The musician referred to is none other than the great Sri Semmangudi R. Srinivasa Iyer. After about seventy years in the concert scene, the eighty-eight year old master is still singing to packed audiences all over South India. Moreover, his concerts still contain the all the ingredients to inspiring music. Semmangudi (as he is popularly known) is perhaps the last survivor from the so-called golden era of music.

Srinivasa Iyer was the third son born to Radhakrishna Iyer and Dharmasamvardhini Ammal. Born on 25^th July 1908, he grew up in the village of Semmangudi which is in the cradle of Carnatic music, Tanjavur District, South India. No doubt this little village is now world renowned due to Srinivasa Iyer. From the age of 5, the young lad showed an aptitude and interest in music. The success in the field of music by Dharmasamvardhini’s brother, Tirukodikaval Krishna Iyer (one of the first successful Carnatic musicians who played violin), and her nephew Narayanaswami Iyer, led Radhakrishna Iyer to decide that music would be a good career for his son. Hence from the age of nine, Semmangudi started receiving music training.

Semmangudi had the opportunity to learn music under four distinguished musical stalwarts. He started his musical training in 1917 (on the auspicious Vijayadasami day) with his cousin-brother, Sri Semmangudi Narayanaswami Iyer, who was a violinist. Later he had the opportunity to study music with the eminent gottuvadhyam artiste, Sakharama Rao, and also vocalist Sangeetha Kalanidhi Sri Umayalpuram Swaminatha Iyer. The latter had learnt music from direct disciples of Thyagaraja. Finally, Semmangudi had training from the acclaimed vocalist, Sangeetha Kalanidhi Sri Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, also a disciple of Swaminatha Iyer. Semmangudi had the chance to provide vocal support to Viswanatha Iyer in several concerts. The style of tuition, under each of his four gurus, always in the gurukula tradition where the student lived with the teacher, ensured the best environment to learn music.

During this time, Semmangudi also had many opportunities to listen to concerts by eminent musicians such as Ariyakudi, Chembai, Naina Pillai and Flute Sanjeeva Rao. He was also influenced by the quality nagaswara music of T. N. Rajaratnam Pillai and Karukurichi Arunachalam, who often performed in temple festivals.

In his teens, Semmangudi’s voice had cracked and had lost the musical texture present in his childhood. Some people suggested that he might switch over to the violin but Semmangudi was determined to be a vocalist and followed a rigorous training schedule that involved singing for several hours continuously. By his eighteenth year his voice had somewhat mellowed and in 1926 (the same year of his marriage to Thayammal) he was given the opportunity to give a solo concert at the Nageswaraswami temple in Kumbakonam. There were not many people in the audience but an auspicious downpour of rain began soon after the concert commenced. Soon his fame began to spread throughout the region and by the following year he had an opportunity to sing in Madras.

Semmangudi’s rise to fame was quite meteoric. In the late 1930s he was considered as one of the front line vocalists of the period and in 1947, the Music Academy of Madras awarded him the title Sangeetha Kalanidhi. Aged 39, he was the youngest artiste to receive the award. Today he is the oldest surviving Sangeetha Kalanidhi.

During his illustrious career, Semmangudi held many notable positions. In 1939 he was made Asthana Vidwan (resident musician) of the Travancore Palace in Kerala and joined the Swati Tirunal Music Academy in Trivandrum in 1941. He soon became the Principal of this institution and was there till 1963. From the period 1956-59, taking a leave of absence from the Academy, he also served as Chief Producer of Carnatic Music at All India Music, Madras.

Part of his role at the Swati Tirunal Academy was to revive the compositions of Maharaja Swati Tirunal. For many of the compositions, the text was available but there was no indication about the tune. Semmangudi, along with Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar and others were given the task to set music to the Maharaja’s lyrics. Semmangudi has brought out two publications which give the notation to over 200 of Swati Tirunal’s compositions. Furthermore, he tried to include at least two Swati Tirunal compositions in each of his concerts. Deva Deva (Mayamalavagowla), Pankajalochana (Kalyani) and Bhavayami Raghuramam (Ragamalika) are just some of the compositions that were both tuned and popularised by him. The latter, a description of the epic Ramayana, was originally entirely set in Saveri raga but Semmangudi transformed it into a ragamalika (beginning with Saveri) and added a scintillating set of chitta-swarams.

Semmangudi has large set of prominent disciples, some of whom did gurukulavasam, others whom he taught while at the Swati Tirunal Academy and others who took casual lessons with him. His prominent disciples include two Sangeetha Kalanidhi-s: Prof. T. N. Krishnan (who accompanied him on violin in many concerts) and T. M. Thiagarajan. Disciple P. S. Narayanaswamy is a well respected musician. Kallidakurichi S. Harihara Iyer had a long association with Semmangudi and also became the Principal of the Swati Tirunal Academy. Another disciple, K. R. Kumaraswamy Iyer also held the same position. Other notable disciples include Palai C. K. Ramachandran and V. Subramaniam (both of whom still provide vocal support to Semmangudi), Neyatinkara Vasudevan, Vaigal Gnanaskandan, Parasala Ponnammal and K. Omanakutty. M. S. Subbulakshmi and K. J. Yesudas (a Music College disciple) have also learnt many compositions from Semmangudi. It is interesting to note that later in his career, Semmangudi himself learnt certain compositions from notable musicians such as Ariyakudi, T. Brinda and G. N. Balasubramaniam.

The music of Semmangudi has a certain magnetism about it. Despite his nasal voice, it is inspiring music that gives the listeners an impression that they too are involved in it. It is imaginative, expressive and extroverted yet sublime. S. V. Seshadri writes ‘Semmangudi has no equal in bringing out the bhava of a kriti. He communicates the feeling and emotion of the sahitya with an intensity that has the imprimatur of a personal faith. That is why his music is not merely brilliant but devout and moving.’ In his concerts, he generally has concentrated on krithi-s, neraval and swaram singing rather than elaborate raga alapana-s, which are generally neat and succinct. His exuberant singing of adjacent swara-s in rapid succession is prominent element of his unique style. His brilliant exposition of Kharaharapriya raga led people to refer to him as ‘Kharaharapriya Srinivasa Iyer’. A 1933 concert review sums up his music in the words ‘dignity’ and ‘depth’, facets that forever reign in his music.

Semmangudi’s repertoire probably consists of some 800 compositions. He has sung varnams in his concerts on a few occasions but generally chooses to commence with a krithi in Mayamalavagowla or a Ganapathi krithi. Some of his favourite raga-s include Kalyani, Kapi, Sri Ranjani, Kambhoji and Kharaharapriya. His renditions of Amba Kamakshi (Bhairavi), Marubalka (Sri Ranjani), Chetasree (Dwijawanti), Biranabrova (Kalyani), Chakkani Raja and Rama Nee Samanamevaru (both Kharaharapriya) are memorable. Towards the end of his concert one would eagerly await to hear his emotion-filled ragamalika viruthams, the Kapi javali, Parlannamata and Sivan’s Sharavanabhava (Shanmukhapriya).

Today, Semmangudi is highly sought after to inaugurate music festivals and functions. His humorous yet kind words in Tamil also please the audience and the organisers. It is believed with his blessings, the event is sure to be a success. Semmangudi’s concerts, though very few in number, are eagerly awaited by audiences which consist of the older generation wishing to rekindle memories of yesteryear and youngsters wishing to get a glimpse of the golden era where Semmangudi reigned.
 

1. ‘Semmangudi: A Mosaic Portrait’, Sruti (1989), Vol. 57/58 and 61/62, Madras.
2. N. Rajagopalan (1990), A Garland, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay.

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