Greetings,

Who is your favorite musician ? What would you like to listen for hours ?

Peace, kishore@carnatic.com

-- Kishore Balakrishnan (kishore@carnatic.com), July 28, 2000

Answers

Yesudas - http://www.yesudas.com/

-- Kishore Balakrishnan (kishore@carnatic.com), July 28, 2000.

M.S.Subbulakshmi-her singing is divine.

-- Venkatesh.M.S (m_s_venkatesh@yahoo.com), July 30, 2000.

Many. But,the number one is Shri.Semmangudi. His performances are gold mines.

-- Rajanga Sivakumar (shri435@eth.net), July 31, 2000.

BalamuraliKrishna

-- Bijoy S (kbijoys@hotmail.com), July 31, 2000.

My favourite singer is "Bombay Jayashree" at this point of time.

-- gowri nandakumar (gowrinan@hotmail.com), August 01, 2000.

The all-time great has to be M.S.Subbulakshmi-she is flawless.Of today's musicians I have to go for Nithyasree-she is divine.

-- c.vijayendran (vijendran@lineone.net), August 01, 2000.

my favoutite musician is mr. t. v. sankaranarayanan. definitely yes for a very long time.

-- kumar iyer (shriyaprints@hotmail.com), August 01, 2000.

I'm a 13 year old girl from Singapore and I absolutely love Carnatic Music and Nithyasree.Nithyasree has such a beautiful voice and its so touching.I am so absolutely crazy about her.I went for her concerts during music season last year and got her autograph.I've been trying to contact her but no response yet.Any die-hard Nithyasree fans out there please e-mail me.I'm planning to set up a fan club for Nithyasree.

-- Darshini Yoganathan (nithyasree@hotmail.com), August 02, 2000.

My favotite Carnatic Singer is Srimathi. Nithyasreemahadevan. I love her voice too muchhhhhhhhhhh.....Except my office hours i used to listen allways her songs... Iam very Crazy of her voice.. Dear Nithyasree feans pl. share ur opinion with me... Now Iam Creating One web For her,about her, On her.. Mial me at Nithyasreemahadevan@yahoo.com

-- Saravanan-Ramiya-Kuppusamy (nithyasreemahadevan@yahoo.com), August 04, 2000.

My favourite singers are M. Balamurail Krishna and M.S. Subbalakshmi.

-- Lokesh Reddy (lokesh_mr@hotmail.com), August 04, 2000.

Unni Krishnan

-- suganya (subalaksh_76@yahoo.com), August 06, 2000.

M.S.Subhalaxmi for her venkatesh suprabhatam and all other albums

-- rachana nanda (rachanananda@hotmail.com), August 07, 2000.

In the contemporary lot of singers offcourse dasettan (Yesudas) among male singers and Sowmya among female singers. One really tends to forget time, hunger anything and everything while listening to dasettan sing.

-- Sreekumar Methil (methil69@hotmail.com), August 09, 2000.

Hyderabad Brothers ... for their "sruti sudham" and perfection.. Sudha ragunathan .... for her voice and style.. -kishor

-- Kishor Kumar (kishor_kumar@hotmail.com), August 10, 2000.

K V Narayanaswamy - perfect blend of vidwat, sruti, layam and sukham. Enjoying KVN with M Chandrasekaran and Palghat Raghu, it is bliss!. I'd recommend his 4-part RTP in Sankarabharanam/Todi/Kalyani/Darbar for real connoisseurs.

-- Ananth (anantha_21@yahoo.com), August 10, 2000.

Myself. I love to hear my own songs, especially when I sing in the Bathroom. Like say a strip tease.

-- Vaanaram (Monkey@Donkey.pig), August 11, 2000.

G.N. Balasubramaniam. I'd like to listen for hours, but you see less and less of his material on tape or CD these days.

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), August 12, 2000.

I love listening to Chittu Babu's veena playing. It is so wonderful. He manages to render each piece with such precision and love. Not only are his renderings of known krithis wonderful his own composed pieces are amazing. He is a masterpiece. His imagination is endless like the sea or ocean.

-- Asia Ramanan (sheekyv@aol.com), August 18, 2000.

Yesudas.He is the best.

-- sajith (saj74_99@yahoo.com), August 18, 2000.

Sugandha Kalamegham. amazing voice and ganam in singing. never overdoes any aspect and produces wholesome music !

-- venkatesh (venkac@microsoft.com), August 20, 2000.

No doubts. Now Sudha Raghunathan is at her peak.

-- Janaki Seetharaman (anjusiddu@hotmail.com), August 22, 2000.

Balamuralikrishna, no doubt.

-- venkatraman madras (ramanmv@hotmail.com), August 23, 2000.

Mrs.Sudha Raghunathan

-- selvam (sel4mee@usa.net), August 23, 2000.

The Great Madurai Mani Iyer, M.D.Ramanathan, Semmangudi. I came to this short list after hearing almost all musicians.

-- Balasubramaniam Vaidyanathan (bala_v_su@yahoo.com), August 24, 2000.

My earliest favourite Carnatic music was Shri. Madurai Mani Iyer. I never missed his concert within my easy reach until he was performing. Later came Shri. Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna. His voice as well as his rendition is superb, but unfortunately we dont get a chance to attend his concerts frequently nowadays. When it comes present day artist, it is definetely Smt. Sudha Raghunathan for me. I can listen to her any number of hours. In conclusion, my eternal favourite artist is Smy. M.S. Subbulakshmi, there is no match for her in saarira, jnana, diction and presentation of divinity in her singing. Thank you, Aug 26, 2000.

-- sharada raja (www.rajaajay@aol.com), August 26, 2000.

I like SRi T.M.KRISHNA an youngester singing with maturity of senior artist. His singing remembers of younger years of Sri. Semangudi espeacially his recent rendering of raga kalyani on23/8/2000.Raga alapana is tradional and of AGMARK quality.

-- t.r.chandrasekaran (trc@md5.vsnl.net.in.), August 27, 2000.

My choice is Maharajapuram Santhanam.. he is a sort of person who gives expression to the songs... apart from the technical aspects of the song which contribute to the sweetness of music.. i believe the expression is the life line... I was disappointed not to see his name.. please all of u listen to his oothukaddoo collection ..u will get a new version of the stuff... Sriram.

-- V.Sriram (sriram.venketaraman@sun.com), August 30, 2000.

Semmangudi and GNB. I cannot decide who is better. And when it comes to instruments, Dr Ramani and Mysore Doeswami Iyengar.Yes I can listen to these musicians for hours.

-- Dr S Pramodh (seshadrinathan@hotmail.com), September 02, 2000.

Alathur Brothers,GNB for their briskness and trend setting styles. Madurai Mani Iyer for janaranjakam. Presently Trichur Ramachandran and Neyveli Santhanagopalan .

-- veppathur prabhakar (veppra@yahoo.com), September 03, 2000.

Balamurali Krishna. Unfortunately, I am getting the impression that he has an astounding IQ and unless another musician with his IQ comes along, we may never see Balamurali's exotic brilliance combined with attention to melody, technical detail, literary skill and mathematical combinatorics again in Classical music. Simply put, it requires too much brain power to do what all he has done, and that may be a rarity. However there are many top of the line musicians who are just as melodious and perhaps more, especially in light music.

-- G.V.Giri (gvgiri@lucent.com), September 09, 2000.

Mandolin U Srinivas

-- Kalyanasundaram G (kalyanasundaram_g@yahoo.com), September 10, 2000.

Mandolin U Srinivas The mastery he has over the mandolin is excellent.

-- Sriram Srinivasan (sriram@worldmailer.com), September 15, 2000.

My favourite singer is Smt. Sudha Ragunathan because she is the one who possess

S --> Scintillating U --> Unique D --> Dazzling H --> Highly Inspiring A --> Attractive

VOICE

-- Ramya (ramyarev@yaho.com), September 16, 2000.

Its me again. Nithyasree is definitely the BEST !!!!!

N-Nice I-Interesting T-TALENTED H-High in Quality(singing) Y-Yahoo!(cheers you up with her songs) A-Amazing S-Super R-Radiant E-extraordinary talent E-extravagant

As you can see....SHE'S THE BEST !!!!!!

-- Darshini Yoganathan (nithyasree@hotmail.com), September 18, 2000.

