‘Tiger’ Varadachariar Avenue in the Kalakshetra area always makes me pause and smile. A colourful character who lived and breathed music, he was principal of the Music Academy’s Teachers’ College, the head of the Department of Music, Annamalai University, and finally the principal of the music section at Kalakshetra. Closeby is Rukmini Road, named after Rukmini Devi Arundale.
Mylapore has some road names commemorating musicians. Oliver Road was renamed Musiri Subramania Iyer Road, in honour of the artiste whose house still stands in a cul-de-sac off the main thoroughfare. Lovingly tended to by his descendants, the place comes to life once a month, when chamber concerts hosted by his grandnephew S. Thyagarajan, are held in an annexe.
Musiri, who made emotive rendering of songs his forte, acted in and as SantTukaram , a film made in the 1930s. The money he made in it came in handy for purchasing this property. A man of whom it was said that he brought dignity to the profession of music, Musiri served as the first Principal of the Central College of Karnatic Music, later renamed the Isai Kalluri, located these days at Brodie’s Castle.
The old Palace Road in San Thome leading to the Mysore royalty-owned Chamundeswari Gardens (now the Russian Consulate) is today Papanasam Sivan Salai. It commemorates arguably the greatest Carnatic composer of the 20th century. Sivan was a pioneering composer and music director for Tamil cinema as well. Interestingly, he had no association with this road, though he did deserve the commemoration. His niece was V.N. Janaki, wife of M.G. Ramachandran and later Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. In the 1980s, when she desired that a road be named after her uncle, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, the doyen of Carnatic music, was consulted, and he suggested Palace Road. It was said that Semmangudi thereby killed two birds with one stone — this was where his rivals Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar and G.N. Balasubramaniam once lived, and he feared that the thoroughfare would be named after one of them!
Griffiths Road in T. Nagar area is now Maharajapuram Santhanam Road, after the highly popular artiste of the 1980s. His father Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer and he were co-founders of the Sri Krishna Gana Sabha that still functions from there and Santhanam was its first Secretary. In the early 2000s, there was a move to rename Kotturpuram after M.S. Subbulakshmi. But she firmly refused it. Did you know that the Vasantha Bhavan chain of hotels takes its name from N.C. Vasanthakokilam? Owner Muthukrishna Reddy never forgot the kindness the celebrated artiste showed him at a concert when he was a child.
The greatest name in Carnatic Music, Tyagaraja, too has an enclave named after him. Tyagarajapuram off Madhava Perumal Koil in Mylapore has the Vidwat Samajam, a society of and by musicians, who together built a temple for Tyagaraja within the premises. Singer V.V. Satagopan too has a temple in his honour, built by his disciple Srirama Bharati at Jalladianpettai, Medavakkam.
