Nagapattinam Chandrashekharan Vasanthakokilam (1919 – 7 November 1951) was a Carnatic singer and actress. Her work included the performances of

kritis A ''kriti'' () is a form of musical composition in the Carnatic music literature. The Sanskrit common noun ''Kriti'' means 'creation' or 'work'. A kriti forms the mental backbone of any typical Carnatic music concert and is the longer format o ...

Tyagaraja Sadguru Tyagaraja Swami ( Telugu: సద్గురు త్యాగరాజ స్వామి; 4 May 1767 – 6 January 1847), also known as Tyagayya, and in full as Kakarla Tyagabrahmam ( Telugu: కాకర్ల త్యాగబ ...

and

Muthuswami Dikshitar Muthuswami Dikshitar (Mudduswamy Dikshitar) (, 24 March 1776 – 21 October 1835), mononymously Dikshitar, was a South Indian poet, singer, veena player, and a prolific composer of Indian classical music. He was the youngest member of what is re ...

and in the years after Indian independence, she helped popularise the famous mystic poet of Tamil Nadu, Kavi Yogi Maharishi Dr.

Shuddhananda Bharati Kavi Yogi Maharishi Dr. Shuddhananda Bharati (11 May 1897 – 7 March 1990) was an Indian philosopher and poet. His teachings are focused mainly on the search for God in Self, through the Sama Yoga practice he created. Biography Bha ...

's songs. She died of tuberculosis in 1951.

Early life

NCV was born as Kamakshi in

Irinjalakkuda Irinjalakuda is a municipal town in Thrissur district, Kerala, India. It is the headquarters of Irinjalakuda Revenue Division, Thrissur Rural Police and Mukundapuram Taluk. After Thrissur, this town has most number of administrative, law-en ...

Cochin State The kingdom of Cochin or the Cochin State, named after its capital in the city of Kochi (Cochin), was a kingdom in the central part of present-day Kerala state. It originated in the early part of the 12th century and continued to rule until ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

, the present

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

. Her family then shifted to

Nagapattinam Nagapattinam (''nākappaṭṭinam'', previously spelt Nagapatnam or Negapatam) is a town in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Nagapattinam district. The town came to prominence during the period of Medieval ...

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency or Madras Province, officially called the Presidency of Fort St. George until 1937, was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India and later the Dominion of India. At its greatest extent, the presidency i ...

(now

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

). Her father, Chandrashekhara Iyer sent her under the tutelage of Nagapattinam 'Jalra' Gopala Iyer, an accompanist in Harikatha performances. In 1936, the family moved to Madras, where she started giving concerts. She won the first prize in vocal music at the

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 ...

annual conference of 1938, which was presided over by

Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar (19 May 1890 – 23 January 1967), popularly known as ''Ariyakudi'', was a Carnatic music vocalist, born in Ariyakudi, a town in the present-day Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu. Ariyakudi developed a unique style of ...

and declared open by the Yuvaraja of Mysore.

Her Music

Her voice was melodious with perfect intonation, sruti, emotion, high-pitched and clear pronunciation of words. Her rendering of higher octaves and sruti were remarkably with effortless ease to bring off brigas. She sang plenty of Tamil songs. She was a regular performer at the festivals of the

Tamil Isai Sangam Isai Mandram is a music association started to promote pure form of ancient Tamil music popularly known as the tamizh Isai throughout Tamil Nadu. The current president of the association is Judge P.R.Gopalakrishnan. The main premises are located ...

in Madras and Nellai Sangeetha Sabha in

Thirunelveli Tirunelveli (), also known as Nellai and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of the Tirunelveli District. It is the fourth-largest municip ...

. She also performed for the Tyagaraja Aradhana each year between 1942 and 1951. NCV ranked among the top performers of the classical singer of that time and many records were released containing her classical and semi-classical songs. The famous

Carnatic music Carnatic music (known as or in the Dravidian languages) is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and southern Odisha. It is o ...

vocalist

Tiger Varadachariar Tiger Varadachariar (1876–1950) was a Carnatic music vocalist from what is now 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. Masilam ...

had bestowed upon her the title "Madhurageetha Vani". Some of her famous songs are: * yen paLLi koNdeer ayyaa * thanthai thaai irundhaal umakkindha * nitiraiyil vandhu nenjil idam * mahalakshmi jaganmatha * aanandha nadanam aadinAL * aasai koNdEn vaNdE * thithikkum senthamizhaal dEsaabhimaanam enum * andha naaL ini varumO * varuvaanO vanakkuyilE * aadu raattE * saarasa dala nayana * indha varam tharuvaan * needayarada

Film Songs

She also sang the following songs for the Tamil film industry, which became very popular. The Tamil film songs are : * pozhudhu pularnthadhu yAm seidha thavathAl * kuzhalOsai kEtkudhammA gOplakrishnan * thanthai thaai irundhaal umakkindha * nitthiraiyil vandhu nenjil idam

Acting career

Besides being a singer par excellence, NCV acted in movies. She started with Chandraguptha Chanakya (1940) playing the role of the princess Chaaya directed by C. K. Saachi in 1940. Followed by Venuganan (1940),

Gangavathar ''Gangavathar'' is a 1942 Indian Tamil-language Hindu mythological film directed by C. K. Sathasivam popularly known as C. K. Sachi and produced by Sundaram Sound Studio, Madras. The film starred N. C. Vasanthakokilam. The film was released o ...

(1942), Haridas (1944),

Valmiki Valmiki (; , ) was a legendary poet who is celebrated as the traditional author of the epic ''Ramayana'', based on the attribution in the text itself. He is revered as ''Ādi Kavi'', the first poet, author of ''Ramayana'', the first epic poe ...

(1946), Kundalakesi (1946) and Krishna Vijayam (1950). Today, not many of her Carnatic renditions are available as CDs or audio recordings and those which are available contain both cinema and Carnatic compositions, mostly from various concerts she had given in the past.

Personal life

Her personal life was an unhappy one. Her marriage had been a failure as her husband was not inclined to encourage her music pursuits. In later years, she found a life-partner in a lawyer turned film-maker, C. K. Sathasivan (known as C. K. Saachi) till her last days. She fell victim to a severe attack of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

, and died at the age of 32 on 7 November 1951, at her residence in Gopalapuram, a neighbourhood in present-day

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

References

* *
A SPRING IN MEMORY:THE VASANTHAKOKILAM CONNECTION Monday, 3 February 2014

External links

* - Song by NCV in the film

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vasanthakokilam, N. C. 1919 births 1951 deaths 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis 20th-century Indian singers 20th-century Indian women singers Carnatic singers Women Carnatic singers Film musicians from Kerala Indian women playback singers Malayalam playback singers People from Irinjalakuda Performers of Hindu music Singers from Kerala Tamil playback singers Tuberculosis deaths in India Women musicians from Kerala Musicians from British India