Nithyasree is unquestionably the BEST carnatic vocalist! I can sit listening to her music all day...as for trying not to sing along...I can't help it! Her voice is truly divine, it will make you melt. Balaji Shankar is my fav. male vocalist...I've only heard him live once...but that was enough to convince me!

"A letter depends on how you read it, a melody on how you sing it." -unknown "Music is the purest thing there is on this earth" -source unknown

-- Vani Varathan (pinkhibiscus@post.com), September 22, 2000.

my favourite singer is mrs.sudha ragunathan.no doubt she is the best.her voice is so soothing.i never miss any of her concerts.she so perfect in her shruti.i really adore her for her simplicity.she is very modest by her nature.

-- padma swaminathan (spadma192@usa.net), September 30, 2000.

No doubt Yesudas I would like to hear some his songs through this site thank you

-- jayakuma N (jayakumar_pillai@yahoo.com), October 11, 2000.

Karnataka Kalashree, Veena Vani E.P.ALAMELU

-- Vidya Shankara Kukke (vskukke@hotmail.com), October 11, 2000.

Madurai Mani Ayyar. He is the greatest!

-- Sriram Sankaranarayanan (srirams@cs.stanford.edu), October 17, 2000.

Any time - Pandit HariPrasad Chaurasia. His is truly KrishnaDwani

Raji

-- Raji Vivek (vivraji@yahoo.com), October 17, 2000.

T. N. Seshagopalan is surely one of the all-time greats.

ARS

-- ARSridhar (sridharar@yahoo.com), October 17, 2000.

I am an ardent fan of Mrs. Bhagyalakshmi chandrasekar , who is a veena player in NewDelhi. One's heart leaps beyond in ecstacy when her fingers dances in the frets of the veena . That is "the music".

-- v.srividhya (kutty_64@yahoo.com), October 19, 2000.

I am an ardent fan of Mrs. Bhagyalakshmi chandrasekar , who is a veena player in NewDelhi. One's heart leaps beyond in ecstacy when her fingers dances in the frets of the veena . That is "music"

-- v.srividhya (kutty_64@yahoo.com), October 19, 2000.

My favourite Musicians are Sri Semmangudi Srinivasaiyer,Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar and Smt.M.S.Subbalakshmi.

-- Anand (anandganapathy@yahoo.com), October 25, 2000.

The famous South Indian Violinist Shri Kunnaikkudi Vaidyanathan is my favorite musician & I always like to listen to his music.

My request is that if anybody happens to come across his music on net, please mail me the URL.

Thnaks.

-- A.M.U.Mahesh (amumahesh@yahoo.com), October 28, 2000.

Madurai Mani Iyer , by a long way. Once I have heard Mani Iyer sing a Keerthanai(some times a ragam), I cannot listen to anyone singing the same. For eg.. after listening to him sing Durmarga chara in Ranjani, I cannot listen to Ranjani by anyone else. My other favourite is MD Ramanathan who is in no hurry at all in his singing. His Vasantha, Reethi gowlai & Sahana are divine.

Of the current lot, I listen to Neyveli Santhanagopalan & TVS. I am based in Dubai. So completely dependent on audio tapes.

regards,

-- Srinivasan Seshadri (sspanzerss@yahoo.com), October 30, 2000.

My favourate carnatic vocalist and I would say the BEST is Maharajapuram Santanam. All carnatic music lovers must listen his Mohan ragam, Sree, Sahana, Karaharapriya, Durbari, Revathi, no its impossible to say which is bestB. I did not get the chance to listen his live concert. Very unfortunate. Just listen and you will be convinced.

-- Sree Nair.K (sreekn30@emirates.net.ae), November 02, 2000.

Arun Ramamurthy. He is an up-and-coming artist. Born and raised in the U.S., Ramamurthy has mastered the violin and has worked with some of the biggest names in Carnatic music. The musical community will hear from him for years to come.

-- Maya Bhattnager (chhanp@hotmail.com), November 02, 2000.

My favourite singer is P.Unnikrishnan. He has a very soft voice it is much suitable for karnatic music.

-- priya (kumutha10@hotmail.com), November 03, 2000.

Smt M.S. Subbulakshmi

-- SushmaKishore (suki@carnatic.com), November 06, 2000.

My favourite singer... one and only one i.e. Bombay Jayashree. The more I hear here songs, the more I like the music. God given magnetic voice

-- jayaram (jayaramap123@rediff.com), November 08, 2000.

THE BEST FIVE TO THE ORDER OF MY LIKING ARE:1.BOMBAY JAYASHREE 2.M.L.V.3.YESUDAS 4.T.N.SESHAGOPALAN AND 5.NEDUNARI KRISHNAMOORTHY

-- BHARAT (BHARATXIN@YAHOO.COM), November 10, 2000.

Sri. M.D.Ramanathan

He is probably the only musician ever in the history of Carnatic Music to have the combination of a beautiful voice, spiritual approach and techinical excellence in his Music. His music is hard to understand but when a taste for his music is developed, then the experience is truly exceptional.

-- Balaji R (bramanat@utk.edu), November 13, 2000.

M. Balamurali Krishna. He is only one of a kind. He is beyond words when it comes to music.

Feels to me like he is a straight descendant of Tyagayya.

-- Subramanyam Darbha (s_darbha@hotmail.com), November 15, 2000.

I think the late Dr.M.L.V is the best. She has contributed a lot to singing of rare raagas and her sancharas at the higher octaves are just superb.

-- Mahesh Ananthakrishna (mahesh_ak@yahoo.com), November 16, 2000.

I have been hearing carnatic music for the last 35 years and have enjoyed listening to GNB,CHEMBAI,M.S.,MLV,DK PATTAMMAL, NC VASANTHAKOKILAM,MADURAI MANI IYER and many more artistes who have come to the scene later.As of now, I like Ms.Bombay Jaishree Ramnath the most.Listening to her Music gets rid of worries,tensions and similar ailments.I am sure Godess Saraswati is in her tongue. I pray to HIS ALMIGHTY to give her a very long, happy and prosperous life retaining and refining her voice for very many years to come

-- SRINIVAS (SRINIVAS@HOTMAIL.COM), November 17, 2000.

my favourite musician is T.N.Seshagopalan. Undoubetedly, we have never come across a limitless at the same time melifluous voice as his. His knowledge of music in unique.

-- sivakumar (shiva123@aol.com), November 21, 2000.

Its me again for the 3rd time.I'm here to declare that NIthyasre is the ULTIMATE BEST !!!!! Ok ...she may not be the best currently because shes still young and there are veterans in the field...but hey...after all she is a chip off the old block...she has the making of D.K. Pattamal in her....i'm sure she is a potential legend...no doubts about it.I'll conclude by saying NITHYA WILL BE THE ONE AND ONLY FOREVER !!!!!!

-- Darshini Yoganthan (nithyasree@hotmail.com), November 28, 2000.

Well,to be honest,I don't adore a specific musician as such.I feel that every talented musician living on this earth has his/her unique feature which contributes to the richness of carnatic music.And I strongly beleive each and every musician has to be respected for his/her contributions and talent.But of course like everyone else,I do have my favorites. M.S.Subulakshmi,D.K Pattamal,Nithyasree,Sudha Ragunathan and Balamuralikrishna I would like to thank God for making them sooooo great!!

-- Ghayathri Rajandeeran (gat_83@hotmail.com), November 28, 2000.

Ilaiyaraaja is the best!!!

-- Suresh Kumar (suri0@iname.com), November 29, 2000.

Shri.K.V.Narayanaswamy- THE LIVING LEGEND- THE MAESTRO- THE KING OF MUSIC

-- Rajesh Balakrishnan (rajeshbalakrishn@hotmail.com), December 04, 2000.

My favorite musician is Dr.MangalamPalli Bala Murali Krishna garu. I love his vocal power and his voice stability even at the age of 70 years. He is Simply superb. If he accepts I am ready to become his sishyaparamanuvu. I don't sleep with out listening to his voice once in a day. I pray to God to give more healthy life to him. Please send me his personal mail ID. So that I will be in touch with him.

with Love, Harikrishna.M.V. #227,14th A cross,5th main, II Block, R.T.Nagar, Bangalore-32. Res ph# 080-363-2375.

-- Hari krishna.M.V. (majeti_hari@lycos.com), December 13, 2000.

my favite carnatic singer is NITHYASREE,,,I already designed one site for nithyasree..please visit http://www.nithyasri.com or http://www.kuwaitindia.com/nithyasree.htm

-- saravanan (nithyasreemahadevan@yahoo.com), December 16, 2000.

