Daughter of late Sri. M.N.Anantanarayana Iyengar, a well-known Gamaki of the state and a freedom fighter, Padmavathi is a post graduate in English and a gold medalist in Music from the University of Mysore. She is awarded a doctorate for her thesis on 'The contribution of Sangeetharatna Mysore T. Chowdaiah to Carnatic Classical Music' from the Mysore University under the guidance of Prof C.A.Sridhar, Fine Arts College, Manasagangotri, Mysore. She is an Akashavani artiste at Mysore and has performed for various sabhas and festivals including the Dasara festival at Durbar Hall, Mysore Palace, Mysore.
Padmavathi is a notable music critic. Her music and dance reviews appear regularly in Star of Mysore, Prajavani and other leading newspapers. She has published the novel 'Parakeeya', which is a translation of Albert Camus' 'The Outsider'. She has also published many music articles in national and international journals. A resource person, she has given numerous lecture demonstrations at various prestigious platforms including international conferences. She has composed more than 20 compositions in Kannada which include varnams, kritis and devaranamas. She has also brought several Tyagaraja Kritis into Kannada. Renowned organizations have honored her with many titles.
Chowdaiah's life is a model and inspiration to all musicians. He was a very creative and multi-faceted personality, who lived a life full of music playing, singing, performing, teaching and composing. To date, there have only been two books on the compositions of T. Chowdaiah and both these books are in Kannada. It is hoped that this book containing the English notations of the compositions and anecdotes from his life serves to fill this gap and reaches students, aspirants and connoisseurs all over the world.
'Vid Padma has authored an authentic grantha on the life and vaggeya vaikhari of Vid Chowdaiah. The way in which she has narrated his life, illustrating with very rare and valuable photographs is highly commendable. The detailed analysis of compositions, dealing with thala, mathu and dhathu is praise worthy. She has studied the compositions in depth and explained them in a very simple way so that any reader can easily understand her analysis. We kannadigas are proud of Vid. Padmavathi for having brought out this udgrantha.
Sangeetha Kalanidhi Mysore T Chowdaiah conquered the Sangeetha Samrajya and ruled it for more than five decades. Throughout his long musical career, he was known for his charisma, courage, intelligence and yamasaadhane. He was a combination of several stellar qualities that made him a legend in his lifetime. When he introduced the seven-stringed violin in the carnatic music realm, there were protests from a few leading musicians. But he neither cared for those protests nor paid heed to them. Instead, he proved that his innovation never came in the way of sunaada. The mastery over the new instrument and the fingering technique ensured that everyone eventually accepted it. He was the preferred accompanying artist of his day leading musicians like Ariyakudi Ramanuja lyengar, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar, Madurai Mani lyer, GN Balasubramanyam and Semmangudi Sreenivasa lyer preferred Chowdaiah as the accompanying violinist. It was rumored that his remuneration was higher than that of the vocal artist. Perfect shruthi alignment, adherence to grammar and sampradaaya, sweetness of tone, and the clarity of phrases even in unbelievable speeds were the hallmarks of his style. He excelled in every department - playing ragas, swarapraslaara or in following krithis. I have perhaps not seen any other violinist playing taana as he did. He had this unique technique of using his wrist and not his shoulder while playing taana.
Not only did he earn more than any musician of his era, he was also a very generous philanthropist, spending a sizeable portion of his earnings on satkarmas. He was very helpful to anyone who approached him. By virtue of his popularity and stature in the field, he was responsible for many people landing jobs.
He commanded a high stature as a solo artiste as well. He gave an entirely new dimension to violin solo concerts. While his solo recitals were entertaining and energetic, they were thought provoking and brought in the divine element as well. People used to gather in thousands to listen to his solo recitals.
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