Trichirappalli Krishnasamy Ramamoorthy (15 May 1922 – 17 April 2013) was an Indian

Tamil music Music of Tamil Nadu has a long tradition and history going back thousands of years. Music is a very important aspect of marriage and temple festival Tamil people. Ancient music The tradition of Tamil music goes back to the earliest period o ...

composer and violinist. Ramamoorthy was known as ''Mellisai Mannar'' ( ta, மெல்லிசை மன்னர்; "The King of Light Music"), along with M. S. Viswanathan. His major works are in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, na ...

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...

and

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films. He and

M. S. Viswanathan Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan (24 June 1928 – 14 July 2015), also known as M.S.V., was an Indian music director, singer and actor who predominantly worked in Tamil film industry. He was popularly known as ''Mellisai Mannar''. He compose ...

, as the duo ''

Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy were an Indian music composing duo composed of M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy. They worked together on over 100 films, from 1952's '' Panam'' to 1965's '' Aayirathil Oruvan''. After their split, Ramamoorthy wo ...

'', composed musical scores for over 100 films in the South Indian film industry during the 1950s and 1960s. The duo parted amicably in 1965, but eventually rejoined in 1995 after 30 years for ''

Engirundho Vandhan ''Engirundho Vandhan'' () is a 1995 Tamil-language comedy film directed by Santhana Bharathi. The film stars Sathyaraj, Roja and Aamani, with Vijayakumar, Janagaraj, Kalyan Kumar, Vinu Chakravarthy, R. Sundarrajan, Bhanu Chander and Thyagu ...

''. At age 91, he died in a hospital in Chennai on 17 April 2013.TK Ramamurthy, noted music composer, passes away
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Early life

Tiruchirapalli Krishnaswamy Ramamoorthy was born in

Tiruchirapalli Tiruchirappalli () ( formerly Trichinopoly in English), also called Tiruchi or Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with bein ...

into a family that was musically inclined. Both his Parents Krishnasamy Pillai and Nagalakshmi and grandfather, Malaikkottai Govindaswamy Pillai, were well-known violinists in Tiruchirapalli. Ramamoorthy gave several stage performances along with his father in his childhood. When he was fourteen,

C. R. Subburaman C. R. Subbaraman also known as C. S. Ram (1916–1952) was a famous South Indian film music composer and producer. He was born to Ramasamy at Chintamani village in Thirunelveli, in present-day Tamil Nadu. Music director Shankar of Shankar–Gan ...

noted the young boy's talent and hired him as a violinist for HMV.

Career

In the 1940s, Ramamoorthy worked in Saraswathi stores where AVM Studio's boss,

Avichi Meiyappa Chettiar Avichi Meiyappa Chettiar (28 July 1907 – 12 August 1979), also known as A. V. Meiyappan, A. V. Meiyappa Chettiar or AVM, was an Indian film producer, director and philanthropist who established AVM Productions in Vadapalani, Chennai. He ...

, was a partner in the shop. This led him to play violin for AVM's music composer, R. Sudarsanam, in some films. During these days, he also became friends with P.S. Diwakar, the pianist and music composer in the Malayala films. By the late 1940s,

, who was a rising star in the South Indian film music world, used Ramamoorthy as one of his violinists in his musical troupe. There, he met violinist and composer

T. G. Lingappa Thiruchirappalli Govindarajulu Lingappa (22 August 1927 – 5 February 2000) was an Indian music director who worked predominantly in Kannada language films. He also worked in Tamil and Telugu movies. He was the son of G. Govindarajulu Naidu w ...

, as well as

in 1950, with whom he became a partner in later years.

Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy partnership

In 1952, C. R. Subburaman died unexpectedly, which led to Ramamoorthy and Viswanathan joining to complete the background music for the films Subburaman was working on. They were introduced by N. S. Krishnan, who knew them both fairly intimately and also their respective talents by then. T. K. Ramamoorthy, despite being an excellent musician with an orthodox Carnatic musical background, was a shy, modest and reserved person whereas M. S. Viswanathan was naturally talented, charming, forward and dynamic even if he lacked the similar background in Carnatic music. Ramamoorthy was older than Viswanathan by six years, but the placing of their names in ''Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy'' team was agreed upon by both parties on the advice of Krishnan, who thereafter got the duo their first chance to score Krishnan's 1953 film, ''Panam''. The duo composed for over 100 films during the '50s and '60s, revitalising Chennai film music. The duo parted in 1965 and since then, they had composed for films individually. Although M.S. Viswanathan enjoyed a successful solo career, with over 700 films from 1965 to 2013, Ramamoorthy composed for only 19 films from 1966 to 1986. He was awarded an honorary doctorate, along with

M.S. Viswanathan Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan (24 June 1928 – 14 July 2015), also known as M.S.V., was an Indian music director, singer and actor who predominantly worked in Tamil film industry. He was popularly known as ''Mellisai Mannar''. He compose ...

, by the

Sathyabama Deemed University Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology (SIST), formerly Sathyabama University, is a deemed to be university, situated at Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It was founded in 1987 as Sathyabama Engineering College by the late Jeppiaar and re ...

in September 2006. In addition,

J.Jayalalithaa Jayaram Jayalalithaa (24 February 1948 – 5 December 2016) was an Indian politician and actress who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for more than fourteen years over six terms between 1991 and 2016. From 9 February 1989 to 5 December ...

being the Chief Minister of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

, conferred the ''Thirai Isai Chakravarthy'' ( ta, திரை இசை சக்ரவர்த்தி; "Emperors of the Cine Music") title in August 2012 and presented it to him, along with 60 gold coins and a new car.

Death

Ramamoorthy died in a hospital in Chennai following a brief illness on 17 April 2013. He was 90.

Filmography

T.K.Ramamoorthy, in association with M.S.Viswanathan, composed music for over 100 films, starting with "Panam" in 1952 up till "Aayirathil Oruvan" in 1966, under the brand name 'Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy'. After their separation in 1966, T.K Ramamoorthy composed music for these films -

References

External links

Down melody lane...
from The Hindu, newspaper * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramamurthy, T K 1922 births 2013 deaths Musicians from Tiruchirappalli Tamil film score composers Tamil musicians Telugu film score composers 20th-century Indian musicians