MY ANSWER TO THIS IS NOT A CONSTANT ITS A VARIABLE WHENEVER I LISTEN TO ANY OF THE ABOVE GREAT MUSICIANS THEY THEMSELVES WILL BE MY FAVORITE.

-- PAVAN.M.S .BHARADWAJ (PAJAKAPAVAN@USA.NET), December 16, 2000.

MY ANSWER TO THIS IS NOT A CONSTANT ITS A VARIABLE WHENEVER I LISTEN TO ANY OF THE ABOVE GREAT MUSICIANS THEY THEMSELVES WILL BE MY FAVORITE singer.

-- PAVAN.M.S .BHARADWAJ (PAJAKAPAVAN@USA.NET), December 17, 2000.

Hi,

Im kind of new to this site..just bumped into it & wanted to contribute to this "idolatory" thread. SUDHA RAGUNATHAN is today's reining QUEEN of carnatic music & perhaps will be forever. I think she sets a great example to thousands of youngsters and lots of other senior Vidwans by being so modest and AFFABLE to the general public. i have met with her a couple of times for my school project some time ago- and the fact that she was so nice and friendly speaks volumes of her affable personality. Some day- probably in the near future i would like to learn music from her. Anyone share my thoughts?? Living only for Sudha Ragunathan.. Sincerely SR-Fan

-- SR-Fan!! (srfan_1@yahoo.com), December 20, 2000.

For some strange reason, the subject has been read as favourite Vocalist & not favourite musician!. Where is Mali, MSG, U.Srinivas, T.N.Krishnan, Lalgudi ,Palghat Mani? For those who are gunning for the new generation 'Maamis', I can only suggest you listen to Mani Iyer,MDR or NC Vasantha Kokilam & see if your opinion holds.(before you frown,I am not a 50 year old clinging to the past..) The greatest musician will be Thyagraja. The rest of them only sing what he has composed. Why can't these people come up with something new instead of repeating the same keerthanas for ages now ? Somebody earlier mentioned Ilayaraja. If the above parameter is priority, he has a good point.

-- Srinivasan (sspanzerss@yahoo.com), December 24, 2000.

Definitely I can say Mrs.Sudha Raghunathan who knows very well of the pulse of the audience.

-- ramakrishnan (ramki_r@rediffmail.com), January 05, 2001.

my favourite is bombay jayashree. she is the ultimate as of now. i too feel that her music is divine

-- lalitha ramakrishnan (oblics@yahoo.com), January 06, 2001.

V.Srivathsan from New Delhi

My favorite musicians are Veenai Gayathri and Dr Chitti Babu. To me, these two giants are the greatest Veena players I have ever listened. Both have a completly different style of play. Gayathri has a greater sruthi shudham and her speed is exceptional. Her essay of raaga alapanai on this celestial instrument is unmatched. Dr Chitti Babu's display of intricate technique on the veena is just brilliant. I listen to his Kharaharapriya taanam just about every day. One of the amazing things of Gayathri is that she is just 41 and has been playing the Veena for the past 30 years!

As far as vocal music is concerned, Dr M. Balamurlikrishna is my ultimate favorite. He is probably the greatest musician who has understood music on the whole to its complete depth. There is no doubt about this fact. His main strength lies in his magnificent voice. May this phenomenal vocalist be blessed with a long life.

I request all the carnatic listeners to please listen to the Veena. This divine instrument is our music's most precious jewel. The world of carnatic music needs more and more promising veena players. There are a few like Rajesh Vaidhya, veenai Jayanthi, A k Devi etc.... But we need more.

Thanks a lot.

-- V.Srivathsan (tyagasri@hotmail.com), January 08, 2001.

My favorite musician is M.S.Subbulakshmi.She is truly an all time GREAT.She has a majestic stage presence, a truly outstanding voice, Sruthi Shuddam which is amazing to say the least, Unique style of Raga Presentation and Neraval,exemplary command over laya,purity of diction and last but not the least the ability to transport the listeners to heavenly divinity.

These are the attributes that all musicians crave for but not all have all these attributes combined.

My other favorites are the doyen of Carnatic Music Semmangudi,KVN, DKP,M.S.Gopalakrishnan and the late MLV,DKJ,Madurai Mani and Mali.

In the present generation my favorites are Ravi Kiran,T.M.Krishna,Vijay Siva,Nithya,Sudha,Mandolin and Sowmya.

-- Shrinivasan.V (shrinivasan.viswanathan@givaudan.com), January 16, 2001.

Karnatic music as projected by eminent musicians like Chembai Vaidyanath Iyer, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, M.S. Subbalakshmi, D.K. pattamal,M.L.VasanthaKumari,Maharajapuram Santhanam, Bombay sisters have really paved the way for recent upcoming artists like Sudha Raghunathan, Sowmya,Unni Krishnan, Nithyashree, Bombay Jayashree. No doubt the kind of Carnatic music that we are able to hear now are very soothing and the art of Carnatic music is still kept alive due to the continuous efforts that these musicians have put up day in and day out. My sincere thanks to each of the artists who are striving hard to retain the old culture in Carnatic music. May Carnatic music be cherished by millions world over.

-- Ramakrishnan Chandrasekharan (lalram1@rediffmail.com), January 21, 2001.

Greatest of all .... Shri Madurai Mani Iyer. Anyone who can resonate to his music cannot be satisfied listening to any other in the world!

-- kalyankumar (kalyansecond@hotmail.com), January 23, 2001.

Mandolin U Srinivas. The mastery he has on the instrument is unmatchable... And, Balamurali Krishna : If I listen to a song sung by him,I feel that is the best composition in that raga...

-- Shashi Bhushan (nsbhushan@yahoo.com), January 31, 2001.

Without a doubt - Madurai Mani Iyer. Can anybody match his RTPs ? Have you heard his Shanmugapriya RTP followed by Kedaragowla, Ranjini and Suruti ? Or his Kalyani, Shyama Ranjini ? Or his Keeravani- Ranjini-Sindhu Bhairavi ? Or his Kambhoji-Behag-Kanada ? Or his Thodi-Shadvidamargini-Sindhu Bhairavi ? Or his brilliant Vasudevayani in Kalyani ? Or the BEST EVER Mohana Kalyani (Bhuvaneshwari) EVER ? Or his Vijanagari (Vijayambike) ? Or his heart rendering Bagudari (Sadananda Tandavam) ? Or his Kapi (Intha Sowkhya) ? Or his Bhairavi (Yaro Ivar Yaro / Koloovai) ? Or his Thodi (Thaye Yasodha).

If there is a heaven - Madurai Mani Iyer created it here on Earth.

In mentioning these above, I should not forget to give equal credit to Shri Lalgudi Jayaraman. God ! what brilliance matched only by Madurai Mani Iyer.

There was and will be nobody like him - EVER.

-- K Yegneshwara Iyer (kyiyer@hotmail.com), February 03, 2001.

I forgot to add. Can anybody ever sing Ranjini like he could ? For that matter so many other ragas that only he could conjure up kalpana- swarams for ?

He was the best ever.

Wish I was born fifty years before I was - so that I could listen to him.

-- K Yegneshwara Iyer (kyiyer@hotmail.com), February 03, 2001.

I second what Yegnesh has said, I want to go a step further and maintain an one upmanship in showering praises on MAdurai Mani Iyer.I've heard Mani iyer ever since my birth.I've had the privelige of listening to MMI in the company of 'Thiruvalangadu' Sundaresa Iyer,Pazhani Subbudu,Aalangudi Ramachandran,Sri Govindaswamy Naciker,Chowdaiyya and of course the great Lalgudi.

I've had divine experience of listening to his concert in Sri Kapaleeswarar Temple,Mylapore during post navrathri times.At the stroke of 12:00 midnight,he will start "kaana kann kodi vendum.." by sri Papanasam Sivan.That was a very great moment.Mind you,even the hand rickshaw pullers refused 'savari' during MMI concerts.

TO put it simply listening to MMI is equal to looking on TV the Genius of Indian Cricket - Sachin Tendulkar,scoring a century,both are equally fast and full of tempo.

....more later.

