K.V. Ramachandran (1898-1956) of

Coimbatore Coimbatore, also spelt as Koyamputhur (), sometimes shortened as Kovai (), is one of the major metropolitan cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyyal River and surrounded by the Western Ghats. Coimbato ...

and

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

was a 20th-century Indian

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

and

art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...

. He had a reputation for being extremely opinionated and influential, and people who knew him recall that he instilled fear in musicians, dancers and artists around the country. In addition to books, his writings were featured in ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'', India's national newspaper, and the ''Journal of the Music Academy''. Ramachandran developed and produced Kesavardhini hair oil. His wife and daughters continued to run the company in Chennai after his death. He was a collector of rare, antique Indian artwork and instruments including the dilrupa. He was a friend and colleague of the Canadian composer and ethnomusicologist

Colin McPhee Colin Carhart McPhee (March 15, 1900 – January 7, 1964) was a Canadian-American composer and ethnomusicologist. He is best known for being the first Western composer to make a musicological study of Bali, and developing American gamelan along ...

, and their correspondence on Indian music can be found in th
McPhee Collection
at the

University of California - Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

Ethnomusicology Archive. Ramachandran edited and brought out a magazine ''Shilpasree'' devoted to

Bharatanatyam Bharatanatyam () is a major form of Indian classical dance that originated in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the eight widely recognized Indian classical dance forms, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas, particularly of S ...

, music and fine arts. Ramachandran died in Coimbatore on 26 March 1956. His eldest daughter, Seetha Rajagopal lives in Madras. All his other daughters have died (Shyamala, Gowri, Bapu). As of 2007, his grandchildren and their children lived in various locations around the globe, including Switzerland, the U.S., New Zealand, Canada and India.

References

*L'Armand, Kathleen and Adrian, 'One Hundred Years of Music in Madras: A Case Study in Secondary Urbanization,' ''Ethnomusicology'', Vol. 27, No. 3. September 1983, p. 411-438. *Ramachandran, K.V.,'The Melakarta: A Critique,' ''Sruti,'' Issue 264, September 2006, p. 49-51. *Ramanathan, K.V. 'Correcting Churchill,' ''The Hindu,''13 September 2003. *Ramani, Nandini. ''The Music Academy Platinum Jubilee Commemoration Volume'', Vol. 1, 1930-1940. *''Sruti'', Mad Season newsletter, Notes to the Editor, April 2005. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramachandran, K.V. 1898 births 1956 deaths Indian male essayists Indian art critics People from British India Indian art collectors People from Coimbatore 20th-century Indian essayists Writers from Tamil Nadu