Papa KS Venkataramaiah

[sruthi]

One of the great violinists in CM. Here's a writeup on him by TN Krishnan: http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/fr/2001/1 ... 950400.htm

Does anyone know how he got the 'Papa' name?

[semmu86]

Does anyone know how he got the 'Papa' name?

From whatever little i know, he was affectionately called "Papa" by his family during his younger days and the name got stuck

[sruthi]

Thank you, that could explain it.

This article by SVK provides a good insight into this great vidwan:
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2001/09/21/st ... 210708.htm

AMONG THE great violinists of the last century Papa Venkataramaiah stood out as one conscious of his sacred obligation to the inviolability of tradition in Carnatic music. His excellent play sprang from the pedigree training under Malaikottai Govindaswamy Pillai and in such music there was nothing dishonourable.

Distinctive in style, there was characteristic individualism in the presentation of ragas and kirtanas with ascetic depth. The singular quality of his music was expressiveness ranging from soft lyricism to soulful, sensitive eloquence. Be it a lilting javali or a monumental Sankarabharanam kriti it received at his hands perceptively pervasive brilliance, perfumed with tonal felicity. He shed elegance and radiance on any raga he took up for vinyasa, particularly Bilahari, Yadukulakambhoji, Sahana, Ananda Bhairavi, Devagandhari, not to mention the gana ragas Sankarabharanam, Todi and Bhairavi. Every recital of his was an enjoyable musical journey of uniform excellence. He did much to enhance the sphere of melody by his full-bowing technique. Anything un-Carnatic was beneath his notice.

Papa lived in an era when music was at its height in quality. His outstanding achievement was the fruit of dedicated sadhaka. In respect of taste and patantara he was a high-brow artistocrat. The melodic modulation in a raga alapana transformed itself into glowing edifices of creative expression. There was no intellectual effort in it, but an intuitive impulse to get into the soul of a raga or a kirtana. The influence of Dhanammal's perception of music was profound on Papa Venkataramaiah's psyche - a combination of tenderness of note, monarchic dignity, abiding vidwat and respect for the great compositions of vaggeyakaras, particularly Tyagaraja, being a disciple of Govindaswamy Pillai, who in his days, was deeply involved in the Tiruvaiyaru aradhana.

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

Papa Sir was very close to our family for over 50 years--his father Srikantiah was a "guru" for my mother and my aunt(mother's elder sister in the early thirties) when my maternal grandfather lived in Mambalam close to Srikantiah's house. My mother "learnt" for 3 months(she was 12 or 13) but my aunt learnt for more than a year and although neither of them ever touched the violin since then(they both are in their nineties now and regale us with fading memories of those stints!! CM music has been blessed by their NOT taking to playing violin!!!!
TNK fashioned his raga playing style after Papa Sir--especially Sahana,Hamirkalyanietc.

My aunt related to me a story how her tutelege under Srikantiah helped her "Jog" TNK's memory. Once TNK had visited her house in the early fifties in Santhome--the TNK family and my aunt were very close--TNRajam and my cousin sister were of the same age and were very close.So they often used to practice violin at my aunt's house(they were living in Bazaar Street in Mylapore which even in those days was one of the noisiest streets in Mylapore,Chennai.

On one such occasion TNK played an elaborate Sankarabharanam and started Swara raga sutha and got "stuck" before the Charanam(a momentary lapse of memory perhaps) when my aunt chipped in with Mooladara(remembering from her early days--Srikantiah had taught her that song in the thirties).

One of Papa Sir's "obsession" or should I say "ambivalence" was that he was always unsure whether the sruthi is off key from the Tambura--so much so he will check it frequently even during the songs--much to the discomfiture of the vocalist and worse in between songs he will be constantly "tweaking" the Beradai(anybody who has listened to Violinists' tuning can relate to the aberrant sounds the tuning process produces unlike the Veena). This was a "thorn' in Ariyakudi's concert--because ARI hardly paused between songs (to check the sruthi or check any "notes" he may have made--he never had any piece of paper before him in his concert!! Once in Bombay for an Ariyakudi's concert immediately after the proverbial Kanada Varnam ARI was about to launch Panthuvarali Alapana--Papa sir hastily in trying to tune the violin broke the "Manthara" string-- ARI laughing said You are a Maha Vidwan" there is a saying in Tamil-- manthara thanthiyai(string) aruthavan maha vidwan--in those days many vidwans did not carry many additional strings and Papa Sir managed the concert with some "fixes". Re; his style my father used to tell me that he "followed" his Guru Malaikottai Govindaswamy Pillai literally and SSI used to tell us that MGP was very proud of Papa Sir carrying his legacy--MGP was an extraordinarily kind and generous man both on and off the stage and never begrudged his contemporaries' enormous success in amassing wealth. He was a simple man and never negotiated remuneration.
A slight digression from Papa Sir re: Malaikottai(or Trichy) Govindaswamy Pillai as told to my father by SSI.

Once the gramophone Company(HMV) (in the late twenties when phonograph had just come on the scene--MGP died in 1931 @ 52 years of age ) was very keen to have MGP record one song as a solo- MGP demurred but reluctantly agreed to do a recording--after the recording was done and a couple of days later when the HMV people brought the original master to MGP's house proudly trying to show how great the recording was and how MGP and posterity may have missed out on hearing the great man had he not done the recording. It seems after they played the record MGP was in a pensive mood,did not say a word and asked to "see and feel" the Master. The master record was given to him and immediately he put it flatly on his thigh and broke it into two halves. HMV people were shocked and asked him WHY to which MGP apparently replied-- there are some slight imperfections in this record and although it may have gone unnoticed by most folks, there may be a few amongst posterity who would use that to "disparage" his playing. Despite their coaxing to do a re-recording, MGP declined and promptly returned the advance HMV had given him.

Back to Papa Sir--he was very devoted to the Dhanammal School--one of his first disciples
was T.Abhiramasundari(sister of Brinda/Muktha) and my mother told me that she was a worthy disciple--combining the great lineage of the Dhanammal school with the MGP school--unfortunately she died very young in her twenties. Papa Sir's sons--Thygarajan(Violin) and Nagarajan(mridangam/Kanjira) continued the family tradition--Thygarajan retained the bowing technique of Papa Sir but could not rise upto the melody and imagination of his father. Nagarajan enjoyed quite a bit if success thanks to Palghat Mani Iyer(who had great admiration for Papa Sir's style--crisp and rich in melody without overshadowing the vocalist or trying to overdo the alapana or the swara--attributes considered essential in those days for accompanists.

[mahavishnu]

wonderful narrative, Sri MKR. Thank you for your post.