-- S.Venugopalan (yesvenugopalan@yahoo.com), February 04, 2001.

it is m.d.ramanathan. for the sheer variety of rendering and uniqueness of syle. i'm a scribe and it was while doing a featue on a "crazy'" m.d.r. fan,late mr.ramakrishnan of kannur that i came to know in detail about m.d.r's music .mr.ramakrishnan was such a die- had fan of m.d.r that he listened to no other musician. he had a hugecollection of m.d.r's music , mostly live concerts, and used to listen to it systematically with the help of an index. mr. ramakrishnan introduced me to the choicest renderings of m.d.r and lectured about them at length. having only peripheral knowledge about carnatic music i could'nt make out much of what he said and at first found m.d.r's music strange. but gradually i felt a soothing effect and even after a day it was haunting me. after that ihaven't been able to hear m.d.r's music much , but those renditions especially that "bhavayami raghuramam" is still there in my mind.

-- t.s.karthikeyan (karthoos@angelfire.com), February 05, 2001.

I LIKE THE PROFOUND MUSIC OF GNB,SEMMANGUDI,ALATHUR,MLV. I LISTEN CONTINUOUSLY TO GNB'S BAIRAVI,SHANMUGAPRIYA,ATANA,BEGADA,SAHANA&KALYANI.AND SEMMANGUDI MAMA'S SANKARABARANAN,TODI,KARAHARAPRIYA. I ENJOY VIRUTHAMS OF GNB&SEMMANGUDI FOR HOURS.

-- b s sekhar (bssekhar@chequemail.com), February 07, 2001.

To me it is the legendary Dr.Balamuralikrishn.Something in his voice and the power of his rendition gives me raptures whenever I listen to him. May the almighty give him longlife so that he may render more service to carnatic music.

-- B.T.Xavier (xavier@kandy.ccom.lk), February 11, 2001.

shri mangalam balamuralikrishna.

i would like to hear his following thygarajakrithis:

1. nagumomukanaleni 2. enthavaralina 3. nanupalimpa nadahi 4. pancharatna keerthanas: 1. endaromahanubavulu.

his greatness is his matchless voice. it is nice to see him doing numbers on stage. suggested to avoid rendition ofhis own writings. all the best.

-- satyanarayana (siripada@rediffmail.com), February 13, 2001.

the question is ostensibly immature in terms of rich order of music. each human vocal chord is unique like the thumb impression; it is the discipline of musical heritage is enlivened thorugh innate skills.

a popular film singer is just a mimic born with inexplicalbe audio memory (many in india are blown beyond acceptable proportions e.g. mr. josedas, ms. mankeshkar and the likes)

within the court of the frame work and the grammar of time tested traditions, every musician (vocal rendition being considered as the supreme form of uniqueness) elaborate within the gradient; and then, it is the entertainer's (musical self esteem is never inward oriented; audibility of the powerful or the populace is earnestly desired) genius innovation without breaking the rules transpire as an identity of itself. So,, who could be the best singer??? 'KARNAAAANANDAKAAARA ITHI KARNAAATAKA SANGEETHA' !!! how nice to quote!!! what is music meant to be? could have been a more sensible thought

if elating audience to levels of perception beyond contemplations is music, then the hindusthaaani school of renditon painfully nurutre and deliver it;

Now, please do not entertain individual perception limitations to reduce indian classical music traditions!!! FOR THE SAKE OF MUSICAL RICHNESS AT LEAST!!!! (at the same time do not please discount the hindu cast heirarchy of entitlement to acwquire knowledge in any form!) === MY LIMITS: (the southern vocalists) M.D Raamanaaathan M. Balamuralikrishna ('genius who have mastered the art of singing' Bhimsen Joshi was too humble to vouch that privately) K.V. Naraayan Swamy Maharaaajapuram santhaanam Ramesh Naraaaayan (with outstanding openness to traditions) D.K. Pattambaaal Neyyatinkara Vaaasudevan T.N. Seshagopaaalan (the northern vocal vastness) Parveen sultaaana Pandit Jasraaaaj Bhimsen Joshi Pdma Thalvalkar Prabha AAthre (effortful craft) Kishori Amonkar ..........and many more among the younger generation

== anecdote: Artists with no vocal talents have created wonders through their minds (as Mr. Anantha Padmanaabhan once put it about Chitti Babu and Dorai Swami Ayyankaaar on the VEENA; quote"One plays with fingers and the other with the heart"; he also had the private buoyancy to state that what music is meant to be is flourishing up in the north and pathetically dies in the south) 'MUSIC BELONGS TO EVERY ANIMAL WITH AUDIBLE SENSES' and 'HELL IS FULL OF MUSICAL AMATEURS'

-- premANAND (xganand@hotmail.com), March 11, 2001.

hi,

It was sad to note that all of those who responded chose only vocalists.though Iam an ardent fan of people like MMI,semmangui&MDR my best contemporary musician would be MYSORE M NAGRAJ.be it solo or accompanying he outclasses all others with him in the concerts.He is definitely on par with great violinists like Mysore t chowdaiah ,LGJ,MSG& Dr N Rajam.Not many would know that he was chosen as the WORLD`S BEST CONTEMPORARY VIOLINIST recently on his trip to the US

Vijay

-- vijay rk (vijayasandesha@yahoo.com), March 29, 2001.

In the present scenario, among the young artistes, I like the most the songs of Bombay Jayshree among the Ladies section and Sanjay Subramaniam in the Mens section. This is followed by Sowmya and Nithyashree in the former and T.M.Krishna and Vijay Siva in the latter section. The birth of these artistes have brought renaissance to the Carnatic Music.

-- VINOD IYER (ayakkad@indiatimes.com), April 07, 2001.

I have alot of favorite musicians.For example I like the Hyderabad brothers because I like the way Seshachary puts swaras and ragas for thodi ragam.Another musician who is a mrindangist named Sri Mushnam Raja Rao because I think he should be a senior most musician.Last example is a violinist named Dehli Sundara Rajan I like the creativity he has

-- vikram vasudevan (vikram1986@yahoo.com), April 07, 2001.

Thyagaraja, obviously is the greatest musician. Next would be Ilayaraja

-- srinivasan seshadri (sspanzerss@yahoo.com), April 09, 2001.

Sanjay Subrahmanyan is the Best Vocalist around today

-- S.Raja (sraja@today.com.au), April 10, 2001.

My favourite Carnatic singer is Ms.Nithyashree Mahadevan.I also adore Ms.Bombay Jayashree and Sowmya.I like and agree to the comments of Darshini Yoganathan indicated here.

-- gayatri jayaram (gayatrijr@yahoo.com), April 18, 2001.

I heard several great Vidwans like Madura Mani, Aregakudi Ramanuja Iyenger, Semangudi, Maharajapuram and Nedunuri almost over thirty years. My preference is Aregakudi, Semangudi, Maharajapuram and the living legend Nedunuri. The Violinist undoubtedly is the great TN Krishnan and next my guru TS Tatachar (Bangalore). The Great Veena artist is Doriswamy Iyenger, the Mrudangist Mani, Umayalpuram and Dandamudi. This is my opinion without offending any artist and their followers. I have not heard much Alathur and many others, I think one life is not enough to cover all the artists.

-- Sarma K. Nimmagadda (sarma_n@yahoo.com.au), June 03, 2001.

Sanjay is the current No.1!!

-- Raghavendra (raghu@hotmail.com), July 05, 2001.

My favorite musician is Palgat . Sangeetha Kalanidhi. Padmasri . Shri.K.V.Narayanaswamy. i would like to listen ' varugalaamoo' in the Raga -Maanji.

-- Rajesh Balakrishnan (construction_interior123@rediffmail.com), July 29, 2001.

It makes me feel sad that in the never ending list of favorite singers Smt. T.Brinda's name hasnt featured at all. And its equally pathetic that there is no mention of Sri Ramnad Krishnan anywhere. And there is yet another musician Sri Sethalapathy Balasubramanian, a direct disciple of Sri Papanasam Sivan whose music brings tears into my eyes every time i listen to his Viruttams...

The above mentioned are my all time favorites ...but i would also love to include Sri KVN, MDR and of course Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer to my list of favorites...As for the present day musicians,they are all good performers but there is no one whose music touches the heart....

-- Mala (captmj@vsnl.com), July 29, 2001.

