The piper from Salem who serenaded the world

In ‘Washingtonil Thirumanam’, a humorous story about a Tambram wedding held in the American capital to satisfy the curiosity of a couple from the Rockefeller family, writer Savi mentions Namagiripettai Krishnan as one of the two special nadaswaram parties fixed to play for the occasion. Such a spontaneous reference in a story serialised in a popular weekly from the end of 1962, shows that the piper had become a byword for virtuosity in the double-reed wind instrument even by his late 30s.
Famed along with the veena and the mridangam as one of the trinity of instruments of Carnatic music, the nadaswaram is intimately connected to tradition in ritualistic temple music, as an auspicious instrument in marriages (mangala vadya) and in musical bands called ‘Periya Melam’.As a nadaswaram player, Namagiripettai Krishnan, whose birth centenary it is this year, emerged from the portals of the temple to become the most famous globetrotting exponent of Carnatic music on the instrument, though as the ‘asthana vidwan’ of the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams he continued for long to accompany the temple deity’s processions with his mellifluous music.
The eldest of 10 children of Kathasamy Mudaliar and Kunjammal, Krishnan was born in Namagiripettai in Salem district, not a region famed for musical proclivity unlike Thanjavur. Trained by his father and his grandfather Chinnappa Mudaliar in nearby Sendamangalam, Krishnan is said to have attained a good degree of performing skill even in his early teens. He was nevertheless put through a gurukula vaasa (resident discipleship) for a further four years under Aruppukottai Ganesan, a strict disciplinarian. The reward of the rigorous tutelage paid off immediately in 1942, when, in a programme arranged by the great filmmaker K Subrahmanyam for budding nadaswaram players, Krishnan won plaudits for his artistry from those who had gathered by playing his favourite Kalyani and Thyagaraja’s ‘Vasudevayani’. A nadaswara vidwan of great possibilities had arrived.
One of the marks of Krishnan’s artistic life seems to have been his determined effort to expand his musical horizons even while adhering to tradition. According to musicologist B M Sundaram, Krishnan further trained under the lesser-known Carnatic music master, Salem Desikan, to give greater depth and perfection to his art. Unlike some notation-fixated instrumentalists, Krishnan sought to go to the emotional heart of a song and lyric, for which he even learned Telugu, the lingua of the compositions of Thyagaraja and Syama Sastri. Attracted by the sweetness of Krishnan’s well-rounded tonality and fluent artistry, filmmakers had him play for the title music of films such as ‘Mangalyam’ (1954), ‘Town Bus’ (1955) and ‘Sampoorna Ramayanam’ (1958).
It is to Namagiripettai Krishnan’s credit that he could establish his credentials in the 1950s, when the long shadow of the titan Tiruvavaduthurai Rajarathinam Pillai (1898-1956) and his chosen disciple Karukurichi Arunachalam
(1921-1964) fell over the nadaswaram concert scene.
According to Krishnan himself, the former had accepted him as his Ekalavya, a disciple who had learned from afar, while the latter was a friend ‘‘for whose daughter’s marriage I played, while he played for my daughter’s marriage’’. With his down-to-earth temperament, Krishnan became a front-ranking performer with a prolific schedule that would make not only competitors but also onlookers envious.
But there was no stopping the piper from blazing ahead. He was part of the delegation that performed in Southeast Asian countries and Australia in connection with the silver jubilee of India’s Independence in 1972, perhaps the first nadaswaram player to be chosen for such a prestigious event by the Government of India. In every country that he performed, Krishnan would acquaint himself with indigenous musical genres and search for correlations with Indian raga music.
Conferred the Isai Perarignar title by Tamil Isai Sangam in 1983, he made a heartfelt plea on behalf of the thavil vidwans who accompany the nadaswaram artists. He wanted the thavil maestros to be extended the honours that are given to the nadaswaram players, saying that the nadaswaram and thavil are intertwined like Shakti and Sivan, who appear as two but are really one.
In 1983 again, he undertook a tour of the US, Canada, the UK and France on behalf of India’s external affairs ministry. He got a recording at the BBC pre-scheduled so that he could watch the final of the World Cup between India and the West Indies at Lord’s. He was excited beyond measure by India’s thrilling victory and conveyed his feelings over phone to his family members back home, spending `3,000 in the bargain! One of Krishnan’s memorable experiences during a concert tour abroad, was being hosted for dinner by Neil Harvey, the left-handed Australian batsman, at his home in Sydney. Krishnan spent a great deal of time practicing on his instrument. He sometimes indulged himself in playing card games with friends for days and watched cricket matches keenly.
Krishnan’s equable temperament, modest manners and general affability won him as many admirers as did his attractive music. There is the interesting incident of an impresario in Paris requesting him to give back the shawl with which he had been honoured at a function as the same shawl was being used for different events! An unfazed Krishnan is said to have given back the shawl with a few of his own!
As a performer, Krishnan made some ragas and compositions his own to the extent that listeners looked forward to them. His Naadaloludai (Kalyanavasantham), Dhunmaargachara (Ranjani), Karunalaya nidhiye (Hindolam), Sevikka vendum ayya (Andolika) and Sabhapathikku (Abhogi) were among several compositions that fans latched on to. A knowledgeable rasika would go into raptures over the divine elation he experienced listening to Krishnan’s ‘Maaye tvam yaahi’ (Tarangini). In a bid to satisfy his fans, Krishnan tended to repeat some compositions, leading to the unjustified criticism that his repertoire was limited. Krishnan recorded prolifically for the music companies.
Krishnan married Komalam, a distant relative greatly interested in his music, and had three sons and daughters. A Natarajan, who was Madras Doordarshan director, was
his son-in-law; apart from advancing his famous father-in-law’s eventful career further, he cared for him during his last sickness in the summer of 2001.
(The writer is a journalist and author)
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