Tiruchi S. Swaminatha Iyer..
Tiruchi S. Swaminatha Iyer (1910–1998), whose centenary was celebrated in 2010,
Was a Doyen of Carnatic music and a multi-faceted personality..
Swaminatha Iyer was born on December 1, 2010. His grandfather Orappalli Ayya Bhagavathar was a direct disciple of Saint Tyagaraja. Swaminatha Iyer along with his elder brother Ramachandra Iyer learnt music under their illustrious father.
Both the brothers started performing together in the name of Tiruchi Brothers and won accolades world over. They were accompanied by great vidwans such as Kumbakonam Rajamanickam Pillai, Mysore Chowdaiya, Marungapuri Gopalakrishna Iyer, Sakkottai Rangu Iyengar and other veterans.
His forte was music - its laya aspect, especially in Ragam, Thanam, Pallavi. This expertise made others to address him as ‘Pallavi’ Swaminatha Iyer. His rendition of Dhwi Avathana Pallavi (which included thumping two different talams in both the hands with different counts and simultaneous inter-change of talams between the hands), Simha Nandana Thala Pallavi (which includes 128 aksharas in one round of a talam), and Pancha Nadai Pallavi were his chef-d’oeuvre. For this vintage technique, the Music Academy of Chennai nominated him as a member of its Expert Committee.
Swaminatha Iyer had also given Jugalbandis with stalwarts of Hindusthani music such as K.G. Ginde, Jijendra Abishek and others. The proficient musicians such as Dr. T.N. Krishnan, Lalgudi G. Jayaraman, M.S. Gopalakrishnan, M. Chandrasekaran, Palghat Raghu, Umayalpuram Sivaraman, Vellore Ramabhadran, Tiruchi Sankaran, Harishankar, T.H. Vinayakram, Nagai Muralidharan and other legends of Carnatic music were willing and keen on accompanying him.
Swaminatha Iyer was not only a musician, but also an adept composer. He had composed small kirtanas, Taya Geetham etc., which are still in his own manuscripts. He also encouraged the talent of his disciples, the list of which includes Bombay Anantharaman, Dr. Sundar, Dr. Salem Jayalakshmi and Tiruchi Ramesh.
He was the recipient of Sangeeta Nataka Academy Award in 1993. The then Chief Minister, M.G. Ramachandran presented the Kalaimamani award to him. Various noted sabhas all over the country honored him…Courtesy The Hindu.. http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday ... 505962.ece
Concert 219-Tiruchi S. Swaminatha Iyer
Listen at:
http://myblogkumara.blogspot.in/2014/06 ... y-vii.html
His rendition of Dhwi Avathana Pallavi (which included thumping two different talams in both the hands with different counts and simultaneous inter-change of talams between the hands)...Now a days only Smt Suguna Purushothaman is an expert in this kind of Thalam