The Lighter side of Carnatic Music

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Topic started by Narayanan (nana) on Wed Sep 29 08:15:12 .


The topic actually Should read "Light Moments in Carnatic Music".
This thread is to share info. about humour in carnatic arena... vidhwans and their light experiences.

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Let me start with Sri Ramnad Krishnan. He is a Saivite and used to crack jokes and comment on Vaishnavites.
He used to say that only 4 vaishnavites (Iyengar) do not do any harm. They are
1. Child Iyengar.
2. Dead Iyengar
3. Yet to be born Iyengar
4. Sleeping Iyengar

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The following was told by one of my friend. I don't know if this is true but I laughed for 10 mts after listening to this.To get the real effect I've tried to put the exact tamil literation.


It seems once Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer was supposed to give a concert in a wedding ceremony at Tanjore.

The bride's father requested that his son (bride's brother) play the Mridangam for MV Iyer. He also added that his son is budding artist.

MV Iyer agreed on the matter. After the concert wa s over , the following happened.

Bride's Father (BF): En Son Eppadi vaasichaan?

MVI: Avan enga en paatukku vasichaan. "Avan pattukku" vasichidindiundhan.

BF musters some courage and questions MVI.

BF: Enna aanalum neenga avanukku thani AAvarthana kotduthirukkanum!

MVI: Oh! Atha kekkarela !!Kutchery poora avan thania thane vasichindirundhan. Athanalathan...

Hope you enjoyed it!!

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There is another Incident about MVI. In one of his concerts, after the actual concert is over, MVI was chatting with the Sabha people and there were a lot of public nearby. Semmangudi, who is MVI's disciple had come just then to the sabha. He prostrated in front of his guru. Immediately MVI said loudly,
"Ellaarum nee Sevikkaradhai Parthaachu Podhum Ezhundukko!"

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Another Example of Ramnad Krishnan's pranks on Vaishnavites. If he sees a person with a Naaman in his forehead, RK immediately asks "Neenga Iyengaar aa ?" If the person says "Yes", RK replies, "Oho.. Naangaellaam Brahmanaa...".

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There are lot of subbudu's comments. One i heard recently in his interview:

Q: what do you think of the new age carnatic singers?
Subbudu: ippollaam neraya per paada vanthuttaa. gayatri, sudha, sowmya, semiya, uppumaa ippadi..

(Sorry, you need to know tamil to appreciate this.)

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nArAyaNan,

the last one (nAnga brAhmaNA) was a very good one. :-)))))))

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After a wedding reception performance by the late Shri. Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, the groom's father told the music legend: Your recital now is much superior to what you sang last year. Ariyakudi replied " Ivvidam pattu appidiye dhaan irukku. Avvidam dhaan gnaanam konjam vandhirukku. Adhanal dhaan appidi theriyaradhu"

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>Subbudu: ippollaam neraya per paada vanthuttaa. gayatri, sudha, sowmya, semiya, uppumaa ippadi..
If it was told for humor thats ok.. But Does anyone think that these kind of comments will encorage youngsters?? I heard Sowmya is doing some kind of new programs(Raganubhava), that more explains the Bhavas of Ragas.. Recently 'Sowmya and Sashikiran' presented this program that explains various aspects of raga Sahaana. For more info have a look @ http://www.sangeetham.com/raganubhava/sahana.htm (http://www.sangeetham.com/raganubhava/sahana.htm
)
I HATE these kind of comments.. I think nobody is inferior to anybody.. Everybody has their own intellegence..
Can I say "Ippollaam nerayapear criticize panna vanthuttaa subbudu appudu-nnu.. Vaaikku vanthathalellaam sollidaraa!!"..

Sorry if you feel I'm wrong.
Thanks,
Sarav.

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That's not applicable for Subbudu. He's been around a real looooong time. He's not a neophyte. He's known for scathing attacks on performers. He's a critic and that's his job. He's also given nice reviews for mellowed artistes and good performances of even a beginner.

