Cuddalore M.Subramaniam

'Ganarathna' 'Isai Vallal'
'Kalaimamani'
Sri. Cuddalore M.Subramaniam - M.A

Birth Date: 3rd May 1920
Birthplace : Cuddalore
Life Tenure: May 1920 to March 1997
He lived with the legacy of music until March 1997.

Legendary Musician

It is indeed a very proud day in our lives. On this momentous occasion, we take pride in remembering Sri. Cuddalore M. Subramaniam as a modern day composer, a long standing A.I.R artist and a prolific Vageyakarar, who gave enormous concerts throughout the country . He has composed over 600 kritis including 72 Melakartha ragas, Apoorva Raga kritis, several Tamil kritis, Varnams, Thillans and Sri. Raja Rajeshwari Pancharathinam.

Childhood & Early Life

Sri. Cuddalore M Subramaniam was born on 3rd May 1920 in Cuddalore, formerly known as Thirupadiripuliyur. He was born adjacent to the Sri. Pataleeswarar and Sri. BrihanNayaki temple sannidhi as the 6th child of his pious parents, Sri. Mahalinga Dikshitar and Smt.Lakshmi Ammal. His first Guru was his mother, who was a disciple of Sri. Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar of Ramanadapuram. He had his further training in music under Sri. Thirukoilur Chinnasami Iyer and while studying for his M.A in Economics degree at the Annamalai University, he came under the guidance of Sangeetha Kalanidhi Sri. Tiger Varadachariar. He excelled in his academic career and completed M.A economics from Annamalai University.

Musical Journey

He started performing at various events as early as 1937 and his Arangetram concert was held during the Navarathri celebrations at the Sri. Pataliswarar temple, Cuddalore in 1938. He has performed on All India Radio since 1938. He also performed on Doordashan and gave many concerts on National programme of Music. In 1942 he received the Governor’s prize for the best performance awarded by the legendary musician Sangeetha Kalanidhi Sri. Tiger Varadachariar. He had a very successful musical career spanning over 50 years and he was well known for his illustrious and distinctive style of singing rich in Bhava and Laya. He has sung at all the major Sangeeta Sabhas in Chennai and throughout India. He was especially poplular in Kerala and his annual kutcheries there were very well received.

His legacy has been kept alive by the following recordings,

	In 1979 , he rendered 4 Tamil devotional songs in the album titled THEANISAI THENDRAL released by INRECO Records. Music was composed by Sri. V.Sripathi.
	In 1993 , he recorded the 72 Melakartha raga kritis, composed and sung by him , with vocal support by (Late) Sri. M.S.Sai Prasad . He was accompanied on the Violin by Kalaimamani Parur Sri. M.A.Krishnaswami and on the Mridangam by (Late) Sri. M.S.Shivakumar and Sri.S.S.Jaiganesh. Tambura support was provided by Sri. M.S.Sundaresan and Sri. S.S.Ramesh.
	Both of these recordings have been uploaded on this website for your listening pleasure.

Accolades

He has been recognised for his numerous meritorious accomplishments through a string of awards and accolades. Among his various recognitions/accomplishments, the one he held particularly precious is one that was showered on him by Sri. Maha Periyava of Kanchipuram, and he received a Shrimugam for his first book Isai Thendral. He has been honoured by his holiness, the Jagadguru, Sri. Shankaracharya of Kanchipuram and Sringeri.

	In the year 1956, the title ‘Ganarathnam’ was awarded during his concert at Sri. Vedanayagam Pillai function.
	During his concert in Palani, the title, ‘Isai Vallal’ was given by Thirumuruga Kripananda Variyar swamigal.
	In the year 1994, he was awarded ‘Kalaimamani’ by Tamil Nadu Iyal Isai Nataka Manram and honoured by the Late Chief Minister. J.Jayalalitha.

Publications

He unearthed many rare ragas and composed krithis with musical notations.

