Farewell to an era
K. R. Kumaraswamy Iyer.
RENOWNED MUSICIAN K. R. Kumaraswamy Iyer, former principal of Sri Swati Tirunal College of Music, Thiruvananthapuram, passed away on February 28 after a brief illness. He was 93 and was residing in East Delhi's Mayur Vihar Phase I, where he had settled for the past several years. A recipient of the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi award in the year 1992, he had an illustrious career as a musician and teacher.
A contemporary of legendary musicians, the late Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Chembai Vaidiyanatha Bagavatar and G.N. Balasubramanian, Kumaraswamy Iyer took active part in the restoration of Swati Tirunal's compositions with the support of the Travancore royalty. Among his other contributions to the music world was his setting the tunes for rare compositions of Saint Achyuta Dasa and Kamakoti Sastrigal.
He has left an immortal legacy not only in such works, but also in the performing tradition of Carnatic music, which he enriched through his teaching. He taught music at the Sri Swati Tirunal College of Music, Thiruvananthapuram, the RLV Music Academy, Tripunithura, and Sri Satguru Sangeeta Samajam, Madurai. His prominent disciples include celebrated vocalist K.J. Yesudas, nadaswaram vidwan Tiruvizha R. Jayashankar, Parasala R. Ponnammal, Chetralai R. Gopalan Nair and his own daughters Vijayalakshmi Murlidhar and Vasanthi Krishna Rao. Music ran in the family of Vidwan Kumaraswamy. His son K. Sriram is a well-known mridangam artiste of Delhi.
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Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
