The musical legacy of Musiri Subramania Iyer

A conversation with Thyagarajan Sankaran & Suguna Varadachari

At Vaak, we have a personal preference for music that brings out the essence and emotion of a composition in a manner that is original, thoughtful, unhurried, and exploratory. Musiri Subramania Iyer’s music is all of these and more for us. We are ecstatic to bring out an interview with Suguna Varadachari and Thyagarajan Sankaran on Musiri Subramania Iyer’s muscial legacy.

Thyagarajan Sankaran is a grand nephew of Musiri Subramania Iyer and a graduate of the Guindy Engineering College. He runs his own automobile parts business in Chennai.

Suguna Varadachari is a senior carnatic vocalist. She served as a faculty member at the Department of Indian Music, University of Madras, for two decades, and is a disciple of Musiri Subramania Iyer.

Vaak: Could you tell us about Musiri’s early life?

Thyagarajan: Musiri was born in 1889 in Ponmalar Palayam (alias) Bommalapalayam near Karur. Musiri lost his mother when he was young. His paternal aunt used to live in a nearby village called Musiri. He then shifted to Andal veedhi in Trichy where shared a room with his father Shankara Sastry and his wife. Musiri was truly a self-made man. He also had many friends at the St. Josephs college. His handwriting used to be very good. He wrote many letters and I recently discovered a letter that he had written to CS Iyer (Vidhya Shankar’s father) about his guru Sabesa Iyer’s death in Chidambaram.

Muusiri with her nephew Natrajan, late 1920s

Vaak: Did he study at St.Joseph’s, Trichy?

Thyagarajan: He denies that he studied there, but I think he picked up his knowledge from his friends there. He used to read a lot. He enjoyed reading works of Charles Dickens like Bleak House, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist etc. He used to insist that I read those too. Back then I used to find them uninteresting and that would disappoint him. Once I told him that I found all these books boring and he refused to speak to me for a week.

Vaak: What about his gurus?

Thyagarajan: Before learning from Sabesa Iyer, Musiri learnt from one S. Narayanaswamy from Pudukkottai. He was not a professional musician. He was working for the government mainly, but he also taught music. Musiri then learnt from the violinist Karur Chinnaswamy Iyer. From 1920 onwards, he trained under Sabesa Iyer in Madras.

Musiri with T Brinda, Rajaji who had come for the first convocation. Taken at Bridge house which was then the Adayar music college, 1950s

Vaak

Vaak: Did he have friends in the music circle?

Thyagarajan: T Brinda and T Muktha used to visit us often. Brinda was associated with Musiri through the Adyar Music College. Musiri earned a lot of goodwill. For instance, I lost touch with great musicians like MS and Semmangudi after Musiri’s passing, but when I went and requested for them to sing at my house for the Musiri chamber concerts, they agreed immediately. Not only that, but they were also delighted to sing here after 20-odd years of his passing!

Vaak:Did he have friends outside the music industry?

Thyagarajan: Musiri was a very social person. He had many friends: CV Narasimhan, TT Krishnamachary, RK Shanmukam Chetty, VD Swami. Ramanujachariar, who was heading Ramakrishna Mission was also a good friend of Musiri’s. There is also a photograph where Musiri is seen seated with Ramanujachariar. It is my conjecture that Ramanujachariar from this picture was wrongly identified as Musiri.

Musiri with Ramanujachariar (centre), late 1930s

Musiri also had a lot of friends in the film industry. AV Meyyappan was a very good friend. They infact were also business partners in Pragati Pictures. This was located behind Kapali Theatre in Mandaveli.

Vaak: Could you tell us about his film career?

Musiti T: When RK Shanmukam Chetty was the finance minister of India, he was very instrumental in making sure that Musiri agreed to play the lead role in the film Thukkaram. Sriramulu Naidu who directed Thukkaram was also a good friend of Musiri’s.

L-R Front row: KS Jayarama Iyer, RK Shanmukam Chetty, unknown, Musiri Subramania Iyer. Thiruvayyaryu, 1941

Vaak: Was Musiri religious?

Thyagarajan: Although he was very spiritually advanced and did a lot of poojas, he was a very practical person. For instance, his role in the film Tukkaram required his character to have a moustache. He was very uncomfortable to use a fake sticker stache, so he ended up growing one. Back in the days it was not a custom for people from his community to grow facial hair. He also went overseas to the federated states of Malaya (Malaysia) to perform in concerts. These concerts were conducted as fund raising programs for the Ramakrishna Mission in the 1930s. Musiri has also written an article about his experience travelling abroad and performing there. This article was published by Sruti Magazine in 1999.

Musiri playing cards with his contemporaries. L-R: Palghat Mani Iyer, Papa KS Venkatramaiah, NG Seetharaman (Musiri’s student), Tanjavur Vaidhyanatha Iyer, Bhudalur Krishnamurty, Sastrigal, Musiri Subramania Iyer, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. Early 1940s

Vaak: We have many recordings of him singing without any accompanying artists.

