Thursday, 5 July 2012

Whos who in Indian classical music

By V Ramnarayan
RK Venkatarama Sastry

Rudrapatnam Krishna Venkatarama Sastry was born on November 10th 1907 to Rudrapatnam Krishna
Sastrymusician, Harikatha artist, playwright and Sanskrit and Kannada scholarand singer Sannakka,
daughter of vainika-violinist Bettadapura Narayanaswamy, in the early years of the 20th century, at
Rudrapatnam, a stones throw from the waters of the sacred river Kaveri. Venkatarama Sastrywhose
birth centenary was celebrated in 2007-2008showed early signs of musical talent, which his father
nourished by exposing him to the best available training with distinguished gurus.
Venkatarama Sastrys family from the Hassan district of Karnataka belonging to the Sanketi community
went on to produce some nine more musicians at last count, with Sangita Kalanidhi R.K. Srikantan still
going strong with his magnificent voice at the age of 92.
After spending more than a decade learning violin from Veena Subbanna and Mysore T. Chowdiah,
Venkatarama Sastry moved to Madras in 1936, to join All India Radio when it was formed.
While some old timers believe that Venkatarama Sastrys violin playing resembled his guru Chowdiahs
seven-string style, grandson and top ranking Carnatic violinist R.K. Shriramkumar does not entirely
agree. According to him, Venkatarama Sastry came under the influence of Papa Venkataramiah soon after
moving to Madras and eschewed the seven-string instrument in favour of the orthodox four-string violin.
His music was predominantly shaped by all the best vocalists of the day. Sastry insisted
that the violin should always be based on the vocal style. He stressed bhasha gnanam or
knowledge of languages and the primacy of sahitya, often citing the example of M.S.
Subbulakshmi, whom he accompanied for years.
Dont pronounce words in a contrived manner, he advised disciples, respect languages.
He learnt a large number of songs in his lifetime and because he wanted Shriramkumar to
follow in his footsteps, sent him to D.K. Jayaraman to learn vocal music.

He was a strong votary of the significance of the works of great sahityakartas, and the
importance of the way the lyric and the music should fuse together. He firmly believed that
the sweep and grandeur of the great ragas could be internalised only by learning a vast
number of compositions. Sastry taught his students several kritis and believed in the aural
tradition. No tapes, no notebooks.
Venkatarama Sastry insisted that the violinist savour the words, running through them
repeatedly in the mind while performing niraval. It is the importance of this aspect of
violin playing that led Sastry to enrol his own grandson Shriramkumar with V.V.
Subramanyam for specialised violin coaching.
Tyagaraja was God to him. He performed at the annual aradhana at Tiruvaiyaru for 40
successive years. Vedanta interested Sastry deeply. He refused to move out of his
Nungambakkam residence in order to stay close to Kalyanasundaram Sastrigals Vedanta
classes he attended in the neighbourhood.
Sastry demanded that his students play only the compositions of the great vaggeyakaras of
Carnatic music. The songs of the Trinity, Purandaradasa, Tevaram, and Tiruppugazh were
examples of verses he approved. An advocate of the classical and ghana ragas, his tastes in
violin music tended to err on the side of the conservative.
In later years, he was a great admirer of T.N. Krishnans music, which he recommended as
an ideal to be followed. In vocal music he appreciated the titans of his timeAriyakudi,
Semmangudi, Musiri, Brinda-Muktha and M.S. Subbulakshmi.
R.K. Venkatarama Sastry was respected by everyone throughout his career. A principled, noncontroversial figure, he brought dignity to whatever he didwhether accompanying MS or Semmangudi
on the performance stage or expressing his views as a member of the Experts Committee, spending whole
days at the Music Academy.
Posted by Sruti Magazine at Thursday, July 05, 2012

-Remembering A Grandfather

Music Academy: Articles from Souvenir

By: R. K. Shriramkumar
The sun would be on the horizon, about to retire for the day. Much dust and enthusiastic tones of high
frequencies would be generated on the streets with boys playing cricket. That was when he would bring
me home, after a long walk from school (Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan), teaching me en route, verses
from either the Vishnu Sahasranama or the Samkshepa Ramayana. That done, he would instruct my
mother to give me a snack. And even before I could finish it, he would be ready with his violin constantly
summoning me for the class. Mouli (G. Chandramouli, my classmate in school, who had also learnt the
basics along with me from Smt Savitri Satyamurfhy), would arrive and we would have class together.
A Varnam a day keeps the weakling away he used to tell us. Hence, class always began vith varnams, in
different kalapramanas and in various speeds. The strong emphasis on varnams was to enable us to
later play Tanam, of which he had imbibed a characteristic unique style from his great guru Mysore Shri
T Chowdiah. We were taught many krtis, especially of the Trinity and of Sadguru Shri Tyagarajasvami in
particular.
An ardent devotee of Shri Tyagarajasvami, he imparted to us, not just the musical content of the
colossal compositions, but also the import and the importance of the sahitya. He did not subscribe to
the concept of instrumentalising Carnatic music. According to him, it was vocal music that reigned
supreme and the best instrumentalist was one who could reproduce a singing effect of the instrument.
He held the view that only with the combined knowledge of the sahitya and the sangita would bhava
glow in the hands of an instrumentalist. No wonder, even as a violinist, he built up a huge repertoire of
compositions, all thanks to his close association with doyens such as Shri Tiger Varadachariar, Shri
Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar, Shri Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, Shri Ariyakudi Ramanuja
Iyengar, Shri Musiri Subrahmanya Iyer, Shri Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Shri Papa Venkataramiah and
many others.

Tears would roll down his cheeks when he talked about the greatness of the saints and their immortal
compositions. Many a day, we would be told the significance of various references in these
compositions. Bhakti was the password that he adopted. Music, in his view, was to be used as an
instrument to experience the Divine.
After a long session of violin lessons, my chat sessions would be cut short, rather sternly, to go do my
sandhyavandanam. The next session with him would be with my school homework ranging from solving
riders in trigonometry to writing samasa for samskrita padas to Tennysons poetry to a lesson on Kabirs
dohas. He had an artistic flair for drawing and could design the kolams of the puja mandalas with great
elan. Cooking was also one of his many talents. Politics was a field of deep interest. He had to read The
Hindu from start to finish and enjoyed discussing the happenings of the days political scenario. But his
heart was in Vedanta. He regularly attended and jotted notes from lectures on Vedanta and Advaitic
thought.
Orthodoxy in thought and action was his way of life. He had immense faith in the dictums of Vaidika
dharma and performed his religious duties in a highly diligent manner. Infact, he refused to cross the
shores of India as dharma wouldnt allow it. Smt M S Subbulakshmi, whom he had accompanied in
numerous concerts, was a great source of inspiration and support to the whole of our family. When I
sought her blessings on my debut concert tour of the United States of America, she asked me a simple
question, with a twinkle of surprise in her eye-Did he approve of it? Yes, we were given allowances and so
we could transgress rules, of course for a meagre parihara later!
He was very much alive to changes and developments in the music fraternity. His belief that there was no
end to learning resulted in my becoming Shri V.V. Subrahmanyams disciple. It also resulted in Shri D K
Jayaraman teaching me vocal music.
A man of few words, with a lifestyle that was pious, humble and lofty in ideal, he had the greatest honour
of performing the Aradhana of Sadguru Shri Tyagarajasvami on the sacred day of Pushya bahula panchami
at Tiruvaiyyaru for nearly fifty years. The music world today remembers him as one of the most respected
vidvans of all times. To the world he was Vidvan R K Venkatarama Shastry. To me, Thatha.