Draft:Valadi Krishnaiyer

Valadi Krishnaiyer ( 15 August 1893 - 18 August 1950 ) was a Carnatic music vocalist, musicologist and guru from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. He was the Principal of the Teachers College of the Madras Music Academy from 1938–43, succeeding Tiger Varadachariar,  Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar, and Appa Iyer, and succeeded by, Vidvan Kalidas Nilakantha Iyer, T.V. Subba Rao and  Mudicondan Venkatarama Iyer.



Early life and background
Valadi Krishnaiyer hailed from Saint Tyagaraja's sishya lineage. He was the great-grandson of Bhikshandarkoil Subbarayar, who was a disciple of Nangavaram Neelakanta Iyer, who was a main disciple of Saint Tyagaraja. He was born in Valadi, a village on the banks of the River Kaveri in Tiruchirapalli District, Tamil Nadu, India He was the third son of Ramaswami Iyer and Parvathi Ammal. He had his early musical training (1902-1905) under Valadi Radhakrishna Iyer, son of Lalgudi Rama Iyer who was a direct disciple of Tyagaraja and who was also grandfather of violin maestro Lalgudi Jayaraman. From 1906-1908 he studied "Tevaram" at Padugai Pazhaniappa Mudaliar Tevara Patasala at Chidambaram. From 1908-12, he had advanced training in music from the great composer and Nadaswara Vidwan Nagapatnam Venugopala Pillai. Later, he learned Veena from Malaikottai Mahalakshmi Ammal. He had further musical training from Kakinada Krishnaswami Iyer, who was a disciple of the composer Patnam Subramania Iyer who was a disciple of Manambuchavadi Venkatasubbayyar who was a prime disciple of Saint Tyagaraja. He learned a large number of Tyagaraja kritis from Kivalur Ramachandra Iyer.

He had a close relationship with giants of earlier era Konerirajapuram Vaidyanatha Ayyar and Tirukkodikaval Krishna Iyer, and through them he acquired the nuances that honed his knowledge to greatness.

Performer of Carnatic Music
Valadi Krishnaiyer started giving music concerts from age ten and he sang in concert with Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar for a few years. At the peak of his performing career, he was accompanied by Malaikkottai Govindaswamy Pillai on the violin and Pudukkottai Dakshinamurthy Pillai and Kumbakonam Alaganambi Pillai ( Sri Azhaganambi Pillai) on mridangam. He was also accompanied by Marungapuri Gopalakrishna Iyer, Palani Muthia Pillai and Thinniam Venkatarama Iyer in many concerts in the late 30s.

From age twenty-five for a period of about five years, he was patronised by the Andipatti Samasthanam. He also performed regularly at the Mysore Samasthanam.

He was gifted with a rich and majestic baritone and he was equally adept as a tenor. With a depth borne out of great knowledge, experience and tapas, his music was soulful, orthodox and clean. He had the artist's gift to bring out the beauty of any raga to the reach of the audience. In particular, ragas such as Hindolam and Natai were particularly lustrous in his renderings.

At the music festival held to mark the All India Congress Committee meeting in Madras, in 1927, he was one of the few vidwans awarded gold medals. The Madras Music Academy was born from this festival.

In 1934 he performed in the Annual Conference of the Madras Music Academy, and he was offered the post of Principal of the Teachers College of the Madras Music Academy. He held this prestigious post from 1938 to 1943.

Researcher at the Madras Music Academy
As a senior member of the august Sangitha Vidwath Sabha( Expert Committee) of the Madras Music Academy, he actively participated for over a decade in  symposiums concerning Raga Lakshanas of many ragas. He made several landmark contributions to the Journal of the Madras Music Academy in such topics as Graha bhedam that were approached cautiously by all except the greatest of gnanis.

He was a rare expert on the works of Tyagaraja and his dissertation titled " Mutual Appropriateness of Sangita and Sahitya in the compositions of Sri Tyagaraja" was published in Volume XVIII 1947 of the Journal of the Madras Music Academy. His repertoire of rare kirtanas was vast, and he was known as "Kirthana Kuthir" meaning "Granary of Kirthanas" by his contemporaries and students. His research articles have been reproduced in the Souvenir Publication of Chennai Music Academy.

Kakinada C.S. Krishnawami Iyer who was a disciple of Patnam Subramania Iyer was a Carnatic music composer, having composed in all 72 melakartas. He passed onto Valadi Krishnaiyer the knowledge of hitherto unpublished kritis in rare ragas.

Honour by Sankaracharyas
The Kanchi Paramacharya His Holiness Jagadguru Shri Chandrashekarendra Saraswati Mahaswamigal camped in Valadi in 1908 and he used to listen to Valadi Krishnaiyer sing Namasankeertanams till 2.00 am every night during the two weeks of his camp at Valadi. Valadi Krishnaiyer gave several concerts before the Sringeri Sankaracharyas, who conferred on him the title "Veda Gana Vidya Saraswati Brahmam" in 1947.