Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Entertainment | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

Destiny's child

K.C. ASOK

M. Chandrasekharan who has been selected for the 2005 Sangeetha Kalanidhi award is a vocalist and violinist par excellence.

MUSICAL ODYSSEY: M. Chandrasekharan.

Destiny changed his life when he was just two.

However, his mother refused to bow down to fate and honed his innate talent to make him one of the best violinists in India. Early next year, this violin maestro, M. Chandrasekharan, will be honoured with the 2005 Sangeetha Kalanidhi award, instituted by Chennai Music Academy. With numerous other national and international laurels to his credit, this comes as another feather in his cap.

Chandrasekharan was in Thiruvananthapuram recently to participate in a concert organised by Sri Swati Tirunal Sangeetha Sabha. Excerpts from an interview.

Second life

How do you feel about this coveted award?

"Extremely happy. I am thankful to my well-wishers, and first of all my mother [Charubala Mohan] Had it not been for her, I would have led a run-of-the-mill existence. I owe all my achievements to my mother... It was a second life, enlivened by music, that she gave me," he recounts.

After being trained on the violin and in vocal music by his mother, Chandrasekharan went to broaden his repertoire under eminent vocalists like Mannargudi Sambasiva Bhagavathar, Kumbakonam Viswanatha Iyer, T. Jayammal and Vidyala Narasimhulu Naidu, albeit his mother had been his only guru on the violin.

Chandrasekharan began his musical career as an accompanist on the violin at the age of 11. In his career spanning 56 years as a performing artiste, he has accompanied almost all the top musicians. He never misses a beat (talam) while he plays a keerthanam or a complicated swara pattern. "I practised talam on my toes. This works well for violinists."

An A-grade artiste in AIR for vocal music, Chandrasekharan has made his mark as a vocalist too. But which does he enjoy more? "Both are the same for me but people want to hear me play the violin more," he says with a disarming smile. However, he feels a violinist should be a vocalist too. "First he should be thorough with the padanthara before he tries it out on his violin."

Chandrasekharan, who is well versed in the Braille script, has authored 35 music compositions. They include varnams, keerthanams and devotional songs in Tamil, Sanskrit and Telugu.

In December 1997, his disciples gathered to felicitate him on his 60th birthday. They gifted him a gold plated silver violin on the occasion. He cherishes that occasion and the gift.

In spite of life's challenge, he does not wallow in sorrow. "I am grateful to God for this life. Perhaps, I would not have achieved this if I were not visually impaired," he avers.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail