(This post is part of the A to Z Challenge. I am writing this month on activities that keep me refreshed during these depressing days. It's Day 22 today.)
I would have been playing the violin now if I had set apart some time to pick up from where I had left during my violin classes in school. After school, somehow, circumstances were never conducive for me to pursue this passion.
My father used to play it; in fact, right till about two months before he passed away in November 2016 at the age of 87. It's never too late to learn anything. The violin is still there at home. Since it is a very old one, which my dad bought in the 1960s, it might need some fine-tuning. I have to check that.
Meanwhile, I keep listening to violin recitals on YouTube. Some of the best-known names I have grown up listening to are Lalgudi G Jayaraman, M S Gopalakrishnan, L Subramaniam, T N Krishnan, V G Jog etc.
But the most entertaining among them all was Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan. His animated recitals of some popular film songs made him popular even with people who are not Carnatic music fans.
Here is a YouTube clip of him playing Maruthamalai Mamanniye, the famous Tamil song. (The video begins at 50 seconds.)
The modern-age equivalent of Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan, if I can say so, was Balabhaskar, a child prodigy who got on to state at the age of 12, and became the youngest music director in the Malayalam film industry at the age of 17. He popularised fusion music in South India, and I don't think there has been an artiste as popular as him in recent years in Kerala.
Unfortunately, he is no longer with us. The car in which he, his wife and one-year-old daughter were travelling was involved in an accident in Thiruvananthapuram on September 25, 2018. The daughter died on the spot, while he passed away on October 2.
Here is a YouTube clip of Balabhaskar playing Malar Kodi Pole, the famous lullaby sung by S. Janaki in the film Vishukani.
Here is the song from that 1977 movie.
My eyes well up while listening to both.
My father used to play it; in fact, right till about two months before he passed away in November 2016 at the age of 87. It's never too late to learn anything. The violin is still there at home. Since it is a very old one, which my dad bought in the 1960s, it might need some fine-tuning. I have to check that.
Meanwhile, I keep listening to violin recitals on YouTube. Some of the best-known names I have grown up listening to are Lalgudi G Jayaraman, M S Gopalakrishnan, L Subramaniam, T N Krishnan, V G Jog etc.
But the most entertaining among them all was Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan. His animated recitals of some popular film songs made him popular even with people who are not Carnatic music fans.
Here is a YouTube clip of him playing Maruthamalai Mamanniye, the famous Tamil song. (The video begins at 50 seconds.)
The modern-age equivalent of Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan, if I can say so, was Balabhaskar, a child prodigy who got on to state at the age of 12, and became the youngest music director in the Malayalam film industry at the age of 17. He popularised fusion music in South India, and I don't think there has been an artiste as popular as him in recent years in Kerala.
Unfortunately, he is no longer with us. The car in which he, his wife and one-year-old daughter were travelling was involved in an accident in Thiruvananthapuram on September 25, 2018. The daughter died on the spot, while he passed away on October 2.
Here is a YouTube clip of Balabhaskar playing Malar Kodi Pole, the famous lullaby sung by S. Janaki in the film Vishukani.
Here is the song from that 1977 movie.
My eyes well up while listening to both.