S. Rajam (10 February 1919 – 29 January 2010) was a distinguished Indian Carnatic musician and painter from the state 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 languag ...

. He was a student of the Carnatic musician

Papanasam Sivan Paapanaasam Raamayya Sivan (26 September 1890 – 1 October 1973) was an Indian composer of Carnatic music and a singer. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1971. He was also a film score composer in Kannada cine ...

and the older brother of

Tamil film Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywo ...

director and musician S. Balachander and actress

S. Jayalakshmi Sundaram Jayalakshmi (25 July 1920 - 21 July 2007) was an Indian Tamil-language film actress and singer who played lead parts in movies of the 1930s and 1940s. Starting her film career with ''Seetha Kalyanam'' in 1934, she acted in about a doz ...

. Rajam made his Tamil film debut in the 1934 film '' Seetha Kalyanam''. He acted in a few more films in the lead role, before becoming a full-time musician - especially renowned for his singing - and painter. He worked as a staff artist and music supervisor at

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All ...

. He is known for his series of portraits of the

Trinity of Carnatic music The Trinity of Carnatic music, also known as The Three Jewels of Carnatic music, refer to the outstanding trio of composer-musicians of Carnatic music in the 18th century, being Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri. Prolific in composi ...

. He is also known for popularising Koteeswara Iyer's musical compositions. He was a member of 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 ...

Awards

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 recognit ...

(in 1991). * Sangita Kala Acharya By the Music Academy, Chennai. *

Sangeetha Kalasikhamani Sangeetha Kalasikhamani or Sangita Kalasikhamani (Sanskrit: saṅgītakalāśikhāmaṇi) (sangeetha = music, kala = art, sikhamaṇi = A gem of a diadem or crest) is the title awarded yearly to an expert Carnatic music Carnatic music, kno ...

2008 by The Indian Fine Arts Society, Chennai

Filmography

*'' Seetha Kalyanam'' (1934) *''Radha Kalyanam'' (1935) *'' Rukmini Kalyanam'' (1936) *''

Sivakavi ''Sivakavi'' is a 1943 Indian Tamil-language film directed, initially, by P. K. Raja Sandow and later, S. M. Sriramulu Naidu. It starred M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, S. Jayalakshmi, Serukalathur Sama, Thirupurambal, T. R. Rajakumari, N. S ...

'' (1943)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rajam, S. 1919 births 2010 deaths Male Carnatic singers Carnatic singers Indian male painters Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Indian Tamil people Tamil male actors 20th-century Indian male classical singers Male actors from Tamil Nadu Painters from Tamil Nadu Singers from Tamil Nadu