Sunday, September 29, 2013
PALANI SUBRAMANIAM PILLAI (1908–1962) was a well known Carnatic
music percussionist. He was adept in playing the mridangam and kanjira.
He was the sishya (disciple) of the celebrated Palani Muthaiah
Pillai (his father).
Subramaniam
Pillai was born on April 20, 1908. He was born to his mother, Unnamulai Ammal,
and his father, Muthaiah Pillai who was also a mridangist. He learned mridangam
under the tutelage of his father and also had the friendship of ‘Thavil
Panchami’ Malikkottai Panchapakesa Pillai. He was also influenced by a renowned
mridangist at the time, Dakshinamurthy Pillai. Pillai in return showered great
love and affection on young Palani, whom he looked upon as his own son. Before
he turned twenty, Palani had the good fortune to accompany stalwarts like
Kanchipuram Nayana Pillai, Mazhavarayanendal Subbarama Bhavathar and Mudicondon
Venkatarama Iyer. In the next decade others who preferred his accompaniment
were Chittoor Subramanya Pillai and importantly Alathur Brothers whose
Guru (father of Alathur Subbier), Alathur Venkatesa Iyer was a great
admirer of Palani. It was because of Palani that the brothers shifted base
from Trichy to Madras and they made a great team. Palani is credited with composing a larger number of
major pallavis for the brothers including their tempo and nadai
variations. Later the team broke up (due to personal misunderstandings) much to
the grief of a large number of listeners and especially Venkatesa Iyer. Iyer managed to effect a
reconciliation after a decade of extensive effort and Palani did team up with
the brothers but the old camaraderie was gone.
As Palani's playing in the early part of his career was robust and
laya-oriented with extensive calculations, many vocalists of the time did not
feel comfortable with him except for the few mentioned earlier. It was one of
the most popular among the doyens of yesteryears, Chembai Vaidyanatha
Bhagavathar (earlier responsible in advancing the careers of Mysore
T.Chowdiah andPalghat Mani Iyer) who took to promoting Palani. There were
numerous concerts in which he gave Palani opportunities to play three of four
"Thanis" or solos in a concert. It is said that in a concert in
Shanmukhananda Sabha in Bombay he asked Palani to play in each of the
five nadais, Chatusram, Tisram, Misram, Kandam and Sankeernam. It was he who
also persuaded Palani to tone down on the laya intricacies and increased the
"sowkya" or aesthetic content in his playing. Palani, probably with
considerable regret in having to shed his specialization and scholarship abided
by his mentor's suggestion, not only because of the practicality but also
because of his great respect for Chembai who was his elder by several years.
Bhavagathar's advice stood Palani in good stead.
Eminently popular vidwans G. N. Balasubramaniam, Madurai
Mani Iyer, and Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer clamored to have him
accompany him in their concerts. Of course senior vidwans of that era
like Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer,
Chembai and Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu ( Violin Solo ) had him as
accompanist in many concerts. In turn Palani encouraged a number of younger
vocal and instrumental artists including Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna, Ramnad
Krishnan, M. D. Ramanathan, K. V. Narayanaswamy, Tiruvarur
Namasivayam, Thanjavur Thyagarajan, Lalgudi Jayaraman and Palghat
R. Raghu. While playing for younger artists he was never condescending but was
always supportive and never tried to show off or intimidate. In fact although
he possessed talents of gigantic proportions, he never indulged in
exhibitionism and his only aim was to enhance the total appeal of the concert.
Madurai Mani Iyer used to call him "THYAGI"- one who would efface
himself so that the overall effect was sparkling rather focus on himself.
While Palani would highlight the different parts of the song such
as "Eduppus" of Pallavi, Anupallavi, and Charanam with
sufficient emphasis, he would rather follow the mood and trend of the song
rather play the "Prayogas" of the songs themselves. This mode of
playing gave a wholesomeness to the song renderings rather than the
"Starts and stops" that would otherwise have arisen. His Sarvalaghu
was the spontaneous flow of "Nadais", "Sollus", and
"Sollukkatus" rather than any patternised formats. The Sarvalaghu
used to be "Amorphous" rather than "Crystalline".
