Perfect violinist

The birth centenary of violinist Papa Venkataramiah is being celebrated this week. C. V. NARASIMHAN, a close friend, pays a tribute.

PAPA VENKATARAMIAH was born on September, 12, 1901. His father Srikantiah, who hailed from Karur in Tiruchi District, was an accomplished violinist. Sri Papa had his early training under another famous violinist, Karur Sri Chinna Swami Iyer (who was conferred the Sangita Kalanidhi in 1950). By this time, his father Sri Srikantiah had moved to Chennai where he established a music school.

Sri Papa was greatly impressed by the skill of the legendary Sri Govindaswami Pillai, a disciple of Thirukodikaval Krishna Iyer who was mainly instrumental in having the violin accepted a concert instrument, both as an accompaniment and a solo instrument.

Pillai accepted Papa as his disciple in 1920. Veena Dhanammal whom Pillai admired became a major influence in Papa's musical evolution.

Over the years, Papa developed his own style of playing. A perfectionist, he achieved his goal of perfection in his playing. His bowing was superb, and it provided a continuity of sound, so that the up and down strokes of the bow seemed as one.

His raga alapanas were full of raga bhava, with a judicious combination of Ganam/Nayam and Bigu/Sogu. He was a master of the fingering technique. He could play an entire kriti on one string! His kriti renderings approximated closely to vocal singing.

Top musicians such as Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Musiri Subramania Iyer and the great flautist Palladam Sanjiva Rao wanted Papa to accompany them in their concerts.

Later on he assisted in no small measure another great flautist, Mahalingam, in his musical development. He was also often requested to give violin solo concerts.

Papa had few disciples. One of them was Jayalakshmi, another was Dhanammal's grand daughter, Abirama Sundari. His son Thyagarajan blossomed as a fine violinist under his father's tutelage.

Papa's other son, Nagarajan, became a percussionist. He got trained under the great mridangam maestro, Palghat Mani Iyer for a few years and later mastered the Kanjira too.

Both Thyagarjan and Nagarajan served in AIR, Chennai, as Staff Artistes for many years.

The Music Academy, Chennai, conferred the Sangita Kalanidhi on Papa in 1962. He was also the recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (Delhi) in February 1968.

The Executive Committee of the Music Academy has decided to commemorate the centenary of Papa. Closely following his actual centenary date, September 12, there will be a memorial concert at the TTK Auditorium of the Academy in the afternoon of Sunday, September 16.

K. V. Narayanaswami will present a vocal recital, accompanied by V. Thyagarjan on the violin, Palghat Raghu on the mridangam and V. Nagarajan on the kanjira.

The concert will be preceded by a short meeting chaired by the Academy's President Mr. T. T. Vasu.

The centenary will be observed during the annual Music Conference of the Academy in the latter half of December, with a solo violin concert by T. N. Krishnan.

From 1942, when I was transferred to the Madras Secretariat, I had known Papa as a close personal friend. I came to appreciate his many qualities, apart from his eminence as a violinist; a man of great integrity, a charming host, and a loyal friend. I salute his memory: long may he be remembered.

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