Teacher and scholar par excellence
G.S. Paul
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Neyyattinkara Mohanachandran was a scholar, singer and teacher par excellence.
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Unparalleled creativity apart, what made his concerts stand out was this ability to understand the meaning of the songs he sang.
A pall of gloom descended on the music firmament of Kerala owing to the demise of Neyattinkara Mohanachandran on May 12. His death is a loss to all music lovers as he was one of the few scholar-musicians in the State.
As a performer, Mohanachandran's sublime music enchanted listeners. As a teacher, he was the `guru' who inculcated in his disciples a spirit of devotion. Perhaps, he inherited these qualities from the host of luminaries who had groomed him.
To begin with, Neyattinkara Shanmugham Bhagavathar had given him a strong grounding in Carnatic music. Other teachers included Dandapani Desikar and T.K. Rangachari in Annamalai University and Dr. Gouri Kuppuswamy and Dr. R. Visweswaran in Mysore University, where he did his postgraduation.
His dedication to his subject made him take special courses in Tamil while at Annamalai University and also in Telugu and Kannada while in Mysore later to comprehend the meaning of the sahithya of the compositions. Unparalleled creativity apart, what made his concerts stand out was this ability to understand the meaning of the songs he sang.
His lecture-demonstrations emphasised the importance of sahithya, the knowledge of which was imperative to understand the mood of each composition. And his lectures were all spiced with humour.
Armed with a rich repertoire, he took delight in the comparative study of the Trinity's compositions and presented numerous papers on their musical and literary niceties. He was also an acclaimed authority of Swati's works.
The music department of Government Women's College, Thiruvananthapuram, had the rare privilege of his scholarship for a long time.
He also worked for a few years in Government College, Chittoor. What compelled him to spurn the promotion to the post of principal and the subsequent posting in Government College, Koilandi, was his commitment to music.
After his retirement, he worked in Sanskrit University, Kalady, for a few years.
He was a visiting professor in Pittsburgh University in the United States. He was the head of the music department at the Lasya College of Music and Dance, Payyannur (affiliated to Khairaghat university).
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