Ecstatic Fiddle: Pandit V.G. Jog

Pandit V.G. Jog

I came across the music of Pandit V.G. Jog through my father who had several LPs of his in our rather humble family record collection.  Jog, along with Bhimsen Joshi and Pannalal Ghosh were the holy trinity of Indian classical music growing up. In fact, they were the only three Hindustani classical musicians I knew, and over the years I fell under the sway of their playing and singing.

Vishnu Govind Jog, or simply V.G., was the man who more than any other made the Western violin a beloved and natural sounding member of the Hindustani musical orchestra.  A Marathi by birth, Jog lived most of his life in Calcutta that great eastern metropolis of culture and art.  His pedigree is burnished with some brief periods of study with the greatest of all modern Indian music pedagogues, Allaudin Khan, but the bulk of his training as a violinist came from V. Shastry and Dr. S.N. Ratanjarkar.  He received his Master’s degree in music from Lucknow where he remained for some time as an instructor himself. Groomed in the Gwalior, Agra and Bakhle styles, Pandit Jog's virtuosity, mastery of ragas and an uncanny realisation of space and time in the construction and knowledge of rhythm are his hallmarks. At a very young age, he rubbed shoulders with all time greats at the Bhatkhande College of Music, Lucknow, in the 1930s—the first great attempt at institutionalizing traditional music instruction. (Wikipedia)

Panditji travelled extensively around the world and performed in some of the great concert halls in the US and Europe including Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center.  In the late 1990’s he developed Parkinson’s disease which made it increasingly difficult for him to play his beloved violin.  He passed away in Calcutta in 2004 after attaining almost all the high civilian honors of his country and those in the South Asian region.

This is a cassette I purchased in his home city of Calcutta many years ago and is one of my favorite. His treatment, especially, of Raga Kirwani, is spectacular. He does, truly, manage to make waves of ecstasy on both these selections.

         Track Listing:

         01 Raga Shyam Kalyan

         02 Raga Kirwani

here

Mumbai Magic: Van Shipley

Van Shipley, one of India’s most prolific popular instrumentalists, until his death in 2008, issued a series of LPs throughout the 60s and 70’s, in which he arranged and performed contemporary and past Bollywood hits.  Never a household name (except in his own, of course) he was nevertheless, a prominent ‘behind the scenes’ player on hundreds if not thousands of film soundtracks.  About the closest you got to a session musician in India.

I’ve posted his biography a few months ago which you can access here. It is worth a read. He is one of the rather unsung but important cadre of Indian Christian or Goan musicians who collectively had an influence beyond what their numbers would suggest on the development of India’s most popular popular music.

Van is most famous for his guitar work but in tonight’s selection serves up a big portion of hits played on the violin. He was known as the ‘Man with the Golden Guitar’. This album is named, The Magic Violin.  I personally enjoy this album more than his guitar work, especially the slower numbers, which really allow Van to squeeze the soul  from the strings.

Note: track 2 and 8 on this LP were simply too mutilated to recover despite my best efforts. Apologies to all accountants and other perfectionists.

            Track Listing:

            01 Ek Pyar ka Naghma Hai

03 Deewana Leke Aaya Hai

04 Gham Hai Kisi Ke Pyar Men

05 Door Jab Din Dhal Jaaye

06 Chalte Chalte

07 Duniya Mein

09 Sath Mein Pyara Sathi Hai

10 Dil ki Baten

11 Zindagi ka Safar

12 Chingari Koi Bhadke

here

Tamil Violin: Lalgudi Jayaraman

Lalgudi Jayaraman

A real delight of this world is the way the violin is played by South Indian musicians. It is as if it is a truly Indian instrument, not imported.  Tonight I share a live recording of the fabled Lalgudi Jayaram made in Bombay in the 1970s.

Lalgudi Jayarama Iyer (born September 17, 1930, India) is a well-known Carnatic violinist, vocalist and composer.

Born in the lineage of a disciple of the saint musician Thyagaraja, Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman inherited the essence of Carnatic music from his versatile father, late V R Gopala Iyer, who trained him meticulously.

At the age of 12, he started his musical career as an accompanying violinist.

Having an active imagination, quick grasp and an ability to adapt easily to the individual styles of the leading maestros in Carnatic music, while accompanying them in their concerts, he reached the forefront in rapid strides. With the concert experience he thus gained, coupled with sheer hard work and perseverance and the strong urge to give original expression to his musical ideas, he emerged as an accomplished solo violinist.

