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Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar (Malayalam ചെമ്ബൈ വൈദ്യനാഥ ഭാഗവതര്‍) was an Indian Carnatic music singer from the state of Kerala. Popularly known by his village name Chembai, or simply as Bhagavatar, he was born to Anantha Bhagavatar and Parvati Ammal in 1895. Chembai was noted for his powerful voice and majestic style of singing. His first public performance was in 1904, when he was nine. He was a recipient of several titles and honours in his long career of 70 years. His encouragement of youngsters in performing arts is well known, as was his ability to spot new talent. He was responsible for popularizing compositions like Rakshamam, Pavana Guru, Vathapi Ganapathim, Ksheera Sagara, Raghuvara, among others. Noted music critic 'Aeolus' describes him as "the musician who has meant the most to Carnatic Music in the first fifty years of the 20th century" Some of his disciples who gained popularity include Yesudas, T.V.Gopalakrishnan, V.V.Subramaniam, P.Leela, among others. Memorial music festivals are held in his honour annually since his death in 1974.

Early Life

The family's tryst with classical music had spanned about five centuries. Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar's great-grandfather Subbier, had been the recipient of the title "Ghana Chakratanam" from a local Maharaja indicating his mastery of a special style of singing tanam. Subbier's grandson Anantha Bhagavatar was a talented vocalist and violinist. Chembai learnt music from his own father, from his third year, in the customary guru-sishya tradition, as a part of overall Vedic learning.

Arangetram & First Paid Concerts (1904)
He had his arangetram or debut, a concert of two hours' duration, when he performed together with his brother Subramanian in 1904. The brothers had their first paid concert in 1905 at a temple festival in a town called Ottapalam in the Palakkad district of Kerala. A little later, there was another noteworthy concert at Kantallur Parthasarathy Temple. Anantha Bhagavatar himself provided the violin accompaniment, while mridanga support was given by well-known stage actor Chokkanathapuram Ayya Bhagavatar.

Vaikom & Guruvayur Performances (1907)
One of the landmarks in the early career of the brothers was their concert at the temple festival in Vaikom, renowned for the annual musical feast it provided. At this concert in 1907, the father again provided violin support. Chembai thereafter made it a practice to sing at the Vaikom festival every year. After the Vaikom concert, Anantha Bhagavatar took the boys to Guruvayur, another important temple town where again they had a successful concert. Guruvayur too became a regular part of the Chembai's concert programme every year. Thus Vaidyanathan and Subrahmaniam imbibed from an early age not only the knowledge of music that their father had but also the tradition of a religious life which had marked the family for generations.

A year with Kaliakudi Natesa Sastry (1909)
When Kaliakudi Natesa Sastry of Tiruvarur, an exponent of the art of Harikatha (musical discourse), came to Chembai village, Anantha Bhagavatar and his family attended the programmes, leading to the boys joining Sastry's troupe. Their concert in Tiruvarur (in the Tanjavur district) at a guru pooja festival at which Natesa Sastrigal gave a discourse was especially notable, because it was at this concert that the boys were heard for the first time by Pudukkottai Dakshinamurthy Pillai, a famed exponent of the mridangam and kanjira. During their sojourn with Natesa Sastrigal, they had not only been singing at various places, they had also taken every possible opportunity of listening to famous musicians whenever they performed, such as Namakkal Narasimha lyengar, Kallidaikurichi Vedanta Bhagavatar, Ramanathapuram Srinivasa lyengar, Konerirajapuram Vaidyanatha lyer, Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar, Madurai Pushpavanam, Tirukodikaval Krishna lyer, Malaikkottai Govindaswamy Pillai and Pudukkottai Dakshinamurthy Pillai. This learning by listening was a valuable facet of the brothers' training. After about a year's absence, the brothers returned to Chembai in 1910 as experienced musicians.

