Manakkal Rangarajan

My maternal grandfather was a school teacher and he worked in various villages in the Tanjavur district. In the 1940’s he was teaching at the school in Lalgudi, while living in the village of Manakkal which is a stone’s throw from Lalgudi. It is a tiny village and on Google Maps it is pretty hard to find it unless you search for it. And it so happened that he was renting the house of Manakkal Rangarajan’s family at this time. My mother’s recollection is that by the time they got to Manakkal, the Rangarajan family had moved to Madras/Chennai, with Manakkal Rangarajan trying to establish himself in the music scene, one of the brothers teaching music to the daughter of S S Vasan (a well known man in those days) etc. And she also remembers that a sister of Alathur Srinivasa Iyer was her neighbor. She remembers seeing Lalgudi Jayaraman in Lalgudi with his kudumi and already engaged in teaching young children. My mother did learn violin, but not from the Lalgudi family for reasons not clear to me. These are recollections from my mother, when I mentioned to her that I was listening to a concert of Manakkal Rangarajan!

She does remember listening to Manakkal Rangarajan many a time, mostly on the radio. Her views are that he came into the scene at a time when there were so many stalwarts already so well established that it was hard for him to get the level of recognition he deserved.

As a side note, I should also mention that, Allepey Venkatesan lives in the retirement community that she lives in, a floor above her, and I have heard him practicing/singing occasionally when I have visited her.

Here are some concerts in no particular sequence.

with V Tyagarajan (Violin) & Manakkal Sriram (Mridangam)

  • siddhi vinAyakam – shanmukapriyA
  • brOva bAramA – bahudAri
  • tAyE idu taruNam – pantuvarALi

with T Chowdiah (Violin) & Madurai Krishna Iyengar (Mridangam)

  • evarurA ninnuvinA – mOhanam
  • vAtApi ganNpatim – hamsadwani
  • cAla kallalADu – -Arabhi

with T Chowdiah (Violin) & Madurai Krishna Iyengar (Mridangam)

Violin is pretty loud and Chowdiah is pretty dominating is the feeling I had on listening to this concert.

  • nagumOmu – AbhEri
  • raghuvamsa – kadanakutoohalam
  • ninnuvina nAmadendu – navarasakannaDA
  • nenaruncinAnu – mALavi
  • kA vAvA kandA vAvA – varALi

with Kandadevi Alagiriswamy (Violin), Manakkal Sriram (Mridangam) & Alangudi Ramachandran (Ghatam)

  • sObillu saptaswara – jaganmOhini
  • marivErE – Anandabhairavi
  • nee pAdamulE – navarasakannaDA
  • bhavanuta – mOhanam

AIR Concert

  • sabApatikku – Abhogi
  • mArgazhi tingaL – nATTai
  • kArtigai bAlan – mAnD
  • mAlariyA nAnmuganum – yadukula kAmbhOji

with V Sethuramiah (Violin), Manakkal Sriram (Mridangam) & C K Shyamsundar (Kanjira)

  • bhavanuta – mOhanam (long tani)
  • Ananda naDamADuvAr – poorvikalyANi
  • mahAlakshmi – mAdhavamanOhari
  • niravati sukadAyaka – ravichandrika
  • swara rAgasudhArasa – sankarAbaraNam
  • kArthigai bAlanai – mAnD
  • meragadulaci rArA – aTANA
  • malarin mEvu tiruvE – rAgamAlika
  • mAnikkavAsagar tiruvAsagam

with Coimbatore Dakshinamurthy (Violin) & Madras Kannan (Mridangam)

  • kamalApta – brindAvana sArangA
  • kripaya pAlaya – chArukEsi
  • EmanadichEvo – sahAnA
  • srirAma jayarAma – yadukulakAmbOji

with Coimbatore Dakshinamurthi (Violin), Madras Kannan (Mridangam) & Umayalpuram Narayanaswamy (Ghatam)

  • sri raguvara – kAmbOji
  • sankari nee – bEgaDA
  • appan avadaritta – karaharapriyA
  • sri rAmam – nArayanagowLa

with V Sethuramiah (Violin), Tanjore Upendran (Mridangam) & R Gurumurthy (Ghatam)

Part of the concert at Music Academy

  • dakshinAmurtE – sankarAbaraNam
  • jO jO rAma – reetigowLa

with M S Gopalakrishnan (Violin)

  • varNam – kAmbhOji – Adi
  • sObillu saptaswara – jaganmOhini
  • aparAdhamulamAnpi – darbAr
  • marivEre dikkevaru – latAngi
  • kamalAmbAm – Anandabhairavi
  • swara rAgasudha – sankarAbaraNam
  • RTP – mOhanam (tanam in mOhanam, todi & nAyaki); pallavi in three ragams “mOhana ranganai azhaittODi vADi nAyaki aNaitta jagan”
  • viruttam
  • tirupugazh – hamsAnandi
  • tillAnA – poorNachandrikA
  • mangalam

with M S Anantaraman (Violin), Manakkal Sriram (Mridangam) & V N Muthukumar (Kanjira)

AIR Concert

with T N Krishnan (Violin) & Mankkal Sriram (Mridangam)

AIR Concert

  • banTu reeti kolu – hamsanAdam
  • neranammitirA – darbAr
  • hari hara putram – vasantA
  • surapAla sannuta – dharmavati
  • kartigai bAlanai – mAnD
  • jAvaLi – aTANA
  • gAnamoortE – gAnamoorti
  • chEta sri bAlakrishNam – dwijAvanti
  • taruNam idamma – gowLipantu
  • vacanamiga – aTANA
  • uyyAlaloogavayya – neelAmbari
  • appan avataritta – karaharapriyA

RTP Demonstration

NandanAr Charitram