Sunday, November 25, 2012

Coming up...Madhuradhwani 2013

Please stay tuned for updates on tickets, programming and other details. We look forward to your presence and support.


Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Madhuradwani 2012

Madhuradhwani 2012 is the second of the public programmes that Music Circle has presented so far, following the successful conduct of a two-day festival in 2010 commemorating the centenary of the legend, GNB.

The festival featured six concerts by accomplished musicians from India. The first day featured vocal concerts by VK Manimaran that was followed by a grand vocal recital by Sanjay Subrahmanyan. The second day's concerts were by V Shankaranarayanan and Bombay Jayasri Ramnath. The concluding day featured Carnatica Brothers and Priya Sisters.

The accompanying artists included popular names like Embar Kannan, Tanjavur murugabhoopathy, Raghavendra Rao, HS Sudhindra and KV Gopalakrishnan.

The festival was organized to commemorate the birth anniversaries of legendary musicians T Brinda, Madurai Mani Iyer and mridangam maestro, Palghat Mani Iyer.

Some pictures from the event

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Global GNB Centenary Celebrations Concert

Music Circle has been hosting several thematic concerts on a periodic basis for the past three years in a chamber environment. Global GNB Centenary Celebrations in Singapore was the first public event that was organized by Music Circle.

As a fitting tribute to the legend, Music Circle had organized concerts of "Padmasri" Smt Sudha Ragunathan and "Padmabhushan" Madurai Sri TN Seshagopalan on Feb 26th & 27th, 2010 at Khoo Auditorium, Singapore.

Some pictures from the event.

About GNB

Sangita Kalanidhi Sri GN Balasubramaniam, remembered as a musician par excellence, entered the carnatic music field at a time when the circuit was already studded with bright stars. Born in Gudalur to Sri GV Narayanaswamy and Smt Visalakshi Ammal on Jan 6th, 1910, he initially learnt music from his father, and later from gurus Madurai Sri Subramaniya Aiyyar and Sri Guruswamy Bhagavathar. He studied at Wesley school and obtained BA (hons) from Madras Christian College.

GNB, as he was famously known, gave his maiden performance at Kapalishwarar temple, Mylapore, Chennai, accompanied by his guru, Madurai Sri Subramaniyan on violin and Pudukotai K Rajamani on the mrudangam. With this memorable debut in 1928, his career leapt to dizzying heights as his fame shot up meteorically. Critics and audiences raved about his performances so much that the musicologists were astonished at his prowess in an era of legendary musicians.

GNB's success was indeed a fusion of various factors. He used the facile voice with roller coaster briga capabilities, clever judgment, technical skills, and infused right proportions of all the aspects in his music to sweep the audiences off their feet. He evolved his own „bani‟ (style) that was remarkably wholesome and provided emotional fulfillment to his rasikas. Every aspect of his concert starting from raga alapana, kriti rendering, neraval to swara singing had the popular „GNB touch‟ and transported the audience to a different listenership level. Such was the impact of his music that even after nearly five decades, these „touches‟ are used to embellish and enrich the concerts today.
The legend‟s popularity grew further from his own compositions and writing. He has composed more than 100 krithis, a few varnams and a thillana. Based in Sanskrit,Tamil and Telugu, most of his compositions are in praise of Goddess Devi. Though extremely popular, his compositions do not carry any code or mudra (signature) nor did he sing them in his concerts. GNB‟s blazing career was cut short at the age of 55.

Even in the midst of a hectic vocal career, GNB proved his versatility as a writer and an actor. As a writer, he has contributed several articles, journals and publications in the field of music. Some of his writings contain priceless wisdom and serve as useful materials for aspiring and performing musicians and musicologists. Between the years 1934-1937, GNB has also acted in different roles in movies, the most notable being the one with legend Smt.MS Subbulakshmi in the film, “Sakuntalai”.

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