Some Komkalis
I WISH this man would sing more often. The video is a flash of Deshkar. The legendary Kumar Gandharva’s son, Mukul Shivputra shines with his own brilliance. He learned Carnatic music for a year under MD Ramanthan. He is known to have phenomenal breath control, to wander around India, never staying in one place for any length of time, learning as he goes along…
I have his cd Bhanumatey, which shakes one to the core, just like his father’s music used to. It is different, but with the same capacity to shoot arrows straight to the centre of one’s soul.
Here is one profile on him.
Mukul Shivputra has a son, Bhuvanesh Komkali, trained by Vasundhara Komkali and Madhup Mudgal.
Here he is, singing Ab To Aa Ja Re Rajan, a bandish in Raga Nand, that his grandfather used to sing.
Nice clips. When I first saw the title of this post I thought komkali was something like Ramkali
Now after reading the profile of Mukul Shivputra my question is where do I find a rendition of that Naina Nahi Mane.The description was fascinating. Oh that profile says his DOB is 2005-01-01, did you notice? 
No I didn’t notice! And that was my intention-to make the title sound like a raga. It is a musical name! I have no idea where to get naina nahi mane-one will have to search private recordings I guess, because there are such few commercial ones.
Hi, I want to share something that happened a few days back.
I want to learn hindustani classical music, it has been my desire since childhood. At that time, we could not afford it. Now I would like to live that wish.
Carnatic music institutes abound in Hyderabad, whereas hindustani classical classes are difficult to find. So a kind institute head directed me to Maharashtra Mandal, where they teach the genre i want to train in.
The music teacher on the other end of the phone seemed encouraging, gave me directions from my office (a long distance), and then told me that i would have to take a voice test! i said i am a rank beginner. She said never mind, ‘you probably do bathroom singing’. And so i went there.
She asked me to sing. i was feeling shy in front of a total starnger in a new place. And i mustered courage to sing two lines. While I was singing, I could see it was not my best.
She told me that there is hesitation in my voice, and asked if i am a hesitant person in life. She said i should learn the violin as for an instrument one needs to develop a sharp ear, whereas for vocal skills one needs to develop both a sharp ear and a good voice.
Now i am not a terrific singer by any stretch of imagination, but I am not terrible either. I am so heartbroken that she rejected me.
I wonder if you too had to take a voice test.
A dream not lived hurts, after all we have only one lifetime. This is the only lifetime I know.
Best wishes,
Anjali
Anjali, that really is one of the most ridiculous stories I have ever heard. For Indian classical music any voice will do, you just need to sing in pitch and stay in rhythm and even that can be learned. Please do not let this get you down. Why don’t you learn Carnatic til you find a Hindustani teacher willing to teach a beginner? If you listen to Sanjay Sub’s podcasts he says in one of them that while all his friends could sing film songs he couldn’t and it took him a long time to learn one varnam in the beginning. Thus, singing ability cannot always be “tested” in the way you were tested. Not everyone starts off being able to hold a tune, buth they can be taught how to! If you want I can ask my teacher to recommend some to teach you in Hyd. Just a question, are these people you went to teaching what is called “light classical?”
I don’t know if they were light classical. They said they were Hindustani classical. I don’t know much about music, though I want to learn singing.
I like your idea of learning Carnatic till i find a hindustani classical institute ready to teach me. And in fact there is a Carnatic music centre near my house.
Thanks for the reassuring answer. I had begun to think that after may be trying at one more place, i will stop dreaming about music classes. Now I just have to look for a patient teacher
Best wishes
Please keep trying, don’t give up and let silly people like this get you down…and let me know what happens.
hi anjali.
i can give you contact details of at least two very good hindustani classical teachers in hyd. one of them used to take daily lessons for my daughter two winters when we were visiting hyd and she is awesome.
the other way you could find one is this – go to thiagaraja college of music in ramkote (eden gardens). just ask around a bit, there are lots of students who will be happy to teach you as they make some pocket money. i’d found one like this though we didn’t get her to tecah my daughter ultimately as we’d found the teacher i mention above a couple of days later.
drop me a mail at choxbox at gmail dot com if you need the details of the teachers.
oh and that clip was mind-blowing u. always wonder how to find such gems.
eeks i meant ‘how YOU find such gems’
I just look for the singers I like and singers I read about
Hi Uttara and choxbox,
Have written to both of you…
Thanks,
Anjali
I just loved the Nand composition! So similar to Kumarji, yet so exquisitely different.
Heard Ulhas Kashalkar live, his Nand dhrut bandish was lovely:
Dhan Dhan bhaag Nand ko
Jinke ghar aaye Shyam.
I wish the rest of Mukul Shivputra’s performance was available
. As for Bhuvanesh, yeah he does sound very similar to his grandpa! Am going for an Ulhas concert soon…he teaches in Cal doesn’t he?
There is a place on the net where a number of MS recordings (I think these were baithak recordings and not studio recordings) are available for sale. This is not a commercial website – just a website put up by one of his friends or something like that. When I had written on my blog about MS’s Eesha, this friend had written to me with the link. Unfortunately, I was back in India and could not afford the price. I do not have the link or the email now but if you search you might find it.
Do you mean this one:http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/mausam/mukul/recordings.html
Yes, he teaches at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy here.
Oh, Mukul Shivputra also has a fabulous Krishna CD, also by Ninaad.
I have Eesha, but it hasn’t permeated me yet! Need to listen to it properly!
I have the Krishna one too. Eesha-listen to the Tilak Kamod. That is the best.
Yes, that’s the one. I did not recognise the website but the name in email ID. Have you tried these recordings?
Manohar had even told me that MS holds a concert on Kumar’s anniversary every year. Forgot the details. You can write to him and find out more.
Haven’t yet…but will. I keep going to the page and staring at them! We are credit crunching at the moment-but I will get them eventually!
Hi anjali
Hi!
Fresh from the soft voices that ring and keep ringing inside one’s memory the whole day, I found your blog by accident as I was looking for some Komkalis!
The Kindarajogi (that was what my daughter of 5 years at that time responded to seeing a poster of Kumar Gandharva — a brilliant white print on a magenta background), was an immediate favorite artiste way back in 1985 or 86. So is he now.
Had an occassion to hear Mukul Shivputra at JNU Auditorium (makeshift) — unlike the legendary father in many ways, this one is a legend by himself. Besides many ragas, I still can not forget the rendition ” Jamuna kinare mere gaonre, bhansi bajaike ajayyo…” so mellifluosly sung. Ninad’s audiocassette KRISHNA (by various artists) is my only source.
Yesternight, was there the first occassion to hear the chip of the great, Bhuvanesh Komkali, at the Pt Nehru’s Punyathithi Concert, reminding us of his legendary grandfather– of which, the finale was a rendition of “Sunta Hai Guru Gyani…” Yes, there were tinges of that greatness which touched one deeply.
Probably, the Doordarshan may have the whole concert recorded.
Regards,
ss/20090528/11:15
Anybody wants to learn from Bhuvanesh komkali can contact me. i reside at his city only nd go for classes at his place. ma id is ramanujvipat@gmail.com
The Original Komkali , in action.On video
http://www.mediafire.com/?zylrcyw1izq
http://www.mediafire.com/?xkqdmnynzmm
He is seen here singing Jhanak jhanakwa More and Anokha Ladla in Darbari