A question on Palghat Mani Iyer
Guntur N Balaji
I remember reading this incident from a book on vidwans of
"those" days. I think it was actually a compilation of music
related anecdotes by subbudu. One anecdote relating to Palghat
Mani Iyer.
After a long concert, a wonder-struck fan of Palghat Mani Iyer
asked him, "How come you never adjusted your Mridangam even once
during the concert ? I always see that every other mridangist
necessarily adjusts his mridangam atleast once or twice in the
concert !" To this Mani Iyer replied, "nAnu mridangattha vAsikkirEn,
mattavA adikkarA !" ( I play the mridangam, others beat it !)
Regards,
Balaji/...
PS : Adjust ( for want of a better word ! :-( )
R. Sritharan
Palghat Mani Iyer is/was considered to
be a good accompanist.
This is an earnest question and I would request
everyone to kindly treat it as such: is Palghat Mani
Iyer a good accompanist ?
In my opinion, the answer is "no".
While I find his control of rhythm, coordination,
anticipation and all the other such factors as
they are reputed to be, it is the loudness that
bothers me. He bangs (pardon the word) the
mridnagam so hard that it completely submerges
the music of the main artist.
If I am not mistaken, the "mridu" part of
mridangam means "soft" and I find that to
be lacking in Mani Iyer's playing.
I would like to know other netters' views on this.
In particular, I would be interested in knowing
how people view Palghat Mani Iyer in comparison
to artists like Vellore Ramabhadran, Umayalpuram
Sivaraman, Karaikudi Mani, Guruvayoor Dorai and
the like (my list is not meant to be comprehensive)
when it comes to accompanying other artists.
I am fully aware that Palghat Mani Iyer is more
than an acknowledged legend in Indian classical
music; but, I would appreciate views that are
not emotional.
Thanks for your time.
R. Sritharan
Ranganathan Srikanth
> This is an earnest question and I would request
> everyone to kindly treat it as such: is Palghat Mani
> Iyer a good accompanist ?
Palakad Mani Iyer's reputation in mrdangam and laya-vyavaharam
is second to none. His duals with the pallavi stalwarts like
kanchi Naina pillai are mentioned in sruthi magazine. Many
stories can also be heard from old timers.
But his playing is hardly melodious. vidwans like pazhani pillai,
murugabhoopati et. al. of the tanjavur bani are famous for the
nadam they could produce. They were as strong in laya as palakad
Mani iyer was but minus his hard playing. So as far as
accompanying music goes the tanjavur bani is far far better.
Guruvayur Dorai is also a hard playing vidwan.
Karaikudi Mani is also hard playing but somehow he
seems far melodious than palakad mani.
Vellore Ramabadran and Umayalpuram are not hard
playing vidwan and sounds very nice in pakka vadhyam.
All of them however revere Palkad Mani Iyer and
perhaps learnt a lot from him.
Palakad Mani was however the most sought after in the heydays
of Ariyakudi and others and so it must have been a great
challenge to sing "for his mrdangam".
It finally boils down to
"Are you used hearing hard playing? If not get used to
it if you are interested in palakad mani iyer's
music and perhaps music of many old timers!"
srikanth
Shiv Naimpally
|> This is regarding my doubt as to whether
|> Palghat Mani Iyer is/was considered to
|> be a good accompanist.
|>
|> mridangam means "soft" and I find that to
|> be lacking in Mani Iyer's playing.
Sorry but 'mrd anagam yasya' is the resolution.
Mrd = clay , angam = form/body , yasya = whose
Translation: "That which has a form made of clay".
Prior to being made of wood, mrdangams were made of clay.
Tabla and bayan were also at one time made of clay.
If I am not mistaken, Umalayapuram Sivaraman and
Palghat Raghu are P. Mani Iyer's students. If you consider Sivaraman
a top accompanist, I would have thought he got these skills
from his guru.
Also, do you find PMI's playing objectionable throughout his career,
or only in certain time periods ? Have you heard him throughout
his career ?
BTW I enjoy Vellore Ramabadhran's playing very much, both
as an accompanist and as a solo artist.
Just my $0.02 worth ...
rajagopalan
mani iyer was a mridangam player who would play a kriti on his mridangam in the
sense that if one removed the vocal and violin audio from the sound, one could
recognize popular kritis just from his playing. such was his knowledge of the
music. i dont know how many mridangam players can play, say "yendaro
mahaanubhaavulu" on the mridangam like he could. probably modern mridanga
vidwans can also do that but they owe their inspiration to him because he showed
that mridangam-playing has other facets to it than laya.
whether he was pleasant sounding is another issue, though.
