.

As they say, the rest was history and Sri Kunnakudi became synonymous with violin, which until then was just a pakka vaaththiyam (thunai isai karuvi). Sri Kunnakudi was observing how the veenai, pullangkuzhal vidhwans were giving katcheris playing solo and decided to do the same with violin. Due to his persistence and excellence, violin became accepted as a main instrument in concert.

A joke: Sri Kunnakudi and Kadri Gopalnath wanted to do a joint-concert in Malaysia, but were not permitted. Why? Too much of sax and violins. :) Such was the impact of Sri Kunnakudi and the violin.

Sulamangalam sisters were recording and releasing Murugan bakthi songs as non-filmy albums, with Sri Kunnakudi providing the simple but catchy music. AP Nagarajan was a friend and was impressed by Sri Kunnakudi's talents. He decided to use Sri Kunnakudi on an experimental basis and gave Sri Kunnakudi one song to set music to, in his film. The film was Kandhan Karunai and the song? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ-emir1ucI

Now convinced on Sri Kunnakudi's abilities, AP Nagarajan moved from his asthaana MD, KV Mahadevan, to Sri Kunnakudi for his next film Vaa Raaja Vaa, which was released in 1969. Although TMS and PS were riding high then, Sri Kunnakudi did not use thier voices for his debut film, since the story was of a little boy (Master Prabhakar) and his adventures in Maamallapuram. The song kallellaam silai senjaan pallava raaja andha kadhai solla vandhEn chinna raaja by LRE captured the attention of many.

[NOV]

A musician was born! From the leagues of TR Paappa and TK Raamamoorty, violinists in thier own right, Sri Kunnakudi became a succesful musician with offers to direct music for several films. It must be mentioned that Sri Kunnakudi had already worked under prominent musicians such as G. Ramanathan and SM Subbiah Naidu.

Special mention must be made of AP Nagaran's Thirumalai Thenkumari and Kan Katchi. In Kan Katchi he made SP Bala sing anangan angathan anban ( http://tfmpage.com/stream/pow06/anangan_kk.rm ) on a very peculiar thaalam. SP Bala sounds very much like hero Sivakumar in the song. Santhanam wrote the lyrics.

When AP Nagarajan was making the film Navarathnam, APN approached Sri Kunnakudi and said that MGR would have his own preferences and he may not be able to use Sri Kunnakudi. But that was not to be as MGR with known knowledge on music also knew that Sri Kunnakudi was the asthaana isai amaippaalar for APN.

Apparently MGR was also a fan of Sri Kunnakudi's music and had initially appointed Sri Kunnakudi as the MD for his ambitious Ulagam Sutrum Vaaliban and had even a song recorded. Sri Kunnakudi says that it is public knowledge that MSV took over (what happened? Maybe jaambavaans like Manisekaran or Murali would care to explain).

Anyway, in the film Navarathinam, there was to be a song that reflected western music, carnatic music and also hindustan music. It was to be a gypsy song and MGR wanted "something different." Sri Kunnakudi did the unthinkable and had Bala Murali Krishna and Vani Jayram to sing the song, kuruvikkaara machaanE...!

Sri Kunnakudi firmly believed that music was natural and could brieng relief to the sick. He had set aside a Raga Research institute to further develop this. He mentioned that his father recovered from coma when Sri Kunnakudi played the violin! Such is the man's unshakeable belief in music. He had also released an album called KAAVERI with the soothing sounds of the jungle. (Anyone?)

[RR]

Nov,

kalakkareenga! :clap:

kuruvikkaara machaanE is indeed a shocker. I still can't imagine how BMK agreed to sing it.

[NOV]

APN directed the Sivakumar, Kamalahasan starrer, Mel Naattu Marumagal, in the mid 19702. Sri Kunnakudi claims to be the first person to produce a pop song (sung by Usha Udup) Life is a flower.. The film also has the lovely muthamizhil paada vandhEn muruganai vanagi nindrEn by Vani Jeyram. I remember in one interview in the 70s Sri Kunnakudi said that when the french actress was first introduced to him, she was shocked and doubted whether he could give the "right kind of music." After seeing his output, apparently she fell on his feet and acknowledged his greatness. :roll:

Sri Kunnakudi also achieved another first when he was appointed the MD for south india's first film in cinemascope, Raja Raja Cholan.
While handling a historical subject was not a big deal for Sri Kunnakudi, he said that he was shocked that three great vidhwans were acting in the film. He made all three of them sing together in one song, mindful of their respective needs to outdo each other! The vidhwans were Sirgazhiyar, S. Varaletchumy and TR Mahalingam. Sri Kunnakudi gave each of them their own microphone and witnessed their group talent.


