K.V. Narayanaswamy | |
|---|---|
 K. V. Narayanaswamy with wife Padma Narayanaswamy | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | KVN |
| Born | (1923-11-15)15 November 1923 |
| Died | 1 April 2002(2002-04-01) (aged 78) Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Genres | Carnatic classical music |
| Website | www.narada.org |
Palghat Kollengode Viswanathan Narayanaswamy (15 November 1923 – 1 April 2002), often referred to as K. V. Narayanaswamy was an Indian musician, widely considered to be among the finestCarnatic music vocalists of the 20th century. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy'sSangeetha Kalanidhi in 1986. He was described as the "Perfect Knight" of Carnatic music, a phrase fromGeoffrey Chaucer, byV. K. Narayana Menon, art critic of India and recipient of theSangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship.[1]
Narayanaswamy was born to Kollengode Viswanathayyar and Muthulakshmi Ammal inPalghat, Kerala, to a PalakkadIyer family, a district renowned for its cultural and musical traditions, on 15 November 1923. Narayanaswamy was born into a family of illustrious musicians and artists. His great-grandfather Viswam Bhagavatar was renowned for his evocativeAshtapadis and rendered services forMaharajaAyilyam Thirunal, ruler of theprincely state ofTravancore from 1860 to 1880. In return Viswam Bhagavatar was bestowed with government aid and hereditary royal privileges. Viswam Bhagavatar's son, Narayana Bhagavatar continued his father's legacy. His son was violin maestro, Viswanathayyar (soon came to be known as 'Fiddle' Viswanathayyar), His father. K.V. Narayanaswamy learned basic music lessons under his father and grandfather. After studying inPalghat till the fifth form, he moved toCoimbatore, where he briefly dabbled in theatre. Narayanaswamy even managed a role as the young Kanappan in the movieKannappa Nayanar. The movie bombed at the box office.[2]
Narayanaswamy began extensive training underMridangam maestro,Padma Bhushan,Palghat Mani Iyer. Mani Iyer proceeded to place Narayanaswamy under the tutelage ofSangeetakalacharyaC.S. Krishna Iyer, a highly competent vocalist,musicologist and composer inPalghat, and then under violinist andSangeetha KalanidhiPapa Venkataramaiah. Viswanatha Bhagavatar was however very keen that Narayanaswamy should train underSangeetha KalanidhiChembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar orSangeetha KalanidhiPadma BhushanAriyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, who were two of the four most dominant musicians of the first half of the twentieth century along with the likes ofSemmangudi Srinivasa Iyer andG. N. Balasubramaniam. Mani Iyer soon judged Narayanaswamy to be ready forgurukulavasam under Ariyakudi and in 1942, Narayanaswamy took the giant step. He entered the home ofAriyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar and remained an ardent disciple until the latter's death in 1967.[3]
Narayanaswamy's major break came at aMadras Music Academy concert in 1951, when he was unexpectedly forced to substitute for his guru,Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar who was not in a position to attend the conference under unforeseen circumstances. Accompanied by doyensPalghat Mani Iyer andPapa Venkataramayya, this concert proved to be a milestone in Narayanaswamy's career. The training underPalghat Mani Iyer allowed Narayanaswamy to develop a solid knowledge of rhythmic nuances. This in turn would enable him to be at ease in the company of such legends of percussion asPalani Subramaniam Pillai,Palghat R. Raghu,Mavelikkara Velukkutty Nair, andUmayalpuram K. Sivaraman to name a few.[4] Narayanaswamy,Palghat R. Raghu, and violin maestroT.N.Krishnan soon became a frequent and much admired combination on stage.
K.V.Narayanaswamy was intimately connected to theTravancore royal family following his skilful rendition ofSwathi Thirunal Rama Varma'sNavaratri compositions. Another landmark in Narayanaswamy's life came in 1964 when he participated in theEast-West Encounter concerts in New Delhi. This was followed by a widely acclaimed concert at theEdinburgh Festival in Scotland in 1965.[5]
On being made professor of music atWesleyan University,Middletown, Connecticut, between 1965 and 1967, he went on acoast-to-coast concert tour of US. He was one of four artists includingBismillah Khan,Ali Akbar Khan, andRavi Shankar who participated in the hugely popularHollywood Bowl music festival in Los Angeles in the summer of 1967.In 1974, Narayanaswamy went to teach inBerkeley, California for a year, in the company of dancerBalasaraswati and sitaristNikhil Banerjee. Invited by theAmerican Society of Eastern Arts, he travelled to North America, Europe (Berlin Music Festival in 1976) and Australia (Adelaide Arts Festival in 1988) multiple times thereafter on various concert tours. He also joined the Music College inMadras as a lecturer in 1962 whenMusiri Subramania Iyer was its principal, and retired as Professor of Music in 1982.In 1984, Narayanaswamy was to become the first Indian musician to be awarded theFulbright Scholarship and went toSan Diego State University in California as an artist-in-residence under the scholarship. For nine months he taught at the university and gave performances all over North America.[6]
Though Narayanaswamy's singing bore his master Ariyakudi'sBani, over the years he evolved a unique style of his own. Strict classicism and blemish-less singing are some of the obvious facets of his music. His vast repertoire included songs that encompassed every genre, a number of languages and composers belonging to different ages.[7]Endaro Mahanubhavulu inSri Ragam,Sri Subrahmanya Namaste inKambhoji,Bala gopala inBhairavi,Satatam Tavaka inKharaharapriya,Pahi Janani in Natakuranji,Enneramum inrāgaDevagandhari,Pirava varam tarum inLatangi andKanavendamo inSriranjaniare some of the songs that have come to bear his distinct signature."The depth of emotion and the pathos he invested in singing certain compositions ofGopalakrishna Bharathi, especially VarugalAmo ayya and his incomparable and unique presentation of Krishna nee beganey in the style of Jayammal andBalasaraswati, in which he caressed the words and phrases exquisitely and had the audience in a trance as if he were a pied piper"[8] are noteworthy. Strict adherence toShruthi (musical pitch), lyrical purity and a poignant rendition were distinctive features of Narayanaswamy's music.
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Some of Narayanaswamy's leading disciples were Padma Narayanaswamy (whom he married), vocalist K.V.Ananthan, violinist and vocalist Hemmige V. Srivatsan, renowned flautistShashank Subramanyam, Padma Sandilyan, Padmasri Veeraraghavan, Hemmige S. Prashanth, Pattabhirama Pandit, Sathish Rao, M.R.Subramaniam, T. S. Ranganathan, Manipallavam K.Sarangan, Balaji Prasad Krishnamurthy, Ravi Srinivasan, Navneet Krishnan, B. Raman and Ramanujan.[9] Also French Algerian Toufiq Touzene AKA Tulsi Ram.
In 1948 Narayanaswamy marriedPalghat Mani Iyer's cousin Annapoorni. They had three daughters and a son: Muktha, Lalitha, Viswanathan and violinist Ramaa Raghunathan. She died in 1962.[10] In 1965 Narayanaswamy married Padma, a talented musician and disciple who continues to train her husband's students in his style. Their daughter Anuradha Krishnamurthy is a trained vocalist[11] and television actor.
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