Monday, November 24, 2008

 

God had taken away his eyes at early age, but given him much more!!

A classical music concert usually goes on for about 3 hours; and most of us know that it is not a one man show but team-work. Every artist is important and synchronization is most important. When neraval or swara-prastara is going on, the artists need to be very careful on maintaining the Taalas because they will be playing alternatively or in a sequence(in case where there are more than 2). It gets even more complicated for an instrumentalist, since his hands will not be free to keep track of Taala. Some amateur instrumentalists resort to reliable audience who could keep Taala for them. Now imagine an instrumentalist who is visually challenged doing everything and more than a normal person on stage. He is never conscious of anything, yet he never goes wrong anywhere. It is not very uncommon for very famous performers to make one or two mistakes; but this person-never! Probably if he had eyes like us, he would not have been so good? Whatever it may be, he is what he is. God has blessed him with divine eyes, which can see lot more things than we can; divine ears which are capable of listening and absorbing music; divine hands which can produce wonderful treat for us in the form of music.

Smt. Charubala Mohan realized by 1939 that world is full of darkness for her 2 year old son, Chandrashekharan. He lost his eyes following a jaundice attack. Almost at the same time she lost her husband too. But she was not daunted by that. She herself was a musician and the child's inclination towards music gave her hints as to in what direction she must take him. She was the first Guru for him, in music as well as Braille. He could read and write in Tamil, English, Samskrit and Telugu. Later he learnt vocals from Mannargudi Sambasiva Bhagavatar, Kumbakonam S. Viswanathan, Vidyala Narasimha Naidu and T. Jayammal etc. In fact, one can see that now, even at the age of 71, he has the humility of a student and keeps learning from his performances. But his reverence towards his mother is above everything and everyone. One can see the phrase "Mathru Devo Bhava" in most of his CD's.

His debut concert was on March 5th, 1949, at Thyagaraja Vidwat Samajam. In 1950, at the age of 13, he won the first prize in a violin competition conducted by the Music Academy, Madras. He is unique in his feelings towards other artists. When he accompanies, he appreciates main artist and percussionists generously. When he is the main artist, he encourages everyone with "Shahbhash, Shahbhash". He has accompanied many renowned artists like G. N. Balasubramaniam, Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, Musiri Subramania Iyer, T. R. Mahalingam (flute), Madurai Mani Iyer, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, Madurai Somasundaram T. K. Rangachari, Ramnad Krishnan Maharajapuram Santhanam, Dr.S.Ramanathan and living legends Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Balamuralikrishna. K.V.Narayaswamy and Nedanuri Krshnamurthy ,including current popular artists like T.N.Seshgopalan, T.V.Sankaranarayanan, Dr. N.Ramani.and Thiruchur Ramachandran. He gives violin concerts as well as vocal concerts. After his daughter Ms.Bharathi started giving concert, he has been giving duet concerts with her. The well-known violinist Ms.Kanyakumari is his student. He has about 30 accomplished students.

Another interesting point about his concerts is that he involves audience not just with his music but also with his sweet talking. He can speak a little bit of Kannada and he does it whenever he is in Karnataka. His respect for his fans is seen in all his performances. About 3 years ago, in Sheshadripuram it rained during his concert. Some of us went and sat around him on stage and we requested him to continue. He asked us what we wanted him to play. I grabbed the opportunity and said, "Mokhsamugalada", and the dear old man said, "Haa haa thank you, we'll make it the main item for the day". Ragalapa, krithi, neraval and swaraprastara in soulful Saramathi, it was very much suited for that evening. Another example happens to be from yesterday's concert, to which I went late due to rains. He was singing Anandabhairavi when I went and then they played "Bhuvaneshwariya". After that he asked, "Now it is the time for your request". I went near the stage and asked him to play Navagraha krithi, i.e. Suryamurthe (Sowrashtra raaga) since it was Sunday. He was intrigued with the idea and played it with so much devotion that unconsciously my hands went into Namaskara mudra (Suryamurthe Namostuthe, Sundara chayaadhipathe). To my surprise, he thanked the 'person who requested this' in public. It really touched my heart; I've never had such an experience before, never seen anyone saying it to anybody else too.

Chandrasekaran is a recipient of several honors - Sangeet Natak Akademi award (1986), Mysore Chowdiah National award (1989), Astana Vidwan of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam (1993), Kalaimamani from the Government of Tamil Nadu, Sangeetha Choodamanii, Mathurakala Praveena, Sangeetha Kalanidhi (2005) and many more. He was a visiting faculty at the Palghat Music College.

There may be hundreds or thousands of classical musicians, but there are very few who are with some disability. Among them there may be very very few who are very distinguished. Out of those, if we try to pick artists who are humble, spread devotion and love with their music, currently we will think of only one name, i.e. Sri M.Chandrashekharan.
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Acknowledgment: Some of the facts are taken from this and this.


Comments:
An amazing example of how mortal difficulties can be overcome with determination, and a little support from loved ones!
 
Amazing post...

i guess probably.. when one of the five senses is lost.. the ability of other senses becomes more.. and some people take it to a level of divinity... :)
 
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