|
|
Madurai & Music
| Madurai has a close correlation with
classical and modern music industries. Madurai has given many legends to
this world in terms of performers in the stage and in the media.
In those days Thanjavur district teemed with many highly
reputed nadaswara vidwans - Koorainadu Natesa Pillai, Mannargudi Chinna
Pakkiri, Chemponnarkoil Ramaswami Pillai, Thiruveezhimizhalai Subramania
Pillai, Thiruvavadurai Rajaratnam Pillai to mention a few. Amongst them,
Madurai Ponnuswami Pillai held the rasikas in spellbound music in their
heydays. Originally nayanam was the real name of the instrument and the
players were called nayanakarras. Nayanams were made out of silver or any
other metal. Madurai Ponnuswami Pillai researched the musical notes
and proved that Nayanam can be performed better if its made out of wood.
Only then Madurai Nayanams were made out of wood.
|
 |
|
Madurai
Ponnuswami Pillai
|
Dr.
Vijayalakshmi and her husband, Dr. Navaneethakrishnan are
professors in Tamil folk studies at Kamaraj University in Madurai. They
have done years of research in Tamil folk songs. While Vijayalakshmi is
usually the main vocalist, her husband and their numerous students perform
the Village dance. Its a fun way to earn Ph.D. The
song Vandha
Vaarandi... is a popular song sample.
Also, for some curious reason, most of Vijayalakshmi's
songs seem to have originated in the Madurai - Ramanathapuram area, with
almost nothing coming out of the other parts of Tamil Nadu. While this may
explain why a genius like Ilayaraja came out of those parts. In
those days temples used to draw many great musicians. Temples, in some
sense, propagated music. Madurai Pushpavanam Iyer, usually
performed "Kandhasashti utsavam" at the temple. Those
were among the most memorable moments. Some of the great musicians came to
perform at the utsavam. |
 |
|
Ilayaraja |
| Notable
among them were Konerirajapuram Vaidyanatha Iyer, Sharabha Sastrigal,
Panchapakesa Sastri, Govindaswamy Pillai, Rajamanikkam Pillai and so on.
Their music was divine, glorious and extraordinary. |
| Sangeeta Kalanidhi Madurai Mani Iyer |
|
| Madurai Mani Iyer (1912-1968)
was born into a family of musicians, deeply interested in classical music.
His paternal uncle, Madurai Pushpavanam Iyer, was one of the three
celebrated vocalists during the first quarter of this century. Mani Iyer's
first teacher was Rajam Iyer, noted for his singing of swarams. But, it
was his second Guru, the renowned Mutthiah Bhagavatar, who shaped Mani
Iyer into a full-fledged musician. Young Mani was a prodigy and commenced
giving concerts when he was 12. He soon became a vocalist par excellence,
and never looked back for four decades. |
 |
|
Madurai
Mani Iyer |
| He built up a vast repertoire of
compositions of various kinds but his forte was swaram singing. This
feature in Carnatic music is the inherent tonal relationships of a ragam
delineated through solfa passages. Mani Iyer evolved an unusual pattern of
weaving the notes of a ragam into a fabric of melodic and rhythmic
consonance. His uncanny sense of the sruti or subtle microtone enabled him
to produce extraordinary musical effects. He was noted for flights of
imagination and originality in structured note patterns across the body of
a ragam. |
| Sri Madurai T.N. Seshagopalan,
the celebrated Carnatic musician and composer had his initial musical
training under his mother and Sri. Ramanathapuram C. S. Sankarasivan.
Seshagopalan holds a degree in Science from Madras University, (Madras,
India) and a degree in music from Madurai University (Madurai, India). He
has served as professor of music at Madurai University. Seshagopalan was
also made the "Asthana Vidwan" of Kanchi Kamakoti Matt by
Paramacharya along with a title of "SANGEETHA SUDHAKARA". In
1983 the prestigious Music Academy of Madras arranged to have a program of
Seshagopalan in order to record special CD's and cassettes which have now
been released by Oriental Records in the United States. |
 |
|
Sri
Madurai T.N. Seshagopalan |
| A master of swara compositions,
Seshagopalan continues to increase his stupendous repertoire with
compositions of his own. He is noted for his own elegant Thillana
compositions, devotional Bhajans, Namavalis and Abhangs.Seshagopalan's
singing technique has the knack of transferring and communicating the most
intricate musical expression with ease, simplicity and aesthetic charm.
Blessed by the Goddess Meenakshi, presiding deity in the temple in
Madurai, Seshagopalan is indeed a musical marvel. |
|
|