Thyagarajan: Yes! These recordings are referred to as the Srirangam records. We have a total of 3 or 4 concerts by him as a part of these records where he sang just with the sruthi box. He was either singing alone or with TK Govindarao. They were recorded in Thathachari’s guesthouse. Thathachari was related to CV Narashimhan who was a good friend of Musiri’s. These recordings were done for CV Narashimhan to learn at leisure.

Musiri had a friend called Ratnachalam Iyer who stayed at the foothills of Malakottai and he used to host a lot of concerts. The deity in Ayyarmalai close to Kauvery river was called Ratnachalam. It was on this deity that Muthuswamy Dikshitar composed a magnum opus, Pahimam Ratnachala (Mukhari). Musiri was one of the first musicians to popularise this kriti. It is presumed that Musiri sang this first in one of the concerts hosted by his friend Ratnachalam Iyer.

Vaak: What were some of his memorable concerts?

Thyagarajan: He performed a home concert along with Papa Venkataramaiah and Umayalpuram K Sivaraman for J Krishnamurthy. According to me that concert had the best version of his Enthaninne (Mukhari). This concert also has Endu Daginado (Thodi), Etu Nammina (Saveri), Viriboni (Bhairavi) etc. Another concert that comes to my mind is his concert for Perambur Sangeetha Sabha. In this concert, he has performed all his favorite compositions as though it were his farewell concert. He also sang O Jagadamba (Ananda Bhairavi), Pahimam Ratnachala (Mukhari) at the Academy in 1962.

Vaak: How did you start learning from Musiri?

Suguna V: I was learning music at RR Sabha’s music school till 1960. In 1960–61, I passed out of SSLC. At that time, I was also parallelly learning music under great vidhwans who were then teaching at the Music Academy’s Teachers College of Music. Some of my teachers at the Academy include T Jayammal, Mudicondan Venkatarama Iyer, etc.

While I was learning at the Music Academy, I got to know about the Adyar Music College (it was then called Central College of Karnatic Music). In 1961, when I joined the Adyar Music College, Musiri Subramania Iyer was its President, and the rest of the faculty at that time included great vidhwans like Budalur Krishnamurthy Sastry, T Brinda, TR Subramaniam, KV Narayanaswamy, TM Thyagarajan, Varahur Muthuswamy Iyer (violin), Devakottai Narayana Iyengar (Veena), MA Kalyanakrishna Bhagavathar (Veena), Karaikudi Muthu Iyer (Mridangam). I studied under them for about 2 years. Later from 1965 when Musiri retired, I had the opportunity to learn directly from him under the Government of India scholarship.

Vaak: How was the admission process into the music college like in those days?

Suguna V: Usually, they conducted interviews in which the student was tested in many aspects. Depending on your performance in the interview, your course in the college would either be for two years or three years. I was just 15 at that time, but I still remember how Musiri conducted my interview. I sang a varnam in 2 speeds, manodharma in raga Thodi (Alapana) and followed that up with Koluvamaregada Kodandapani (a kriti by Thyagaraja).

Musiri Subramania Iyer teaching his students. L-R: Suguna Varadachari ,Padma Narayanaswamy, Rukmini, Mani Krishnaswamy & Suguna Purushothaman

Vaak: Can you talk about Musiri, the teacher?

Suguna V: At a time, there were atleast 25 students in a class. Since vidhwans like Chittoor Subramaniam Pillai had retired, senior faculty were asked to take classes. Musiri used to teach kritis; he usually selected a few (upto 5) and make them sit next to him in a half circle or in 2 rows. He used to sing a line and students would repeat after him. He would not make the entire class sing.

When I learnt from him under the scholarship, we would have classes every day in his residence. Each class went on for 3-4 hours.

Vaak: How were these classes structured?

Suguna V: Classes would either be directly with Musiri as a one-to-one session, or with some of his senior most students: Suguna Purushothaman, Padma Narayanaswamy, Mani Krishnaswamy, etc. He usually taught one full composition in one session. From day one, he made me sing nerval. He would sing a line and I usually repeated after him. This process would go on till I fully grasped a composition. You would not realise that there are nuances in the beginning, but as one repeats a composition over and over, it takes a nice shape in your head. You would understand the composition in great detail.

Vaak: Did Musiri share notations when he taught compositions?

Musiri singing a concert at the Adyar Music College. Varahur Muthuswamy iyer (violin), Karaikudi Muthu Iyer (mridangam), TK Govindarao (vocal support), KS Venkatram (tampura)

Suguna V: He did not allow us to bring papers to class. He was strictly against students learning from or creating their own notations. He would also not accept or provide cassette recordings. We would go every day and he would teach the same composition in full, for however long it took for us to learn it. Mind is your computer. Even during my college days, papers were taken away when our Principal taught a class.

Vaak: What would you say are some of Musiri’s unique teaching methods?

Suguna V: From day one, he made us sing manodharma (both nerval and swaras) for the kriti that was being taught. His style and his technique is very captivating. His neraval singing is filled with bhava and ruchi. Even if a listener does not understand the language in which the composition is set he would still understand the composition from Musiri’s bhava rich singing.