Song #4: thanjai periya kOvil(raajaraaja chOzhan)
Movie: raajaraaja chOzhan
Singers: T.R.Mahalingam, Seergaazhi gOvindharaajan and S.Varalakshmi
MD: Kunnakukudi Vaithyanaathan
Lyrics:
Cast: Sivaaji,S.Varalakshmi,TRM,Lakshmi, Muthuraaman

SG: nanjaik kazhanigaLin naayaganE nee vaazhga
TRM: nadanamidum kaavErik kaavalanE nee vaazhga
SV: thanjamena varuvOrkku thanjam vazhanguginRa
thanjai peruvudaiya thalaivanE nee vaazhga
SG and TRM: venjamaril vetRi kaNdu anjalikkum makkaLukkoR
viNNuyar periya kOvil thandha veera raaja raaja chOzhanE nee vaazhga

SG and TRM: thanjai periya kOvil pallaaNdu vaazhgavE
thanjai periya kOvil pallaaNdu vaazhgavE EEEEEEEEEEE
thanjai periya kOvil pallaaNdu vaazhgavE
dhaaraNiyil thamizh pOla nilai ninRu vaazhgavE
dhaaraNiyil thamizh pOla nilai ninRu vaazhgavE
thanjai periya kOvil pallaaNdu vaazhgavE E E EEEE

SG: moonRu nilangaLukkum mudi soodinaan
buvanam muzhudhum puli poRiththa kodi naattinaan
moonRu nilangaLukkum mudi soodinaan
buvanam muzhudhum puli poRiththa kodi naattinaan
thOnRum idangalil than pugazh naattinaan
thOnRum idangalil than pugazh naattinaan
enrum chOzhar prambaraikkE vazhi kaattinaan
chOzhar prambaraikkE vazhi kaattinaan
chOzhan vazhi kaattinaan

SV:aaya kalaigaL pala nilai naatinaan
thamizh aaLum arignarukku sabai kootinaan
kannith thamizh aaLum arignarukku sabai kootinaan
thooyavar thamai vaazhvil thuNai koottinaan
chOzhan thottadhai ellaam ponnaakkinaan
thottadhai ellaam ponnaakkinaan
chozhan ponnaakkinaan

TRM: aRam kaakka aRach chaalai uruvaakkinaan aaaaaaaaaaaa naa..aaaaaaaaana...aaaaaaa
aRam kaakka aRa chaalai uruvaakkinaan
maRam kaakka padai chaalai uruvaakkinaan
uyar kalvik koodangaL uruvaakkinaan
bakthi vaLarnthida aalayam uruvaakkinaan
chOzhan uruvaakkinaan

All: thanjai periya kOvil pallaaNdu vaazhgavE
dhaaraNiyil thamizh pOla nilai ninRu vaazhgavE
dhaaraNiyil thamizh pOla nilai ninRu vaazhgavE
thanjai periya kOvil pallaaNdu vaazhgavE

[NOV]

:ty: RR

motivated by the love for Sri Kunnakudi's violin (aadatha manamum undO?) and the repeat of the 1999 live interview on minnal.fm today. :D

[NOV]

Background: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_53uUXkqUw&feature=related

Sri Kunnakudi said that he was like a supermarket and anyone can derive anything they want from him. He also produced a film - based on music naturally - Thodi Ragam with TN Seshagopalan and Nalini (Ramarajan's ex-wife). The story was of the hero giving up his favourite raga to his arch competitor. How he regains back his raaga told the remaining story. Sri Kunnakudi set a song in the film, vaa vaa thalaivaa in the style of a katcheri. RR had mentioned earlier that thodiyil paada vanthen Odi nee varuvaai murugaa, sung by TN Sheshagopalan in his favourite ragam thodi, was the other song.

Although he had much expectations on the film, Thodi Ragam did not have an effect on the audience and thus ended the short life of Sri Kunnakudi as a film producer. He mentioned that he was producing another film in 1999, but I failed to take note of the title.

As to be only expected Sri Kunnakudi had strings of titles, including the prestigious Padmasri title. Sangeetha Mamani, Karnaadaga Isaignani, Violin Eshan were some of his other awards.

His last appearance in a film was in Shankar's Anniyan. Sri Kunnakudi actually recretaed the Thyagaraja Aaraadhanai festival that was used for the beginning of the iyengaaru veettu azhagE. You would be able to recognise the ever smiling Sri Kunnakudi in that song. His formula? Smile like you enjoy playing your instrument and it will show in your performance.

