T.M.Krishna talks about singing Koluvai with Semmangudi Mama and MS

"Semmangudi Mama was a great teacher. He was very patient and never thought twice about teaching you something again or repeating something a number of times. If I said “Mama, can you sing that again” he would say ”I will sing it even 10 times.” That was the care he took when he taught. This also revealed his perfectionist attitude to music. He will never let you go to the next line till you sang the sangathi or gamakam perfectly. Here, I have to relate a story. I was learning Koluvaiyunnade in Bhairavi from Mama and one afternoon, when I had just finished learning the krithi and was singing it when M.S. Amma (Smt M.S.Subbulakshmi) came to see Mama. When she realized that class was in progress, she asked us to continue so we started sing the krithi again and M.S. Amma joined in. It was astounding to me that the patantharam was so intact, that every sangathi that M.S. Amma sang was identical to what Semmengudi mama had taught me. M.S. Amma would have learnt the krithi from Semmangudi mama at least 40 years before he taught me but the patanthara was the same. This was a real eye opener to me. "

M.S. Subbulakshmi: Portraits of a diva

The first few times he saw MS was as a boy ... fleeting glimpses. Then, years later, T.S. NAGARAJAN was to meet the singing sensation once more....More

My Earliest Memories of Ammu Patti

It’s hard, even impossible to say something about MSS which is not already known to her extended family of rasikas and admirers. The name unfailingly sets the listener’s face aglow – as radiant as it would be while listening to her sing! What was the magic that pervaded her music and her personality ...More

Recollections of her niece

Thangam Ananthnarayanan, Sadasivam’s brilliant niece, displayed her trademark incisive frankness in interactions with the many luminaries who visited the Sadasivams’ family home over the years. She just completed her 79th birthday. Her face lights up as she shares her memories of MS....More

Travel with Lakshmi & Sarasvati

‘Delhi le pADa romba kETTirkka.Unakku Needucharana pankaja pADamA?’ Amma would ask in a caring tone. ‘aDuttadu Delhi porom. adukkule AnAlum thayArAyidu!’ Mama would enthusiastically inform me about the concert a month in advance. Amma’s concern would be about my learning the kalyani krti....More

AmmuPatti Recollections of a Grandniece

Ammupatti is what we, grandchildren called the legendary Smt. M S Subbulakshmi. Depending on their own age, the older folks called her Kunjamma or Kunjakka. Gowri Ramnarayan writes in the Hindu “ … Sadasivam's family of two daughters ( Radha and Vijaya) , a nephew (Ambi) and niece (Thangam) were wholly in their care.”...More

Ammupatti – Recollections of a Great-grandniece

During my trip to India in Dec 2003, when I first walked into Patti’s house, I was astounded by all the photographs with all the famous people she met. I kept asking my mom, “Who’s Patti standing next to here?” and exclaimed “Oh my gosh! It’s Helen Keller!”...More

A League of Extraordinary Women

How I dreaded those 3 o’ clock Sunday “tiffins” at Vijaya mami’s house when I was a little girl! Nose in a book, I would be shooed into my mother’s room and maneuvered into a pavadai chattai, hair oiled and woven into a single, thick braid by my grandmother....More

Patti - A Collection of Reminiscences

Here are Gowri Ramnarayan’s email replies to some questions, interspersed with her writings....More