G S Mani: A great artiste, unfairly overlooked for Sangita Kalanidhi award

I first heard Mani-sir on August 15, 1983—it was at Music Academy mini hall, with T Rukmini and Srimushnam Raja Rao. The main piece was Bhairavi—Syama Sastri’s Sari Evaramma. Yesterday (January 10, 2016) I again heard Mani-sir at Astika Samajam. The main piece was the same Bhairavi. 

Thirty-three years down the line, the vocalist’s voice had not lost even a tiny fraction of its timbre. Also, it was one of the finest Bhairavi alapanas I had ever heard, built-up at a leisurely pace, with long karvais on each note—an exemplary style, and vastly different from what rules today, which is to take off into a flurry of brikhas like a monkey touched on the backside by a hot-iron rod. Mani-sir took a moment to explain that the raga had influence of many nadaswaram Bhairavis he had heard during his formative years.

The concert was such a lovely one. It offered the listener so much. There was an elaborate vivadi—the 71^st Melakarta, Kosalam (Koteeswara Iyer’s Kaa Mugha). There was a rare raga—Padma Deepam, derived from the Hindustani rag Patdeep. Padma Deepam takes the swaras – sa, ga, ma, pa, ni, sa and descent the same as its mother raga, Gowri Manohari. Mani-sir sang a brilliant composition, his own. Then there was Thyagaraja swami’s Vijayavasantham, a derivative of the 54^th Melakarta, Viswambari. Nee Chittamu Naa Bhagyamayya was another piece that Mani-sir had sung on August 15, 1983. Then there was Ganavaridhi (Thyagaraja Swami’s Dayachudageeti). For those who wanted some familiars, there was a Kanada (own composition) and the good old Bhairavi. In between, there was a grand Suruti, with an elaborate, full-fledged alapana, followed by his own piece. And then, there were some scintillating thukkudas, including a Chandrakauns (naalai varum endre—his own), at my request.

The concert had something for every taste! 

As I was listening, I was wondering why Mani-sir was being overlooked for Sangita Kalanidhi. His merits are obvious, but to just recount:

• He has been a performing Carnatic musician for over 60 years
• He is well-versed in Hindustani music too
• As is well known, contributed hell of a lot to film music
• He has composed over 300 songs in Sanskrit, Telugu and Tamil

Few have served Music as much as Mani-sir. Yet year after year, he is overlooked for the Sangita Kalanidhi award.

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Answer to 'Guess who? -1' 

Yes !

Lalgudi Sir ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

But I would partly blame him too. He doesn’t sing enough kalpana swaras, and rarely sings neraval—though he is capable of doing both exceedingly well. For some strange reason he believes that singing swaras in elaboration is not necessary—but the listeners (me included) expect that. While that is no reason not to recognise his merits, it is a small and avoidable gap in his music.