That joke may be Subbudu's attempt at humor and sometimes humor offends some people -- case in point, polish jokes, sardar jokes, limmericks etc.,. One thing though - this is nothing compared to his attacks on stalwarts of yesteryears. Music ciritics are often quite knowledgeable and do a great and thankless job of separating men from the boys or women from the girls, as the case may be. Without naming names, let me add that there are young artistes who need to go a long way before getting mellowed and induce sowkhyam in music. Today everyone gets rave reviews for just getting on the stage or for releasing CDs or whatever. We gotta accept that they are doing a great job of "popularising" carnatic music. But it may not appeal to a critic who believes Carnatic Music to be steeped in tradition and simply praise their performance when it is not up to the mark. Singing in false voice and series of repeating swarams at neck breaking speed do not reveal ones manodharmam. It may tickle the audience and may earn applause but that's a disservice to the beauty and depth of C. Music.

There's been a disturbing trend in carnatic music rasika circle these days. We seem to give standing ovations to even mediocre concerts and heap adulations on not-so-deserving artistes. It's the critic that brings in some semblence of sanity in these heady days of praising anyone and everyone.

Sorry, had to steam off a bit.... ;-)

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I once attended a Pandit Jasraj concert.

As is usual in such concerts, there is a lot of pomp and occasion, as the audience and singer try to recreate some grand court ambience. Several ladies dressed gaudily and with full war-paint (makeup) make it a point to go to the powder-room and return with a lot of flourish. Jasraj seemed to actually relish this and not mind it even if it happened right in front of him, right during his renditions. The organisers didn't control it either.

As usual, Jasraj was treated like a rock star and there were several, raucous calls from the cheap seats for him to sing his pet piece 'Mataa Kali Ka' in Adaana, ( an upper octave Darbari Kanada of sorts ).

With a mischievous smile at the attention-hungry ladies flitting in front of him, he said

' Ab kya gaaunga Mata Kali Ka ?
Mata Kaliyan sab ja rahe hain ! '

What Mata Kali Ka am I going to sing now ?
All the Mata Kalis are leaving !

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Sree:

I agree with you totally on the present day. Looks like carnatic music is racing away in its path of globalisation. Break neck speed seems to be the name of the game. Everybody wants to sing akara Sangathis whether or not they are able to do it properly. Raga Alapanas seem to be a jet cruise with no time both for the artist and the audience to digest.
Also people have a set of krithis to sing which make it very stale. You could bet your life savings on what each artist would sing in a given raga and most of them do not give a performance but just execution - the same sangathis and the same speed. "Anubavichu padaradhu" is just not there in many concert singers of the day

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Sree/Siva:
I remember once listening to a Semmangudi kutchery on tape. The main RTP was over, and he had sung a couple of Thukkaadas as well (almost 3 hrs). It started raining heavily outside and the crowd could not go anywhere. Semmangudi spole on the mike and said "Velleela Mazhaila nanaiyaradhukku ulla Sangetha mazhaiyile innum konjam ninaiyungo" and started singing Sankarabharanam. The concert continued for another 1.5 hours with Sankarabharanam and another Tani from PMI. One of the great concerts i have ever heard. Such was the dedication of artists then. It is so pathetic to see the attitude of today's artists. We do need more Subbudus...

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I am curious about how seriously the Vidwans took Subbudu or others, if at all.

Critics of this style ( newspaper ) flourish in the Western concept and exert an influence on an artist since thes opinion can matter to organisers , future engagements etc. In Western art etc. such a critic carries enormous influence on careers.

I wonder how the artists today react or care or how they can be made to , if needed?

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I heard somewhere that Yesudas refuses to sing anywhere where Subbudu is present. SVK of The Hindu is highly respected and his opinions count. I don't think artistes care too much about "matrum palar" reviewers. ;-)

Reviews do have an effect on artistes. I remember a thread in rmic newgroup that was unkind to Sowmya's performance that day up in Flint, MI. Later somebody who hosted her wrote that she was defending herself etc.,. etc.,. Anyway, the point is artistes do look at these reviews.

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Narayanan:

While artistes do need to respect the critics what we need is an unbiased opinion and not because I did not smile at the critic/ prostrate before him (typical Tamil Nadu style) the previous day before the kutcheri. I have heard that there was a one violinist who had planned to file a defamation suit for subuddu's comments on the concerts. It should not be also that critics should not look for cheap publicity using their position.

I saw a recent review (Dec Season) of Nityashree where the reviewer commented that her voice in uchastai was like Nadaswaram (probably referring to a cassette where she is accompanied by Thavil)

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There is GNB concert where during Pantuvarali, I think, Chowdiah speaks up , challenging those who claimed that GNB could miss his sruti, to be there to witness what GNB was doing. Everyone seems to have a big laugh at this. anyone else heard this ??