He expanded the style of violin playing by inventing a whole new technique that is designed to best suit the needs of Indian Classical Music and establishing a unique style that came to be known as 'Lalgudi Bani'. His flawless and fascinating style, graceful and original, yet not divorced from traditional roots, gained him numerous fans. This multi-dimensional personality has, to his credit, composed several 'kritis', 'tillanas' and 'varnams' and dance compositions, which are a blend of raga, bhava, rhythm and lyrical beauty. A notable feature about Lalgudi is that his music is very expressive. Lalgudi's instrumental talent comes to the fore in the form of lyrical excellence. He brought the most-sought-after vocal style into violin, and his renditions exhibit knowledge of lyrical content of the compositions.

He has been in great demand for accompanying vocalists, and has accompanied such great vocal virtuosos as Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, G. N. Balasubramaniam, Madurai Mani Iyer, K.V.Narayanaswamy, Maharajapuram Santhanam, D. K. Jayaraman, M.Balamuralikrishna, T. V. Sankaranarayanan, T. N. Seshagopalan and flute maestros like N. Ramani, etc. His accompanying wizardry and quick responses to the various challenges posed by the main artistes remain unsurpassed. His accomplishments are numerous but chief of them is the fact that he was the first to bring international attention to the Carnatic style of violin playing. He also introduced a new concept of musical ensemble with violin, venu (flute) and vina in 1966, and gave several outstanding concerts.

He has given concerts extensively in India as well as abroad. The Government of India sent him to Russia as a member of the Indian Cultural Delegation. At the Edinburgh festival in 1965, Yehudi Menuhin, the renowned violinist, impressed by Lalgudi's technique, presented him with his Italian violin. He has also performed in Singapore, Malaysia, Manila and East European countries. His recordings submitted to the International Music Council, Baghdad, Asian Pacific Music Rostrum and Iraq Broadcasting Agency by AIR New Delhi have been adjudged as the best and accorded the first position out of 77 entries received from the various countries during 1979. He was invited to give concerts at Cologne, Belgium and France. The Government of India chose him to represent India at the Festival of India in USA, London and he gave solo and 'Jugalbandi' concerts in London and also in Germany and Italy that received rave reviews. Sri Lalgudi went on a tour in the year 1984 to Oman, UAE, Qatar and Bahrain, which was highly successful. He composed the lyrics and music for the operatic ballet Jaya Jaya Devi, which premiered in 1994 at Cleveland, Ohio (U.S.) and was staged in many other cities in the United States. In October 1999, Lalgudi performed in the UK under the auspices of Shruthi Laya Sangham (Institute of fine arts). The concert was a roaring success. After the concert, a dance drama Pancheswaram, composed by Lalgudi, was staged.

Jayaraman earned several titles, such as 'Nada Vidya Tilaka' by Music Lovers’ Association of Lalgudi in 1963, 'Padma Shri' by the Government of India in 1972, 'Nada Vidya Rathnakara' by East West Exchange in New York, 'Vadya Sangeetha Kalaratna' by Bharathi Society, New York; 'Sangeetha Choodamani' by Federation of Music Sabhas, Madras in 1971 and in 1972; State Vidwan of Tamil Nadu by the Government of Tamil Nadu and Sangeetha Natak Academy award in 1979 etc. The First Chowdaiah Memorial National-Level award was given to Sri Jayaraman by the Chief Minister of Karnataka. He also received honorary citizenship of Maryland, U.S. in 1994 and the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 2001. He won the National Film Award for Best Music Direction for the film Sringaram in 2006. In 2010, Jayaraman became a fellow of the Sangeet Natak Akademi.

Lalgudi Jayaraman is married to Smt Rajalakshmi and has two children: his son G.J.R.Krishnan and his daughter Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi. Both follow the footsteps of their father and are famous in their own right. He has three sisters Padmavathy, a vainika, Rajalakshmi and Srimathi, both violinists. The renowned veena player Jayanthi Kumaresh is Smt Rajalakshmi's daughter. (Wikipedia)

Track Listing:

01 Welcome Address

02 Raga Nagaswaravali (Sri Shankara Guru Varam)

03 Raga Vachaspathi (Paraathpara)

04 Raga Dvijavanthi (Akhilandeshwari)

05 Raga Shankarabharanam (Sankaracharyam)

06 Raga Jaunpuri (Eppo Varuvaro)

here