Archive | Composers

DEshika Vinaayakam PiLLai – A renowned Tamil poet and singer, he was named “Kavimani” and was also known widely as a fighter in the freedom struggle, using his poetry to combat the British rule. His lyrics were simple and easy for laymen to understand. His works supported women’s rights and freedom for all.

Sangeetha Kalanidhi Maharajapuram Santhanam (Tamil: மஹாராஜபுரம் ஸன்டானம்) was one of the great Carnatic music vocalists of the 20th century. A recent renowned vocalist with a beautiful voice, he was born in 1928 to Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer and Visalakshi at Sirunagar village. He trained under his father and Melattur Sama Dikshithar. He followed the footsteps of […]

Paidala Gurumurthi Shastry – A well-known seventeenth-century composer, he was born in Katayar (a village in the district of Turnelveli). He was a student of Sonti Venkatasubbayya and a young contemporary of Ramaswamy Dikshitar. A prolific composer, he composed in Sanskrit and Telugu. A great composer of geetams, his lakshana geetams illustrate various melas and […]

Swaamy Dayaananda Saraswati – Swami Dayananda Saraswati is a traditional teacher of Vedanta and an eminent scholar of Sankrit. He was born in a traditional family on the 15th August 1930 in a village in Thanjavur District, the actual hub of Tamilnadu. He came under the influence of spiritual purohit when he was 22 years. […]

D Pattammal – Smt. D.Pattammal had her training in music under eminent teachers and has received a number of awards and prizes during her career. She was a graded artist of AIR and had been regularly performing solo vocal concerts for over 30 years before she took up composing songs in Tamil. She is one […]

Duraiswaami Kaviraayar Doraswami Kavirayar, referred to here after as Kavi, was born on 15th August 1867, at Muthu Vinayagar Street, George Town Madras. His father was Samiappa Kavirayar, a poet of merit in the retinue of Pathai Sriramulu Chetty, a dubash of the East India Company. It is said that Samiappa Kavirayar did not have […]

Thulaseevanam – Born in Kottayam on April 23, 1939, he is a contemporary composer originally named Ramacandran Nayar. He was the 5th son of N. Ramakrishna Pillai of Thumbunkal House Ettumannoor and Smt. L. Bharathi Amma of Mangombil House Kottayam. He became an IAS officer and married Lakshmi, the daughter of VR Pillai. He was […]

Garbhapurivaasa – Also called Garbhapuri Srinivasa, this “composer” is actually a quartette of composers who composed in KannaDa together. The main two were PeDDa DEvuDu VenkaTasubbiah (a violinist, Karur Dakshinamurthy, 1860-1887) and Cinna DEvuDu Krishniah (Karur Krishna Iyer, 1861-1901, also a violinist and composer). The other two were Karur Chinnaswamiah (a violinist as well, 1888-1967) […]