Madras Music Academy is one of the earliest established music academies in

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union terr ...

. 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 commonly referred to as) Music Academy () It plays an important role in encouraging and promoting primarily the

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 ...

Indian art form. It played a vital role in the revival of the Indian classical dance form of

Bharatnatyam 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 ...

in the 1930s when it faced near extinction due to a negative connotation caused by conservative societal standards. They also run a music school called the Teachers college of Carnatic Music which has many eminent musicians on its faculty. Musicians such as

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 ...

, Appa Iyer, Valadi Krishnaiyer and

Mudicondan Venkatarama Iyer Mudikondan Venkatarama Iyer (Tamil: முடிகொண்டான் வெங்கடராம ஐயர் 15 October 1897 – 13 September 1975) was a South Indian Carnatic music singer and musicologist. He was also known as Mudikondan ( ...

adorned the chair of Principal of the Teacher's College.

History

In 1927, the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

held the All India Music Conference in Madras. At the end of the conference it was decided that an organisation be formed that helped the cause of music. The prime reason for this conference was

E. Krishna Iyer E. Krishna Iyer (9 August 1897 – January 1968) was an Indian lawyer, freedom-fighter, classical artist and activist. He was the follower of traditional Isaivellalar practitioners of Sadir, also known as Bharatanatyam. Early life Krishna I ...

who had played a vital role in reviving the south Indian dance art form—

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 ...

. The academy was formally inaugurated on 18 August 1928 by

C. P. Ramaswami Iyer Sir Chetput Pattabhiraman Ramaswami Iyer (12 November 1879 – 26 September 1966), popularly known as Sir C. P., was an Indian lawyer, administrator and politician who served as the Advocate-General of Madras Presidency from 1920 to 1923, Law ...

, in the Y.M.I.A. Auditorium before a large and distinguished gathering. Annual music conferences are held every December to collect all information regarding music, maintain the library and publish a journal. They also help to bring to public notice aspiring musicians and scholars by conducting competitions and other presentations. For a decade, E. Krishna Iyer worked as the

Secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a ...

of the Madras Music Academy. The first Music Festival was held in December 1927 which is before the inauguration of the Music Academy. Since then, it had become a part of the Madras Music Academy's Activities to conduct several expositions and concerts on Carnatic Music every December. This later came to be popularly known as the ''Margazhi Season'' or is even referred to as the '' Music Season'' amongst Carnatic enthusiasts. This soon became the norm for all sabhas in Madras to conduct several

concert A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide var ...

s each day during the season. There were several sabhas before the formation of the Music Academy like the

Parthasarathy Swami Sabha Parthasarathy Swami Sabha is a Carnatic music Sabha in the city of Chennai, India. It is one of the oldest of its kind in existence. Sabha has instituted three awards annually namely, Sangeetha Kalasarathy for a Musician, Natya Kalasarathy for a ...

Triplicane Triplicane, known in the vernacular as Thiruvallikeni, is one of the oldest neighbourhoods of Chennai, India. It is situated on the Bay of Bengal coast and about from Fort St George. The average elevation of the neighbourhood is 14 metres ...

which was formed as early as 1900. However, it was the Madras Music Academy that set the trend of conducting the music festival during December. Dr

U. Rama Rao Udipi Rama Rau or U. Rama Rau (17 September 1874 - 12 May 1952) was an Indian politician from the Madras Presidency. He belonged to the Indian National Congress. He was a medical doctor by profession and was the founder of a medical journal calle ...

was the founder President of the academy and Basheer Ahmed Sayeed, the founder vice-president. The present President is N. Murali. The six past presidents are: Rama Rao, K. V. Krishnaswamy Iyer, T. L. Venkatarama Iyer, T. S. Rajam, K. R. Sundaram Iyer, and T. T. Vasu.Past Presidents
/ref> Before the present building (T. T. Krishnamachari Auditorium) was constructed, the annual conferences and programmes were held in various locations around the city.

The building

During the first few years, the academy conducted its activities provisionally in George Town and later moved to

Mylapore Mylapore, also spelt Mayilapur, is a neighbourhood in the central part of the city of Chennai, India. It is one of the oldest residential parts of the city. It is also called Tirumayilai. The locality is claimed to be the birthplace of the cel ...

