Discipline spells success
V. BALASUBRAMANIAN
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Now on a tour of the U.S. in aid of Sankara Nethralaya, T.N.Krishnan speaks of the people who shaped him.
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Photo: N. Sridharan.
HUMILITY: T.N. Krishnan.
Tiruppunithura Narayanan Krishnan, better known as T.N.Krishnan, violin maestro, is the sixth generation musician in his family. In his career spanning 72 years as a violin vidwan, the musician has presented hundreds of concerts, many of them for ch
arity. He has just left for the U.S. on a four-month concert tour. East to West, Krishnan will be performing in about 10 cities raising funds for Sankara Nethralaya. His son Sriram, settled in the U.S. will be providing violin support in all these concerts. Incidentally, the maestro will be celebrating his 80th birthday on October 6, in the U.S.
In a long chat on the eve of his journey, Krishnan looked back at the past.
Even as a two-year old, Krishnan was able to sing small swara phrases. Noting the boy’s talent, his father, fiddle Narayana Bhagavathar, who was conducting classes in vocal, veena and violin taught him the famous Hamsadhwani varnam, ‘Jalajaksha’ when he was three.
By the time he was six, Krishnan’s repertoire included eight varnams of which two were Ata talam. Curiously, he never went through the traditional learning process of Alankaram, Sarali, etc.
Amazing memory
A hard task master, his father made him practise for hours on the same “uruppadi.” He never had any script or notation for the varnams or the kritis he learnt. “Listening for the first time everything got etched in my memory. It is God’s blessing,” he reflects.
T.G.Krishnan known as Kitten Bhagavathar, his father’s guru, taught him several kritis and also made him accompany him in his concerts at the Tiruppunithura palace.
His father used to take him to the Irwin park at Ernakulam where they would listen to radio concerts of greats relayed through horn speakers. In 1938, Tiruchi AIR gave him the first radio contract for a concert and he came to be known as Master Krishnan. He has preserved the contract sheet, signed by G.T.Shastry, then Station Director.
Alleppey Parthasarathy Iyengar known as Papa, an advocate by profession with a sound knowledge in Carnatic music, taught him a lot of kritis. Once when Chowdaiah arrived 20 minutes late for a concert of Chembai, Krishnan who was sitting in the audience was asked to take his place. Palghat Mani Iyer played the mridangam. Doyens used to visit the house of Papa and on one such occasion, he had to accompany Ariyakkudi in a concert.
Whenever there was a marriage festival “Tiruthalichaarthu” in the Tiruppunithura palace, stalwarts such as T.N.Rajaratnam Pillai, Tiruvidaimaruthur Veeruswamy Pillai, Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar and Kumbakonam Rajamanickam Pillai used to perform. These concerts and those of Musiri, Tiger and Semmangudi at the Menaka Talkies, Ernakulam, were a great learning process for him.
Solo performance
In 1939, during evacuation, Krishnan’s father shifted to Thiruvananthapuram. Already popular as Master Krishnan, he gave a solo performance at Ananda Lodge there, thanks to the patronage of Prof. Srinivasan. Playing in the presence of Muthiah Bhagavathar and Semmangudi in the garden party of C.P.Ramaswamy Iyer got him more recognition. When his father was transferred to Nagercoil it was Musiri’s wish that Krishnan stay back in Semmangudi’s house to get professional training.
The turning point came with a concert in which he accompanied Flute Mali. Krishnan became a regular in all Mali’s concerts. Then on Mali’s recommendation, Chitoor Nagiah, president of Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha, arranged Krishnan’s accompaniment for Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer’s concert. That opened the floodgates as offers began to pour in.
With Semmangudi’s permission Krishnan shifted base to Madras in 1943 and settled in Triplicane with his parents. GNB made him a regular in his concerts and also taught him a lot of kritis.
“My discipline and the respect I showed them, made senior vidwans seek me out as accompanist”.
He got married in 1962 and says wife Kamala shares the credit for his success. In 1964 he joined the Central College of Carnatic Music, Madras, and went on to become its principal in 1978, later shifted to Delhi University as Professor and retired in 1994 as Dean, Faculty of Music and Fine Arts.
Since 1968 he has toured many countries and describes the Festival of India tour to Russia as the most hectic when he had to play 55 concerts in three months. His daughter Viji, elder to Sriram, started accompanying him in concerts in the mid 1970s and has been continuing to do so. Krishnan says that it has taken him more than 25 years to establish his bhani. “I am never complacent and keep looking for new inflections in ragas. I treat every concert as a fresh one.”
And for the legacy to continue he has started the T.N.Krishnan Foundation which is still in its nascent stage. He wants to document his various concerts in CDs, script the kritis and train aspiring musicians.
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