Occasionally when certain arithmetic combinations arose, they too were spontaneous
and blended seamlessly into the scheme of things. He specialized in
"Vallinam" and "Mellinam" strokes in even the smallest
passages. In layman's language these are Hard and Soft Strokes. His playing
gave the effect of his indulging in a musical conversation with the main artist
throughout the tenure of the concert. In his Solo interludes-"Thani
Avarthanams"- he displayed both intellectual and aesthetic aspects in
equal measure which pleased all sections of the audience but he never played to
the gallery. The vocalist had to remain very alert during the
"Thanis" to ensure that he did not miss out on the "Thala";
such were the complex patterns he played! When Palani was present in a
gathering there was no levity or frivolousness exhibited. According to Vidwans
who shared the platform with him in concerts both his demeanor and playing was
the epitome of "Gauravam" (Dignity).
His lifestyle in the 40's and 50's was the envy of other
musicians. Always dressed in white muslin shirts and snow white Khadi Dhoti -
carefully and painstakingly groomed - he was among the handsomest among
musicians (others being GNB and Mayavaram Govindaraja Pillai ). Unlike many
other musicians, he lived in a spacious Bungalow and owned the latest model in
cars (he changed them every two years ). He himself drove the car and did not
allow anyone else to drive his car.
Palani's partner in life was Rajammal (who along with her sister
constituted a popular singing duo called 'Kolar Sisters' in her younger days).
The pair had a daughter named Vimala. She married Srinivasan and they had five
daughters named Banu, Malathi, Meera, Geetha and Vasanthi. They were brought up
by Rajammal after the death of Srinivasan.
At any given time at least three to four students resided in
Palani's house undergoing Gurukula system; with passage of time there were
day-scholars also. Among the earliest disciple of Palani were T.Ranganathan
(brother of T.Balasarswathi) along with Ramanathapuram M.N.Kandaswami, Poovalur
Venkataraman, Dandamudi Rammohan Rao, Pallathur C.T.Lakshmanan, Udumalai
T.Mayilswamy among others. Perhaps the most famous of his disciples is Trichy
Sankaran who lives in Toronto, Canada and teaches in York University as a
Professor in the Music Department. Palani took him under his wings when he was
a child; Even at the tender of twelve Palani enabled him to play with him
(double mridangam) in concerts of Ariyakudi, GNB, Madurai Mani Iyer and others.
Among his later disciples were Erode Gururajan, Madirimangalam Swaminathan,
K.S.Kalidas, Cuddapah Krishnamoorthy, A.V.Ragguprasad, T.V.Gurumoorthy and many
others. In turn, his disciples have trained many others and the Palani School
is now well represented in India and abroad.
The founder of the 'Pudukkottai School of Percussion', Mamundia
Pillai introduced Kanjira as an instrument in concerts; His disciples
Dakshinamoorthy Pillai and Muthiah Pillai could play a large number of
instruments like Mridangam, Kanjira, Thavil, and Ghatam. In their steps, Palani
was also a GREAT Kanjira vidwan besides being a master of Mridangam. He has
played with vidwans like Palghat Mani Iyer and Ramanathapuram
C.S.Murugabhoopathy. His Khanjira performances were fewer(compared to
Mridangam) and listeners thronged to these concerts whenever they occurred.
Compared to the double headed Mridangam with its rich tonal quality, the single
headed Kanjira with its limited tonal quality is more difficult to handle but
Palani equaled or even excelled in duets with the best mridangists. Some of
Palani's disciples have emerged as vidwans proficient with both instruments (
among them M.N.Kandaswamy and Palattur Lakshmanan).
At the behest of his father Palani erected a shrine on the Samathi
of Mamundia Pillai at Pudukkottai in 1945. Till he died in 1962, Palani
performed Gurupooja each year at this Samadhi on Mamundia Pillai's death
anniversary. This is the day preceding the Aradhana of Saint Thyagaraja (which
falls on Bagulapanchami day). After Palani's death his disciples took this over
and also initiated the Gurupooja for Palani across different places in Tamil
Nadu (M.N.Kandaswamy in Chennai, Udumalai T.Mayilswamy in Coimbatore,
etc.).
In Kerala Palani ‘s disciples are Mavelikara Krishnan
Kutty Nair and Mavelikara S. R. Raju. Palani always cared his deciples like his
own children and had a special care for Krishnankutty Nair. Mavelikara Raju
after retirement from All India Radio lives in Trivandrum and
teaches many students.
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