K. V. Ramachandran

Last updated

K. V. Ramachandran
Born
NationalityIndian
Education University of California - Los Angeles
Known for Music and art critic

K.V. Ramachandran (1898-1956) of Coimbatore and Madras was a 20th-century Indian music and art critic. He had a reputation for being extremely opinionated and influential, and people who knew him recall that he instilled fear in musicians, dancers and artists around the country.[ citation needed ] In addition to books, his writings were featured in The Hindu , India's national newspaper, and the Journal of the Music Academy.

Ramachandran developed and produced Kesavardhini hair oil[ citation needed ]. His wife and daughters continued to run the company in Chennai after his death.

He was a collector of rare, antique Indian artwork and instruments including the dilrupa. He was a friend and colleague of the Canadian composer and ethnomusicologist Colin McPhee, and their correspondence on Indian music can be found in the McPhee Collection at the University of California - Los Angeles Ethnomusicology Archive.

Ramachandran edited and brought out a magazine Shilpasree devoted to Bharatanatyam, music and fine arts.

Ramachandran died in Coimbatore on 26 March 1956. His eldest daughter, Seetha Rajagopal lives in Madras. All his other daughters have died (Shyamala, Gowri, Bapu). As of 2007, his grandchildren and their children lived in various locations around the globe, including Switzerland, the U.S., New Zealand, Canada and India.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kalki Krishnamurthy</span> Indian writer

Ramaswamy Krishnamurthy, better known by his pen name Kalki, was an Indian writer, journalist, poet, critic and Indian independence activist who wrote in Tamil. He chose the pen-name "Kalki", the future incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu. He founded a magazine, which was also named Kalki, with T Sadasivam being the co-founder, in 1941. Krishnamurthy‘s writings include over 120 short stories, 10 novellas, 5 novels, 3 historical romances, editorial and political writings and hundreds of film and music reviews.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer</span> Musical artist

Semmangudi Radhakrishna Srinivasa Iyer was an Indian Carnatic vocalist. He was the youngest recipient of the Sangeetha Kalanidhi awarded by the Music Academy in 1947, a distinction he holds to this day as of 2023, probably the only musician to receive that honour before reaching 40. He had received many other awards as well, including Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan from the Government of India, Rajyasevanirata title from Travancore's erstwhile ruling family, Sangeet Natak Academy award (1953), Isai Perarignar from Government of Tamil Nadu and Kalidas Samman from Government of Madhya Pradesh. He was affectionately addressed as "Semmangudi Maama" by his disciples. He was also considered the "Pitamaha" or the grand sire of modern Carnatic Music. He was conferred with an honorary doctorate by University of Kerala in 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mani Madhava Chakyar</span> Indian actor (1899–1990)

Guru Mani Madhava Chakyar (15 February 1899 – 14 January 1990) was a celebrated master performance artist and Sanskrit scholar from Kerala, India, considered to be the greatest Chakyar Koothu and Koodiyattam artist and authority of modern times. He was considered as the authority of Abhinaya and Nātyaśāstra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chembai</span> Musical artist

Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar a.k.a. Vaidyanatha Iyer was a Carnatic music singer from Palakkad. Known by his village name Chembai, or simply as Bhagavatar, he was born to Anantha Bhagavatar and Parvati Ammal in 1896, into a Tamil Brahmin family in Perakkool Madom, adjacent to Lokanarkavu near Vatakara on Janmashtami day. He lived here until he was five years old. The family later shifted to Palakkad. Chembai was noted for his powerful voice and majestic style of singing. His first public performance was in 1904, when he was nine. A recipient of several titles and honours, he was known for his encouragement of upcoming musicians and ability to spot new talent. He was responsible for popularising compositions like Rakshamam Saranagatam and Pavana Guru, among others. The music critic 'Aeolus' described him as "the musician who has meant the most to Carnatic Music in the first fifty years of the 20th century." His prominent disciples include Chembai Narayana Bhagavathar, Mangu Thampuran, Guruvayur Ponnammal, T. V. Gopalakrishnan, V. V. Subramaniam, P. Leela, K. G. Jayan, K. G. Vijayan, K. J. Yesudas, Kudumaru Venkataraman and Babu Parameswaran, among others. He also mentored many young accompanists, including Palghat Mani Iyer, Lalgudi Jayaraman, M. S. Gopalakrishnan, T. N. Krishnan, Palani Subramaniam Pillai and L. Subramaniam. Memorial music festivals have been held in his honour annually since his death in 1974, the most important being the annually celebrated Chembai Sangeetholsavam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">K. V. Narayanaswamy</span> Musical artist

Palghat Kollengode Viswanathan Narayanaswamy, often referred to as K. V. Narayanaswamy was an Indian musician, widely considered to be among the finest Carnatic music vocalists of the 20th century. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1986. He was described as the "Perfect Knight" of Carnatic music, a phrase from Geoffrey Chaucer, by V. K. Narayana Menon, art critic of India and recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship.

