Respect for the Stalwarts

GNB made it a point to listen to great stalwarts like Maharajapuram, Ariyakudi and Rajaratnam Pillai and could be seen attending their concerts regularly. He wrote about Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer :

" The dominant aspect of the versatile talent of Maharajapuram was his ' lakshya gnana '. It was his aesthetic impulse that motivated his music and he delighted us all with vivid imagery and imagination presented in the form of a garland of multihued flowers. The aesthetic involvement experienced in listening to Maharajapuram was a damper to listening to stereotyped music. "

Of the all-time great Nadaswaram wizard TNR, he wrote:

" We have heard of appreciative epithets like ' Nadha Inbam' and ' Nadha Vellam'. To explain such a state of blissful enjoyment one has to listen to T.N. Rajaratnam Pillai. He is able to create the entire gamut of emotions, like sorrow, wonder, anger and rapture by mere ' Nadham' soaked in bakthi. And what about his fast tempo sancharas and brikas of inexplicable beauty. The lightning flashes of creative imagery he played on the Nadaswaram. A peerless vidwan that was TNR."

GNB's admiration and respectful regard for Ariyakudi is well known. Writing on Ariyakudi, he says:

" Ariyakudi's was a planned performance of uniform excellence. He was classical to the core and everything was predictable. His voice was full of life and also had a liquid quiver to it. No one had studied his own voice as well as Iyer. He knew his capabilities and limitations beyond which he never stretched himself. The manner in which he planned his concerts is an object lesson for all aspiring musicians. Right from the word ' go' to the Mangalam, there would not be any dull moment. He was able to establish a rapport with his listeners, lay as well as the expert, and he was able to do so with great dignity, without deviating from the highest standards he set for himself. There were no excesses, no gimmicks, no eccentricities and in the matter of Kutcheri dharma, I took him as my ' manasika guru ' and adopted his methods of approach. I consider him as the most outstanding vidwan of his generation ".

Respect for Hindustani Music

GNB listened not only to these three artists but also to Hindustani musicians like Balagandharva, pyarelal saheb and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. So much was he overwhelmed by Bade Ghulam Ali's music that he prostreted before him in public. This brought reproachful criticism from other Karnatak musicians. But this died down quickly, as they were exposed gradually to Ghulam's music in subsequent days. Many did not know that during the same visit, the great Hindustani wizard had tried to touch GNB's feet, only to be restrained by the latter midway. This happened when GNB visited Ghulam Ali at his place of sojourn in Sriramnagar and sang a couple of ragas at the request of the Hindustani musician. Bade Ghulam Ali was so much moved by GNB's Hindolam that he automatically and involuntarily offered his ' pranam ' to his South Indian counterpart. This shows the tenacity of GNB and his indomitable will to do the correct thing despite criticism. He was amply rewarded fur this and always got his point vindicated.

Genuine Modesty

Another instance mentioned by Semmangudi Srinivasa lyer speaks volumes of his humility and spontaneous appreciation of good music wherever it came from. The occasion was a flute recital by that genius T.R.Mahalingam. Semmangudi and GNB were in the audience. Mali played a hauntingly beautiful Bhairavi alapana. GNB was deeply touched and turning to Semmangudi he said: " You know after listening to this, I feel like giving up singing. Perhaps I can do so since I have a degree and can get a job somewhere." Semmangudi echoed the sentiment and said that perhaps he could also return to cultivate his lands."

It is this catholicity of approach that enabled him to pick up good young accompanists like Lalgudi Jayaraman, Palghat Raghu and others and give them adequate encouragement by asking them to accompany him at the peak of his career. His readiness to communicate with young people was manifest in another incident. GNB had elaborated Kamboji in his inimitable way. Some in the audience felt that some prayoga tended towards Shankarabharanam while a few others felt it was like Yadukulakamboji. When R.Sanakaranarayanan and his brother, youthful admirers, referred these to GNB, he soothed them by singing Kamboji elaborately again and explained how the prayogas were neither ' Shankarabharanam' nor ' Yadukula Kamboji '. 'That Kamboji is still ringing in my ears' says Sankaranarayanan in his letter to SRUTI.

Tributes from Senior Musicians

Ariyakudi, had a fatherly affection for GNB whom he always called as Mani. Ariyakkudi's appreciation of GNB's music has been touched upon elsewhere.

Chembai Vaidyanatha Bagavathar was full of praise for GNB's elaborate raga alapana and pithily said on GNB's death, that ' ragam had expired '.

Semmangudi, writing about GNB, has said that he was a genius who came to prominence in a very short time and maintained, that position by his spirted singing and manodharma.

Alathur Srinivasa Iyer after hearing the 1947 concert in the Academy was in a reflective mood. He told his friends that GNB's music was ' divine' as it came out of the combination of a sonorous masculine voice full of life and pleasant improvisations flowing out of an incomparable imagination.

TNR's admiration for GNB is well known. The Nadaswaram wizard after hearing GNB's Thodi remained spellbound. At the end of the concert, he embraced GNB and said that he was completely lost in the melodious patterns that adorned his Thodi alapana.

The high regard that the elder musicians had for GNB's imaginative and spirited singing could be gleaned from the tributes paid to him by Gayakasikamani Muthiah Bhagavathar, Kallidaikurichi Vedanta Bhagavathar and Thanjavur Vaidyanatha Iyer.

The episodes regarding Muthiah Bhagavathar have been touched upon earlier. After hearing him singing in the early days, Vedanta Bhagavathar pronounced ' let us not mince matters and worry about the lack of gurukulavasam, etc. Mani is indeed a great artist ' .

The great mridangam vidwan, Thanjavur Vaidyanatha Iyer observed that none had a voice like GNB's ever since the time of Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan. The great Vainika Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer who rarely went to the performance of others, sat through a 4-hours program of GNB in the company of T.N.Krishnan and Palghat Mani Iyer in Perambur. GNB sang an incomparable Shanmugapriya that day. The vainika appreciated the whole concert and blessed GNB from the bottom of his heart.