T. M. Thyagarajan () (28 May 1923 – 27 June 2007) fondly known as TMT was a Carnatic vocalist and musicologist from

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 ...

Southern India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

. He was awarded 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 ...

Sangeetha Kalanidhi Sangita Kalanidhi () is the title awarded annually to a Carnatic musician by the Madras Music Academy. From 1929 to 1941, the award did not exist. The award was conceived in 1942 by Academy President K. V. Krishnaswami Iyer and on 1 January 1 ...

in 1981.

Family background

He hails from an illustrious family in

Thanjavur Thanjavur (), also known as Thanjai, previously known as Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the 12th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of southern Indian religion, art ...

Thanjavur - sometimes written as Tanjore or Thanjavoor. famous for music and dance. His grandfather and great-grandfather were ''Asthana Vidwans'' in the BarodaBaroda Princely State; now called

Vadodara Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is a city situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district. The city is named for its abundance of banyan ...

. court. Even now members of this family are living in Vadodara with the family name ''Thanjavurkar''. Thiagarajan's father is Mahalingam Pillai, a

mridangam The ''mridangam'' is an ancient percussion instrument originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is the primary rhythmic accompaniment in a Carnatic music ensemble. In Dhrupad, a modified version, the pakhawaj, is the primary percussion in ...

maestro and his mother is Seethalakshmi Ammal.T. M. Thiagarajan
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Training in music

Thiagarajan started learning music from his father. Later, he became a disciple of

Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer Semmangudi Radhakrishna Srinivasa Iyer (25 July 1908 – 31 October 2003) was an Indian Carnatic vocalist. He was the youngest recipient of the Sangeetha Kalanidhi awarded by the Music Academy in 1947, a distinction he holds to this day a ...

and had advanced training under him. Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, speaking on the occasion of T. M. Thiagarajan's 80th birthday, said that it was mridangam maestro Thanjavur Vaidyanatha Iyer who sent Thiagarajan to him as a student.

Music programs

He performed his first stage concert at

Thiruvaiyaru Thiruvaiyaru (also spelled as Tiruvaiyaru or Tiruvayyaru) is a Municipality in Thanjavur District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Etymology Thiruvaiyaru means ''Five Rivers around the city''. The Five Rivers are Vadavaar, Vennaar, Vetta ...

when he was only eight years old. A senior artiste Pudukottai Dakshinamurthi Pillai, who accompanied him on mridangam was delighted with the boy's performance. At the end of the concert, Dakshinamurthi Pillai took the boy in his arms and blessed him. Thiagarajan has performed numerous concerts on

All India Radio All India Radio (AIR), also known as Akashvani (), is India's state-owned public broadcasting, public radio broadcaster. Founded in 1936, it operates under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broa ...

, various TV channels and on stage. In the early days he was accompanied on the mridangam either by his father or his brother Thambuswamy. Another brother Balasubramanian accompanied on the

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

. It was a family team. Both his brothers died in the same month.

As a musicologist

Thiagarajan was not only a singer; he was a lyricist, composer, teacher and administrator. He was Principal of the Government Music College in

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 ...

. After retirement from this post in 1981, he served as the Principal of the Music Teachers' college run by the Music Academy, Chennai. He composed music to rare kritis of lesser known composers like Chengalvaraya Sastri, Ramaswamy Sivan, Annayya, Periyasamy Thooran. He also composed music to Andal's Tiruppavai, Manaickavasagar's Thiruvembavai and published with notations.

Students

Rajalakshmi Sekar, Trichy Sisters, Mangalam Shankar, S. Prema and S. Jaya,

O. S. Thyagarajan Ombathuveli Subrahmanyam Thyagarajan (3 April 1947 – 31 December 2023) was an Indian carnatic musician based in Chennai. Biography Born on 3 April 1947, he was the son and disciple of Sangeetha Booshanam O.V.Subrahmanyam. He learnt music f ...

, Sridhar Nilakantan, Gowri Gokul, Lakshmi Rangarajan, Kuzhikkarai Viswalingam, S. Seetharaman, E. Gayatri, M. Narmada, Raji Gopalakrishnan, Nirmala Sunderarajan, Subhashini Parthasarathy and Radha Namboodiri are some of the torch bearers of the TMT tradition.

Awards and honours

, 1981 by Music Academy Chennai *

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (IAST: 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 ...

, 1982 by

Sangeet Natak Academy Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in English language, English) is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India. It is an autonomous body of the Ministry of Culture (India) ...

Sangeetha Choodamani Sangeetha Choodamani () is an award bestowed on selected carnatic musicians by Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai (India) every year. The Sabha conducts a music festival called '' Gokulashtami Sangeetha Utsavam'' for 60 days during August - October ...

, 1974 by Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai * New raga Thyagaraja Mangalam created and named after T. M. Thiagarajan by Mahesh Mahadev in 2021

Death

After a prolonged illness T. M. Thiagarajan died on 27 June 2007 in Chennai.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thiagarajan, T. M. Male Carnatic singers Carnatic singers Tamil singers Sangeetha Kalanidhi recipients Sangeet Natak Akademi 1923 births 2007 deaths 20th-century Indian male classical singers Singers from Tamil Nadu People from Thanjavur Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award