The December Music Season of 1949 was a relatively quiet affair, with the big three, namely the Music Academy, the Indian Fine Arts Society (IFAS) and the Tamil Isai Sangam (TIS) going their individual but more or less identical ways. Interestingly, all three were still in rented accommodation but each was also the owner of land intended for an auditorium.

Owning Property but in Rented Homes

The Music Academy owned its property on Cathedral Road but had not yet embarked on construction of its auditorium. It was conducting its season concerts at the Rasika Ranjani Sabha and its academic sessions at the Lady Sivaswami Aiyar  Girls School. The IFAS had five grounds allotted to it by the Corporation of Madras. Its founder B.V. Gopalakrishna Rao was an employee there and taken care of the paperwork. The IFAS however, never did anything with the land, giving it up rather shortsightedly in later years. It continued to function in 1949 from Gokhale Hall. Of the three it was the TIS which had moved ahead. The previous year, it had taken on lease 23 grounds of land from the Corporation at the Esplanade Road and now, in 1949, work had begun on building an auditorium, with L.M. Chitale as the architect. The TIS founder Raja Sir Annamalai had died the previous year and the Sangam was determined that the proposed auditorium should be a suitable memorial to him. With Sir R.K. Shanmukham Chetty, the former Finance Minister of India as the President, the Sangam was forging ahead. While work was in progress, the TIS held its conference at the St. Mary’s Parish Hall, Armenian Street, cheek by jowl with the IFAS. 

Awards and Inaugurations

Then as now, the choice of awardee of the Music Academy was awaited with much curiosity and excitement. The honour of being President of its annual conference and therefore the Sangita Kalanidhi designate, went to Mudicondan Venkatarama Iyer. The Academy’s annual conference that year was inaugurated by P.S. Kumaraswami Raja, then Premier of Madras and the Sadas in January 1950 was presided over by K. Madhava Menon, Minister for Education, Government of Madras. The IFAS had not yet instituted its Sangita Kala Shikhamani but like the Academy, it too had a musician to preside over what it titled the Conference of South Indian Music. In 1949, the honour went to K. Vasudeva Sastry, eminent researcher and writer, in whose debt posterity forever will be for his seminal work at the Tanjavur Serfoji Maharajah Saraswati Mahal Library. The conference of the IFAS was inaugurated by Sir C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar who, his career as Dewan of Travancore having come to an end in 1947 was then living in self-imposed exile at Ooty. The TIS too did not have an annual award and its conference that year was inaugurated by Namakkal V. Ramalingam Pillai, the eminent poet, with S. Ramasami Naidu, former Mayor of Madras, presiding. Ramalingam Pillai had turned sixty in 1948 and since then there had been a series of events honouring him all over Madras State, which continued till 1951. The TIS seems to have happily been one more organiser. 

The Other Participants

What is interesting is a list from The Hindu, which provides us details of how many other events were taking place at the same time as the annual series of the three sabhas. The Chennapuri Andhra Maha Sabha was holding its second annual art festival between 25- 31 December at the Victoria Public Hall, with a play each night. We have no information if the series continued in subsequent years. There was an Indian Institute of Fine Arts holding its third Natyakala Conference at the Musuem Theatre, between the 27 -28 December. They had an inauguration on the 27th with Justice ASP Ayyar, ICS as Chief Guest and N. Raghunatha Ayyar, editor of The Hindu presiding. On the 28th, Ragini Devi presented a paper. And there was the Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha at Vani Mahal with its series – however this Sabha was not yet formally participating in the December season.

Some of the artists at the Sangam

As I lamented last year (and the year before last and the years before that), the IFAS souvenirs have not survived, and we have no idea who sang for them. But the Music Academy and TIS souvenirs have and so it is possible to form a detailed listing. At the TIS, the series began on 23 December and on that day alone, there were junior artists performing from 3.30 to 4.30 and again from 4.30 to 5.30 pm. It is interesting to see the names Hemamalini and Padmini in the second slot. Daughters of C.K. Vijayaraghavan ICS, they were students of Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer. Hemamalini, who would later become Hemamalini Arni, was also known as a dancer and a student of T. Balasaraswati.

