Mrdanga Vidwan A Rajachar

Carnatic Musicians
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Sreeni Rajarao
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Joined: 04 Feb 2010, 08:19

Post by Sreeni Rajarao »

Mrdanga Vidwan A Rajachar (born 1923)

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It is my pleasure to introduce 86 year old Mrdanga Vidwan A Rajachar to this Forum.

During my recent trip to Bangalore, I was delighted to spend some time with the senior vidwan and learn about his background. Eventhough I had grown up watching him accompany my Father many times, I had not learned much about him. I am now glad that I made a serious effort to meet with the senior vidwan and spend some time with him.

A Rajachar was born in Bangalore. His Father had been a priest at the Ranganatha swamy temple on Avenue road. Young Rajachar had taken a fancy to percussion instruments, mostly influenced by his Father, who was also known to play Tabala for the celebrated Ratnavali theatre of Gubbi Veeranna.

Young Rajachar trained formally under Sri. A Veerabhadrayya, already a highly respected vidwan in Karnataka during those days. Sri. Rajachar recalled that his first major concert was in Bangalore, around 1945 when he accompanied Vidwan Vaidyanathan who was visiting from Tamil Nadu. He recalled that the famed violinist Tayappa of Banaglore also performed in that concert.

It had not taken long before Sri. Rajachar had established himself as an able accompanist, and was featured regulalry in concerts in Bangalore. He had also taken up the priesthood at the beautiful Karanji Anjaneya Swamy temple in Basavanagudi.

Sri. Rajachar recalled that his association with my Father Veena Rajarao began sometime in the 1940s and continued well into the late 1970s. Rajachar was very emotional when he recalled many occasions where he accompanied my Father for both veena and vocal concerts. He recalled that it was not uncommon for many of these concerts to extend into 4 to 5 hour affairs! He was delighted when I showed him some pictures from the good old days and he could not hold back his tears when he saw pictures of himself with my Father and Sri. Ratnagiri Subbashastry (violinist). Sri. Rajachar fondly recalled that he had also accompanied my sister Veena, who had begun public performances as a young girl.

Sri. Rajachar spoke about the glory days of Ramotsava festivals when he regularly accompanied vocalists Sri. A Subba Rao and Chintalapalli Ramachandra Rao in concerts across Karnataka. Vidwan M R Doreswamy (Flute) was another artiste that Rajachar had a long association of 40 years as an accompanist. He reminisced about many other artistes including Vidwan H Puttachar and his son Vidwan H P Ramachar.

Sri. Rajachar lived for many years in the premises of the beautiful Karanji Anjaneya temple in Basavanagudi. Over the years, he had trained several hundred students. He recalled with pride that sometime last year, many of his disciples had formed a group and felicitated their Guru in a big event!

Sri. Rajachar has now moved to his own house in Tyagarajanagar and says he is enjoying his retirement!

VK RAMAN
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 00:29

Post by VK RAMAN »

Our respects to Vidwan A Rajachar and we wish to hear more about his legacy to CM

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