In Sri Kunnakudi we had a true musician who breathed his last a few days ago. Sir, you will never be forgotten as long as Tamil music lives in the world.

I conclude this tribute with this piece:

Colours - A.R. Rahman, Kunnakudi vaidyanathan, Zakir Hussain - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnImBrgYiNw&feature=related

Thank you.

p/s: MS, please feel free to correct any mistakes I may have made. :)

[crazy]

RIP

[madhu]

NOV..

idhu KV pathi ezhudha vENdiya thread enbadhAl
ungaL write-upkku kai thattavillai !

KV Thirumalai thenkumariyilEyE. manorAmA pAda "பாடணும்னு மனசுக்குள்ளே ஆச நெறய் கீது"appadinnu oru folk tune pOttu irundhAr. appuRam avarE pAdiya "kottampatti roatilE" innonnu..

MGR-ukku navarathinam pOla shivaji-ukku manidhanum deivamAgalAm.. reNdu periya nadigargaLukkum music compose senja perumai avarukkum undu.

[Murali Srinivas]

Dear NOV,

Good piece on Kunnakudi. There is nothing to edit. Whatever you have written is correct and the small corrections would be only nit picking.

Like - it was not USV after Navarathinam. Because USV was conceived in 1970 (Remember Expo -70). But the distributors refused to accept KV and MGR had to go back to MSV. He didn't accept it and only after KV himself came in person and tolsd MSV to accept the offer, MSV agreed. KV was paid the salary by MGR.

Navarathinam - The Western classical fusion was not Kurivikaara Machane but it was another song. Not getting the first line.

Like Madhu said, KV did music for two NT films. Raja Raja chozhan and Manidhanum Deivamaagalaam. The only problem was he used tunes of his earlier songs which had come as a Bakthi Album.

Otherwise, a tribute for a deserving soul.

Regards

[littlemaster1982]

பெங்களூரில் ஒரு கச்சேரி... விடியற்காலையே தன் பக்கவாத்திய ஜமாவுடன் போய்விட்டார். `லேட்டஸ்ட் கன்னட ஹிட் பாடல்கள் கேட்கணும். சிடியோ கேஸட்டோ வேண்டும். வாங்கிட்டுவா' என்று முதல் வேலையாக தனது உதவியாளர் பழனியை அனுப்பினார். அடுத்த அரைமணிநேரத்தில் புனித் ராஜ்குமார், உபேந்திரா என்று இன்றைய கன்னட ஸ்டார்கள் நடித்த படப் பாடல்களின் சி.டி.க்கள் வந்தன. உடனே எல்லா சி.டி.க்களையும் ஒருமுறை ஓடவிட்டு கண்களை மூடி கேட்டவர்...

கொஞ்சநேரத்தில் `போதும்' என்று எழுந்துகொண்டார். மதியம் குட்டி தூக்கம் போட்டவர் மாலை கச்சேரிக்கு ரெடியானார்.
ஏழு மணிக்கே வழக்கம்போல் எக்கச்சக்க கூட்டம். முதல் இரண்டு மணிநேரம் சம்பிரதாயமாக அவருக்கு பிடித்தமான சண்முகப்ரியாவையும், ஆபேரியையும் வாசித்து தனி ஆவர்த்தனம் விட்டபோது கடும் பனியில் கூட்டம் லேசாக கலைய... வாத்தியகாரர்கள் வாசித்து முடித்த கையோடு, காலையில் கேட்ட கன்னட திரைப்பட பாடல்களை அதன் பி.ஜி.எம். கூட மாறாமல் அட்சர சுத்தமாக வாசிக்க... கலைந்த கூட்டம் திபு திபுவென்று ஓடி வர... அங்கே ஆனந்த களேபரம். நள்ளிரவை நெருங்கியபோதும் அரங்கம் திமிலோகப்பட்டது.

அதுதான் குன்னக்குடி. தமிழகம் மட்டுமில்லாமல் கர்நாடகா, கேரளா, ஆந்திராவிலும் மிகப் பெரிய கூட்டத்தை தனது இசையால் கட்டிப்போட்ட மகாவித்வான். காலையில் கேட்ட பாட்டை எப்படி அப்படியே வாசிக்க முடிந்தது? அசுர உழைப்பும், அபார ஞானமும் குன்னக்குடியின் சொத்து! இல்லாவிட்டால் பதினோரு வயதில் அரியக்குடி என்கிற சங்கீத சிங்கத்திற்கு பக்கவாத்யம் வாசித்திருக்க முடியுமா?