Each artiste is unique. Their histories are unique, their thoughts are unique and their observations and understandings are obviously unique. To say someone as being your favorite is obviously subjective. In my mind there are two types of musicians. Some who opt a theoretical path and show off their chops with incredible control, and people like Balamurali or someone like L.Shankar will definitely fall into this category. There are some others who have incredible devotion and can sing purely devotionally but do not necessarily have all the chops to pull off let us say an incredibly complicated Ragam Tanam Pallavi. Dont kill me on this, but I have to say Smt.M.S. would have to fall into this category. Call me a fool and uneducated, but I really have never heard M.S. do something like a Ragam Tanam Pallavi. But she obviously has unparalleled devotion. On the other hand someone like MLV would be of the first category.

There are some rare ones, however who have an explosive combination of both technical wizardry and devotion. Dr.T.R.Mahalingam had this capability. T.N.Sesagopalan is yet another genius who has this strange and unique gift. He is definitely my favorite vocalist of the post DKJ era. Female vocalists, obviously Sudha Raghunathan. Nithyasree close behind. I mean, no one can have tonal clarity like Nithyasree. I did this one experiment, where I saw the waveform of Nityasree's tracks. MAN! The waveform seemed static. Great control! I place her a little below Sudha for reasons, like live performances. Sudha is unbeatable live. She obviously has more experience as well. Violin... This is tricky. There are so many! I dont know, but I have been told that L.Vaidyanathan is quite a genius. I have never heard a single track of his. His brothers cater to a very different audience and are geniuses in their own right. Lalgudi, would be the best Carnatic purist. I heard A.Kanyakumari a couple of times, and I thought she was pretty incredible. Kunakuddi...Speed man! This is nuts. He is ecstatic at times. Veena, Definitely Dr.Balachander. He was self-taught! Chitti Babu, very innovative in approach.

There are these other firebrands like U.Srinivas and Prasanna, who have the sheer balls to attempt to play carnatic on instruments like Mandolin and guitar which are pretty hard to conquer with respect to gamakams and such.

Man...this list is endless and pointless really. There are going to be as many answers as there are people. I am going back to do my math homework. See you around.

Jayanth

Jayanth

-- Jayanth (memyselfandmyalterego@yahoo.com), August 07, 2001.

The Numero Uno at present is "the carnatic nightingale", "the pride of Mumbai".. yes your guess is right - it is Bombay Jayashree

-- SRINIVAS IYER (SRINIVAS@HOTMAIL.COM), September 03, 2001.

Hi, My favourite singer is Smt. Sudha Ragunathan. Her voice is beyond praise. She is really wonderful. i can listen to her for hrs together. Regards Poornima

-- Poornima R (poori_0414@yahoo.com), September 04, 2001.

The "vengala Kural", the divinity attached to the music, the bhavam, the uttering of the words, the elegance,the unhurried approach - all these are present in abundance with Bombay Jayshri.

-- Lakshmi Subramaniam (Lak_sub@indiatimes.com), September 08, 2001.

no dout it's semangudi sri srinivasaiyer. i used to hear madurai mani iyer , flute mali, gnb,and dkp.i love their music also.but if you used to here semangudi's concert , all his concert will be sucessfull.he know his limit.he can able study the audience mood.he will give the full tempo.especially semangudi ,vocally suported by t.m tyagarajan acompanied by palagatmani iyer and t.n krishnan this types of concert if we used to hear it will be difficult for us to here others.

-- vidhyashankar (vidhyashankar@epatra.com), September 14, 2001.

My all time favourites are Shri. Voleti Venkateswarulu and Nedunuri. Their music is so captivating that one gets hooked to their music totally. I think no one can sing as beautiful as voleti ragas such as varali,karaharapriya, Kamboji (to name a few) and the bhajans in his inimitable style. I also like the music of Ariyakudi, Semmangudi, KVN to name a few.

-- Padmanabhan (padren@hotmail.com), September 23, 2001.

None other than Vainika-Gayaka Sri Pudukkotai R.Krishnamurthy.His blend of Vocal with Veena is Un-precedented. Principal of Sri Satya Sai Mirpuri college of Music, prashanti Nilayam, and inventor of Krisha-Veena is the musician I would like to hear for hours.

-- Srinivas Ramaswamy (kr_srinivas@yahoo.com), October 06, 2001.

THE ANSWER OBVIOUSLY WOULD BE PADMASHREE.K.J.YESUDAS...his rendering of carnatic music is divine. also another singer to watch out for is SHANKAR MAHADEVAN..i dont think many have heard him singing carnatic....but from what i have heard at live concerts ....he is a real genius.i just hope he gives up singing all other trash (which he is in to nowadays) and to do the least- release an album of pure carnatic classical. all his fans shall be really thrilled i am sure.

-- ramakrishnan subramanian (lekrishark@hotmail.com), October 17, 2001.

hi! My favourite musician is M.S.Subbulakshmi.i love to hear the annamacharya samakirthanas sung by her.

-- sowmyalakshmi sudharsanan (s_sudhar24@hotmail.com), October 18, 2001.

My favorite musician is SangeethaKalanidhi.Sri.Nedunuri Krishna Murthy. "For classicism, turn to Nedunuri" is the prevailing slogan and it is well-said. His concerts present serene music, satisfying experience with a rich fare of graces, gamakas and the like. There is genuine, devoted outpouring of chaste Carnatic music well balanced in raga alapana, kritis, etc. He has a good voice and dignified rendition.

-- Sasidhar Mannava (sasi_mannava@yahoo.com), November 20, 2001.

My favorite musician is "Sangeetha Kalanidhi".Sri.Nedunuri Krishna Murthy. "For classicism, turn to Nedunuri" is the prevailing slogan and it is well-said. His concerts present serene music, satisfying experience with a rich fare of graces, gamakas and the like. There is genuine, devoted outpouring of chaste Carnatic music well balanced in raga alapana, kritis, etc. He has a good voice and dignified rendition.

-- Sasidhar Mannava (sasi_mannava@yahoo.com), November 20, 2001.

Bombay Jayshri Ramnath - her voice is superb and her rendering is simply grand

-- Krishnan (krishnan_tr@hotmail.com), December 07, 2001.

G.N. Balasubramaniam is my all time favorite. He is matchless in his melodious brigha shaariram, creativity, and emotional touch.

-- Parimala Srinivasan (parimalavasan@yahoo.com), January 11, 2002.

MS Subbulakshmi for her bhakthi and KV Narayanaswamy for his humility!

-- Navin (navin@ece.ucsb.edu), January 19, 2002.

Well, I am awe-inspired by many masterful musicians. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, I have seen some amazing concerts. One of the best Carnatic shows was by Sudha Raghunathan, with Thiruvarur Vaidyanathan on mridangam. It was divine and explosive. A CD was made of this concert called Sankarabharanam..A must!!! The other was by TN Krishnan's violin trio. His ragam was one of the most hypnotic I have ever seen. Also, I cannot forget the Bombay Sisters' stunning perfromance, as well as Bombay Jayashri's. There are just so many greats, how can I judge one better than another? I also love Nithyasree, but have not been blessed to see her concert here in the Bay Area. Music lovers, feel free to e-mail me Jerry_Barr@msn.com

-- Jerry Barr (jerry_barr@msn.com), January 24, 2002.

This is very difficult to decide.So many good artists have sung so many good items.(at one time or other) My choise among women would be M.S sheela,Aruna sayeeram and Bombay Jaishree. Among men it would be santhanagopalan,sheshagopalan and OST

-- srinivasan (su72582@aol.com), January 28, 2002.

I love Nithyasri's songs. Very devine, melodious and involving songs. I like hearing Nithyasri's songs always. She is the best of this generation and a gifted singer. Someone who has a list of all the songs sung by Nithyasri, please email me the list.

-- Parthasarathi (partha@sprint.ca), February 25, 2002.

BHIMSEN JOSHI IS THE GREATEST MUSICIAN OF ALL TIME. WITH DUE RESPECT TO ALL MUSICIANS, BHIMSEN JOSHI COMBINED THE ELEMENTS OF EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE. YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO EACH PERFORMANCE 500 TIMES AND THEN YOU WILL GET A LITTLE TEENY WEENY CLUE OF THE GREATNESS. LISTEN TO THE FIRST 30 SECONDS OF THE 60'S PERFORMANCE RAAG CHHAYA CHHAYA MALHAR. THE ENERGY THE DISCIPLINE THE STRUGGLE OH JUST AMAZING

-- ss (ssingh0@hotmail.com), March 05, 2002.

Kishore kumar and lata mangeshkar

-- Mahesh B Kale (mahesh.b.kale@seagate.com), March 12, 2002.

