When I wrote about Carnatic music, I forgot to focus the readers’ attention to the role the “Music Trinity”, Saint Thyagaraja, Muthusamy Dikshithar, Syama Sastrigal played. All the three were born under the shadows of Thiruvaroor Thyagaraja Temple, where the presiding deities were Easwaran Lord Thyagaraja Swami sametha Kamalambika, alias, Balatripurasundari. Incidentally, they were contemporaries. There could be no Carnatic music without such celebrated, prolific, and path-breaking music composers. They were preceded by a century or more, by great men like Purandaradasa, Oothukadu Venkata Subbarayar, and other “dasarvals”. The whole galaxy of shining personalities like Patnam Subramania Iyer, Subbaraya Dikshithar, Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar, Neelakanta Sivan, Papanasam Sivan, Swati Thirunaal, Achutadasan, Koteeswara Iyer, Gopalakrishna Bharathy and a good many more, illuminated the arena of Carnatic classical music. 

Apart from these great vocalists and vaakiyakaaras, the contribution of instrumentalists like Thirukodikaaval Krishna Iyer, Malakottai Govindaswamy Pillai, Veenai Dhanammal, Mysore T Chowdiah, Kumbakonam Rajamanickam Pillai, Papa K S Venkataramaiah, Lalgudi G Jayaraman, T N Krishnan, M S Gopalakrishnan, M Chandrasekaran, L Subramaniam, V V Subramaniam, Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan, etc. should not be overlooked. Palladam Sanjeeva Rao, the one and only Mali (T R Mahalingam), and Tirupambaram Swaminathan were great flautists. Nadaswara Chakravarty T N Rajaratnam Pillai was a class by himself, far above his contemporaries Semponnar Thiruveezhimalai, Keeranur Groups, Veerasamy Pillai, Karaikuruchi Arunachalam, Namagiri Petai Krishnan, Chinnamoulana Saheb, the Guntur based ustads and vidwans. Mrindangists Pudukottai Dakshinamoorthy Pillai, Palghat Mani Iyer, Palani Subramaniya Pillai..the list can be extended – they were great names in the realm of percussion instruments. There were a good many top vocalists and instrumentalists like Nedanuri Krishnamoorthy, Olotti Venkateswaralu, Dr Pinakapani, Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu from Andhra Pradesh. Kerala and Karnataka did not lag behind in the production of noted vocalists and instrumentalists.

The December music festival in Chennai drew artistes from all the four South Indian states and Hindustani Classical music artistes were presented to South Indian audiences. Slowly, appreciation for Hindustani Classical music is on the rise in the south. 

Artistes like Gayanapadu, Kirtanapadu, Saraswatibai, were famous in the field of sangeetha katha-kalakshebams, mixing melodious music with powerful story-telling. In this category, mention can be made of Thiruvaiyaru Annaswamy Bhagavathar, Srirangam Sadagopachari, Embaar Vijayaraghavachari, T S Balakrishna Sastrigal, and Kripanandha Vaariyar - all of them, legions in this field. We have now a dozen or more exponents of katha-kalakshebams.

The aforesaid branches of entertainment had a lot of Maharashtrian influence since the Tanjore-based Marathi ruling dynasty like Maharaja Sarabhoji were great patrons of art and music, literature, and their contribution stood the test of time and survives to this day. The royal patronage from the princely states of Mysore, Travancore, Cochin, and Pudukottai cannot go unmentioned. As fine arts flourished under their benign rule, many of our great singers were made “aasthana vidwan” by these states. Sri Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer was a beneficiary of the ruler of the erstwhile state of Travancore> The Swati Tirunaal Music Academy of Thiruvananthapuram is standing testimony to the research and development of fine arts. Even today, the academy is an active body.

I would like to utilize this opportunity to draw the attention of the discriminating public that certain codes of conduct and self-discipline is called for, when we go to hear and appreciate music. Punctuality, avoidance of applause to each and every sahitya exposition, avoiding noise pollution, walking-in and walking-out in the midst of thaniavarthanam, disturbing and distracting the concentration of listeners, and the abrupt dispersal of the listeners before the completion of the mangalam songs. Busybodies can relax at home and utilize their many gadgets to enjoy music. Inconsiderate people should not deny the many, the thrill of hearing live concerts. It is not good adult behavior. We should know that our kutcheris normally start with a varnam, and concludes with the mangalam. Our music teaches humility (simple life and high thinking). Each for all and all for each can be a good concept.

We should be very thankful to the print media that covers, every week, events connected to classical music and dance. Electronic mediums like TV should increase time slots to cover classical Carnatic music and dance.

At the Mylapore Sai Samaj, I vividly remember Pudukottai Gopalakrishna Bhagavathar who evolved a “paddati” (system) for conducting the divyanama sangeetham with just a dozen or slightly more active participants. Unmindful of physical and mental fatigue, he and his group were on their feet chanting slokas, singing famous songs, moving and dancing to set foot movements, keeping us all glued. Gopalakrishna Bhagavathar, who took center-stage, was possibly in his seventies at that time. It was a unique experience watching Gopalakrishna Bhagavathar conducting divyanama sangeetham right from “unjavarthi” up to “anjaneya utsavam). Apart from thyagaraja krithis and tamil songs of nayanmaars and alvaars, there were compositions of Purandaradasa, Narayana Theerthar, and Jayadeva Ashtapathi.

Needamangalam Krishnamurthy Bhagavathar of Oothukadu Venkata Subbaiyer lineage popularized (as) Krishnagaanam. These famous songs find place both in Carnatic music and in bharatanatyam.