Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer

Semmangudi Radhakrishna Srinivasa Iyer (25 July 1908 – 31 October 2003) was an Indian Carnatic vocalist. He, along with his contemporaries G.N. Balasubramaniam and Madurai Mani Iyer, are referred to as the 20th century male trinity of Carnatic music. He was the youngest recipient of the Sangeetha Kalanidhi awarded by the Music Academy in 1947 and has received many awards including Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan from the Government of India, Sangeet Natak Academy award (1953), Isai Perarignar from Government of Tamil Nadu and Kalidas Samman from Government of Madhya Pradesh. He was affectionately addressed as "Semmangudi Maama" (Semmangudi Uncle) by his disciples. He was also considered the "Pitamaha" or the grand sire of modern Carnatic Music. He was conferred with an honorary doctorate by University of Kerala in 1979.

Early Life and Training

He was born in Tirukkodikaval, Tanjore district as the third son of Radhakrishna Iyer and Dharmasamvardhini Ammal. He lived with his maternal uncle Tirukkodikaval Krishna Iyer, a violin maestro, until the age of four and after his death, moved back to his parents' home in Semmangudi, Tiruvarur District. At the age of eight he started learning music from his cousin Semmangudi Narayanaswamy Iyer. This was followed by some rigorous training under Thiruvadaimaruthur Sakharama Rao, a famous Gottuvadhyam exponent, an event considered by Semmangudi as a turning point in his life. This was followed by another training stint with Narayanaswamy Iyer, during which time he learnt a lot of varnams and keerthanams. Then he had a musical apprenticeship with Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer. In 1926, he performed his first music recital at Kumbakonam. In 1927 gave a concert in the Madras session of Indian National Congress, another event considered by Semmangudi as a turning point in his life, as it catapulted him into the big league of vidwans at that time. He was known for producing soulful music, highly creative and yet very orthodox, despite a recalcitrant voice.

He was instrumental, along with Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar, for the work on the krithis of Maharaja Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma. After attending one of his concerts in 1934, Maharani Sethu Parvati Bai of Travancore was so impressed by his talent and scholarship that she invited him to come to Thiruvananthapuram to edit and popularize the compositions of Swati Tirunal. He succeeded Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar as Principal of the Swathi Thirunal College of Music at Thiruvananthapuram, a post he held for 23 years, until the age of 55. At this age, he handed over his responsibilities to another Carnatic legend, G. N. Balasubramaniam and at the behest of the Government of India, became the Chief Producer of Carnatic music at All India Radio, Madras from 1957 to 1960. In later life, he concentrated on concert performances and tutoring youngsters. He gave public concerts even after the age of 90.

Rise to Fame

Semmangudi’s rise to fame was quite meteoric. In the late 1930s he was considered as one of the front line vocalists of the period and in 1947, the Music Academy of Madras awarded him the title Sangeetha Kalānidhi. Aged 39, he was the youngest artist to receive the award and he still remains the youngest person ever to get this prestigious recognition.

During his illustrious career, Semmangudi held many notable positions. In 1939 he was made Asthāna Vidwān (resident musician) of the Travancore Palace in Kerala and joined the Swāti Tirunal Music Academy in Trivandrum in 1941. He soon became the Principal of this institution and was there till 1963. From the period 1956-59, taking a leave of absence from the Academy, he also served as Chief Producer of Carnatic Music at All India Music, Madras.

Part of his role at the Swāti Tirunal Academy was to revive the compositions of Maharāja Swāti Tirunal. For many of the compositions, the text was available but there was no indication about the tune. Semmangudi, along with Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar and others were given the task to set music to the Maharāja’s lyrics. Semmangudi has brought out two publications which give the notation to over 200 of Swati Tirunal’s compositions. Furthermore, he tried to include at least two Swati Tirunal compositions in each of his concerts. Déva Déva (Māyamālavagowla), Pankajalochana (Kalyāni), Vishwéshwara (Sindhu Bhairavi) and Bhavayāmi Raghurāmam (Rāgamalika) are some of the Maharajah’s compositions that were both tuned and popularised by him. The latter, a description of the epic Rāmāyana, was originally entirely set in Sāveri rāga but Semmangudi transformed it into a rāgamālika (beginning with Sāvéri) and added a scintillating set of chitta-swarams. Semmangudi has also tuned a number of Sadāsiva Brahmendra compositions such as Bhajare yadunātham (Pilu), Bruhi mukundeti (Kurinji), Gāyati Vanamāli (Misra Kāpi) and Sarvam brahmamayam (Senjurutti).

Awards and Accolades 

Considered to be the "Sageetha Pitamaha (Grand Sire/Grandfather) of modern Carnatic Music”, he was affectionately called "Semmangudi Maama" (Semmangudi Uncle) by his disciples. Besides being the youngest recipient of the Sangeetha Kalanidhi (1947), Semmangudi has received many other awards from the government of India including the second highest and third highest civilian awards - Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan. He was also honoured with Sangeet Natak Academy award (1953), Isai Perarignar from Government of Tamil Nadu and Kalidas Samman from Government of Madhya Pradesh. He was also conferred with an honorary doctorate by the University of Kerala in 1979.