It reminds me of the pre independent days when as a small boy, i listened to ssl at Uppaliappan koil, Aippasi kalyana katcheri. and made himself an easy target to vikatam, Thiruvisanallur Ramaswamy to mimicry him.) Musical and vikatam performances were regular features of yearly kalyana kuchcheris at uppiliappan koil.
Divine. I remember his concerts going back to the 1970's when my father took me to the Music Academy. He was one of the few who did not have a program sheet. When asked he said, "I will sing what inspires me at the moment". This inspired me to learn Mridangam resulting in my arangetram in 1979 (Vellore Ramabhadran was one of the chief guests .. a brilliant Mridangam player in his own right) . I became a Mathematician subsequently (Also inspired by father who himself was a Mathematician) There is a subtle connection between Mathematics and Music which is supreme Brahman: Dr. Vijay Vadakkekurputh: Hilliard, OH, USA.
In 1988 i was fortunate to attend the concert , as no seats were available Rs 10/- for stage seat was charged , and more thrilled to see myself in the video, on stage listening the concert after 30 years and sitting just behind Sri Semmangudu mama the whole 150 minutes. Still remember the thukkada and mangalam in the high performance concert of the maestro.
just mindblowing. Look at the cadence of swaras in mayamalavagowla-- what breath control at 81. Only other person who could sing very well at that age was RK Srikanthan- He adherence to Sruti was legendary
That last swara at 44:00 is what Semmangudi sir did BEST! Masterful, yet simple buildup. Performance is about building up tension and then releasing it at the right time. Watch the cascade of phrases ending in Sa Sa. And then ending in Ri Ri. And then back and forth. And the simplest pattern to land it all at Brindavana. Audience burst into a well deserved round of applause. SSI could do this like no other.
The Thani Avartanam from 1:32:40 to 1:44:30 is outstanding. Trichy Sri Sankaran on the Mridangam and Sri G Harishankar on the Kanjira are a treat to watch and listen to in this vintage recording. Thanks for sharing!
Endaro mahaanubhavulu, Andariki vandanamulu.difficult to choose between Chembai, Ariyakudi, Semmangudi,Somu,Mani Iyer and ofcourse Balamurali etc.That was a historical era in 20th century.saint thyagaraja may have blessed them all !!
My favorite musician... SSI... was one of the best during his time... I had a cassette of this recording... As the era changed to CD and pendrives, I lost it... but thank you... I got it back.... Mridangam, Violin and Ganjira were equally good... SSI and TNK are one of the best combinations. God bless... Thank you once again
Share with respect the views of Hariharan Arackal. I have been hearting to him from 1960 on AIR Vizag along with Ariakudi and Chembai& GNB. The Bhakthi Bhavamu of the triumvirate cannot be beaten by the present generation.
Sri adviata narayanan Garu No doubt semmengudi was a politician among musicians Not surprisingly he was dubbed as the ' Cunningham of carnatic. Music world ' by one of the journals viz.sruthi magazine All of us know how he was forced to beg pardon from sir dr.balamuali Krishna for having made a brute adventure of ridicule of balamurali sir And sir bmk filed a defamation case against semmengudi Claiming 2 lakh as compensation Of course the humble and benevolent sir bmk compromised compassionately when semmengudi ran to sir BMk's house for Pardon Same politics by semmengudi which prevented sangita kalanidhi Award being given conferred on lalgudi in 81-82 and award was given to tnk instead later lalgudi refused the award next year and for ever and later commenting that sangita kalanidhi is not the end of acclaim for divinity Moksha is the one to be sought after refer tyagaraja sending back the maharaja back with his riches if he were to sing in praise of a mere mortal Well nowadays music has been orchestracised so much that has led to Decline in sublimity and value PoLITICS IS TBE LAST RESORT OF A SCOUNDREL So says the proverb Remember. bitterness between jayalalitha and karunanidhi That's how world is! ALL SAID AND DONE SEMMENGUDI HAS won LOT OF REVERENCE IN TBE MUSIC WORLD THANKS DUE TO SADHANA Thanks for all the musings. From dakshina murthy pillai Lastly VIDYA DADATI VINAYAM Ofcourse poorna gnanam as adi Shankar quotes Half knowledge is dangerous and half filled put makes more noise than The one that is full Ofcourse inadept can camaflouge their shortcomings and competet ion by playing politics instead of music to propel themselves to Pseudo glory Looks like this is common among all walks of life at all times don't forget .MAHABHARATA for , we are living in maya as the great adi Shankar propounds
A scintillating bhairavi RTP , one that will remain in one's memory. It is unbelievable that he can still render it in style at his old age. Krishna Prasad Maryland, USA
Dear Mr. Sampath, I was having this video cassette, but alas, I lost it during the flood during 2005 in Mumbai. If you have the CD of this programme, please send me one copy for my Library and I can cherish the moments of this programme any time... Thanks Sir. Radhakrishnan
On an additional note Weil (Andre Weil, Taniyama,Shimura ... Modular forms .. which resulted in Andrew Wiles' proof of Fermat's Last Theorem) and Armand Borel (Algebraic Topology - Lie Groups) had a great interest in Vedantic Philosophy. The Borels stayed many times with my parents in the 1970's for the December Music Academy Concerts. Music/Science/Advaita.. All is Brahman: TAT WAM ASI
Thanks so much for a wonderful video. I have no words to express apart from saying a thanks to u. I m so lucky to hear this concert from semmangudi mama as i am a great fan of his sangeetham. Once again thanks a lot
A great divine concert of Semmangudanout. i Pithamaha. All his concerts are musical Gems, there is no second opinion about it. His commitment to music and the support of his accompanying are marvelous .I bow my head before the great soul.
Semmangudi singing is awfully bad and I do not know people put up with him for 60 years. It reminds me of the comment made by the great Dakshinamurti Pillai about his voice, "His voice is as melodious as the noise created when a coconut shell is scraped on a rock. Don't bother to give him vocal training. Let him learn to play the violin". We all know he practiced 'Politics" more than "Music".
Very sad with your comment Shri Advaith. Semmangugi may be commented if so by a vidwan more knowledgeble and erudite than him. He wAS NEARLY 100when he passed away, ridiculous to comment his music after his demise. Even Veena Balachandar was harsh on mama, but not like this. It was professional fight.Even Dr karunanidhi admired and respected sri Mama.
Besides all his plus points, ssi is a great humourist typical of his native tanjavur dt. In his ripe age of 90+, a forum came forward to award " Sangeetha Bhishma pithamahaa ", in the August presence of Kanchi Aacharya Jayendra Saraswati, at Narada gana sabha, sri. Ssi in his acknowledgement speech told, " I can't but appreciate the appropriateness of the title( Bhishma pithamahaa) 5:36 5:36 at this stage of my life. . Perhaps, they wanted to remind me of the approaching Uththarayana. ( it was Margazhi at that time. And the great Bhishma of Mahabharat, lying on the bed of arrows, waited for Uththarayana to shed his mortal coils.
Semmangudi singing is awfully bad and I do not know people put up with him for 60 years. It reminds me of the comment made by the great Dakshinamurti Pillai about his voice, "His voice is as melodious as the noise created when a coconut shell is scraped on a rock. Don't bother to give him vocal training. Let him learn to play the violin". We all know he practiced 'Politics" more than "Music".
