Guru Smt. Rajee Narayan (1931-2020) was a

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 ...

dancer, musician and composer living in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. She was a rare combination of

guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

, with the unique distinction of teaching not only

, but also

Carnatic Music Carnatic music, known as or in the Dravidian languages, South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, an ...

, Natyasastra and Nattuvangam. She established her institution, Nritya Geethanjali in Mumbai in 1965. She has served as board member of the University of Mumbai, for over two decades and as the external examiner for the Bachelors and master's degrees in the Fine Arts courses (

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelor ...

and

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

) and examiner of thesis for

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

Formative years

Rajee Narayan was born on 19 August 1931 in

Chennai 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 ...

, the 11th child of S. Narayana Iyer and Gangammal. Rajee started to learn Bharatanatyam at age 5, from her elder sister, Neela Balasubramaniam, founder-director, Nataraja Natya Niketan and K. Lalitha, founder-director, Sri Saraswathi Gana Nilayam. At the age of four, Narayan commercially recorded the composition, 'Neraminchakura' (Shankarabharanam raga – Ikana tala). She also released records on story-telling songs for children and some plays. At that early age, she had started acting and singing her own songs in the movies that her father produced. She participated in the dance-dramas and Kollata Jothrai festivals, conducted by Kadappai Lakshmiammal, through her sabha, Indumadar Lakshmi Vilasa Sabha, run specially for ladies.

Compositions

Narayan has composed over 200 songs for bharatanatyam and has published some of them in her book Nritya Geetamala (2 volumes). She has also released a book on the basics of carnatic music called ''Sangeeta Shastra Mala''. She is also the author of ''Natya shastra mala'', a book explaining the basics of natya shastram.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Narayan, Rajee 1931 births Musicians from Mumbai Indian female classical dancers Indian women composers 20th-century Indian composers 2020 deaths Bharatanatyam exponents Performers of Indian classical dance 20th-century Indian dancers Women musicians from Maharashtra 20th-century Indian women musicians Dancers from Maharashtra 20th-century women composers