In this context, can anyone comment how the bhashaanga swara migrates during Murchana or sruti-Bhedam ( for Janya ragas ) of , say, Bilahari to Yadukula Kamboji. If GNB was overdoing this and missing the transform of this swara it could have been one problem. Thanks

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In a Trichur. V. Ramachandran concert, there was this guy on the thamburaa... he seemed to be moving away from the vocalist for some wierd reason and V.R. was patiently asking him to come forward so he could listen to the thambura sruthi better... this was going on for almost more than an hour... then an impatient V.R. sang "sonnadhei seidhida" :).... houseful auditorium broke into laughter ::)))

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Once (1960s) in a town near Kanchipuram, Salem Chellam Iyengar was singing in a temple concert. There was a decent crowd and SCI was impressed.
There was an elderly man sitting int he front row staring at Sri SCI. The vidhwan, to impress this rasika flashed several "birkas" but the rasika would not respond positively. In between krithis, he spoke to the violinist about this and the conversation went like this (you need to know tamil)

SCI to Violinist : "enna ivvalavu birkaa paadinalum avar thalaiye aatta maatengaraaru?"
Violinist after speking to the organizer, who referred to some temple people and comes back.
Violinist : "Avar innaiku illai inimel ennaikum thalai aata maattaru" and said that it was a dead body waiting to be carried to the cementry. (People in a caste called Kammaala bury the dead in seating posture - preferably in a chair).

The Vidhwan lost his sruti and did not recover for the rest of the concert.

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oh-uh, that's so morbid!

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I have a different take on the 'stiff' in the audience.

A vidwan began a concert and before long most of the people trickled out. He kept going but the exodus did not stop. Finally after a few hours there was only one bloke left. To this guy, the vidwan felt, he owed the fruits of his art and manodharma. After some more ragas, even the Vidwan began to tire. Ultimately he called off the concert.

But he was very curious about his solitary rasika. He went up to to the chap and began to thank him for his patience, patronage and music appreciation.

For which the chap replied 'It is my carpet you were sitting on. I was simply waiting for you to finish before reclaiming it !!'

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HI
This is very interesting site. I enjoyed all the jokes and laughed and laughed.
You need lighter moments like this.
Now coming to a serious question, I am interested in collecting Mayavaram Rajam and Madurai Somu's songs. If any body has it, I will pay for it.
Specially I want the song tape or atleast the lyrics for his song-- "Maadu Meykkumm Kanna, inda mandalem ellam penna>"
Please some body help me
MR

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>>> You need lighter moments like this.
Now coming to a serious question, <<<

Jeez, M. Ramachandran, this thread is for lighter moments not Light music. I hope you get your request taken care of ( if not here, then maybe on one of the several others threads it appears ..! )

I have a real-life anecdote to relate. I will not use any names but it is absolutely true and occurred in the last 15 years. A top ranking artiste was on a Western tour and between concerts/cities was hosted for a night in a private apartment. Now, the artiste knew all the intricate details of new and old raagas/talams and how to switch between bhashaanga swaras with or without the 'ahad' gamakas but was completely unaware of modern, Western toilet facilities. Too shy to ask, or maybe in too much of a hurry, the artiste ended up using the shower tub for ALL, repeat ALL, duties ! Needless to say the apartment was forthwith evacuated !! This incident was a lot more serious for the hapless apartment residents, but gives a mildly humorous insight into the resilience of some old-time ways. I shudder to think what happened on the trans-continental flights.( sorry for any perceived crudity, not intended )

Just goes to show that 'swara gyanam' doesn't necessarily mean you know your backside from a hole in the ground.

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I think this is the right thread to post. :) Don't miss it.

http://www.rediff.co.in/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ExecMacro/TheRediffMusicShop/music_content.d2w/report?fname=1905sub.htm

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i have heard that maharajapuram vishwanatha iyer
used to have a great sense of huour.
anyone knows any anecdotes? - should be interesting.

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I have heard this one about Ariyakudi.

Rasikar: unga thOdi thOdu maathiri azhakaakavum alangaaramaagavum irukku.

Ariyakkudi: kaathula pOttundaa sari.

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This is not about Carnatic and it is a fairly well-known story.It concerns the concerts that Ravi Shankar and Allah Rakha would give abroad in their younger days.

