Professor T. R. Subramaniam (20 September 1929 – 4 October 2013), popularly known as TRS, was a vocalist in the Carnatic tradition. He was popular for infusing unconventional and populistic techniques in his renditions, especially of the

pallavi A pallavi has multiple connotations in carnatic music. It is the first part of any formal composition (Krithi) which has three segments - Pallavi, Anupallavi and Charanam (which can be one or more). Pallavi is usually also an abbreviation of R ...

, without compromising on the classicism of the rendition. Famous for his willingness to explore new avenues regardless of whether they would be accepted or not, TRS' concerts were much sought-after. He was also much loved as a teacher. He received a double doctorate in music.

Early Days and Education

TRS was born into a large middle-class family. He had seven sisters and two brothers. His father, Rajagopala Iyer, was employed with Indian Mutual Life Insurance Ltd. and was often transferred. Being someone who had a deep affection for Carnatic music, he often hosted musicians at his residence. Stalwarts like Madurai Mani, Semmangudi and Ariyakudi graced their residence and benefitted from their warm and affectionate hospitality. Owing to their father's transferable job, the children received their schooling in several towns like

Mayavaram Mayiladuthurai (formerly known as Mayavaram or Mayuram) is a town and district headquarter of Mayiladuthurai district in Tamil Nadu, India. The town is located at a distance of from the state capital, Chennai. Mayiladuthurai was ruled by Mediev ...

Kumbakonam Kumbakonam (formerly spelt as Coombaconum or Combaconum) or Kudanthai is a city municipal corporation in the Thanjavur district in the States of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located from Thanjavur and from Chennai and is the headq ...

and

Tirunelveli Tirunelveli (, ta, திருநெல்வேலி, translit=Tirunelveli) also known as Nellai ( ta, நெல்லை, translit=Nellai) and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tami ...

. At Mayavaram TRS learnt from Sivarama Iyer, a disciple of

Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar (1860 - 1919), whose real name was Ramanathapuram Srinivasa Iyengar, was a singer and composer of Carnatic music. He was born in Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu on August 16, 1860. He studied music under Patnam Subramania Iy ...

. At Tirunelveli, his teachers were A.D. Rajagopala Iyer and Perungulam 'Gavai' Seetarama Bhagavatar. His elder sister Radha also studied at home. When he was about 19 years old, TRS won the first place in a singing competition at the Madras Academy with an unusual style. He presented a pallavi to the judges, and said that he could sing it in any

raga A ''raga'' or ''raag'' (; also ''raaga'' or ''ragam''; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a musical mode, melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradit ...

and tala. The judges asked him to sing it in the raga

Mukhari Mukhari (pronounced mukhāri) is a rāga in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is a ''janya'' rāga of Kharaharapriya. Structure and Lakshana * Arohana: * Avarohana: Popular Compositions * ''Indu Enage ...

set to the very complex Sankeerna nadai tala. He sang it flawlessly, and was awarded the first place. TRS was a

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingualism, monolingual speakers in the World population, world's pop ...

. His proficiency in Telugu was useful while singing ''

kritis ''Kriti'' (Sanskrit: कृति, ''kṛti'') is a format of musical composition typical to Carnatic music. ''Kritis'' form the mental backbone of any typical Carnatic music concert and is the longer format of Carnatic song. "Kriti" also means C ...

'' composed by

Tyagaraja Thyagaraja (Telugu: త్యాగరాజ) (4 May 1767 – 6 January 1847), also known as Thyāgayya and in full as Kakarla Thyagabrahmam, was a composer and vocalist of Carnatic music, a form of Indian classical music. Tyagaraja and his ...

Awards

Sangita Kala Acharya, from the

Madras Music Academy Madras Music Academy is one of the earliest established music academies in South India. Before the concept of infrastructure was introduced to India in the early 1920s, it was a gathering for elite musicians simply called (and is still more ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Subramaniam, T. R. 1929 births 2013 deaths Male Carnatic singers Carnatic singers 20th-century Indian male classical singers Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award