Namaskarams,
Can some one throw light on the life and works of the great Musicologist and Teacher Sri Ranga Ramanuja Iyengar ?
He was the student of Smt Dhanammal.
He is also known for his work "Krithi mani Malai" the first Compilation of the Krithis of the Trinity..
Bala94ms
Sri Ranga Ramanuja Iyengar
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Ramasubramanian M.K
- Posts: 1226
- Joined: 05 May 2009, 08:33
Re: Sri Ranga Ramanuja Iyengar
Dear bala94ms: Just to let you know I am working on a piece on Ranga Ramanuja Iyengar (RRA)"provoked" by your request--will post it early next week.
Briefly,I knew him thro my father and hosted him in the late seventies or early eighties when he visited USA--had the opportunity to continue discussions on music that myself and my father exchanged with him. He was distraught that the music world had pretty much ignored his contributions to music which were rich and plenty. A great educator, highly principled(but sometimes too obdurate for his own good!!)musicologist and teacher. He was persistent in the 50's and sixties that the Golden age of Carnatic Music had died after 1930's--a point of view he ardently propagated thro every available forum-that too at a time when the musicians in the contemporary scene--SSI.GNB/MMI/Alathur et al were dominating the concert circuit with MSS,DKP and MLV holding up the female end. Naturally this did not sit well with these musicians as well as the senior stalwarts like Maharajapuram,Musiri,Chembai et al. Some of these musicians were very much involved with Institutions like Music Academy and my conjecture is that none of them went to "bat" for him. I asked SSI once WHY he had not been given the recognition he sought to which Mama politely and diplomatically replied" It is very diffcult to take up the cudgels on behalf of someone who puts down all the contemporary artistes who all were enjoying great popularity and the shrillness of his criticisms was indirectly impugning the taste and preferences of the listeners of that time, whom he considered lacking in musical discernment!!
More on this later---
Briefly,I knew him thro my father and hosted him in the late seventies or early eighties when he visited USA--had the opportunity to continue discussions on music that myself and my father exchanged with him. He was distraught that the music world had pretty much ignored his contributions to music which were rich and plenty. A great educator, highly principled(but sometimes too obdurate for his own good!!)musicologist and teacher. He was persistent in the 50's and sixties that the Golden age of Carnatic Music had died after 1930's--a point of view he ardently propagated thro every available forum-that too at a time when the musicians in the contemporary scene--SSI.GNB/MMI/Alathur et al were dominating the concert circuit with MSS,DKP and MLV holding up the female end. Naturally this did not sit well with these musicians as well as the senior stalwarts like Maharajapuram,Musiri,Chembai et al. Some of these musicians were very much involved with Institutions like Music Academy and my conjecture is that none of them went to "bat" for him. I asked SSI once WHY he had not been given the recognition he sought to which Mama politely and diplomatically replied" It is very diffcult to take up the cudgels on behalf of someone who puts down all the contemporary artistes who all were enjoying great popularity and the shrillness of his criticisms was indirectly impugning the taste and preferences of the listeners of that time, whom he considered lacking in musical discernment!!
More on this later---
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cmlover
- Posts: 11498
- Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:36
Re: Sri Ranga Ramanuja Iyengar
MKR
Do please write your recollections about RRA. We know very little about him except that he is a musical giant and obdurate that he was...
Do please write your recollections about RRA. We know very little about him except that he is a musical giant and obdurate that he was...