Yesudas is the best!!!

-- Manoj Nair (manoj_m_nair@msn.com), March 14, 2002.

BALAMURALIKRISHNA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-- Manasan (maanas@hotmail.com), April 06, 2002.

Dear Kishore and all the other repliers, There are a lot of favorites. I love to listen to Bombay Jayashri, her music has a serenity that sometimes resembles the Music of the great composer J.S. Bach. Her precise voice is almost mechanically with wich she succeeds to built op a great emotional communication. Recently I discovered Kamala Shankar, who as a south indian women plays hindustani music on slide guitar. Really wonderful!! Her music has the same serinety as druhpad musicians like Bouhadin Dagar. There are a lot more I adore. For example, listen to the wonderful saxaphone of Kadri Kopalnath.

greetings Bela Teeken

-- bela teeken (belateeken@mail.com), April 19, 2002.

P.S. How do you like aruna sayeeram, she is giving a concert here in the Netherlands in Utrecht tomorrow. How do you like that she mingles direct emotional singing with the more regular styles of singing. She has not yet been mentioned in by anyone of you. I would like to now how people like her. I am still listening and looking forward to the concert tomorrow.

-- bela teeken (belateeken@mail.com), April 19, 2002.

Maharajapuram Santhanam: Reasons as cited by Sriram Venketaraman from SUN. He is far beyond every1, matchless. We are all luckiless to have lost him. Hope his sons continue the tradition.

-- Sarnath Kannan (sarnath@lycos.com), May 19, 2002.

Sorry for the follower. Just a reminder. Tomorrow is his birthday. (May 20). Ellarum Oru "O" podunga ba.. Thanks.

-- Sarnath Kannan (sarnath@lycos.com), May 19, 2002.

UNNIKRISHNAN OF COURSE!

-- ~Ice Luva~ (ice_luva@hotmail.com), May 28, 2002.

GNB Immortal three letters in carnatic music. great pleasure listening to him

-- Naga (kns_php@yahoo.com), May 31, 2002.

Well I read all the replies in this forum, and was pretty pleased that people do listen to music nowadays. Well as far as Carnatic Classical is concerned, well I guess two people are on top, U Srinivas and Dr Balamuralikrishna. I like S Sowmya as well. In Hindustani Classical, Bhimsen Joshi is God. There is no one above him. Please dont mind. But there cannot be. I love Hariprasad Chaurasia, and of course Ustad Zakir Hussain, for his flamboyance. Well, however for me, the God of music, is Frederic Francois Chopin, the poet of the piano. I guess no one can do as much as this guy has done, and I wonder if any one could get so much feeling without words. Just listen to Chopin and you will realise. For me, he is God

Thanks

-- Sandipan De (sandy_iit@yahoo.com), June 02, 2002.

Well, for me, the God of percussion, is the late G.Harishanker, the Kanjira Wizrd. I guess no one can do as much as this guy has done, and I wonder if any one could get so much feeling without words. Just listen to Harishanker and you will realise. For me, he is God.

Subbu

-- Subbu (rsubbu75@hotmail.com), June 18, 2002.

I love the songs and voice of MS,Bombay jaisree, haripirya & shanmugapriya.

-- suganthi (suganthi_km@yahoo.com), June 21, 2002.

can any one tell me where can i get to hear the songs of madurai mani iyer

help me out..

-- ramesh (ramesh_srinivasan123@rediffmail.com), June 29, 2002.

SRIMATHI. MANI KRISHNASWAMY

-- b. suresh (bsuresh9@rediff.com), July 12, 2002.

I love Nithyasri's songs. Very devine, melodious and involving songs. I like hearing Nithyasri's songs always. She is the best of this generation and a gifted singer. Someone who has a list of all the songs sung by Nithyasri or know of any web page, please email me the list.

-- Parthasarathi (partha@shaw.ca), July 30, 2002.

The one and only Balamuraligaru.

-- AparnaV.yerikalapudi (varshaaparna@yahoo.com), August 10, 2002.

Many talented Musicians have enthralled audiences time and again and each one had their own style of rendering.Therefore the answer to the question of who is the best is a tough one. However, if we consider the present scene, a lot of enthralling artistes like Bombay Jayashri Ramnath, Nityashree,Sanjay Subramaniam.Sowmya are in the fore-front of the long list.

-- dasarathy (dasarathy@yahoo.com), August 17, 2002.

My favorite musicians have been many UNTIL I listened to R.Suryaprakash. I opine , No other performing youngster can equal his voice and diction.

-- Sriramkumar Krishnamurthy (sri_kumar@hotmail.com), August 27, 2002.

My favorite musician is of course Smt. M.S. Subbulakshmi. Among the latest musicians I like Sudha Raghunathan, Aruna Sayeeram ,M.S. Sheela and many others. Among male singers it is Unni Krishnan, T.V. Shankaranarayana. There are lot of new talents and the performance is improveing a lot. Sowmya, Sanjay subramanyam, T.M. Krishna, Nithyasri, are also excellent. It is really great to here them. I have got the collection of casettes of many artistes and almost complete release of Sudha and Aruna Sayeeram. Music is really devine and a good companion. Long live music.

-- shridhar bindiganavile (shriroop2002@yahoo.co.in), October 11, 2002.

my most favourites are M.Balamuralikrishna garu and M.S.Subbalakshmi ...their voices are just divine and i spend most of my time listening to them even in my lab...(Shhhh,dont tell my boss).

-- chandrasekhar kothapalli (sekhar512@yahoo.com), October 11, 2002.

Its Hariharan undoubtedly!!! He has a golden voice...the way he sings, kind of lifts up ur very soul!!

Then come Unnikrishnan.....and the rest!!

Hariharan will remain an all time fav!!

-- Nithya Balasubramanian (s_niths@yahoo.com), November 01, 2002.

i prefer mostly to nithyasree mahadevan in female singers and shankar mahadevan in male singers.i also listen to bombay jayashri,in my opinion nithyasree is best.

-- s.s.chandra sekharan (ssc_music@rediff.com), November 04, 2002.

I contributed to this forum before but I have to ad Kishori Amonkar to the list of the greatest. She manages to built up a great spectrum of sound colours as a tribute to the organic contingency of life and she does this with a great architecture. She sings with a prisicion that makes every swara to be where it has to be. If you only hear one minute of her music you already know it is a small part of monumentous sculpture of sound.

-- Bela Teeken (belateeken@mail.com), November 21, 2002.

My favourite singer is Dr. Yesudas in so far as Classical songs or fililm songs are concerned. His clear pronounciation and control over the voice are excellent. May God bless him to sing many more years.

Sridharan Elayathu, Kaviyoor

-- KN Sridharan (elayathu52@epatra.com), November 25, 2002.

I like to hear songs of Smt Sudha Raghunathan & Nityassi Mahadevan for hours. Tears will always flow my eyes while I hearing. I want to have one of their photos through email. I would be thankful if they send their new cassette released for me so that I can purchase the same. I am keenly awaiting their reply

-- S JAYALAKSHMI (jayasri_vis@hotmail.com), November 29, 2002.

Who else but Balamuralikrishna, a versatile singer, composer, he is quixotic and exotic as well. To me hearing Balamurali Music (Not Karnatic or South Indian Classical Music)is as usual as taking food every day. Nourishment to my mind, emotions and spirituality loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong live Balamurali and his Music. If you ask me what about M.S. SUBBALAKSHMI only one word occrus to me that is DIVINE. Divinity manifested in the form of MS MUSIC (Again not Karnatic or South Indian Classical Music )

-- H.V. SURYANARAYANA SHARMA (sharma_co@vsnl.net), December 05, 2002.

Of course, no doubt, itz Yesudas. I love to listen to his songs..........every green hero of music world..................

-- Srividhya.S (vidhyasri_chennai@yahoo.com), February 16, 2003.

MADURAI MANI IYER

M.D. RAMANATHAN

-- G.Mohan (gmohan2000@yahoo.com), March 05, 2003.

My favorite musician is Madurai Shri T.N.Sheshagopalan

-- Kamesh (msgkn1@yahoo.com), March 12, 2003.

The Late Dr.Chitti Babu is my manasika guru... I was fortunate to go to his concert (an incredible experience) in Washington DC in the early 90s. I have been listening to him ever since I was a child and was a dream come true to finally see and hear him in person. Smt. Geetha Ramanathan Bennett, Smt. Veena Gayatri are some of my favorites today. I listen to the recordings of these artistes to and fro from work. If only there were more veena players in this world... one would be so much at peace listening to this celestial instrument... one of the very few (or is it the only instrument?) that combines taal, sargam and raag in one instrument.....