	He rose to the level of a great composer and a legendary musician, otherwise known as a Vageyakarar. In order to achieve his ambition of serving the students of music and musicians of all languages and help to render the compositions perfectly, the script of the 72 Melakartha Raga Kritis are in Devanagari and also English & Tamil. He has dedicated his compositions to Sri. 'Pataleeswarar’ and Sri. 'BrihanNayaki’, the presiding deities of his place of birth Cuddalore, whose divine blessings have made him a musician cum composer. The word ‘PATALEESA’ is the Mudhra (stamp) for all his compositions.
	His first publication was 'Isai Thendral' with 64 Tamil compositions in praise of various deities without any discrimination, which is commendable and praiseworthy. It was released by Justice S.Mohan, former judge of the Supreme Court, in 1971 and this book includes the popular song 'Ragathil Siranda Ragamethu', which was well received by notable musicians of the time.
	In 1982 he published 'Kritis in 72 Melakartha Ragams', 'Varnams', 'Keerthanas in Apoorva ragas' and 'Sri. Raja Rajeshwari Pancharathnam' released by the then Tamilnadu Governor (1982-1988) Sri. S.L Khurana.
	In 1993 he published 'Tamil Isai Thendral' which includes the popular song ‘Janani Janani Janani’ in raga Revati, made very popular by Kalaimamani Smt. Dr. Nithyashree Mahadevan.

Family

Sri. Cuddalore. M. Subramaniam married Smt Thripurasundari on 15/01/1943 and his wife was musically inclined and was his pillar of strength.The couple were blessed with 7 children like the Sapthaswaras, SaRiGaMaPaDaNi. ‘Sa Ga Da are boys and Ri Ma Pa Ni are girls’ he would humorously remark.

His Sashtiapthapoorthi (60th Birthday) was celebrated on 3rd May 1980 by his family. The occasion was graced by Padmabhushan Sri. Lalgudi G Jayaraman who enthralled the audience with a memorable concert. He was ably accompanied on the Mridangam by Sangeetha Kalanithi Sri. Vellore Ramabhadhran and on the Kanjira by Sangeet Natak Akademi Awardee Vidwan Sri. G.Harishanker.

His sons, Sri. Cuddalore M.S.Sundaresan, Late Sri. M.S.Shivakumar, Late Sri. M.S.Saiprasad, and his daughter Smt. Jayanthi Muralidharan are all well trained in vocal music and have rendered his compositions in their concerts. The names of the other daughters are Smt. Shyamala Chandra Iyer, Tirupur, Smt. Sasikala Rengarajan and Smt. Saimala Shanmugam and they all dearly cherish their father’s Compositions.

His grandchildren are Sri. Cuddalore S.S. Jaiganesh, an accomplished Mirdangam artist and a well-known Teacher through the YouTube channel PMC PATTALEESA Music online, Sri. S.S.Ramesh who plays the Mirdangam, Ganjira, Ghatam and is also a music connoisseur, Smt. Sukanya Sethuraman, New Delhi, who has learnt music and sings a lot of her grandfather’s kritis and is also the daughter in law of Sangeetha vidwan (late) Sri Madirimangalam Ramachandran, Smt. Radhika Shivkumar, Alias Sushmitha, who has learnt music and became a well known professional light music singer, Sri. Vikram Saiprasad who is a well known vocal artist, who has received various accolades, even from a young age, through competitions conducted by various TV channels, namely, Sun Singer, Jaya TV Ragamalika, Super Singer etc. In 2019 , he shot to fame through the Vijay TV Super Singer season 7 series. He is currently a playback singer with a sizeable fan following. He often performs his grandfather’s compositions and sincerely devotes his time to advance his musical career and take it to the next level.

His other grandchildren are Sri. C.Prabhakar alias Veera (late) - Film actor, music composer, Tirupur, Sri. C.Sudhakar - Light music singer, Tirupur, Smt. Deepalakshmi Hariharan - German Lecturer, Pune, Sri. Divakar Rengarajan, Sri. Rajiv Muralidharan, Smt.ShreeRanjani,Film director , Smt. Janani Karthik, Sri.Bhavan Vinayak, Sri. Bhavani Shanker, Smt. Bhavani Krupa, Smt. Bhavani Dhaya and they all are very passionate about their grandfather’s compositions and his Music.

Great grandsons include Master. S. Anurag, New Delhi & Master. R. Tarunkrishna, who are both learning the Mirdangam and great granddaughter Miss. S. J. Vaishnavi who is learning vocal music and sings her great grandfather’s songs fluently.