December 18, 2005

A Phenomenon that was PMI...

After reading my friend's post on Palghat Mani Iyer, I had this urge to write 'bout this percussion genius myself.
Now to call PMI a genius is an understatement. He was much more than a genius. He was in another plane altogether! His uncanny knack for anticipating what the singer was going to sing next and playing the song itself on his instrument...pure brilliance!
Having learnt under Tanjavur Mahavaidyanatha iyer and having shot to fame at an early age of 14, thanks to the titan of Carnatic Music, Chembai(both literally and figuratively!) he had developed a unique style of playing which would take the concerts in which he accompanied, to greater heights than the main artist could possibly imagine.
His Tanis were gems and one of a kind! I had the oppurtunity see one where he had accompanied T.N.Krishnan...it was sheer genius! The joy one gets in watching him is undescribable!
Musical phenomenons like PMI happen once in a lifetime and the carnatic Music world is lucky to have seen such a stalwart!

2 comments:

g'Krish said...

Its not gonna be far.. to see a blog about violin maestro AJB...what say?!

AJB said...

:) i really doubt that gkrish!
but that wud be something huh?!