-- Ardent veena lover (kokadi@yahoo.com), April 02, 2003.

My name is Kelly and I come from Greece.I play a traditional instrument called lyra and I cannot stop listening to Dr.N. Rajam and her daughter Sangeeta Shankar. I'm not familiar with Indian music but I've fallen in love with theirs. I'd like to speak with people that know more about them, and especially when and where they perform because it is my dream to listen to them live.

-- Kelly Thoma (kellythoma@yahoo.com), April 11, 2003.

WHAT IS INDIAN SYMPHONY AND WHY IS THIRUVASAKAM IN SYMPHONY SPECIAL THAN OTHER FUSION MUSIC COMPOSITIONS? MODERN MUSIC THOUGHTS IN MAESTRO ILAIYARAAJA “If you are patient enough to read you may learn a lot I guess” First of all Indian music’s foundations are horizontal structures called melody. Since it concentrates on melody alone enormous experiments were conducted by many generations, before several unknown centuries, to build up melodic systems and its usage. Western music’s specialty is it’s vertical structures, the harmony but also involves melody. The melody the west uses is different from the Indian melody because of the usage of scales and tones. Though the Indian musicians felt the harmony by mind while they created melodic compositions, they didn’t try to introduce harmony into their music systems and just concentrated on making the melodic usage more and more complex in its content and easier in its usage and understanding. There are certain ways and methods of music education by which Indian music education can be learnt in a decade but the to what extent is always a doubt because it has formatted a system for itself which includes all natural sound substances available in nature (which our ear hears) whereas the west operates on fixed sounds following an uniquely accepted music system all over the world “The chromatic scale system”. Though music is periodic and involves octaves (stayi), the number of scales (ragas) experimented by many folks is unimaginable and almost the Indian music grammar covers almost all harmonic contents of tones. For example the “Moving tones”(Gamakkam) where different types of shaking the fixed note (in relation to chromatic) takes place where different additions and omissions of harmonic contents may result in different ragas. Infact the truth is Melody is made up of harmony. Harmony is the mother of melody. The melody and harmony are inseparable. It’s a very tough concept to understand but it’s the truth. Astounding!!! And that’s why to master Indian music it will take almost 3/4th of your life. Not only this there are many more complex rules, which minutely makes one raga different from other raga. For example the ascending and descending of scales (arohanam and avarohanam). The universal pentatonic scale is referred to “raga mohanam in Indian music” but to say the truth its different because of some more minute melodic (harmonic) details which chromatic fails to give. Many more complex rules govern Indian classical music system. As how difficult it’s to perform a grand symphony, it’s very very hard to become a genius in Indian classical music. Indian classical music is mastered by pundits who will always hesitate to enter the western classical domain as its one another tough music system. One can hardly point out music composers who are really really into both classical music domains. Maestro Ilaiyaraaja is therefore ahead of all music composers. Western classical composition and making grand symphony needs brainwork to harmonize the contents in brain and write as score. Mastering Indian classical to the maximum possible extent are not possible in ones life time of 80 years. Ilaiyaraaja has achieved this in 50 years. “Mel harmony by Ravikiran is great work left for humanity but still I doubt if Maestro Ravikiran can handle his own western classical symphonic composition and orchestration. Besides these Ilaiyaraaja has almost touched all parts of the world either jazz, blues, souls, Chinese or German folk all in his film scores. His non film albums like “chamber welcomes thiagarajar” is a blow for “Western classical musicians who believe that their music system is the greatest as the notes played in the composition will make one think if its fixed note or a moving note”. To say one more truth, the absolute pitch musicians don’t play the perfect pitch in reality. The vibrato which our ear like = absolute pitch+ a slight deviation from absolute pitch. If this slight deviation is not there, we wont like the sound. We like string effect. What happens in a string section of orchestra? Each string player play notes slightly deviating from the note on the score sheet. All these random pitch variations add up causing the effect, making us feel the great sound. So its not the argument that we humans like big sounds. Mozart I love you is based on an assumption if “Mozart plays kalyani rag, I guess. Not sure of it. Watch the mathematical musician Bach playing moving notes. “I met Bach in his house” is a fusion of Indian rag with Bach’s compositions. Hear “You can't be free” and just you could not believe how Indian tones are harmonized with fixed tonal system. Listen how he tries to avoid fixed notes in weak accented beats thereby intelligently succeeds in harmonizing the raga with a string quartet. He introduces silence where fixed note can’t be harmonized with moving note (the gammkam) “Song of the soul” is an Indian classical jazz-fusion. The exceptional music composer’s compositions have gone unnoticed. The Illaiyaraja Grand symphony 1 is not released and the reason should be the attitude of western classical musicians who could not hear anything other than that tones fixed in the London music conference, May 1939. I hope folks can now understand who is Ilaiyaraaja and why he is special. There are many in the world that could write music by mind but most of them would be fixed note specialists. Ask them to write an Asian classical-Western classical fusion, they could not as what they believe as music is that 12 notes and that’s it. Ilaiyaraaja can write for a total western classical orchestra and also for a fusion orchestra which means all natural sounds can be represented on sheet by his mind. Do you now feel the difference? If you ask a question “Friend!! Many have did fusion music; my reply would be “sir! Most of the fusion would be fusion of either American and German or Russian and French all of which are based on fixed tonal system, which is of course quite possible if you could understand the music culture of both domains but this is a fusion of entirely different systems, which are strongly experimented in the past. Fusing folk with a classical system is great but also not as challenging as this “thiruvaskam in symphony” does as folk music is not much experimented with much grammatical expectations”. You are free to compose the way you want. You are free to mould the music, twist it the way you want. Western classical and blues, jazz-fusion is also kindred. To me Ilaiyaraaja is the world’s best Composer because I think this way: What if Tamil is the world’s highly spoken language and Tamil culture is widely followed on earth. Mr.Thankikachalam is not going to say Mozart as the best composer and Mr.Parthasarathy is not going to mention “The Beatles music troupe”. Ilaiyaraaja is the single sole man (not a music band of 4) who does all by himself from composition, arrangement, conducting to sometime even sitting in the console mixing tracks. His ideas ranges from Indian, western, American to computer music. If you could then argue there will be more competition and more talents, if Tamil becomes world’s highly used culture, I can take India musicians into account. Nobody in India has satisfied common man, Indian pundits and foreign pundits at the same time. Give me one great example I will accept my argument and surrender. But unfortunately you can’t even mention one such composer other than ilaiyaraaja and therefore my argument is proved. Ilaiyaraaja should be seen from different points to understand his genius. He is a special composer of our age and we are failing to give him the right acknowledgement. For me stevie wonder is great composer and singer and I love his voice in “I just want to say I love you” but my culture want “yengae sellum indha padai” the maestro’s trademark voice in me. I’m from Indian culture and who is “Schubert for tom”, so is Ilaiyaraaja for me. Even if you throw out the culture discussion, 900 movies in a span of 25 years. All are not one and a half hour movies but 3 hours. All done in 3 to 10 days time. Neither Beethoven, Neither Michael Jackson, Neither Beatles, Neither Elvis Presley, James Horner could accomplish this. Leave out our local music composers; they haven’t touched all classical domains in the world. Don’t bring the old film works inspired by world musicians, which are few in number. That old ilaiyaraaja is gone before 20 years. Who is ilaiyaraaja now? How did he turn himself to a music colossus? Ask a foreigner what is Indian music? He replies so naively “sitar and tabla music”. I don’t blame the genius of Ravi Shankar or zakir Hussein. Many argue that they were the musians who took our music to foreign. My answer to them is “No”. They didn’t take our music to them but they created a “Curiosity in foreigners about Indian music”. A theoretical explanation before a raga concert in “Ohio concert hall” will never make a foreigner understand our music but a practical composition made like thiruvasakam in symphony or “you can’t be free” or “study for violin” will achieve it. Those compositions haven’t reached even Indians and that’s because we are poor souls to acknowledge great composers but future will certainly hail Maestro ilaiyaraaja’s compositions. May be after a century. I believe that Ilaiyaraaja is most modern in his music thoughts but personally I believe music is nothing but sound and music came first and then singing. The evolution process would explain everything. I’m against ilaiyaraaja in only some details like music comes by Birth. It’s true to some extent that some genetic factors are involved in making complete musicians of future but you don’t have all ready in you. Music comes by learning. Another one negative, which Ilaiyaraaja says, “Computers don’t generate emotions”. Thayaga brahmam didn’t perform with a mike; Bach didn’t have “Euphonix” recording system to record his D minor. Today we need electronics for all music, we need digital systems to record music, all digital things are computers and I feel no way we can predict if Computers could or cant generate emotions. If the entire music world revolves round Digital music, why don’t machines generate emotions? Experiments will always turn into something. Earth turned from flat to round; Moon turned from non-reachable to reachable. Though we live in an unknown world, logically some approximations have made us feel developments. To say the truth I would like to bring to notice of Maestro that scientists have successfully made computers to generate emotions to some extent. Maestro is always young in his learning for music so he will like this news. Computer music and synthesized music may not be liked by many because it doesn’t come from soul or the compositions by language programming are not artistic but it’s a start for human’s different approach to music turning away from performance, production and playing and who knows it may take us to new ways and approaches in music. I’m personally very modern in my thinking for music. I see music as sound and not music as music. Were the first musicians on earth were born with a trombone?

