Considered a genius, eccentric and highly moody on the stage, there is much written about him by umpteen number of people. Guess it is pointless to delve into the areas much covered and jump into things that I know about him.

My first encounter was in the mid 70’s – it was a concert at Hubli (Karnataka); after having listened to recordings on AIR and stories from my mother, the live concert was certainly interesting with pranks and games with accompaniments. I cannot say much about the impression the concert left in me, given that I was pretty young and also not being able to process his approach to music at that time. I did get to see a couple more concerts on the TV, but they were too short and have little memory of them.

It was much later that I was able to start appreciating his music from the recordings, however in bits and pieces, and never ever had the satisfaction at the end of the recording that I typically have with others. And that is a pretty annoying feeling in spite of patches of brilliance, that I was often left wondering if it was worth listening at all, but I did keep going back to the recordings that says a lot of the impact of his music.

I had the opportunity of learning from Dwaram Mangatayaru about 20 years ago and she is used to reminisce about her playing with Mali. She was a stock accompaniment for him for a pretty long time and you could see the influence of his music in her playing too.

My friend Ajit who plays the fulte and a student of N Ramani, once came home with a VCD in his hand; it was the concert of Mali at Krishna Gana Sabha which also turns out to have been his last concert. We had great fun watching the concert on multiple fronts. The hilarious parts were his unsuccessful attempts in not being land on the talam during the kalapana swaram, then announcing that he is ending the concert but relenting to have the tani avartanam etc. The funniest part is when he shakes Harishankar’s hand after Harishankar perfectly plays what Mali was attempting to !!

I have a lot of recordings, a lot of which seem to be digital copy of one cassette after another; the trouble is that there are umpteen repeats, partial concerts and quite terrible recording quality that are not easy to fix (at least by me). So the concerts you see are here are the ones that I find are decent in recording quality and complete concerts to the extent possible.

I will start with the video clipping from youtube of the concert at Krishna Gana Sabha considered as his last concert.

 

I have not been able to identify some of the compositions he has rendered; if you are able to, please send me the info and I will update the page.

with T N Krishnan & Palghat Mani Iyer

lot of pranks

• varNam – bhairavi
• ???
• varamulO – keeravANi
• sujana jeevana – kamas (swarams in tisra in loop mode !!)
• yOchanA – darbAr
• tiruvaDi charaNam – kAmbhOji
• suki evvarO – kAnaDA
• RTP – bhairavi
• various

with M Chandrsekaran, Tanjavur Upendran, ?? on morsing

• varNam – kAmbhOji
• chinna nADEna – kalAnidi
• sadA madim – gambeeravAni
• dArini – suddha dhanyAsi
• evarani – devAmrutavarshiNi
• raghuvamsa – kadanakuthoohalam
• pallavi – vAchaspati & rAgamAlikA
• various

with M S Gopalakrishnan, Tanjavur Upendran, ?? on ghatam and ?? on morsing

• nannupAlimpa – mOhanam
• sudhA madhura – sindhu rAmakriyA
• ???
• siva siva siva – pantuvarALi
• sivE pAhimAm – kalyANi
• rtp – subhpantuvarALi
• various

AIR Concert

• sree raguvara – kambhOji
• valli nAyakanE – shanmukapriyA
• giripai – sahAnA

AIR Concert

• manasu karuga – hamsadwani
• aparadamullanu – latAngi
• evarimATa – kambhOji (incomplete)

with N Kesi, Chittor Gopalakrishnan, Palghat kunjumani, R N Krishnamurthy – AIR Concert

background noise 😦

• palukukanta – navarasakannada -tyg -adi
• siva siva siva enarada – pantuvarali – tyg – adi
• ikanannu brova – bhairavi – pallavi krishna ayyar – adi
• rtp – kambhoji

with Chittor Gopalakrishnan, Guruvayoor Dorai and Alangudi Ramachandran – AIR Concert

• O jagadamba – Anandabhairavi
• manavinala – nalinakAnti
• sanAtanA – phalamanjari
• smarajanaka – behAg
• swara rAga sudha – sankarAbaraNam (alapana only)

with someone on Flute (ramani/kesi) – Indian Fine Arts Soceity 1974

• ???
• meevalla – kApi
• parama pAvana – poorvikalyANi
• jAvaLi – kamAs

• varNam – navarAgam
• nijamarmamulanu – umAbharaNam
• chinna nADEnA – kalAnidhi
• seetApatE – kamAs
• vinatA suta vAhana – jayantasEnA
• sundari nee – kalyANi
• ElAvatAram – mukhAri
• pallavi – sahAnA + other ragams
• anurAgamulE – saraswati

• varNam – mOhanam
• ninnuvinA – navarasakannaDA
• nagumOmu – AbhEri
• natajana – simhEndramadyamam
• anupama guNAmbudi – aTANA
• sri subrmanyAya – kAmbhOji (incomplete)

with Dwaram Mangatayaru, Karaikudi Mani and Gurumurthy

• tulasi bilva – kEdAragowLa
• ennaDu jootanO – kalAvati
• manavinAla – nalinakAnti
• meevala guNadOsha – kApi
• ??? (mostly by DM)
• marivEre – shanmukapriyA
• RTP – bEgaDA
• jO acchutAnanda – navarOj & kApi (mostly by DM)
• kAvaDichindu
• mangalam

• entarA – harikAmbhoji
• ????
• paridAnamicchidE – bilahari
• suki evvarO – kAnaDA
• paramAtmuDu – vAgadeeswari
• chinna nADEna – kAlAnidhi
• saki prANA

with M Chandrsekaran – Krishn Gana Sabha 1971

• manasu karuga – hamsadwani
• sani tODi – karikAmbhOji
• varamulOsagi – keeravANi
• evarurA – mOhanam
• evarimATa – kambhOji
• various

with Palghat Mani Iyer

• varNam – bhairavi – aTa
• vAtApi gaNapatim – hamsadhwani
• varamulosaki – keeravANi
• smara janaka – behAg
• marivErE – shaNmukhapriyA
• pallavi – kEdAragowLai
• tiruvaDi sharaNam – kAmbhOji

• sAmbasivA yenavE – khamAs (swarajati)
• tatvameruga taramA – garuDadhwani
• mIvalla guNa dOShamEmi – kApi
• paridAnamicchitE – bilahari
• raghuvara nannu – kAmavardhini
• pallavi – bEgaDa
• sara sara samarai – kuntalavarALi
• mOkshamu galadA – sAramati

with Veena accompaniment (?) – Delhi

• varNam – mOhanam
• chinnanADena – kalAnidi
• manasu swAdeenamai – sanakrAbaraNam
• RTP – simhEndramadyamam
• jAvaLi – kamAs

AIR National Program Selections

• varNam – bhairavi
• krupajuchuTaku – chAyAtarangiNi
• meevalla – kApi
• nAdOpAsana – bEgaDA
• varamulO – keeravANi
• smara janaka – bEhAg
• various

with M Chandrsekaran & U K Sivaraman – Krishna Gana Sabha 1971

• ??? – lalita
• ???
• ninnu cheppa – mandhAri
• dAriNi – suddhasAvEri
• geetArtamu – suraTi
• pallavi – subhapantuvarALi
• various