Tanjore Ranganathan (born

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 ...

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 ...

, 13 March 1925 - died 22 December 1987) was a

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 ...

ian specializing in percussion instruments, particularly the ''

mridangam The mridangam is a percussion instrument of ancient origin. It is the primary rhythmic accompaniment in a Carnatic music ensemble. In Dhrupad, a modified version, the pakhawaj, is the primary percussion instrument. A related instrument is the ...

'', having studied under Palani Subramaniam Pillai. Ranganathan began performing professionally in 1938. At the California Institute of the Arts and

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...

he taught many non-Indians

, including

Robert E. Brown Robert Edward "Bob" Brown (18 April 1927 – 29 November 2005) was an American ethnomusicologist who is credited with coining the term " world music". He was also well known for his recordings of music from Indonesia. Many of these recording ...

, John Bergamo,

Jon B. Higgins Jon Borthwick Higgins (September 18, 1939 – December 7, 1984), also known in India as Higgins Bhagavatar, was an American musician, scholar, and teacher known principally for his rare skill as a non-Indian in the field of Carnatic music. ...

, Douglas Knight, David Nelson, Royal Hartigan, David Moss, Glenn "Rusty" Gillette, and Craig Woodson. He began teaching at Wesleyan in 1963, becoming that university's first Artist in Residence in Music. Ranganathan's younger brother was the Carnatic flute player and vocalist

T. Viswanathan Tanjore Viswanathan (13 August 1927 – 10 September 2002) was a Carnatic musician specializing in the Carnatic flute and voice. Early life and background Viswa, as T. (Tanjore/Thanjavur) Viswanathan is often called, was born in Madras, In ...

(1927-2002). The two recorded the music for the

Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of fil ...

documentary film ''

Bala Bala may refer to: Places India *Bala, India, a village in Allahabad, India * Bala, Ahor, a village in the Jalore district of Rajasthan * Bala, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India Romania * Bala, Mehedinți, a commune in Mehedinţi ...

'' (1976), about their elder sister, the ''

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 Balasaraswati. The American composer

Henry Cowell Henry Dixon Cowell (; March 11, 1897 – December 10, 1965) was an American composer, writer, pianist, publisher and teacher. Marchioni, Tonimarie (2012)"Henry Cowell: A Life Stranger Than Fiction" ''The Juilliard Journal''. Retrieved 19 June 202 ...

composed the mridangam part in his ''

Madras Symphony The ''Madras Symphony'' is a symphony by American composer Henry Cowell, the 13th of the 20 he finished. It was composed in 1958. It was composed after Cowell's return from Madras, where he had studied Indian classical music. The five movements of ...

'' especially for T. Ranganathan. Ranganathan died after a long illness, at the age of 62. He was survived by his wife Edwina, and sons Suddhama and Arun.

References

External links

T. Ranganathan page
by David Nelson

from ''The New York Times''

References

External links

See also