-raj
lmi...@msuvx2.memst.edu
Palakkad Mani Iyer was totally against the use of mikes in concerts. He
strongly believed in the power of the vocal chords. Paying homage to the
great musician Chembai, Mani Iyer attributed Chembai's popularity to his
strong voice which could be heard clearly even in the back rows.
Musicians nowadays seek refuge in the PA systems. In the heydays,
as Mani Iyer remarked , Unless the vocalist had a strong voice to hold the
audience attention, He certainly wouldn't go places. So the vocalists of
those times used to place top priority on perfecting their vocal chords.
Nowadays mridangists also resort to the mike to help their performance,
Like playing softly at times which would sound pleasing to the listener.
These "skills" wont work in a mikeless kutcheri. He has played to a lot
of miked concerts much against his liking, but believed in playing the
mridangam firmly which to listeners might sound less pleasing thru the
mike. To change with the times would have been a good move, but his
genius could have none of it.
In article <C39vx...@vuse.vanderbilt.edu>, r...@vuse.vanderbilt.edu (R. Sritharan) writes:
lmi...@msuvx2.memst.edu
Ramana Mani
>But his playing is hardly melodious. vidwans like pazhani pillai,
>murugabhoopati et. al. of the tanjavur bani are famous for the
>nadam they could produce. They were as strong in laya as palakad
>Mani iyer was but minus his hard playing. So as far as
>accompanying music goes the tanjavur bani is far far better.
Pazhani Subramania Pillai belonged to the Pudukottai school not the
Tanjavur school. The other people who belonged to the school were the
Adi-guru MANpoondia Pillai, Dakshinamoorthy Pillai and Pazhani Muthiah
Pillai ( father of Subramania Pillai ). The Pudukottai school inherited
a lot from Tavil vidwans.
Palghat Mani Iyer belonged to the Tanjavur School - I don't know when
this emerged as a distinctive school. From what I know, this seems the
orthodox school of playing and the Pudukottai school is a more recent
one. All the traditional "greats" Azhagunambi Pillai, Ramdoss Rao (
kanjeera vidwan Harishankar's grandfather ) and others, all hailed from
the Tanjavur area. Mani Iyer's guru Tanjavur Vaidhyanatha Iyer ( not to
be confused with Maha Vaidhyanatha Iyer ) was one of the very prominent
flag-bearers of this school. T.K.Murthy is also one of Vaidhyanatha Iyer's
prominent students.
Mani Iyer did bring in a lot of new innovations into his playing. The
art of playing a kriti on the mridangam was started by him. He is also
"accused" of bringing in a number of folk elements, borrowed from the
chenda of Kerala.
Rating one above the other is IMHO a moot point - it is better to learn
to appreciate the greatness of both Subramania Pillai & Mani Iyer. In
this respect, we should learn from both Mani Iyer and Subramania Pillai
who were great admirers of each other. Many anecdotes are quoted to
prove this - since this series of postings has been focussed on Mani
Iyer, I will mention one showing Palani's admiration for him.
Palani was listening to a concert of Semmangudi singing in the AIR
National program and Mani Iyer was playing the mridangam. When
Semmangudi was singing the Bhairavi Swarajati - Amba Kamakshi, Mani Iyer
played various patterns in such a way that, in each case, the phrasings
ended on 'Amba'. Noticing the subtlety, Palani reportedly exclaimed
" This is the only way to play the mridangam. The only way! "
( recalled by Palani's disciple Dandamudi Ramamohan Rao)
Murugabhoopati learnt his mridangam playing from his brother
Ramnathapuram Sankarasivam - and in my opinion should not be
categorized as either belonging to the Tanjavur School or the
Pudukottai school.
>srikanth
Srihari Keshavamurthy
>In article <1n0csq...@srvr1.engin.umich.edu> srik...@hpux.engin.umich.edu (Ranganathan Srikanth) writes:
>>But his playing is hardly melodious. vidwans like pazhani pillai,
>ended on 'Amba'. Noticing the subtlety, Palani reportedly exclaimed
>" This is the only way to play the mridangam. The only way! "
>( recalled by Palani's disciple Dandamudi Ramamohan Rao)
>
Couldn't have said it better myself! I have heard quite a few tapes of
Mani Iyer playing and IMHO it is very pleasing. While we are at it I
wonder what happened to Trichy Shankaran who was a disciple of Palani.
