This month saw the demise of two stalwart musicians — vocalist and scholar Kollegal Subramanyam and noted violinist Kuppuswamy Iyer.
Kollegal Subramanyam
Kollegal Subramanyam, a ‘treasure trove’ of Carnatic music was 87.
He had built a small temple in 1986 at his house in Vidyanagar, Hyderabad for Thyagaraja and would refer to it as ‘small Tiruvayyar’. His forefathers lived in Chidambaram. He was born in Mysore and learned first from Varadaraja Iyengar before moving to Hyderabad.He lived in Hyderabd all his life. He penned ‘ Upaghanaraga pancharatnam ’ comprising of ragas Kedaragowla, Gowla, Reetigowla, Narayanagowla and Bowli which he considered as Upa Ghanaragas, first of its kind works. He also wrote ‘ Lalitha Navavarna kirtanas ’, and kirtanas in all the 72 melakarta ragas. He authored a book Thyagaraja Charitra in Telugu and also penned 54 kirtanas narrating Ramayana.
Kuppuswamy Iyer
Well-known violinist P. Kuppuswamy Iyer passed away last weekat the age of 95. He gave a concert for the All-India Radio in Hyderabad when he was 91.
Belonging to Umayalpuram Sri Krishna Bhagavatar lineage, a direct disciple of Saint Thyagaraja, he came to Hyderabad in 1942 when radio station was functioning under the name of Deccan Radio and served for over 30 years. He produced several musical features on the lives of the trinity.
His wife Rajalakshmi too has been a top artist in AIR. He provided violin accompaniment to several stalwarts in South.