. In 1955,

Pandit A Pandit ( sa, पण्डित, paṇḍit; hi, पंडित; also spelled Pundit, pronounced ; abbreviated Pt.) is a man with specialised knowledge or a teacher of any field of knowledge whether it is shashtra (Holy Books) or shastra (Wea ...

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian Anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India du ...

laid the

foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

stone for the music academy building that exists today on TTK Road in Mylapore. It was inaugurated on 20 December 1962 by

Maharaja Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king". A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, a ...

Jayachamaraja Wodeyar Bahadur, the then

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of Madras. There are two buildings for the Music Academy: # The T.T. Krishnamachari Hall # The Kasturi Srinivasan Hall The T.T. Krishnamachari Hall is the first building that was built in 1955. It has a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile tha ...

of 1600. The Kasturi Srinivasan Hall was built in 1982. It houses a small

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theatres, the number of auditoria (or auditoriums) is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoria can be found in entertainment venues, communit ...

for conferences and concerts, a library, a

committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

room and a recording and demonstration room. It was here that

T. N. Rajarathnam Pillai Thirumarugal Natesapillai Rajarathinam Pillai (27 August 1898 – 12 December 1956) or TNR was an Indian Carnatic musician, nadaswaram ''maestro'', vocalist and film actor. He was popularly known as "Nadaswara Chakravarthi" (literally, the Emperor ...

's tapes and audio CDs were produced. Kasturi Srinivasan's nephew's son, N. Murali, the Joint Managing Director of

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the sec ...

, is the current President of the academy.

Awards, recognition and contributions

*''

Sangeetha 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 ...

'': The Music Academy, since 1929 has been recognising and rewarding people who contributed to the field of Carnatic music by honouring them with the title ''Sangeetha Kalanidhi''. In 1968, M.S. Subbulakshmi was the first woman to receive the Sangeetha Kalanidhi award from Madras Music Academy. *'' Sangeetha Kala Acharya'': It was later in 1993 that the academy also started giving out the ''Sangeetha Kala Acharya'' title. It is awarded to 2 or 3 senior musicians every year. *''Natya Kala Acharya'': Since 2012, the academy has been recognising dancers with the ''Natya Kala Acharya'' title. A separate Dance conference is held in the first week of January. This award is now renamed as ''Nrithya Kalanidhi''. *''Vaggeyyakkara Award'' *''Musicologist Award'' *''Spirit of Youth-festival of Dance and Music'': During the October of every year nearly 40 young artists are projected by the academy for their Classical Music and Dance talent. *''Special TTK Award'' *''Special Life Time Achievement award'': This award has been conferred on only 3 people: ** Kamala Lakshminarayan **

Lalgudi Jayaraman Lalgudi Gopala Iyer Jayaraman (17 September 1930 – 22 April 2013) was an Indian Carnatic violinist, vocalist and composer. He is commonly grouped with M.S. Gopalakrishnan and T.N.Krishnan as part of the violin-trinity of Carnatic Mus ...

** TH Vinayakram *''Best Artiste Award'' *''Music Welfare'' **''R.R.Talent Promotion Scheme'': Two talented artists are selected by the academy and are sponsored for coaching under an eminent musician chosen by the academy. At the end of the training period the artists get to perform in the academy. **Teacher's College of Music is a school run by the academy for offering certified courses on

Vocal The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production ...

Violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

and

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 th ...

. *Books: The academy conducts research on Music and publishes their findings. Some of the academy's publications: **''The Ragas of Sangita Saramrta'', a book written by King Tulaja I. **''Lakshana Gitas'' **''Raga Lakshanas''

Library

Music Academy received a donation of Rs. 1,00,000 from S. Visvanathan in memory of K. R. Sundaram Iyer for the improvement of library activities. The library is now named as K. R. Sundaram Iyer Memorial Library. It has rare books, manuscripts and tape recordings of the proceedings of the Expert Committee sessions. The students of the Teacher's College of Music, members, music students and research scholars. Books on both music and other general subjects donated by the families of P. Sambamoorthy, Sangita Vidvan K. C. Thyagarajan, V. Raghavan, Venkatakrishnan, S. R. Janakiraman and other individuals.

References

External links