Unique association

HAILING FROM a family that encouraged arts, Mr. V. Subrahmaniam, born in 1934, had the ability to identify ragas even at the age of three when he accompanied his mother to music concerts. His formal training in vocal music began in 1951 under S. Sankara Iyer, who was professor at the Swati Tirunal Music Academy, Thiruvananthapuram.

In June 1956 he became a disciple of Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and thus began a fruitful association. Subrahmaniam has the unique privilege of giving vocal support to his guru at all his performances. He was trained in padams and javalis by T. Brinda. A graded artiste of AIR, he performs for Doordarshan too.

V. Subrahmaniam cherishes the opportunity of setting to music several compositions of Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati Swamigal of Sringeri Math and two compositions of the reigning pontiff. These were released in a cassette, Bhakti Kusuma Manjari.

Subrahmaniam, who holds a Master's in Economics and was senior executive in a private organisation, is at present dedicated to the task of imparting the Semmangudi style of music to students.

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