Pazhani Shri Subramania Pillai - The Pole Star of Laya Universe (Full DVD - Part 1 of 3)

English subtitles have been added for the Tamil portions of the video which can be activated or deactivated using the "CC" option.
This is Part 1 of a 3-part DVD originally released by Swathi Soft Solutions under their Sanskriti series on April 5th, 2014. Part 1 is the main video, Part 2 is a Tani Avarthanam of Sri Pazhani, and Part 3 is a Mridangam & Jazz ensemble by Sri Pazhani & Dave Brubeck's Jazz Quartet of USA.
My sincere thanks to Sri Sudhakar of Swathi Soft Solutions for consenting to this upload. The subtitles were written by me and uploaded by my grandson Rohit Ashok.

[@sadasivamgnb8868]

எத்தனை சங்கீத மேதைகள், யாரும் தன்னை இசை ஞானி என்று குறிக்கோண்டாதில்லையே, பாவம் 🤔

[@KalidasKS]

@@sadasivamgnb8868 அவர்களின் மேதமையையும் அடக்கத்தையும் காட்டுகிறது!

[@shailavijay]

I would like to share an incident. I was driving from Cleveland to Detroit with Dr Balamurali Sir around early 2000’s. Those days we used to have cassettes and there was one cassette that I had from a Mridangam player from Subramanian Pillai school. It read as Balamurali MSG and Pazhani. Balamurali sir asked me to play it. In excitement I started and Kirti was Entanerchina (Saveri). Balamurali was literally making the mridangam sound from his mouth and said, he is one of those rare gems who knew how to play for a song. As per Balamurali sir he had performed with Pazhani just in 3 concerts. If anyone has the other two concerts, they need to treat us fans with it.

[@manapchand]

Excellent tribute to that great artiste and beautifully composed I am 81 years old and this took me back to the golden period of carnatic music. Thanks million times for sharing this.

[@ernietollar407]

A fabulous job on this thorough arts documentary which features elite artists as worthy spokespersons to this gift of of a person who brought a huge advancement to humanity.

[@SS-qo3nt]

Lovely, lovely; the way I always wanted to see Mrdamgam video; eternal Truth of music devotion

[@KalidasKS]

A humble offering to music rasikas.

[@rikky0078]

Thank you very much

[@nzpers]

An excellent contribution actually! Tnx for sharing 🙏

[@pbs7164]

A rare treasure indeed. True genius. The beats simply follow the krithi and uplift it at times. The patterns were really unique with soothing gumkhis. Thanks sir

[@subramanianvydianathan6333]

பக்கவாத்தியகாரர்களுக்கு நன்றாக பாடதெரிந்தால் கட்ச்சேரி கலைகட்டும்

[@subramanianvydianathan6333]

அருமை மணி அய்யர் சொன்னது

[@muralikrishnan8537]

pranam.great.pazhani.sir

[@Saro2829]

Amazing wonderful SHORTFILM ABOUT PSP

[@revathibacsa]

Excellent docu on the great artist.

[@subramanianvydianathan6333]

மணிக்கு மணியாக வாசிப்பு ஆஹா

[@januj1]

Thank you, Kalidas sir. I have the DVD but being able to go back often to some great pieces of music and anecdotes is greatly fulfilling. Unique Genius! Goes without saying

[@KalidasKS]

Absolutely!

[@KalidasKS]

Reminder: To see English subtitles, press 'cc'. To opt out, again press 'cc' .

[@dearmrkiran]

None more special to Venerate than Sri Pillai-vaal, all the more on International Left handers day! This is meant to be. Thank you to each one in front of the screen and behind!

[@eytonshalomsandiego]

thank you VERY much to you and Mr. Ashok for adding the subtitles! and to Swathi for consenting...

[@KalidasKS]

Rohit Ashok is my grandson studying for MS in TX Austin. He is a mridangam vidwan & so is my son Ashok Kalidas. We have 3 generations of mridangam artists in the family starting with me.

