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Extrovert Music At Its Most Delightful

The following analysis of the major features of Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer's music which contributed to bis success as a concert artist was written by S.V. SESHADRI, under the penname of AEOLUS and published first in Shankar's Weekly (28 April 1963). 

While the connection between pageant and art in their external nexus may be obvious to all,what may not be so obvious is the suggestion of pageantry in the individual idiom of an artist. In music the element of pageantry can be suggested by a variety of devices. In the first place, this demands a rhetorical diction, a diction that calls attention to itself by over-statement and hyperbole. Secondly, the vocabulary of the musician is so selected as to suggest bustle, movement and energy. Thirdly, the musical form is so moulded as to suggest compactness and distension at the same time. The articulation consequently has a breathlessness about it, and modulates between a hurried patter and a shouted command. The rhythm suggests an even pattern, with short brusque turns and an ambling tempo. These at least are the devices by which Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer imports into his music the element of pageantry.

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