Mysore, Jan. 3 :
Legendary violinist M.S. Gopalakrishnan, popularly known as MSG, passed away at Chennai around 2 am today. He was admitted to a hospital in Chennai, following complaints of breathlessness on Wednesday evening. He was 82.
Hailing from the revered Parur lineage, MSG was taught violin by his father late Parur Sundaram Iyer, who had a remarkable knowledge of both Hindustani and Karnatak systems of Indian music.
Gopalakrishnan had given his first performance at the age of 8. He was accompanying other artistes in his younger days and later became one of the most popular names in solo violin recitals. He was known as one of the violin trinities, along with his contemporaries Lalgudi G. Jayaraman and T.N. Krishnan.
A recipient of several honours, MSG was a classic example of an artiste who was always open to new ideas and research. He had evolved a unique fingering and bowing techniques in playing violin. Even in playing there was a unique blend of the Karnatak and Hindustani phrases, which is now known as Parur Style. He had even developed a ‘one finger playing style’, producing an entire octave on a single string. He had accompanied artistes like Omkarnath Thakur, D.V. Paluskar in Hindustani.
He had extensively toured all over the world to countries like Australia, US, UK, Netherlands, South Africa, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. Apart from Padmashri (1975), Padma Bhushana (2012), Sangeetha Kalanidhi (1998) awards, he was recipient of T. Chowdaiah Award (1980), Kalai Mamani (1978), Kerala Sange-etha Nataka Award (1979), Central Sangeetha Nataka Academy Award (1982), Sapathagiri San-geetha Vidwanmani (Tirupathi) and many more.
His contribution in the musical field spanned over 75 years.
Violin-Flute Jugalbandi postponed
The Jugalbandi programme by H.N. Bhaskar (Violin) and Praveen Godkindi (Flute) organised by Tyagaraja Sangeetha Sabha at Veene Seshanna Bhavana today stands postponed to a future date, as a mark of respect to the demise of Violin Maestro Parur M.S. Gopalakrishnan.
It may be recalled, one of the organisers of Tyagaraja Sangeetha Sabha Vid. H.K. Narasimha Murthy was a disciple of MSG. The revised date of the programme will be notified later.
source: http://www.StarofMysore.com / Home> General News / January 03rd, 2013