Ustad Mushtaq Hussain Khan with Three Distinguished Indian Musicians

Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer (1888 - 1958) was noted

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 ...

n classical musician and

Veena The ''veena'', also spelled ''vina'' ( sa, वीणा IAST: vīṇā), comprises various chordophone instruments from the Indian subcontinent. Ancient musical instruments evolved into many variations, such as lutes, zithers and arched harps ...

player. In 1952, he was amongst the first awardees of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship the highest honour conferred by

Sangeet Natak Akademi Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in English) is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India. History It was set up by the Indian education ministry on 31 May 1952 and b ...

, India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama.

Early life

Sambasiva Iyer was born in 1888 in Tirugokarnam, Pudukottai district as the second son to Veena Vidwan Subbiah Iyer. Sambasiva Iyer learnt Veena from his father along with his elder brother Subbarama Iyer. The duo belonged to the seventh generation to carry the family's high unbroken Veena tradition. The two brothers played together as "Karaikudi brothers" and enjoyed an unbroken career from their debut in their teens to the year 1934. Sambasiva Iyer was known for his tremendous hard work or "Asura Sadhaka". His mastery over the instrument was perfect and he constantly toiled to preserve the purity of knowledge he obtained from his ancestors. Sambasiva Iyer did not have any issue himself. However, as he lived in patriarchal society, he found it necessary to pass on the family legacy through a male member of the family. In 1957, he adopted Karaikudi S. Subramanian, who was the son of Subbarama Iyer's 3rd daughter Lakshmi Ammal.

Career

He taught and lived at

Kalakshetra Kalakshetra Foundation, formerly simply Kalakshetra, is an arts and cultural academy dedicated to the preservation of traditional values in Indian art and crafts, especially in the field of Bharatanatyam dance and Gandharvaveda music. Based in ...

, a noted arts institution in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Tamil Nadu, the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and territories of India, Indian state. The largest city ...

. He was awarded the first

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Sangeet Natak Akademi Award ( IPA: Saṅgīta Nāṭaka Akādamī Puraskāra), also known as the Akademi Puraskar, is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. It is the highest Indian recogni ...

for Veena in 1952, given by the

, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. Also in the same year, he was awarded the

Sangita Kalanidhi Sangeetha Kalanidhi or Sangeeta Kalanidhi (Tamil: சங்கீத கலாநிதி, Sanskrit : संगीत-कला-निधि) (''sangeetha'' = music, ''kala'' = art, ''nidhi'' = treasure or ocean) is the title awarded yearly to ...

Award, one of the highest awards in Carnatic music, given by

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 ...

. He died in 1958. Amongst his noted disciples are Kalaimamani and President's award winner (late)

Ranganayaki Rajagopalan Ranganayaki Rajagopalan (3 May 1932 – 20 September 2018) was an award-winning veena instrumentalist, recipient of the Kalaimamani and winner of a Presidential Award for Carnatic Instrumental Music. Early life and background Ranganayaki c ...

, Rajeshwari Padmanabhan, Jayalakshmi Sugumar and Karaikudi Subramhanian. Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer is not to be confused with his namesake musician Padinaindumandapa Sambasiva Iyer. PSI was much older, and guru to two recipients of Sangeet Kalanidhi award :

Muthiah Bhagavatar Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar (15 November 1877 – 30 June 1945), commonly known as Muthiah Bhagavatar, is one of Carnatic classical music's famous twentieth-century composers. He also created about 20 ''ragas''. Early life Muthiah was bor ...

, and his (PSI's) son Sabhesha (सभेश) Iyer.

Bibliography

References

External links

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Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer Profile picture

Conducting Veena class at Kalakshetra, Chennai
1888 births 1958 deaths Saraswati veena players Tamil musicians Indian music educators People from Sivaganga district Sangeetha Kalanidhi recipients Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship 20th-century Indian musicians {{Carnatic-music-stub

Early life

Career

See also

Bibliography

References

External links