[@subramanianvydianathan6333]

நன்றி.

[@ManiKV-oh1rs]

பழனி சுப்ரமணியபிள்ளை அவர்களின் ஜாதகக் குறிப்பு 20/21-4-1908 அதிகாலை மணி 4.49 ஈரோடு - மீன லக்கினம் மூல நட்சதிரம் தனுசு ராசி

[@KalidasKS]

வந்தனம்!

[@eytonshalomsandiego]

wow, Pazhani with Brubeck...so he was also a pioneer of what Tamil musicians in their quaint TamilEnglish now call "Fusion Music", as if it were a specific style of music like Qawalli,, Hogaku, Carnatic, Igbo, Western Classical, Filmy, Quah Ho, Gregorian Chant, Blues, Bluegrass, etc. Even north/south fusion say, veena and sitar, rarely works well, but the further afield the genres are they most of the time end up being more a question of 'not this, not that' , i guess something in the category of a light appetizer in a wedding meal....on the other hand, there was years ago the first two ablums of the Mahavishnu Orchestra which was succesful electric rock and roll with heavy influences from Hindustani raagam...It created something new, rather than a mish mash....The problem was uneducated westerners thought that was Indian musc, when it was still rock....but it successfully used the background of tambura, with some raaga, and the feel of somthing vaguely Indian....It was unlike any other rock music at the time. But later, when he brought in L.Shankar and Vikku for his band Shakti, it became a mishmash. Not rock, not Indian...This comes back to the way some musicians get lost in their skill sets, but forget about musical aesthetics and the human heart that creates tanam not to mention ragam. Its not a surprise there is a fairly high level of autism spectrum among musicians as well as engineers among us Vellaikaran....i think for indians it was be a bit different b/c you place such a high value on marriage and family....In USA its quite easy for males to spend their entire lives without that much human connection....; hence all the gun violence?

[@KalidasKS]

Ah! What detailed observation! Yes, the so-called 'fusion' has neither been an educational exercise nor has it been entertaining for most part. Actually, a whole lot of explanation is due before putting together two genres of music. The programme could get lengthy & casual listeners would drop off but the serious ones may remain to profit. Pazhani's & Brubeck's playing is not exactly in the form of jugalbandhi but a kind of listening experience for both of them. I understand they had extensive conversations (through interpreters, of course), before & and after the recording.

[@ramaswaminarayanan641]

We are mortals. Immortal is sogusukha mridanga talamu....is this mainly for subbudu that tyagaraja sang this!

[@KalidasKS]

I certainly think so although there were many mridangists!

[@sivaprasadkotungallur8940]

1940 may be in correct. Pazhani had been an established artist by then.

[@KalidasKS]

You are right in a way that Pazhani was an accomplished artist even in early 40s but he was nowhere in the popularity list. He was accompanying mostly 'laya-heavy' vidwans like Nayana Pillai, Chittoor Subramabia Pillai Mudicondan & later, Alathur Bros. For no fault of his, he was side-lined. It was only around mid-forties that he became the most favoured accompanist of Sri Chembai & he gained a lot of fame & he became a favourite accompanist of eminently popular vidwans like MMI, Semmngudi, & GNB. There was no looking back then onwards. One of his major concerns was poor health & many cancelled concerts.

[@FactsandReelsForall]

​@@KalidasKSwhat health problems did he suffer from

[@KalidasKS]

@@FactsandReelsForall He suffered from high blood pressure for sure & had more than one cardiac attack which he survi ed. The medical facilities in 50s & 60s were not quite perfect & unfortunately, the life expectancy was also quite low (40-50 years). Quite a few other top musicians of the day ,like, GNB, Madurai Mani & Alathur Subbayyar died in their 50s.

[@KalidasKS]

He met his end due to a stroke that left him without his gaining consciousness for a period of 8 days, I was told.