Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer
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Dr. Srinivasa Iyer (1908 - 2003) was one of the great Carnatic vocalists of the twentieth century. He was the youngest recipient of the Sangeetha Kalanidhi awarded by the Music Academy in 1947, has received many awards including Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan from the government of India. He is also known as the "Pitamaha" or the grand old man of Carnatic Music.
He was born on July 25, 1908 in Semmangudi, Thanjavur District as the third son of Radhakrishna Iyer and Dharmasamvardhini Ammal. At the age of eight he started learning music from Narayanaswamy Iyer. In 1926, he performed his first music recital at Kumbakonam. He was known for producing soulful music, highly creative and yet very orthodox, despite a recalcitrant voice. He was instrumental, along with Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar, for popularising and perfecting many krithis of Swathi Tirunal. His singing style has been widely followed and his prominent disciples include at least three Sangeetha Kalanidhis, M.S. Subbulakshmi, T.M. Thyagarajan and Prof. T.N. Krishnan.
He was the one who popularised rare ragas among people. See also: Carnatic music