Traditionalist of Trinity culture
SEMMANGUDI SRINIVASA Iyer, by the sheer magnitude of his vidwat and repertoire, was able to grip the imagination of rasikas for over seven decades, a colossal achievement in the career of any musician. He was cherished as the doyen of Carnatic music representing the deep musical dimensions of the Trinity culture. He gained canonical status in the music field. He was to the fingertips a traditionalist, true and upright. He faithfully laid emphasis on the core of Carnatic music throughout his career. He sang with manodharma, all compact. Opinions and tastes keep changing, but a rasika cannot speak of Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer except in terms of purity of music.
Not certainly endowed with a felicitous melodic voice, he tamed it with immense sadhaka to suit his style of robust singing. If music has to be such as to make listeners wonder at what a wealth of melodic heat the kirtanas of great vaggeyakaras have to offer, Semmangudi was an exponent all his own.
No kirtana he sang which he did not make it a jewel. Who can forget the nourishment he gave to compositions like "Ksheenamai" (Mukhari), "Sri-Dakshinamurte" (Sankarabharanam), "Chetasri" (Dwijaranti) "Rama-nee-samana" (Karahapriya) "Pankaja-lochana" or "Birana-brova-ide" (Kalyani), to mention a few?
In Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer's expository style, the raga imagery was at once graphic and exquisite. Sharpness of phrasings enhanced the raga swaroopa. The powerful interpretative method gave his art a distinctly authentic and authoritative stamp. At a time when it is facilely said that music has to bend to the needs of the times, Semmangudi stood for the empyrean beauty of sampradaya sangita. The charm of his music was that even in spontaneity there was a traditional method. Soaring inspiration, sense of balance and compelling technique were in perfect fusion in his cutcheri pattern.
His career was a homage to the sheer magnificence and fragrance of musical legacy. In his performances one could easily read his concern for preserving the great treasure left to posterity by Tyagaraja, Muthuswamy Dikshitar, Syama Sastri and in an equal measure by post-Trinity composers.
It was this lofty ideal that helped him set tunes for the Swati Tirunal kirtanas which enjoy today a status equal to the Trinity's songs. Throughout his career he resolved admirably the conflict between popularity and the call of standards. Srinivasa Iyer breathed the air of pure Carnatic music in its golden era. He traced his training to the Umayalpuram Sishya patanpara of Sri Tyagaraja. He absorbed all the succinct aspects of music found in his predecessors and his contemporaries, to realise and put into practice his clear understanding that the ravishing exhilaration of raga bhava and the rare gift of subtle suggestiveness are the life breath of Carnatic music. He was a true representative in the lines of towering vidwans who firmly believed that great music was as much due to the high ideals held in view as to the grandeur of the composition sung. A monumental kirtana, not actuated by high ideals, becomes prosaic. But Semmangudi saw to it that he made every song gigantic and this he achieved by the intermingling of the lyrical beauties of the sahitya with his vibrant vidwat. At his hands the works of the Trinity were not meant just to entertain, but to illuminate the inaccessible heights and fathomless depths of Carnatic music. So rasikas enjoyed his concerts only at the aesthetic level. Semmangudi shared with the earlier generation the four traditional support to the profession - musical, idealism, respect for sampradaya, devotion to the art and guru bhakti.
The immense popularity of Semmangudi can be traced to his capacity to take the listeners very close to the atmosphere enveloping and kirtana he sang and this brought about instant reciprocal relationship between him and the audience. So much so his music conferred pleasure as well as musical enlightenment. It was impossible not to be stirred by admiration as raga sancharas flashed. The excellence in his performances was not a chance happening but a planned, conscious process of creativity aimed at optimising professional expertise. His music therefore exerted a strong presence everywhere and at every stage. There was passion, attraction, devotion, zest and confidence in his recitals. What provided sinews to his music were commitment, reverence, faith and humility. The last of the titans has disappeared from the scene, but his music would keep ringing in the ears of listeners, whenever the name of Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer is invoked.
- SVK
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