The senior concerts at the Sangam began at 5.30 each evening and had several well-known names – M.K. Thyagaraja Bhagavatar, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar, N.C. Vasanthakokilam (25th), M.S. Subbulakshmi, Madurai Mani Iyer, M.M. Dhandapani Desigar, and Chittoor Subramania Pillai. On the 30th, Radha (Viswanathan) and then billed as S. Radha, danced with M.S. Subbulakshmi, singing the songs. On the 31st was Balasaraswati. It is interesting to see that the TIS had no programme on the 1st and featured Chittoor Subramania Pillai on the 2nd.

One Tamil song from the bill of fare in each concert had its lyrics presented in full at the base of the relevant page in the TIS souvenir. This was the Sangam’s method of propagating Tamil lyrics at that time. It must be noted that the TIS was still permitting artists to feature Telugu and Sanskrit compositions in their performances. However, some such as M.S. Subbulakshmi and Dhandapani Desigar planned their concert entirely in Tamil.

The names of some of the accompanists are worthy of study. We see Vellore Ramabhadran’s name for the first time at the Sangam, as also Parur M.S. Anantharama Iyer. Ghatam T.S. Vilvadri Iyer had as many as three concerts, as did Kalpathi Ramanathan. Palani Subramania Pillai accompanied Dhandapani Desigar on the mridangam.

The Music Academy List

Like the TIS, the Academy too began its series on the 23rd. There were two performances on the opening night, both junior. The 5.30 slot featured Savitri Ganesan and the 6.30 slot Kousalya Ramakrishna Reddi, who gave what was billed as a vocal and veena concert. Thereafter, the junior concerts happened on some days, between 3.00 and 4.00 pm, at the Lady Sivaswami Aiyar Girls School. The senior concerts, which began from the 24th, were two each evening, at the RR Sabha, one from 5.00 to 8.00 and the second from 9.00 to 11.00. The first was a vocal performance while the second was instrumental, except for Brinda-Mukta who were featured in the 9.00 pm slot. On the 26th, the evening was given over to a Hindustani Music performance by S.N. Ratanjankar for which the explanatory notes in the Academy souvenir run to six pages and are incomprehensible for a lay person. The sitar recital by Ravi Shankar on the 29th has a similarly dense write up, again for several pages. He was not yet the celebrity he would become and so Kalki carried a photo of his, and a brief report on his performance where he is introduced as the younger brother of Uday Shankar!

The Academy’s junior list is fascinating – B Rajam Iyer, K.V. Narayanaswamy, T.M. Thiagarajan and Maharajapuram Santhanam, all of them singing for just an hour! The senior list has Ariyakkudi, Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, Musiri Subramania Iyer, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, G.N. Balasubramaniam, Madurai Mani Iyer, the Alathoor Brothers, Brinda-Mukta and D.K. Pattammal. The instrumentalists include Dwaram Venkatasami Naidu, T.N. Rajarathinam Pillai and K.S. Narayanaswami. There are three dance programmes – by Hemamalini (Arni), T. Balasaraswati and Mrinalini Sarabhai. Chembai’s name and that of M.S. Subbulakshmi are notable by their absence. It is also interesting to see that the President of the Conference, Mudicondan Venkatarama Iyer did not present a concert.

Academic Sessions

At the Academy, Mudicondan Venkatarama Iyer was formally elected as the President on the 23rd, with Kumbhakonam Rajamanikkam Pillai, the previous year’s awardee proposing his name. An entire phalanx of worthies, namely C. Saraswati Bai, Tiger Varadachariar, Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, Musiri Subramania Iyer and Prof. R. Srinivasan, seconded the motion. The formal proceedings began the next day. The ragas taken up for discussion were Kannada, Dvijavanti, Pantuvarali, Marga Hindolam, Huseini and Gaulipantu. The discussion on Dvijavanti in particular was long and detailed, with S.N. Ratanjankar bringing insights from Hindustani Music. He also read a paper on Hindustani and Carnatic music and a comparison between the two styles. Another topic makes you wish someone had recorded it on audio – a presentation on the changes that had occurred in Tyagaraja kritis over time. This was by Manjakkudi Ramachandra Bhagavatar. The songs presented included Sangita Gnanamu, Chalamelara, Tripura Sundari and Nenendu Vedakudura.

