Gentle but powerful nattuvangam
CHARUKESI
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Disciples are paying homage to the late Swamimalai Rajarathnam Pillai at Narada Gana Sabha.
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Rajarathnam Pillai
Disciples will pay homage to an illustrious nattuvanar to commemorate his 75th birth anniversary. Ramya Harishankar, Priyadarsini Govind and Vidya Subramaniam will dedicate their performances — June 29-July 1 at the Narada Gana Sabha — to
the late Swamimalai Rajarathnam Pillai. A significant aspect of this festival is that all the three dancers are going to use the recorded music and nattuvangam of their guru, to evoke nostalgic memories on the occasion.
Swamimalai Rajarathnam Pillai had the rare ability of conducting the recital with his scintillating voice combined with powerful but gentle nattuvangam. His jatis were graceful. He had a band of talented disciples when he was at the peak. Malavika Sarukkai, Kanaka Srinivasan, Srinidhi Rangarajan, Sujatha Srinivasan (for a short period), Mala Pasupathi, Priyadarsini Govind, Jothi Raghavan, Anuradha Jagannathan, Vidhya Subramanian, Ramya Ramnarayan, Shoba Natarajan, Ramya Harishankar, Nirupama Vaidyanathan, Umamaheswari and a host of others were learning under him and performing in the city sabha circuit and even toured the North and many world capitals and cities under the auspices of the ICCR.
The reverence they have for their guru is immeasurable. “I only wish I were there to perform!” rued Nirupama, now in the U.S., on hearing about the festival.
Born on July 3, 1931, Swamimalai Rajarathnam lost his parents Krishna Pillai and Kamalambal at the tender age of five, and was brought up by his aunt. The wonderful voice of young Rajarathnam was spotted by none other than actor N.S.Krishnan, who took the boy to Chennai with him. For a few years, Rajarathnam acted and sang on the stage as a child artist in NSK’s troupe. “Appa has acted in ‘Lava Kusa,’ a Hindi film!” said daughter Jayakamala Pandian. In the drama troupe, he had the company of such stalwarts as MGR, M.R.Radha, M.K.Radha, T.K.Shanmugam and so on.
The turning point
The voice cracked once he entered teens and Rajarathnam was unable to perform on stage or screen. It was at this point of time that the other noted comedian of the Tamil screen, Sarangapani, took the boy to Vazhuvur Ramaiah Pillai and introduced him to the doyen of Bharathanatyam. For about 15 years, Rajarathnam did gurukulavasam there, along with K.J.Sarasa and Radhakrishnan. While D.K.Pattammal sang the immortal songs of Mahakavi Subramania Bharathi, Vazhuvurar choreographed them and young Rajarathnam had the opportunity to assist his guru. Not only the guru supported him in his efforts, but also asked Rajarathnam to sing for the recitals where he wielded the cymbals. That was the turning point in his career.
In 1959, Rajarathnam married Nagalakshmi, daughter of Vazhuvur Natarajasundaram Pillai, younger brother of Vazhuvurar. Natarajasundaram Pillai had regularly accompanied M.S. on the mridangam. In 1960, Rajarathnam established his own school and for about ten years, SKR visited his students’ homes three days in a week to teach dance. A decade later, he founded ‘Kamala Kala Nilayam,’ which was soon changed to Rajarathnalaya, in a rented house in Mylapore. While staying here, he taught at the ladies club, the Children’s Garden Club and Kalaniketan.
He learnt a number of songs from Tiruvalaputhur Swaminatha Pillai, Padams and Javalis from Gowri Ammal and Kalyani Ammal, even as his tutelage under the renowned Thuraiyur Rajagopala Sarma continued. For his famed disciple Kanaka Srinivasan, he not only provided nattuvangam, but also vocal musical support. At a stage, it was nearly 15 to 20 performances in a month!
From 1980 onwards he began teaching his students from his own house in Saligramam. He always changed the choreography to suit the student. Music continued to be his passion and he would listen to many vidwans and his favourite was Alathur Brothers.
The Indian Fine Arts Society, Chennai, honoured him with the title ‘Sangeethakala Sigamani’ for his artistic abilities, while the Government of Tamil Nadu, conferred on him the ‘Kalaimamani.’
Priyadarsini Govind
Dance festival
“I requested nearly six dancers to participate, but only three could confirm,” said K.S.Subramanian of Fine Arts Foundation-India, who has organised the event.
Ramya Harishankar
At 6 p.m. today, industrialist L. Sabaratnam inaugurates the dance festival, which opens with the performance of Ramya Harishankar. Priyadarsini Govind will present her recital at 10 a.m. on June 30 and Vidhya Subramanian on July 1, 6 p.m.
Vidhya Subramanian.
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