The Hindu : <I>Sruti</I> Pattabhi Raman passes away

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 24, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

Sruti Pattabhi Raman passes away

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI Dec. 23. Pattabhi Raman, founder-editor of Sruti, English monthly devoted to Indian music and dance, died here today after a brief illness. He was 70.

With a Ph.D. in Economics from the New School for Social Research in New York, Pattabhi Raman had a wide-ranging career in the United States for about 25 years - as government official, consultant, journalist and international civil servant. He served the United Nations Development Programme from 1966 to 1980.

After his return to India, he launched the magazine in 1983 and went on to establish the Subbulakshmi-Sadasivam Music and Dance Research Institute (SAMUDRI), as a wing of the Sruti Foundation in February 1999. He was its first director-general.

The former Under Secretary-General, U.N., C.V. Narasimhan, writes:

Pattabhi Raman and I had known each other since his U.N. days; our friendship spanned more than three decades. After retirement from the U.N., Pattabhi settled down in Chennai. Starting of a periodical for promoting excellence, preserving values and traditions and encouraging innovations in Indian music and dance was his brainwave. In due course, Sruti became a foundation with support from major business and industrial houses.

During the last 20 years, Sruti has grown from strength to strength. The current issue is numbered 219. Articles have been well researched and educative. Pattabhi had a great interest in the preservation of our traditions, our Sampradayam. In that respect, he was a purist. His sustained campaign in the pages of Sruti has led to the inclusion of Ragam, Thanam, Pallavi as an obligatory part of every major concert. He also liked to expose the humorous side of our musicians and their antics. The `Laffamalika' in the current issue is a good example. Some of the comments in the `Whispering gallery' were intended to point a finger at the foibles of our musicians and managers of sabhas. Pattabhi's death, at a time when he had so much more to give, is a tragic loss to our music.

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Sruti Pattabhi Raman passes away