Nagapattinam Chandrashekharan Vasanthakokilam (1919 – 7 November 1951) was a Carnatic singer and actress. Her work included the performances of

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 ...

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 ...

and

Muthuswami Dikshitar Muthuswami Dikshitar (Mudduswamy Dikshitar)(, 24 March 1776 – 21 October 1835), mononymously Dikshitar, was a South Indian poet, singer and veena player, and a legendary composer of Indian classical music, who is considered one of the musical ...

and in the years after Indian independence, she helped popularise the famous mystic poet of Tamil Nadu, Kavi Yogi Maharishi Dr.

Shuddhananda Bharati Kavi Yogi Maharishi Dr. Shuddhananda Bharati (11 May 1897 – 7 March 1990) was an Indian philosopher and poet. His teachings are focused mainly on the search for God in Self, through the Sama Yoga practice he created. Biography Bha ...

's songs. She died of tuberculosis in 1951.

Early life

NCV was born as Kamakshi in

Irinjalakkuda Irinjalakuda is a municipal town in Thrissur district, Kerala, India. It is the headquarters of Irinjalakuda Revenue Division and Mukundapuram Taluk. After Thrissur, this town has most number of administrative, law-enforcement and judicial o ...

, Cochin State of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, the present

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

. Her family then shifted to

Nagapattinam Nagapattinam (''nākappaṭṭinam'', previously spelt Nagapatnam or Negapatam) is a town in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Nagapattinam District. The town came to prominence during the period of Medieva ...

. Her father, Chandrashekhara Iyer sent her under the tutelage of Nagapattinam 'Jalra' Gopala Iyer, an accompanist in Harikatha performances. In 1936, the family moved to Madras, where she started giving concerts. She won the first prize in vocal music at 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 ...

annual conference of 1938, which was presided over by

Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar (19 May 1890 – 23 January 1967), popularly known as ''Ariyakudi'', was a Carnatic music vocalist, born in Ariyakudi, a town in the present-day Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu. Ariyakudi developed a unique style of ...

and declared open by the Yuvaraja of Mysore.

Her Music

Her voice was melodious with perfect intonation, sruti, emotion, high-pitched and clear pronunciation of words. Her rendering of higher octaves and sruti were remarkably with effortless ease to bring off brigas. She sang plenty of Tamil songs. She was a regular performer at the festivals of the

Tamil Isai Sangam Isai Mandram is a music association started to promote pure form of ancient Tamil music popularly known as the tamizh Isai throughout Tamil Nadu. The current president of the association is Judge P.R.Gopalakrishnan. The main premises are located in ...

in Madras and Nellai Sangeetha Sabha in

Thirunelveli 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 ...

. She also performed for the Tyagaraja Aradhana each year between 1942 and 1951. NCV ranked among the top performers of the classical singer of that time and many records were released containing her classical and semi-classical songs. The famous

Carnatic music Carnatic music, known as or in the 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, and Sri Lanka. It is ...

vocalist

Tiger Varadachariar Tiger Varadachariar (1876–1950) was a Carnatic music vocalist from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. M. D. Ramanathan was his student. Early life Varadachariar was born on 1 August 1876 in Kolathur, Chingleput district. Masilamani and Pedda ...

had bestowed upon her the title "Madhurageetha Vani". Some of her famous songs are: * yen paLLi koNdeer ayyaa * thanthai thaai irundhaal umakkindha * nitiraiyil vandhu nenjil idam * mahalakshmi jaganmatha * aanandha nadanam aadinAL * aasai koNdEn vaNdE * thithikkum senthamizhaal dEsaabhimaanam enum * andha naaL ini varumO * varuvaanO vanakkuyilE * aadu raattE * saarasa dala nayana * indha varam tharuvaan * needayarada

Film Songs

She also sang the following songs for the Tamil film industry, which became very popular. The Tamil film songs are : * pozhudhu pularnthadhu yAm seidha thavathAl * kuzhalOsai kEtkudhammA gOplakrishnan * thanthai thaai irundhaal umakkindha * nitthiraiyil vandhu nenjil idam

Acting career

Besides being a singer par excellence, NCV acted in movies. She started with Chandraguptha Chanakya (1940) playing the role of the princess Chaaya directed by C. K. Saachi in 1940. Followed by Venuganan (1940),

Gangavathar ''Gangavathar'' is a 1942 Indian Tamil-language Hindu mythological film directed by C. K. Sathasivam popularly known as C. K. Sachi and produced by Sundaram Sound Studio, Madras. The film starred N. C. Vasanthakokilam. The film was released on ...

(1942), Haridas (1944),

Valmiki Valmiki (; Sanskrit: वाल्मीकि, ) is celebrated as the harbinger-poet in Sanskrit literature. The epic ''Ramayana'', dated variously from the 5th century BCE to first century BCE, is attributed to him, based on the attributio ...

(1946), Kundalakesi (1946) and

Krishna Vijayam ''Krishna Vijayam'' () is a 1950 Indian Tamil language film written and directed by Sundar Rao Nadkarni. The film featured Carnatic music singer N. C. Vasanthakokilam in the role of Narada. The film, based on the Epic story of Krishna avatar, fe ...

(1950). Today, not many of her Carnatic renditions are available as CDs or audio recordings and those which are available contain both cinema and Carnatic compositions, mostly from various concerts she had given in the past.

Personal life

Her personal life was an unhappy one. Her marriage had been a failure as her husband was not inclined to encourage her music pursuits. In later years, she found a life-partner in a lawyer turned film-maker, C. K. Sathasivan (known as C. K. Saachi) till her last days. She fell victim to a severe attack of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

, and died in 1951 at her residence in Gopalapuram, Madras. She was only thirty-two years old at the time of her death and the classical music world lost a singer with a dulcet voice.

References

* *
A SPRING IN MEMORY:THE VASANTHAKOKILAM CONNECTION Monday, 3 February 2014

External links

* - Song by NCV in the film

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vasanthakokilam, N. C. 1919 births 1951 deaths 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis 20th-century Indian singers 20th-century Indian women singers Carnatic singers Women Carnatic singers Film musicians from Kerala Indian women playback singers Malayalam playback singers People from Irinjalakuda Performers of Hindu music Singers from Kerala Tamil playback singers Tamil singers Tuberculosis deaths in India Women musicians from Kerala