Prof. P. Bhaskar Reddy Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Component-I (A) – Personal details: Prof. P. Bhaskar Reddy Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati. Prof. R. Thiagarajan Presidency College, Chennai. Dr. V. Premalatha Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati. Prof. Ritha Rajan Music Academy, Chennai. 1 Component-I (B) – Description of module: Subject Name Indian Culture Paper Name Indian Aesthetics and Fine Arts Module Name/Title Musicians of south India-1 Module Id I C / IAFA / 26 Pre requisites An interest to know about the famous musicians of South Indian Classical music Objectives To know a short biographical sketch and achievements of some eminent musicians who were Vocalists of South Indian Classical Music. to enable a student to know such great personalities who were monumental in bringing the glory of the Classical Music art to the World through their performances. Keywords Parameshvara Bhagavatha, Mysore Vasudevacharya, Tiger Varadacharya, Parupalli Ramkrishnayya Pantulu, Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Maharajapuram Vishwanatha Iyer, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, Chittoor Subramania Pillai, Titte Krishna Iyengar, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, G N Balasubramaniam, Madurai Mani Iyer, Sripada Pinakapani, Ramnad Krishnan, M D Ramanathan, K V Narayanaswamy, Nedanuri Krishnamurthy, M L Vasanthakumari, D. K. Jayaraman, Voleti Venkateswarulu E-text (Quadrant-I) : Introduction In this module, let us get familiar with some of the great musicians (Vocalists) who lived in the past hundred years and had elevated the glory of Indian Classical music to the whole world. This module presents a short biographical note including the achievements of the musicians and at the end an URL is supplied which would help you to listen to the recordings of the veteran musicians. The list is perhaps not exhaustive and is presented in the chronological order. 2 1. Parameshvara Bhagavatar (1815- 1892) Parameshvara Bhagavatar was born in Palghat district of Kerala in the year 1815. He was appointed as chief samasthāna vidwān by Sri Svati Tirunal Maharaja of Travancore. He held the post with great dignity throughout during the reins of four of Travancore’s kings. He has tuned (set to music) some of the compositions of Swati Tirunal. He was also proficient in playing Violin, Vīṇā and Svarabhat. He was also a performer of Harikathā. He has composed a number of kṛti-s and varṇa-s. He rendered the utsava prabandham so well, that he was given special presents and was honoured by the Maharaja. He had disciples like Coimbatore Raghava Iyer, Nurani Ayya Bhagavatar, Mukke Ganapati Bhagavatar and the like. Parameshvara Bhagavatar took sanyāsa and died in 1892 in his 77th year. http://www.swathithirunal.in/composeres/Palakkad%20Parameswara.htm 2. Mysore Vasudevacharya (1865- 1961) Mysore Vasudevacharya was born on 28th May 1865 in Mysore. He grew under the tutelage of his maternal grandfather and later learnt from Patnam Subrahmanya Iyer for 6 years. He was the Āsthāna vidvān of the Mysore royal court. In 1953 he joined the Kalakshetra, Madras. Vasudevacharya is said to have composed more than 200 compositions. Among them, a group of 24 kṛti-s in Sanskrit are on the 24 names of the lord, Kēśava, Mādhava, Nārāyaṇa and so on, rāgamālikā-s on the musical trinity, the music he set for the Rāmāyaṇa ballet etc. are popular. He was a versatile composer having to his credit, many jatisvara-s, varṇa-s, kṛti- 3 s, tillānā-s, rāgamālikā and daru-s. He is said to have composed a rāgatāla-mālikā covering the 35 tāla-s. A rāgatāla-mālikā is a kind of musical form, where different sections of the composition are set to different rāga-s and tāla-s. In recognition to his merit, he was honored with many titles and awards like Saṅgīta Kalānidhi in 1935, Saṅgīta Śāstra Viśārada and Padmabhushan in 1959. http://mio.to/artist/Mysore+Vasudevachar 3. Tiger Varadacharya (1876- 1950) Tiger Varadacharya was born on August 1st, 1876 at Kolathur. From the age of 14, Varadacharya was under the tutelage of Patnam Subrahmanya Iyer for three years. He worked in the Survey Department in Calicut, due to family constraints. But the survey of land did not deter the youth’s pursuit for Music. When he was at Mysore, he attracted the attention of Krishnaraja Wodeyar who honoured him with the title ‘Tiger’ and presented him with a ‘thoda’. He was a treasure house of varied musical gems of rare brilliance. He has composed Varṇam, Gītam, Kṛti-s etc. He was awarded the Saṅgīta Kalānidhi in the year 1932 by the Madras Music Academy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QgS5tHvVXI 4. Parupalli Ramakrishnayya Pantulu (1883- 1951) 4 Parupalli Ramakrishnayya Pantulu was born in Guntur district in 1883. His guru was Susarla Dakshinamurthy, who was a direct disciple of Manambuchavadi Venkatasubbayya, the cousin and disciple of the great Composer, Sri Tyagaraja. Though Pantulu was a performer, he was more interested in teaching. The famous present day musician, M. Balamurali Krishna was one of his disciples. He was a master in gurukula system. He was on the expert committee of the Madras Music Academy, Madras and was also on the Tiruvayyaru Tyagabrahma Mahotsava committee. He was given the title Gāyaka Sārvabhauma by Andhra Saraswath Parishad in 1931. He was not only a vocalist but also a celebrated Vīṇā player and violinist. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE-aEBkrr1Y 5. Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar (1890- 1967) Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar popularly known as ‘Ariyakudi’ was born on 18th May 1890 in a town named Ariyakudi in the Karaikkudi district of Tamil Nadu. He learnt music under Pudukkottai Malayappa Iyer and Namakkal Narasimha Iyengar in his early years and then under Ramnadapuram Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar for about 10 years. He made his debut at the Tyagaraja Aradhana in 1918. Ariyakudi developed his own unique style of singing that came to be known as the Ariyakudi tradition and is followed by his students. He established the modern concert tradition in Karnāṭaka Music. He was very closely associated with the Mṛdaṅgam maestro Palghat Mani Iyer and formed a formidable partnership on the concert platform and a remarkable friendship was born out of mutual respect. He was awarded the Saṅgīta Kalānidhi in 1938, Saṅgīta Kalā Śikhāmaṇi in 1947, Sangeet Natak Academy Award in 1952, Sangeet Natak Academy Fellowship in 1954, Gayaka Śikhāmaṇi, Padma Bhushan in 1958 and Isai Pērarigñar in 1960. He passed away on 23rd January 1967 at the age of 77. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMxm1vuHGwQ 5 6. Maharajapuram Vishwanatha Iyer (1896-1970) Vishwanatha Iyer was born in Maharajapuram town of Tamil Nadu in the year 1896. He was trained initially by Umayalpuram Swaminatha Iyer. He had his debut performance when he was 15 years of age. He was also a Mṛdaṅga player. Like other artists he had his own preferences in the selection of rāga and kṛti-s. He learnt and mastered almost all compositions of Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshita, Syama Sastri, Patnam Subramania Iyer and Gopala Krishna Bharati. He took special pains to master some of the tougher and more taxing of the Tyagaraja kṛti-s. At one stage it was said that he was the only musician fully and correctly rendering the five Pañcaratna Kṛti-s of Tyagaraja. He trained many musicians, including Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, his own son, Maharajapuram Santhanam and Mannargudi Sambasiva Iyer. All of them were promising artists and had made him proud. He won several awards including Saṅgīta Kalānidhi and Saṅgīta bhūpati. He died in 1970 when he was 74. http://archiveofindianmusic.org/sound_clips/268/MAHARAJAPURAM%20VISHWANATHA% 20IYER%20 7. Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar (1896- 1974) Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar was born on September 14th 1896 at Palghat, Kerala. He had his music training initially from his own father Anantha Bhagavathar. Between 1913 and 1927, Chembai performed at many different music festivals and sabhas notably including Madras Music Academy. By 1945 Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar shifted to Madras. He 6 lost his voice twice during his life but with his deep devotion on Lord Krishna (of Guruvayur) he regained his voice. Many music festivals like Chembai Sangeetotsavam organised by the Guruvayur Devaswom Board and the Chembai Ekadasi Music Festival are being conducted every year in Kerala. He passed away on 16th October 1974 in his 78th year of age, just after a concert at Ottappalam. This was the place where he did his araṅgēṭram (debut performance). Chembai received several awards and titles during his career. Some of them are Padma Bhushan in 1973, Saṅgīta Kalānidhi in 1951, Gāyana Gandharva in 1940, Sangeet Natak Academy award in 1958, Saṅgīta Kalashikhamani in 1964. The department of posts released a special issue stamp to commemorate Chembai’s birth centenary year, 1996. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVSrqUjIHWs 8. Chittoor Subramania Pillai (1898-1975) Chittoor Subramania Pillai was born in a village near Punganur town, Chittoor. He had his first lessons on music from his own father Perayya and mother Mogilamma. Later he became the disciple of the legend Sri Naina Pillai of Kanchipuram. He started performing at the age of 5. After his training he started his major performances when he was 20. He had a rich voice and his command on laya was outstanding. He proved himself as an exponent in rendering RTP (rāgam - tānam - pallavi). He was noted for singing very rare compositions of Tyagaraja, Muttusvami Dikshita and other composers. He composed music for a number of kīrtana-s of Annamacharya like “Ithaḍokaḍē”, “Nārāyaṇatē” etc. some of the awards he received were Saṅgīta Kalānidhi in 1954, Sangeet Natak Academy award in 1964, Saṅgīta Kalā Śikhāmaṇi in 1964, Gāna Kalā Prapūrṇa, Swara Chakravarthi, Laya Brahma, Isai Pērarigñar, Saptagiri Saṅgīta Vidwamaṇi and so on. http://archiveofindianmusic.org/sound_clips/83/CHITTOOR%20SUBRAMANIA%20PILLAI%20 7 9. Titte Krishna Iyengar (1902- 1997) Titte Krishna Iyengar was born in 1902 in Mysore. He learned Carnatic Music from his father Titte Narayana Iyengar and Veena from the famous Veena Sheshanna and Bidaram Krishnappa.