K Ramaraj

 K Ramaraj – Born on June 9, 1936 at Rangoon (Burma), he hails from a family of music connoisseurs of of the Coimbatore district (Tamil Nadu). His father Poojyashri Kovai Krishnabhagavatar was a versatile vaggeyakara and an eminent exponent of Harikatha. His mother, the late Smt.Lakshmi, was a student of Palghat Sri Radhakrishna Iyer (grandfather of mridangam maestro Sri.Palghat R. Raghu. His younger sister (Vatsala) was an illustrious disciple of Sangeetha Kalanidhi Nedunuri Krishnamurthy. Among other close relatives who helped form the musically luminous atmosphere of his development is his maternal aunt Vidushi Smt. Rajam Rama Krishnan, disciple of Kovai Krishnabhagavatar, Tanjore S. Kalyanaraman, Sangita Kalanidhi Mudikondan Venkatrama Iyer and Veena Vidwan Sri Raghavan.

The formative years of his career, from 1954-63, began with employment in a sugar factory at Pithapuram (E.Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh) and not only resulted in close friendship with Shri. Nedunuri Krishnamurthy and Sri.Voleti Venkateshwarulu, but also “kindled the inherent flair to compose classical pieces, whereby moulding into a blossoming composer in a sustained manner.”

After 1963, he moved to Madras and changed employment, which allowed him to meet with musicians such as Mr.P.Ramachandriah, Prof. Sri.TR Subrahmanian, Sri.Rajkumar Bharathy, Smt.Rajee Gopalakrishnan, her father Sri. P.V.Natarajan (in the US), and recently Sri. Ram Kaushik (Nashville, TN, USA), “whose motivation all along the years contributed to the perpetuation of the ardent desire …to humbly dedicate his classic creations to the Music World.”

His compositions number 200 and are written in Tamil, Telugu, and Sanskrit. He has focused on composing in rare ragas so that these rare forms are brought into current use. They have been published in Tamil script in the book Innisai Paamaalai, Vol.I (Dec 2002), and are composed in both common and rare ragas. His compositions are highly acclaimed by (other than those above) Mr.S.R.Janakiraman, Dr.V.V.Srivatsa, and Prof.P.Ramachandriah, among others.

Sri. Ramaraj has three sons. Raja Ramaraj has done his MBA at Vanderbilt University (USA) and is working as a high profile accounting professional working (as Director of Finance) with an international top-ranking mutual fund. He is Also a versatile mridangam artist. Radhaprem Ramaraj is a software engineer working as a Global Support Manager in a multinational firm. Sharath Ramaraj has studied at Virginia Tech, is a software engineer at a US insurance firm, and is also a skilled vocalist.

Source: K. Ramaraj. For more information, see the articles published in Samudra and Indian Express. Also, see this CD review of his compositions rendered by Raji Gopalakrishnan. Finally, here is the Foreword to his book Innisai Paamaalai, written by TR Subrahmanian.

Mudra:

Dr. V.V. Srivatsa, composer and Secretary, Music Academy, Chennai. (Tamil)

Compositions: (Audio performed by the composer and disciples)

Audio renditions of the composer’s music have also been performed by Rajee Gopalakrishnan

Audio files and classes for compositions are also available at Shivkumar Kalyanaraman’s site