As was to be expected, C.S. Aiyar’s presentation on ‘Ratio values of srutis’ raised several hackles. The journal of the Music Academy notes rather diplomatically that “the paper as well as the warmth with which Sri Aiyar pressed his views promoted a heated discussion and some of the members had to place their views and observations in writing.” C.S. Aiyar usually had that effect and R. Rangaramanuja Iyengar, not noted for his diplomacy had once branded him “a megalomaniac obsessed with his own music. He gave frequent demonstrations of his violin play. He distributed leaflets studded with fractions and similar mathematical abstractions.” It is however noteworthy, that two physicists, who were present by invitation, felt that the paper showed how much more analysis could be done in music. The Hindu carried detailed reports of the Academy’s conference. Interestingly, The Hindu also had a detailed editorial lauding the Academy for selecting Venkatarama Aiyar as the President of the Conference.

At the TIS, the discussions on Panns began on the 25th, with hallowed names such as Prof. P. Sambamoorthi, Chittoor Subramania Pillai, M.M. Dhandapani Desigar and several others participating. The discussions went on for four days. Some of the panns taken up were Nattapadai, Seekamaram and Indalam. From the detailed report in the Kalki issue of 8 January 1950, we can see that this was the first year in which the TIS took up research on panns. The presence of Sir R.K. Shanmukham, Raja Sir MA Muthiah Chettiar, Kalki Krishnamurthy and ‘Rasikamani’ TK Chidambaranatha Mudaliar added further impetus. The Kalki issue of 1 January 1950 also has a detailed photo feature of the inaugural at the TIS. The details of the IFAS conference are not available.

And so the season concluded. A question remains -who was manning the canteens at the three sabhas? Alas, there are no clues to this.

(The author is a music and heritage historian)

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Namakkal Ramalingam Pillai 

Born in 1888 at Mohanur near Salem, Ramalingam Pillai was a multifaceted personality. His father was in the police service and wished for his son to follow suit, but that was not to be. Young Ramalingam, after qualifying in the First Arts exam at the Trichy SPG (later Bishop Heber) College resolutely refused to join the police and became a school teacher instead. It was here that several of his talents came to the fore. He wrote songs from 1909 onwards on civic discipline and this caught the fancy of the public to such an extent that the Salem municipality made the singing of his songs compulsory during events connected with civic services. He also wrote plays to promote such awareness and emerged as a great talent in drawing and painting.

Keenly aware of the freedom struggle, Pillai also began composing songs on that theme. The first compilation was released on 22 October 1922 with a foreword by C Rajagopalachari. The next one was released on 12 June 1938 with a foreword by Chief Minister of Madras Presidency, P Subbaroyan. It is noteworthy that Ramalingam Pillai specified the raga srutis’ raised several hackles. The journal of the Music Academy notes rather diplomatically that “the paper as well as the warmth with which Sri Aiyar pressed his views promoted a heated discussion and some of the members had to place their views and observations in writing.” C.S. Aiyar usually had that effect and R. Rangaramanuja Iyengar, not noted for his diplomacy had once branded him “a megalomaniac obsessed with his own music. He gave frequent demonstrations of his violin play. He distributed leaflets studded with fractions and similar mathematical abstractions.” It is however noteworthy, that two physicists, who were present by invitation, felt that the paper showed how much more analysis could be done in music. The Hindu carried detailed reports of the Academy’s conference. Interestingly, The Hindu also had a detailed editorial lauding the Academy for selecting Venkatarama Aiyar as the President of the Conference. and tala for all the songs, establishing him as a vaggeyakara. However, in the absence of notation, the original tunes have been lost.

As the freedom movement gained intensity, Ramalingam Pillai’s songs caught the public imagination. He was spoken of as a national poet in particular after his Katthiyinri Ratthaminri Yuddham Onru Varuguthu Namakkal Ramalingam Pillai was sung during the Vedaranyam Salt Satyagraha. In 1932, Pillai underwent imprisonment for his participation in the freedom movement. It was during his incarceration that he wrote Malaikkallan, which in 1954 was made into a film starring MGR and Bhanumathi. It was also made in several other languages, becoming a hit in almost all. The Tamil version features a delectable ninda stuti on Murugan – Neeli Magan Nee Allavo, composed by Pillai and tuned in Kharaharapriya by S.M. Subbiah Naidu. Sung by P.A. Periyanayaki, this is danced to on screen by Sayee and Subbulakshmi.

Ramalingam Pillai wrote many other novels as well, as also plays and an autobiography which ends in 1944. Post Independence, he was to be nominated twice to the Madras Legislative Council and he also received the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Padma Bhushan. He passed away in August 1972.

The above summary of his life is taken from his biography, written by Ki Ra Anumanthan and published by the Sahita Akademi in 2008.