Trichy Sankaran is an Indian percussionist, composer, scholar, and educator. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 2011. As a mridangam vidwan, he has been called a "doyen among the percussionists of India" in Sruti magazine. Since the early 1970s, he has performed and recorded in a number of cross-cultural projects. In 2017, he was awarded the "Tiruchirapalli Carnatic Musicians Lifetime Achievement Award".

Tanjore Viswanathan was a Carnatic musician specializing in the Carnatic flute and voice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M. L. Vasanthakumari</span> Musical artist

Madras Lalitangi Vasanthakumari was a Carnatic musician and playback singer for film songs in many Indian languages. MLV and her contemporaries D. K. Pattammal and M. S. Subbulakshmi are popularly referred to as the female trinity of Carnatic Music. A prime disciple of G. N. Balasubramaniam, she was the youngest among the established musicians of that era, and was the youngest female to receive the Sangita Kalanidhi award. In 1967, she was honored with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award by the government of India. Her daughter, the late K.Srividya, was an actress in Tamil and Malayalam languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palghat Mani Iyer</span> Musical artist

Palghat T. S. Mani Iyer (1912–1981), born Thiruvilvamalai Ramaswamy was one of the leading mridangists in the field of Carnatic music. He, along with his contemporaries Palani Subramaniam Pillai and Ramanathapuram C. S. Murugabhoopathy, are revered as the "Holy Trinity of Mrudangam". Mani Iyer was the first mridangist to be awarded the Sangeetha Kalanidhi (1966) presented by the Music Academy of Madras, the Padma Bhushan (1971) and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards(1956) presented by the Government of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">S. Satyamurti</span>

Sundara Sastri Satyamurti was an Indian independence activist and politician. He was acclaimed for his rhetoric and was one of the leading politicians of the Indian National Congress from the Madras Presidency, alongside S. Srinivasa Iyengar, C. Rajagopalachari and T. Prakasam. Satyamurti is regarded as the mentor of K. Kamaraj, Chief Minister of Madras State from 1954 to 1962.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">T. N. Krishnan</span> Indian musician (1928–2020)

Trippunithura Narayana Krishnan was an Indian Carnatic music violinist. Along with Lalgudi Jayaraman and M. S. Gopalakrishnan he was considered part of the violin-trinity of Carnatic music. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1980. He was also the recipient of the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour, in 1992, and earlier, the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour, in 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">T. S. Avinashilingam Chettiar</span>

Tiruppur Subrahmanya Avinashilingam Chettiar was an Indian lawyer, politician, freedom-fighter and Gandhian. He served as the Education Minister of Madras Presidency from 1946 to 1949 and was responsible for introducing Tamil as the medium of instruction. He is also credited with having commissioned the creation of the first Tamil encyclopedia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">S. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar</span>

S. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar was an Indian lawyer, Indian independence activist, politician and journalist who served as the managing director of The Hindu from 1 April 1905 till his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">P. S. Veerappa</span> Indian actor

P. S. Veerappa was an Indian actor and a producer of Tamil cinema.

Sozhavanthan Varadharajan Venkatraman, also known as SVV, was an Indian actor, singer, and music director, who was active in the Indian film industry from 1938 to the 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kumari Kamala</span> Indian dancer and actress

Kumari Kamala is an Indian dancer and actress. Initially featured as a child dancer, Kamala appeared in almost 100 Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films throughout her career. In the 1970s, she became a teacher of the Vazhuvoor style of dance in which she specialises.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janaki Ammal</span> Indian botanist (1897–1984)

Edavalath Kakkat Janaki Ammal was an Indian botanist who worked on plant breeding, cytogenetics and phytogeography. Her most notable work involved studies on sugarcane and the eggplant (brinjal). She also worked on the cytogenetics of a range of plants and co-authored the Chromosome Atlas of Cultivated Plants (1945) with C.D. Darlington. She took an interest in ethnobotany and plants of medicinal and economic value from the rain forests of Kerala, India. She was awarded Padma Shri by the then prime minister of India in 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">F. G. Natesa Iyer</span> Indian actor and independence activist

F. G. Natesa Iyer was an Indian activist in the Indian National Congress during the Indian independence movement. He was also one of the pioneers of modern Tamil drama and Tamil cinema. He was a talent scout who recognized merit and promoted many youngsters, who went on to become great performers in Carnatic music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pichu Sambamoorthi</span>

Pichu Sambamoorthi (1901–1973) was an Indian musicologist, writer and the professor of musicology at the Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati. He was the author several books on music, including A Dictionary of South Indian Music and Musicians, Great composers, South Indian Music, Sruthi Vadyas (Drones) and Laya Vadyas: Time-Keeping Instruments. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1972. The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1971, for his contributions to music. He was also a 1963 recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramakrishnan Murthy</span> Musical artist

Ramakrishnan Murthy is a Carnatic Music vocalist from India. He regularly performs in the annual Madras Music Season besides being featured in music festivals world over that focus on Indian Classical music. He is an A-grade artist of the All India Radio and Doordarshan, Chennai.

References