1. aadi antam illai – jyOtiswaroopini
2. aadi madhyaanta rahitE – kaatyaayani
3. aadi vyaadihara – aabhOgi
4. ambaa paramEshwari – shiva ranjani
5. ambaa sudhaa gaNapatE – ghambeeravaNi
6. annayE nin paadamE paNindEnE – kamaas
7. bhaarata taay tanda selvanE – bhaarati
8. brahma vishNu mahEshwara – kanakaangi
9. brOvakownduta – vaasanti
10. dasharata nandana – lavaangi
11. dayaamayi shankari – lataangi
12. enta vaadanuraa muraari – kaambhOji
13. gamaka ezhil kamazhum – naaTTai kurinji
14. ghambeera gandharva gaana vilOla – shankaraabharaNam
15. gowri nivaasa karuNaa vilaasa – malayamaarutam
16. gurunaathapriya – gurunaathapriya
17. hamsadwani rasika ranjanaa – hamsadwani
18. hari amsanE hara vamsanE – ratipatipriya
19. haridaasa giri – ranjani
20. harihara tanayuni – kharaharapriyaa
21. idaya veeNaiyin ediroliyE – maanD
22. innamum enai aaLa tiruvuLLam – caarukEshi
23. innisai ezhil konjam – natabhairavi
24. innisai maamanDramE – behaag
25. isaiyil negizhum jagadeesanE – rishhabapriyaa
26. jaya jaya shree bruhannaayaki – dharmavati
27. kamalaa kaantaamaNi bhooshaNa – kaantaamaNi
28. kanna talli naapai karuNincavE – raagavardhani
29. kanni moola gaNapatiyE – naagaswaraavaLi
30. karuNaiyin tiruvuruvE – tilang
31. kumarEsan – vishnupriyaa
32. maakula bhooshana shree ramaNa – kalyaaNa vasantam
33. maal maruganai – neelamaNi
34. maargam tandaruL – shhadvidamaargini
35. maataa bhavaani – kannaDa
36. maataa shree raaja raajEshwari – kapilam
37. mahaa tripura sundari – vaagadeeshwari
38. mahishaasura mardhini – udaya ravi candrikaa
39. makara jyOti divyadarisanamE – kaamavardhani
40. marudaacala naayak
    aa – shhanmugapriyaa
41. naada sampoorNa sadaananda – naasikaabhooshhaNi
42. naarada gaana rasikapriyE – rasikapriyaa
43. naatapamE teercu naaraayaNi – candrajyOti
44. nee manam – sumanEsharanjani
45. nee tanda isaikonDu – valaci
46. needaya kOriti neerajalOcani – karnaranjani
47. neerajaakshi sharanamulE – jhaalavaraaLi
48. nindarul vENDinEn nimalanE – paTadeep
49. pavanatanaya paramaatmaa – bahudaari
50. punidanE – soorya
51. raadhE shyaamaLanE – shyaamaa
52. raaga rasika shirOnmaNi – keeravaaNi
53. saarangapaaNiyin – hamsakalyaaNi
54. sadaa nee paadamE gati – manasijapriya
55. sadaashiva hridaya nivaasini – sarasaangi
56. sadguru priya tyaaga brahmamE – gurupriya
57. sadgurunaada manamirangaada – bEgaDa
58. samasaaTi lEni saayee naadaa – karnaaTaka dEvagaandhaari
59. sanaatana dharma samvarddhini – dEsh
60. sannidhiyE – priyadarshani
61. sashimukhi – kaikavashi
62. sentaamarai paatanE – bilahari
63. shabarigirivaasa – tODi
64. shankara harapriya gurunaathanE – kharaharapriyaa
65. shiva vaama bhaagEshwari – bhaagEshri
66. shree raaghavEndra sadguru – shree
67. shree rajagOpaala sudanE – jayantasEna
68. sunaadavinOdini vaarini – sunaada vinOdini
69. tagumO murayO – shree ranjani
70. tanigai malai mEvum – gowri manOhari
71. tiruvuLLam irangaadaa – hamsaanandi
72. umaa mahEshwari – nalinakaanti
73. unakkinai neeyE – calanaaTTai
74. unakku nigar neeyE – kEdaaram
75. undan padam vENDinEn muruganE – rEvati
76. unniru padam tozhum varamum – varam
77. vaaNi saraswati dEvi – saraswati
78. vaDivaambikE – dwijaavanti
79. veeNa gaana – sindu bhairavi
80. venkaTa girivaasa – karnaaTaka dEvagaandhaari
81. vEnuvu vinipinci – saaramati