Ravi and allah rakha would just finish tuning their instruments and the audience would give them a standing ovation thinking that they had completed the first piece!!!!

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This may not be restricted to the first piece or to foreign locations either.

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no offence to anyone, but these hindustani musicians take the cake when it comes to putting up a show on stage.
anybody who has organised a hindustani recital would vouch for it.
one of the young, upcoming artistes told us when were organising a music festival that for his concert, he needed 5' x 5' sheets on stage and around 3 aggarbathis!!
these guys really get on your nerves sometimes...

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Test message Please ignore

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hi prasad

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Hey guys,
This is not regarding a concert. This happened in an interview conducted in a music college for admissions to BA Carnatic Music.
The student entered the test hall, and he was asked to sing any item of his choice. The student in turn said that he would sing Ragam Tanam Pallavi. The examiner who was a Sangitha Vidwan , was very excited, since a student of RTP calibre is going to join the BA Music section. The student began singing ... Ragam Tanam Pallavi..naaa madilona kadalaadu..and so on.( you should know Telugu to understand this). For your information these were the starting words of a film song in the Hit"Shankarabharanamu", a Telugu Film..in the 1980s.
From
Ramani,
Hyderabad.

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I have heard that Ariyakkudi had great sense of Humour and good command on Tamil..

a) some rasika asked the difference between Bhairavi and Anandha Bhairavi.. the reply from Ariyakudi is ' the same difference between karandi and padala Karandi ( which is used to pick up items fallen into well) !!

b) In a marriage hall some one mentioned that Rasam tastes good.. Ariyakudi commented ' ellam sari sari ya potta ga ma ga ma innu irukkum ( see the sa ri ga ma notes in his statement)..

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In a concert at Rani Seethai hall at Chennai, Maharajapuram Santhanam was at his Best that evening and around 9.00PM, he asked ' Idhayam Pesukiradhu' Manian who was sitting in the first row ( manian was an ardent lover of Santhanam's Music) ' Enna mangalam padalama' meaning ' Shall I close the Concert with Mangalam'..

Manian replied ' Neenga paadinal evvalavu venumanalum ketkalam' ( meaning If u sing, we can listen without any time limit'..

Santhanam in his suttle humour, replied to manian immediately by singing ' Vilayada Idhu Nerama''..

That was Great Maharajapuram..

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hi everyone,

for more bad jokes and anecdotes, please visit

http://www.geocities.com/promiserani2/jokes.html (<a href=)" target="_top">http://www.geocities.com/promiserani2/jokes.html">http://www.geocities.com/promiserani2/jokes.html - karnATik kaDis

thanks and keep laughing!
rani

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This is a really good site, very useful to find almost all the lyrics I need. The jokes that I read that people sent, sent me flinging to the floor and there I am - sprawling on the floor, laughing!

They are so funny, that has actually brought such an impression to me, saying this is the first place and time I have known music jokes . . .

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This is a really good site. It is indeed the most useful site I have been to, so far, that has nearly all the lyrics I want, and also, all the fun I am having, at reading these hilarious jokes, sent in by real good and brainy people, who have a sense of humour relating to music!

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JOKES SITE IS MORE ENTERTAINING.MOST OF THE JOKES ARE HILARIOUS.HEREWITH IAM SENDING A JOKE.A VIDWAN WENT TO A WEDDING CONCERT IN CHETTINAD.,ALONG WITH ACCOMPANISTS.THEY HAVE LLOTTED AROOMFOR THEM TO STAY.THE ORGANISER CAME AND ASKED THE VIDWAN WHETHER IS COMFORTABLE.HE SAW SOME THING WAS COVERED IN THE CORNER AND ASKED THE VIDWAN "AVARU ENGHA POTHIKITTU PADUTHIRUKARU?VIDWAN REPLIED ATHU THAMBURA SIR,
EVERY BODY LAUGHED ABOUT THE JOKE .

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here is a real life anecdote of maharajapuram vishwanatha iyer. he was travelling in atrain along with his sishyas. he was getting old and needed help for walking towards the toilet on the train. when he wanted to go for a piss in the night and called out, no sishya responded as theyw were all asleep. in the morning, viswanatha iyer said "oNNukku pogaNumdAnnu katharEn. oru paya vAyai therakka mAttengarAn".

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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?

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

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

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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.



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[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" :lol:

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" :lol:

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") :lol:

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.