T.K. Govinda Rao was born to fulfil a mission. Nadayoga was all important to him. He saw God through Thyagabrahmam’s compositions. His values were based on the philosophy evident in these compositions. As a complete Guru he used to inculcate these values to his students by quoting phrases such as ‘Suddhamaina manusuce suswaramuto’ (Kaddanu variki), ‘Sahaja Bhaktito Ragajnana’ (Swara raga sudharasayuta) ‘Dutta paalaruci deliyu saamyame’ (Entamuddo), ‘Talaku vaccina badha tala pagaku setuvalaci’ (Nadadina mata) and so on.
The chaste, rich music soaked in classicism, of his Guru Sri Musiri Subramanya Iyer, was truly imbibed by him. As observed by Musiri’s grand daughter, and a student to both of them, he also made value addition to songs such as ‘Mokshamu galada’ and ‘Bogeendra Sayinam,’ to name a few.
The amount of effort that went into each song, for embellishment was incredible. He had his pulse on the composer’s feelings and hence the rendering demanded delicate and sophisticated handling. The meaning of the lyrics was brought out with careful pronunciation of the words laying stress on the right syllables.
He was a genius in niraval and swaram singing and that it requires understanding to really appreciate the uniqueness of this ‘bani.’ They always varied according to the mood and style of the song, for instance ‘Bhavanutha’ and ‘Mohanarama’ both in Mohanam. He never repeated any phrase in either. He had his own, very logical, commas, semicolons and full stops for swara singing so much so that, be it in a class or a concert, he would halt, after a misplaced full stop or if the porutham was disrupted and he used to comment “morunchadam pottachu!” Strict adherence to grammar and any deviation was handled with sophistication.
He strictly followed the Musiri bani of choosing the right line of sahityam for delineation keeping in mind the meaning, and not once sacrificing the hrasva/deerga of the words. This i was evident in songs with several “charanams,” such as the Divya Nama Kritis where careful treatment was given according to the words. He was so creative and imaginative that to keep pace by executing it in singing was a tough task.
The same can be experienced in the innumerable songs and hymns he has tuned, varnams and tillanas he has composed, and, immortalised by him as well as through MLV, KVN, his own students Saroja and Lalitha and several others. The Dasar namas have been tuned so well that even a person who does not understand Kannada can ‘feel’ the meaning when he sang them.
Music and Art today have become so commercialised that makes one wonder and reminisce how non-commercial and genuine he was. He would be so completely engrossed in imparting knowledge in the class that he would often be late for the next class or miss his next set of appointments. He insisted that his students understand the meaning of every song, pronounce the lyrics properly, understand a raga and comprehend why that particular raga was chosen for that song. In class, he would give different patterns of swaram for each one without repetition.
Ask for knowledge and he was ever ready and happy to share without holding anything back. He was always enthusiastic to discuss, debate and interact, and was willing to encourage anyone who wanted to learn music.
His home was always open to his students. True to the Udipi tradition, none was allowed to go home without tasting his wife Hema’s excellent snacks and tea. He was so humane that he would be the first to reach out if a musician or student needed help.
His books have immortalised him. His monumental project of compiling and editing all the compositions of the Trinity, compositions of Swati Tirunal, and also his Varna Sagaram in diacritical Roman and Devanagari scripts with meaning in English and SRGM notations in Roman scripts help to bridge, not only the language barrier, but also the generation gap, while preserving the essence and identity of the original that remain characteristically and traditionally Indian. A book on Purandara Dasa’s compositions was the last of his works to be launched .
“Melody carved in stone is sculpture, sculpture in melody is music. In colours it becomes painting. Sculptured music painted in words is the highest in literature.” All those who came into contact with him would agree that this is an apt description of his life.
(With inputs from TKG’s disciples)