``நான் ஒரு டிபார்ட்மெண்டல் ஸ்டோர். உங்களுக்கு என்ன வேணும்? கேளுங்கள். மத்யமாவதி வேணுமா வாங்கிக்கோ.

`மதுரைக்கு போகாதடி' வேணுமா... தர்றேன். உங்களை திருப்திப்படுத்தாமல் வயலினை கீழே வைக்க மாட்டேன்'' என்று கச்சேரிகளில் அவர் முழங்கும்போது கைதட்டல் ஓய வெகுநேரம் ஆகும். அவர் வயலின் பாடும், பேசும், சண்டை போடும், கொக்கரிக்கும், சிரிக்கும், அழும்... அதெல்லாம் அவரால் மட்டுமே சாத்தியம்!``என் கச்சேரிகளைப் பிடித்தால் பாஸிடிவாக எழுதுங்கள்.
பிடிக்காவிட்டால் கிழியுங்கள். கவலையில்லை. ஆனால் எழுதாமல் புறக்கணிக்காதீர்கள். அதுதான் என்னை காயப்படுத்தும்'' என்று விமர்சகர்களிடம் வெளிப்படையாகப் பேசுவார். தன்னைப் பற்றி ஒரு வரி வந்தால்கூட சம்பந்தப்பட்ட பத்திரிகைக்கு ஞாபகமாக போன் செய்து நன்றி சொல்வார். இந்த சினேக மனப்பான்மையே அவருக்கு சங்கீதத்திலும், வெளியிலும் மிகப் பெரிய நண்பர்கள் வட்டாரத்தை ஏற்படுத்தித் தந்தது!

``எழுபது வயசுக்கு மேல் ஆகிவிட்டது. ஆந்திரா, கேரளா, துபாய் என்று இப்படி பிளேனில் பறப்பது உடம்பிற்கு ஆகுமா? என்றபோது.. "என் பக்க வாத்தியகாரர்கள், உதவியாளர்கள், வீட்டு பணியாளர்கள் என்று என்னைச்சுற்றி இருபது குடும்பங்கள் இருக்குப்பா. அவர்கள் என்னை நம்பியே இருப்பவர்கள். அவர்கள் ஜீவனத்திற்காவது நான் வாசிக்க வேண்டாமா?'' என்றார் அமைதியாக. சிறந்த மனிதாபிமானி.

"என் அப்பா ராமசுவாமி சாஸ்த்ரிகள் ஒருமுறை நோய்வாய்ப்பட்டு சீரியஸாக இருந்தபோது டாக்டர்கள் கைவிட்டுவிட்டார்கள். என்னமோ எனக்குள் ஒரு வெறி. நேரா போய் வயலினை எடுத்து வந்து அப்பாவின் தலைமாட்டில் உட்கார்ந்து அவருக்குப் பிடித்தமான பைரவியை இரண்டு மணிநேரம் விடாமல் வாசித்தேன். அப்பா நினைவு மீண்டார். அப்புறம் ஆறு வருடங்கள் வாழ்ந்தார்'' என்று தன் டீன் ஏஜில் நடந்த ஒரு நெகிழ்வான சம்பவத்தை அடிக்கடி சொல்லியிருக்கிறார் குன்னக்குடி. இம்முறை அவரது தலைமாட்டில் யாராவது அந்த பைரவியை வாசித்திருக்கக் கூடாதா?.

-Tribute by Kumudam.

[Shakthiprabha.]

Thanks for that post lm :bow:

I always remember him for his flashign smile. Siricha mugam. He tried his very best to make carnatic music reach to all categories of music fans. I am sure he is at peace. :bow:

[Designer]

Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan isai amaitha 'Maruthamalai Maamaniye Murugaiyya' ("Deivam"; sung by Madurai Somu) enakku migavum piditha paadalgaLil onRu.

May the Maestro's soul RIP.

[RR]

Navarathinam - The Western classical fusion was not Kurivikaara Machane but it was another song. Not getting the first line.
Murali,
I remember BMK singing the tyagaraja kriti 'Etha vunnara' in Navarathinam. Is that part of this fusion song?

[vramesh]

Kunnakudi was playing the violin in Aishwarya-Dhanush's wedding. Rajini was returning after seeing some guests off. Immediately Kunnakudi thoughtfully played the tune of Chittukku Chella Chittukku. Rajini smiled and wiped away a tear.

Entire music world has become poorer. Loss of a very sweet and compassionate human being. :cry:

I can't forget his 2002 doordarshan interview, where he was very gentle and nice to all the people calling in and asking basic questions to a great artist. Next to IR-MSV, my favorite personality and a super human being.