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Photo: S.S.Kumar

Discerning: S.V.Krishnamoorthy

SVV, whose humorous skits captured the imagination of thousands of readers and kept them in splits, was also a proficient exponent of the veena. Music ran in the family’s veins: Sangeetha Bhushanam S.V.Parthasarathy, SVK’s brother was a musician of great repute. He was a multi-dimensional personality, a much sought after guru, director for light music at AIR Tiruchi for a number of years, a pleasing tunesmith and a revered musicologist. The other brother S.V.Ranga was a musician of calibre in his own right.

SVK is an M.A. in economics from the Loyola college. However his prime interest was English literature. Gradually he became deeply interested in Carnatic music and geared himself to become a performing musician.

SVK was also an approved artiste of AIR, performing for more than ten years. He has also given a few concerts including one under the aegis of the Music Academy. SVK’s taste for music was nurtured and nourished by many vidwans such as the maestro Semmangudi Narayanaswami Iyer (Srinivasa Iyer’s guru), Salem Doraiswamy Iyengar, Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar and Musiri Subramanya Iyer who spent hours together at S.V.Vijayaraghavachariar’s home, discussing, expressing views, singing, and exchanging pleasantries.

SVK’s association with The Hindu goes back to more than 100 years, since his father was a regular contributor to the newspaper for about three and a half decades. SVK joined as a sub-editor in 1947 when the late Kasturi Srinivasan was the Editor and he made a special mark for himself.

When SVK became a critic in the Fifties, the reviews appearing in the newspaper were few and far between. He was perhaps one of the first who is still growing from strength to strength. M. Krishnamurthy (Arabhi), N.M.Narayanan were SVK’s colleagues at that point of time.

SVK learnt the art of discerning criticism and separating the chaff from the grain, because of the guidance imparted to SVK by his illustrious father. This comprehensive understanding of the subject has won SVK respect from the entire musical fraternity.

SVK assessments are purposeful, and although being a stickler for traditional values, he is not adverse to meaningful innovation.

A critic, who does not make any compromises and calls a spade a spade, he is frank and fair irrespective of whether the artiste is a senior musician or a beginner just entering the arena. His deep devotion to Tyagaraja has prompted him to write about the greatness of the bard of Tiruvaiyaru.

SVK’s interest in Tyagaraja was kindled when he got the opportunity to sing the 24,000 Sanskrit slokas for over a year, covering the entire Ramayana during the pravachanams of Sirkazhi Sundarachariar, an erudite scholar. These slokas correlated with the compositions of Tyagaraja in SVK’s mind, and he decided to make an in-depth, penetrative analysis of the works of Tyagaraja. This passion resulted in his four volumes titled, “Know your Tyagaraja.” He has moulded his way of life advocated by Tyagaraja in his kritis, and his deep bhakti for Rama was triggered by the creations of Tyagaraja, and the lectures of Sirkazhi Sundarachariar.

Music lovers have an appreciable regard for his sense of accountability based on his deep knowledge of Carnatic music. SVK says that his career as a journalist was purely because of continuous support and encouragement given to him till today by The Hindu management for so many long years.

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