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Sangeet with Ramaprasad

Feb 26, 2022 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM

With Sangeet Team (Dave, Jayashri, Ramaprasad, Rungun & Padma)

Classical and Folk Music from the Indian Subcontinent, on WPRB since 1986 with a rotating cast of DJs

9:01 AM		U Srinivas (Mandolin) Emani Pogadudura in raga Veeravasantha Thyagaraja U. Srinivas [1969 - 2014]
9:09 AM		Sandhya Mukherjee Ki Kori Sajani Aase Na Preetam - A Bangla Thumri Sandhya Mukherjee [1931 - 2022]
9:17 AM		Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer - M S Subbulakshmi - Radha Viswanathan Kamalamba Samrakshathu in raga Anandabhairavi Dikshitar Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer [1908 - 2003] M S Subbulakshmi [1916 - 2004]] and Radha Viswanathan [1934 - 2018]
9:25 AM		Sandhya Mukherjee A Thumri Sandhya Mukherjee Hindustani Vocalist and Playback Singer
9:37 AM		Jayakrishnan Unni Thamasam Thellumini in raga Varali Puducode Krishnamurthy Jayakrishnan Unni
9:50 AM		Sandipan Samajpati A Bandish in raga Sohni Sandipan Samajpati
10:01 AM		Wynton Marsalis Jazz and Sachal Jazz Rhanja Rhanja Wynton Marsalis Sachal Jazz
10:09 AM		T M Krishna Ksheenamai Thiruga in raga Mukhari Thyagaraja T M Krishna
10:27 AM		Sandhya Mukherjee Ghum Ghum Chand Jhikimiki Tara Sandhya Mukherjee
10:31 AM		Arnab Chkravarty (Sarod) Raga Kafi Arnab Chakravarty
10:44 AM		Sandhya Mukherjee E Aye Pi More in raga Malkauns Sandhya Mukherjee [1931 - 2022]
10:55 AM		K S Narayanaswamy Shyamasundaranga in raga Dhanyasi Thyagaraja K S Narayanaswamy [1914 - 1999]
11:12 AM		Venkatesh Kumar A Bandish in raga Yaman Venkatesh Kumar
11:28 AM		T N S Krishna Sanchara Dhadhara in raga Shyamkalyan (from Ashtapadi) Jayadeva Madurai T N S Krishna
11:37 AM		Shashikala Dani (Jalatarang) A Bandish in raga Marwa Shashikala Dani
11:48 AM		Trichur V Ramachandran Sharatchandra Nibhanane in raga Veenadhari G N Balasubramanian Trichur V Ramachadran

Chat is archived.

Good Morning From Sangeet, on this Saturday morning, hosted today by Ramaprasad, aka, Ram

Morning! Is he playing through an amplifier?

His mandolin is electric, so probably though an amplifier.

i read also that sometimes, probably in the beginning, he might have used an amplifier. Good Morning, Andy and the Obscure David

what is the difference between an electric mandolin and a the one where a pick up mike is attached and connected to an amplifier?

Like an electric guitar, it is a solid body, so the string vibration is registered with 'pickups' rather than acoustically in a hollow body instrument. The signal is sent to the amplifier.

Without amplification, the solid body would sound dull and quiet.

Thanks, Dave

If you find a good image of his mandolin, you can see the pickups under the strings.

Will do

Where is Brian D. when you need an expert explanation?

Exactly.

Two songs after this i have a surprise. Hope Sangeet listeners out there like what I have done

Hello. Mando bat signal....

Ha!

Oh. U Srinivas was in the beginning of the show. Dave, you have played that artist before correct?

Good Morning, Brian D

Indeed I have played U. Srinivas. On The New Abnormal as well.

U. Srinivas was in the recent incarnation of Shakti with John McLaughlin.

Dave's explanation is great. The term "electric (insert guitar/mandolin etc)" usually means solid body instrument (or mostly solid) that requires an amplifier. One used to hear the term "acoustic-electric" to apply to acoustic hollow body instruments with built-in electronics/pickups to carry the sound out towards the amplifier. But that is not as commonly heard that I have found.

Thanks, Brian. That was very educational

Brain D. is an educator after all.

Then there is the whole "pickup and internal microphone" hybrid world I have seen on acoustic guitars... so many possibilities. They have a pickup built in to carry the signal magnetically. AND they have a thin microphone inside the soundhole (usually) to carry the sound via that method. Two separate volumes and a blender slider lever to adjust how much mic versus pickup sound goes out to the amp. Fun!