Vaak: Was he a strict teacher?

Suguna V: Back then we as students had a kind of fear and respect towards our teachers. We would think twice before asking something even as basic as “is that a va or a pa in the pallavi?”. If you made a mistake, Musiri never got angry. He usually would indirectly point the mistake out by clearing his throat. If you sang well, he wouldn’t acknowledge it explicitly, but would just “hmmm”.

He expected us to reproduce the neraval lines just as he sings. He had a lot of patience. He would repeat the same lines without hesitation, and it was up to us to observe, understand and repeat after him. We would sing a kriti for months to gain control over a composition. In 1989, three of us who studied under him sang throughout India for his centenary. We were singing together after 30 years, but all it took for us was a day’s rehearsal to sync with each other. He trained us in this manner. It was very surprising that we took a breath at the

Front row L-R: Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Musiri Subramania Iyer, unknown, Thanjavur Vaidhyanatha Iyer, Annaswamy Bhagavatar,

Musiri at a concert by Bismillah Khan. Also seen are T Jayammal, T Balasaraswati, T Brinda, T Muktha and Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer same time even after not singing together for 30 years. The reason is because of the intense training with Musiri. He would ask us to sing swarams for all kritis. Times have changed now; people are learning with cassettes these days. Brinda & Mukta also emphasized on not changing a single sangathi they sang.

Vaak: How would he teach allied ragas like Bhairavi-Manji or Mukhari-Bhairavi?

Suguna V: I don’t know how he taught them. I learnt these ragas by watching his other students sing and repeat. He would never compare two ragas and analyse in class.

Vaak: What if you sang a wrong phrase in the raga?

Suguna V: I would just need to look at his face to realise that I have made a mistake.

Vaak: Musiri was known for his neraval, how did he teach this art to his students?

Suguna V: We would sing the kriti and the neraval can be line a with a gap in sahitya or madhyama kala, say for example Manda Gamana Jjitha in Sri Kumara Nagaralaye (Atana). He would sing neraval for both these types. Another example would be Janaka Suthadi in Swati Tirunal’s Anjaneya Raghurama (Saveri). Wherever the dirgha is, he would put a sangathi there. Take a kriti like Sri Panchanadisha (Purnachandrika). There is a lot of scope in lines with dirgha. He would sing neraval in all three kalams. The patterns would be rhythmic but not with actual kanakku. He was very particular about finishing off a neraval or swaram from where it exactly began (graha swara or the eduppu swara). He has even sung neraval for ragas like Saraswathi Manohari.

Musiri at a concert by Bismillah Khan. Also seen are T Jayammal, T Balasaraswati, T Brinda, T Muktha and Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer

Vaak: How did he handle manodharma for scale-based ragas?

Suguna V: He would just focus on the scale, just the way it is structured. That’s all. He would also strictly stick to the arohanam avarohanam of the scale.

Vaak: How did he teach voice modulation?

Suguna V: Just by singing. This is the advantage of learning face to face. Certain modulations would come learning that way by reproducing the same melody.

Vaak: Did he teach about voice culture?

Suguna V: He has never spoken about it. Musiri sang in 4.5 kattai. He was an open throated singer. We would have to only observe what he sang and then reproduce. There was no concept of teaching voice culture then.

Vaak: Who were the others who learnt from Musiri when you studied under him?

Suguna V: Mani Krishnaswamy, Suguna Purushottaman, Padma Narayanaswamy and Rukmini Ramani.

Next page: Musiri with his wife Nagalakshmi, early 1940s Vaak: Did Musiri set kritis based on the Pradarshini? As examples, say Neerajakshi Kamakshi, Pahimam Ratnachala?

Suguna V: I dont know if he did. In Neerajakshi Kamakshi (Hindolam), you will have to touch mandhira M if you were to sing according to the Pradarshini, which is not part of our padantaram. Maybe MNDNS. Perhaps he referred to this text and sang the raga Hindolam. He did not teach us any chittaiswaram for Sri Vishwanatham (Ragamalika) though there is a chittaiswaram and swara sahityam in Pradarshini. We were directly taught sahityam. There is also some difference in the anupallavi in Pahimam Ratnachala (Mukhari).

Vaak: Has he tuned any compositions?

Suguna V: Yes, he has tuned many Swathi Tirunal songs. Devi Jagajjanani, Sri Kumara, Anjaneya Raghurama, Palaya Raghunayaka all these songs have his stamp.

Vaak: What are some typical songs in the Musiri bani?

Suguna V: Endu Daginado (Thodi), Na Morala (Devagandhari), Entaninne (Mukhari), Rama Rama Gunaseema (Simhendramadhyamam), Devi Jagajjanani (Shankarabharanam), Janani Pahi (Suddha Saveri), Kavadi Chindu, Mela Ragamalika, Kana Kan Ayiram (Neelambari), Amba Nadu (Thodi), Paruvam Parkam (Dhanyasi) and many more.