Accolades from Palghat Anantharama Bhagavatar (1911)
The quality of the musicianship of the brothers was testified to by Palghat Anantharama Bhagavatar who was present at a concert in Sekharipuram in 1911. Particularly complimenting Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar's voice, he predicted a bright future for him. When he was 16, Chembai took on the role of teacher, in order to help out his father.

Violin and Flute training (1912)
Chembai also started learning to play the violin, something with which he was already familiar, his father being also a violinist. He attained some proficiency, enough to be able to accompany singers (which helped him when he was to lose his voice in 1952). For about a year he in fact accompanied flautist Anantha Bhagavatar, who was his sister Narayani's husband.

He was also interested in the flute and learnt to play it well enough to perform a few concerts on this instrument.

Ascent in the world of music

Karur Concert (1913)

A patron of the arts and artists named Pethachi Chettiar lived in Karur (near Trichy). He used to conduct a festival featuring music concerts by the leading musical lights of the day. The arrangements of this music test were the responsibility of the celebrated musician and vaggeyakara Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar. Chembai wanted to attend this music festival and he and his brother proceeded to Karur. He met Muthiah Bhagavatar and expressed his desire to perform in the festival. Muthiah Bhagavatar had told him that the performance schedules were prepared in advance and could not be altered. Chembai was keenly disappointed, but destiny took a hand. The violin accompanist for a jalatarangam concert failed to arrive. Chembai persuaded the artist to avail of his own services and she agreed. The concert turned out well and, as was customary, Chembai was handed over his payment for the part he had played. He, however, expressed a wish not to be paid in cash, saying that he had actually wanted only to sing. He explained he was building up a career as a vocalist, though he also knew how to play the violin; and that he would prize a different kind of payment, that of a chance to sing before such a distinguished audience. Muthiah Bhagavatar and Pethachi Chettiar were persuaded by this reasoning and promised Chembai the stage for the following day, where he performed to the appreciation of all.

Pondicherry Concert (1915)
He received an invitation to sing at a wedding in the family of one Jnanaprakasa Mudaliar in Pondicherry. Until then the brothers had given full-fledged concerts mostly in and around Chembai. True, they had been to several places with Natesa Sastrigal and sung at his discourses, but these mini-concerts were more in the nature of interludes, of subsidiary performances. The performance in Pondicherry made Chembai known over a wider area leading later to more concert opportunities.

Ernakulam Concert (1915)
Chembai secured a similar opportunity of significance again in 1915. A leading citizen of Ernakulam, named T.A.Duraiswami lyer was conducting an annual Tyagaraja festival which attracted important performers of the day and a throng of listeners. It was considered a privilege to sing at the festival. Chembai went to Ernakulam and requested Duraiswami lyer a chance for him also to sing. Duraiswami lyer agreed. As customary at such festivals, Chembai sang for the limited time allotted to him and was about to get up, when there was a chorus of requests for one more number and he had to oblige! Here he had forged a friendship with T.G.Krishna Iyer (nephew of Duraiswami Iyer) whose compositions he was to set to classical music, and popularize later.

Thiruvavaduthurai Concert (1915)
Chembai had heard about 'Sreelasree' Ambalavana Desikar (pontiff of the Tiruvavaduturai matha) and his discriminating knowledge of music. He wanted to have a chance to sing before him and proceeded to Tiruvavaduturai with his brother. At Desikar's suggestion, Chembai rendered in viruttam form the verse 'Kanduka madakkariyai vasamai nadattalam'. Desikar went on prompting Chembai about the ragas he should sing and the youngster responded enthusiastically. Impressed by the performance, Desikar ordered that a katcheri (concert) by Chembai be held the next day. A highlight of the concert was that the mridanga accompaniment was provided by the famous Azhagianambi Pillai.