I went to a concert at krishna ganasabha a while ago and
hearing him playing for a composition is an example for all students of
mridangam out there!
srihari
Shiv Naimpally
|> Couldn't have said it better myself! I have heard quite a few tapes of
|> Mani Iyer playing and IMHO it is very pleasing. While we are at it I
|> wonder what happened to Trichy Shankaran who was a disciple of Palani.
|> I went to a concert at krishna ganasabha a while ago and
|> hearing him playing for a composition is an example for all students of
|> mridangam out there!
|> srihari
Trichy is alive and well and teaching at York University (and has been
for many years). He occasionally plays with visiting artists from India
and goes back to India every year in December to play. He and Swapan
Chaudhuri recently performed a duet in Toronto. How was it Art ?
Trichy is a bit strange though. He will not play with female performers
(vocal or instrumental). He does not take Indian students - all his
students are Canadians (ie. 'white'). This does not in any way take
away from the fact that he is a superb accompanist and soloist.
Speaking of females, are there any female mrdangists ? Zakir's
student, Anuradha Pal, is fairly good though she slavishly imitates
ven Zakir's facial expressions. She has played with several major
artists in Bombay. Is there anyone like that in the South ?
Corvin Russell
>In article <1n6755$o...@agate.berkeley.edu>, sri...@sam.cchem.berkeley.edu (Srihari Keshavamurthy) writes:
>|> Couldn't have said it better myself! I have heard quite a few tapes of
>|> Mani Iyer playing and IMHO it is very pleasing. While we are at it I
>|> wonder what happened to Trichy Shankaran who was a disciple of Palani.
>|> I went to a concert at krishna ganasabha a while ago and
>|> hearing him playing for a composition is an example for all students of
>|> mridangam out there!
>|> srihari
PMI's greatness was questioned in the first place. Just from the tapes
I've heard, I think it would be hard to argue that Palghat Mani wasn't the
greatest drummer ever -- his playing is definitely that good, in my opinion.
His tremendous control of laya, and more than that, the sheer melody
of his phrasing (as has been noted already) were incredible. I've
been trying without success for two years to find
live concert recordings of PMI playing solo (or accompanying in a particularly
memorable concert). I've also looked for his old HMV solo releases.
Does anyone out there have some? The fact I've brought my request to the
net is a measure of my desperation!
>
>Trichy is a bit strange though. He will not play with female performers
>(vocal or instrumental). He does not take Indian students - all his
>students are Canadians (ie. 'white'). This does not in any way take
>away from the fact that he is a superb accompanist and soloist.
Actually, to be fair, I don't think Sankaranji refuses students because
they're Indian. He simply refuses to take any private students at all
these days (trust me - I asked him a few years ago!).
He only teaches mridangam in his capacity as an Associate
Professor at York. Since most of the students in the York music program are
probably white, that might give some the impression that he only takes
white students. (I wonder why there aren't many CBCDs going into York's
music program...seemingly prevalent pressure to enter more lucrative
disciplines, perhaps? -- hardly Sankaranji's fault!)
>
>Speaking of females, are there any female mrdangists ? Zakir's
>student, Anuradha Pal, is fairly good though she slavishly imitates
>ven Zakir's facial expressions. She has played with several major
>artists in Bombay. Is there anyone like that in the South ?
I thought her name was Anuradha Bhatt. Whatever her name is, I'm pretty
sure she's actually Alla Rakhasahab's student. As far as her unsightly
stage mannerisms, one can only say that all too many young tabla players
(far from avoiding them) seem to cultivate these histrionics. While in the
beginning stages pained and contorted expressions are inevitable as one
struggles (and usually fails) to play something beyond one's meagre abilities
(speaking from experience), these reflexes can and should be corrected, IMO.
Most of the great masters look positively serene when playing tabla. I have
seen a video of my guruji playing solo for 90-odd minutes, and during the whole
time his composed manner almost never changes. Same goes for Afaq Hussain
Khansahab -- very calm and cool in his performances. We find
a similar phenomenon among khayal singers -- some of them appear to be calf-
roping as they approach the sam, others (like Amir Khan) barely so much as
twitch.
Corvin