-- mi (musicindiaz@yahoo.com), July 06, 2003.

My favourite classical musician is Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar. His "Raga Visthara" and "Swara prasthara" are quite divine. In light music K.J Yesudas & S.P Balasubrahmanyam are my favourites

-- Reghunath V R (reghunathvr@rediffmail.com), July 25, 2003.

I love Nithyasri's songs. Very devine, melodious and involving songs. I like hearing Nithyasri's songs always. She is the best of this generation and a gifted singer. You will feel the devotion within yourself, when you hear Nithyasri.

-- N.Parthasarathi (partha@shaw.ca), October 30, 2003.

My favorite musician is thyagaraja, dikshitar and shyama shastri, they have pretty good voices and have good stage presence...If youd like to hear them there is an upcomming cutcheri in Los Angeles contact me

-- Mythili Pakash (rachikahill@hotmail.com), October 31, 2003.

My favourite singer is none other than Sudha Raghunathan.Her dedication to music and melody is greatly appreciated.Her Oothukkadu collection is really excellent.M.S.Subhalakshmi my favourite too.She is one of the great singers of the earlier generation.She is known for her devotion to music.One of my favourite songs of hers is Kurai Ondrum Illai.

-- Divya Balasubramanian (bdivya90@yahoo.co.uk), November 12, 2003.

Instrumental - Hariprasad Chaurasia (first time i heard it, i fell in love with the music) Carnatic female - Mani Krishnaswamy male - Vijay Shiva

Hindustani female - Veens Sahasrabuddhe

-- Haripriya R (ripri@hotmail.com), November 13, 2003.

I recently discovered the drupad of Alaki Lahiri, she is one of the few woman who sings drupad. She sings so good you almost forget that she is performing an art. The medium of music seems to disappear as she reaches direct communication. P.S Rupa Kundu if you read this take this new mail address. My mail old mail (belateeken@mail.com) doesn't work anymore

regards to all.

-- Bela Teeken (bela_teeken@yahoo.com), December 10, 2003.

Sanjay Subrahmanyan - just unbeatable!

-- Vaidyanathan Ravi Shankar (ravi005@ieee.org), December 30, 2003.

Every human voice is divine and unique.Thats why the same song sung by different artist looks different and wonderful. I dont have any fav arists but enjoy songs sung by all. Arvind Ravi

-- Arvind Ravi (arvind_world@yahoo.com), January 03, 2004.

neyveli santhananagopalan ,of course.nobody to beat his bhavam and gnanam.

-- v.guruprasad (guruprasad85@yahoo.co.uk), January 14, 2004.

the only person who even qualifies as my favourite musician is mrs.Sudha Ragunathan.there is no one (in the present generation)who has sung for so long & still manages to pull such a huge crowd.and it is no surprise that she has been awarded the padmashree .this is just the beginning.there is much more to come.

so here's 3 cheers to her hip hip hurray hip hip hurray hip hip hurray

-- sushmitha (rainslash@hotmail.com), March 01, 2004.

I attended an awesome concert by Suryaprakash at Shastri Hall last week. What a great voice and what electrifying music!! He is the No. 1 today

-- Sriram (sri_kumar@hotmail.com), March 09, 2004.

I adore Chembai Vaidyanatha Iyer for his sheer majesty (gambheeram) in singing. What else can one expect from the 'Sangeetha Samrat' (King of music)? Chembai's singing is marked by unshakeable confidence. I also like Madurai Mani Iyer for all that he was. Madurai Mani was 'Madhura' Mani.

-- Ramakrishnan (s_r_kris@yahoo.com), April 05, 2004.

My ALL-TIME favorite (a)female musician is Sangeetha Kalanidhi Dr. Smt M.S. Subbulakshmi, and, (b)male musician is Sangeetha Kalanidhi D.K.Jayaraman.

Unfortunately, they stoped singing before I started listening.

I will listen to songs on Sriman Narayana, his divya avataras (particularly, Rama-Krishna Avatharas) and kalyana gunas for hours together.

My present day favorite artiste are Sanjay Subramaniam (great shareeram and good shaareeram) and T.M.Krishna(great voice next only to Sri BMK, torch bearer of the MVI School, being Sri SSI's youngest student). I'm not able to place any current female artiste in my favorite list.

-- Krishna Madhavan (ksrimech@netscape.net), November 18, 2004.

I like Madurai somu for sheer energy. I admire T.K. Rangachary for his dramatic rendering and rare imagination.

-- K.V. Nagarajan (kvnagarajan2001@yahoo.ca), December 04, 2004.

Madurai Mani Iyer, the great. One has to listen to yeppo varuvaro and adamodi... to see enormous devotional fervour plus the breathtaking rapidity of the notes in his singing ...amazing that one could be so spontaneous, rapid yet fully devotional...and it sounds like an unmatchable combination of devotion and intellect.

-- jaya (pljayasanker@yahoo.com), December 27, 2004.

The only torchbearer of the Great Madurai Mani Iyer's music among the young generation is R.SURYAPRAKASH. This music season he has brought Madurai Mani Iyer before our eyes.

-- Swami (swmnthnntrjn@yahoo.com), December 28, 2004.

I am 12 yrs old living in the bay area.Its only a year since i started taking music lessons.My exposure to classical music has been only for the past year.I have been listening to maharajapuram santhanam's collections and each one is a classic by itself.one will start to appreciate music just by listening to any album by santhanam.His thillana compositions are mellifluous.His renditions on chandrasekarendra saraswathi swamigal are heartwarming.Its unfortunate that he his not in our midst.Amongst this generation singers my favorite is bombay jayashree.Her renditions are melodious.My vote for male singer is unnikrishnan.i haven't listened to anyone else,so my knowledge is pretty limited.

shradda grade 7

-- shradda venkateswaran (goforit2392@yahoo.com), January 26, 2005.

a.m.Rajah

golden voice which can heard for hours together without any boredom.

-- rosariorajkumar (rosariorajkumar@yahoo.co.in), February 05, 2005.

Wanted to contribute a reply to MI (musicindiaz)'s thoughts...

Illayaraja is a great musician... but there have been others in different genres.. in India itself.. who have mastered both western and Indian classical...

one of them was Salil Chowdhury (in Bengali music - not Hindi stuff)... and the other was Sudhin Dasgupta (same - in bengali itself)...

And of course, there was the inimitable Satyajit Ray, who had mastered probably every kind of music there is in this world...

regards Sandy

-- Sandipan (sandipan.de@iflexsolutions.com), February 10, 2005.

Mandolin srinivas,guitar prasanna,saxophone kadri,maharajapuram santhanam,madhrai mani iyer, t.v.sankaranarayan,m.vijayasiva,madhurai somsundaram,harmonium p.venkateshwara rao.m.s.subbalaxmi, priya sisters,thiravaroor bhakthavathsalam karaikudi mani,k.v.prasad,lalgudi jayaraman,A.KANYAKUMARI,USHA RAJAGOPALN,K.VAIDYANATHAN G.N.B, Jalatharangam A.S.DHANDAPANI.a.ganesh

and many more....................................................

because i fell that they are really my gods and guru's.

-- KEYBOARD (KVMAMSC@YAHOO.COM), February 17, 2005.