Author: Shankar Krish

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On issues on the blog

In the last 3-4 years, I have been primarily using archive.org to store the recordings and providing access to them on my blog for listening purposes.

Unfortunately, archive.org was a victim of DDoS (Denial of Service) attacks a week ago, because of which the site is completely down and none of the resources on their site are accessible. So, when you visit the blog pages, in some pages or in some sections of these pages, you may find white space appearing instead of the audio gadget. They say that the DDoS attack has been stopped and that they are in the process of restoring their site. I am hoping that they will be restoring their services soon and I will post an update when their services are restored.

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Nadaswaram with Violin Accompaniment

Back in the 70’s when I lived in Hubbali, AIR Bangalore was a great source of numerous concerts during the Rama Navami time. Like today, it was the time, when numerous organizations would organize concerts for a week or so. And during this period, AIR Bangalore would broadcast excerpts of these concerts and probably some live concerts as well.

It was during this time, I distinctly remember listening to Namagiripettai Krishnan playing with violin and mridangam accompaniment. It was the time when Namagiripettai was the leading Nadaswaram vidwan along with Sheik Chinna Moulana Sahib, and I was a frequent listener to these two, once again with AIR being the main source. And I also remember attending a concert of Namagiripettai at Hubbali; of course I don’t remember any details.

As I was browsing thru the nadaswaram concerts, I cam across a recording of Namagiripettai with M Chandrasekaran on the violin. You get a completely different perspective of his playing and elevated by the accompaniment of M Chandrasekhar. As you listen to this concert, you can hear MC appreciating Namagiripettai in his kalyanavasantam alapana, which is definitely one of the top alapanas in that ragam. You will definitely enjoy this.

  • mAkElara – ravichandrikA
  • mOkshamu galada – sAramati
  • kAraNam kETTu vADi – poorvikalyANi
  • nee dayarAdA – vasantabhairavi
  • nAdalOluDai – kalyANavasantam
  • mOhana rAma – mOhanam
  • Pallavi – ShanmukapriyA
  • tukkadas

No idea who the mridangam and kanjira accompaniments are 😦

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Gem of a gAngEyabhooshaNi by S Kalyanaraman

For quite a while, I have been hunting for this piece which was like a filler to a cassette and finally I found it. After more than 10-12 years, I had the pleasure of listening to a short alapana followed by a purandara dasa composition and then a partial alapana in shanmukapriya which too is wonderful. Hope you enjoy this:

  • sulabha poojeyu mADi – gAngEyabhooshaNi
  • Alapana – shanmukapriyA

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Iceland – Day 5

On the last day of our stay, the planned stops were the Fagradalsfjall volcano and a dip at the hot springs in Blue lagoon before we got to the hotel and prepare for departing the next morning. It was still overcast changing to rain at regular intervals and with temperatures around 4c.

Our drive to our first took us along the coast for most of the time, giving us a view of the North Atlantic ocean. We even spotted a cute light house.

Fagradalsfjall volcano Crater

This volcano had erupted in March 2021 and once again in August 2022, obviously at two different spots; the craters to both of these spots were accessible thru hiking trails that were 3km and 6km from the base of the mountain and the longer hike was considered a difficult one involving a substantial elevation gain as we would have to almost get to the rim of the mountain. So we decided to visit the crater from the March 2021 eruption. The sight on getting to the area of the lava flow was an awesome site with huge area covered with the lava rocks of different shapes and sizes, and still smouldering; further down, the entire stretch of the flow of the volcano could be seen for quite a distance.

We were climbed further up to get to the crater and once again it was an impressive site giving us an idea about the power of the volcano and the destruction it could cause and here we were merrily walking around. It is simply something one has to experience for no words can describe it and the feeling of standing there. Imagine the feeling that one would have to be standing close to the flow of lava from an active eruption, as we had seen in the movie at the museum where hundreds of people were exactly doing that.

First Level of view of the Lava Flow
From the Crater

Blue Lagoon

Our last stop was Blue Lagoon which we had visited on the first day, but this time we got into the hot springs for about an hour; the contrasting hot/warm water and the cold air above the water is an interesting experience.

Wrapup

Iceland is a wonderful place to visit and its unique landscape and features shaped by the volcanic activity is a must see for everyone. Our only disappointment was not being able to see a good northern lights show, but without cooperation from mother nature on the earth and the sun flares from sun as well, is not something we cannot predict.

We chose to drive around on our own and that gave us the flexibility to choose the places to see, time to spend at each location etc. We could randomly stop anywhere we wanted and spend time as we pleased which we could not have done if we had used the tour operators.

We were forewarned that the weather is quite unpredictable and that is exactly what we experienced. This is something that anyone planning to visit needs to be prepared for.