Good use of technology

What is this? Jazz? On Sangeet? Outrageous! :-)

You hear sitar - Indian!!

The only "pickup" I employ now is to pickup the acoustic guitar from the stand and play it in the living room. Ha. Living simply now. But yes I do love the technology as well. The greats know how to blend the old and new worlds. (<---former educator for a just few years actually. But those were great years!)

That was a good one, Brian

Oh this is Wynton I see. Very nice.

Oh the term "the greats" did not apply to myself there.... awkward wording. Was referring to the artists in the playlist etc. The pros

I would love to hear more of Sachal Jazz. Will search for more of them.

Brian, your humility is applauded. But you are great in out there and especially in Sangeet Space

Dave's program is a good place for that, my opinion

...we're living here in space...

I don't know much about Sachal Jazz. I plan to play something by the Berklee Indian Ensemble jazz group this Friday.

Good

Have they harmoniously incorporated Indian ragas into their compositions?

Yes. My selected performance is a cover of an L. Shankar composition set in Raga Bhimpalas.

Interesting

Bengali is another of the Indian languages that is well set suited for music, not just my opinion

I am puzzled why even the Bengali Hindustani vocalists sing in Hindi.

They need bandishes. I have no knowledge how many are written in Bengali. Further is there a filial duty to the gharana? Experts should answer this good question

I am way out of my depth with that topic.

Jayashri is the person to answer that question. Her music teacher is a Bengali

Yes, Tripti Mukherjee.

We will ask her to find the answer for us

Bengali music has popped into the weekday playlists and chats lately I have seen.

Dave gets the Bengali Bat Signal and appears....

Yes, that chat was all my doing. Rina slips some Bengali songs in sometimes.

Good morning all!

Good morning, Padma.

Hi Padma, Good Morning

@Padma, were you able to listen to the earlier pieces? Wanted to know your reaction to Semmangudi - MSS-Radha singing in a house concert

@Ram I missed it! I would have loved to hear it!

@Padma, will play another next time around

@Ram In my opinion, I have not heard much difference between Semmangudi and M S Subbalakshmi since she learnt from him. I was listening to a Khamboji Alapana by M S last night. I could have sworn it was identical to a Semmangudi Alapana

Veenai the ultimate chamber instrument of Carnatic music!

Veena, The Instrument

@Ram I do not know much about music at all. Just a listener.

@Padma, You are so right, the "gharana" trail. I am too small a guy in music to ask the question: Why did she later not etch out her own individual style within the bani of "Semmangudi" school?

@Padma, you are kidding, of course. We are all students and the journey is never ending. There in is the joy of music

@Ram , I have heard that M S would remark that too much swara singing would ruin vocal cords. In my opinion, she allowed herself the only deviation from Semmangudi by limiting swaraprastharas and sticking to Neraval of which she was the Queen. Semmangudi would usually light up his concerts with fireworks of sparkling swaraprastharas.

@Ram you are too kind!

@Padma, there is so much physics in music - frequency, overtones, harmony......

@Ram yes physicist Sir C. V. Raman published at least two research papers on the harmonic frequencies of Mridangam

@Padma, in a public forum, I can only ask: Did MSS enjoy the freedom one needs to evolve into different musical forays? I am not a scholar

@Ram experimentation or not she was still fine musician. Some of her concerts from the sixties will bear it out.

Such bhakti bhava in music is unparalleled

I always enjoy hearing the rare Jalatarang.

Yes, David, great instrument. As a kid growing up in India, I have been to concerts where this instrument was featured as an accompaniment. But as an adult and hopefully more educated, I have hardly heard any. why can't they have a full fledged concert? The organizers are too shy. Afraid of the collection?

That, and there may not be many performers on Jalatarang anymore. Last Jalatarag concert I saw was in the late 80's. Not many recordings available either.

If there are no concert opportunities, not many will learn the instrument. Typical Catch 22!

And all the splashing can damage a wood stage. 😉

LOL

Front three rows have to wear rain gear.

It is not that bad!

It's brutal. Ceramic chips flying in all directions.

imagine it gets into the hands of the audience. worse than pie throwing

🍵💥🥢 ☔

This might interest Padma. I read once a humorous essay on how to write a paper for publication. The writer suggested introducing a greek Pi into an equation. Will give the referee a headache to figure that out. He called it 'Pi throwing'

Thank you all, Andy, David, Brian and Padma, for dropping in and enhance the dialogue here. Thanks also to all those Sangeet listeners out there for tuning in to Sangeet. Have a great week