Palakkad Ramanavami Concert (1916)
Another significant event in Chembai's early career was his concert at the Ramanavami festival in Palakkad in 1916. Among those who attended the concert was Pudukkotai Dakshinamurthy Pillai. After the festival, Pillai returned to Trichy to meet the violin maestro Govindaswamy Pillai and told him of the calibre of Chembai's music. They made arrangements for a kutcheri by Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar in Trichy. Govindaswamy Pillai himself provided the violin accompaniment while Dakshinamurthy Pillai played the mridanga. The concert met Govindaswamy Pillai's expectations and Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar had the opportunity to sing at various other places, with the two Pillais themselves playing the accompaniment in most of the concerts. First concert in Madras (1918)
Chembai's first concert in Madras was in 1918, at the Triplcane Sangeeta Sabha. Rasikas who had heard about the young vidwan were keenly looking forward to the event and the sale of tickets was very brisk. As the concert was about to begin, the hall was filled to capacity, with a large number restless listeners not able to gain entrance. This rose to a clamour as the concert started and the organisers had finally to keep the entrance doors open to pacify everyone. The concert, featuring as sidemen Govindaswamy Pillai on the violin, Azhagunambi Pillai on the mridanga and Dakshinamurthy Pillai on the kanjira, was an impressive effort.

First concert with Chowdiah and Palghat Mani Iyer (1924)

T.Chowdiah, was a violinist who invented the seven-stringed violin and became a very popular exponent in it. Chembai met him in 1924 at the house of a common friend, and became good friends. Chembai had been discussing about music avidly with him at their first meeting when it developed into a musical challenge between them, at the end of which both recognized the other's proficiency. Chembai performed with Chowdiah in the Jagannatha Bhakta Sabha. It was in this concert that Chembai had introduced young Palghat Mani Iyer (who was to become the most famous mridangist) to a discerning audience. At a similar concert in 1926, he had also introduced Palani Subramaniam Pillai, disciple of Pudukottai Dakshinamurthi Pillai.

Founding the Madras Music Academy (1927)

The annual meeting of the Indian National Congress was held in a different city every year. In 1927, it was held in Madras. Music concerts were arranged in the sidelines of the meeting, where it was decided that an institution to promote classical music in south India should be started in Madras. Thus the Madras Music Academy was born, and Chembai was one of the singers who were invited to give the inagural concerts.

Release of recordings

Between 1932 and 1946, Chembai's music was captured on several phonograph discs. Those were the days before the advent of the microphone in concerts and a singer was entirely dependent on the timbre and reach of his voice for a successful concert. Chembai was uniquely blessed in this respect, for his voice which had great depth, was a special attraction.

Settling down in Madras & Lalita Dasar Kritis (1945)
Chembai had an old friend called T.G.Krishna Iyer in Tripunithura, who had by this time settled in Madras and offered a house to Chembai on Palace Road near Santhome, in a locality called 'Lalita Nagar' he had himself developed. He had composed some 155 kritis in Telugu, Tamil and Sanskrit under the mudra 'Lalita dasar' and requested Chembai to set them to music and popularise them. Chembai gladly accepted the invitation and set the kritis to classical music, and got them published under the name Lalita Dasar Keertanaigal. He made it a practise to sing these kritis in most of his concerts. The kriti Pavana Guru in the raga Hamsanandi is one that is now famous. He also released a record containing selected kritis from Lalita Dasar's kritis like Evariki Telusunamma (Dhanyasi), Ennil Kaninda (Shankarabharanam), Pavana Guru (Hamsanandi), Varijadala Lochani (Arabhi), among others.

Loss and regain of Voice

In 1952, Chembai was singing in a concert at the temple town of Suchindram. In the middle of the concert, his voice chords snapped and he could not sing thereafter. The concert ended in confusion. Here is an account (in his own words) of how his faith in God had brought back his voice:

On January 7, 1952, I was giving a concert at holy Suchindram. An hour had elapsed and I was at the peak of my performance. All of a sudden, my vocal chords got stuck up, as it were, and my voiced totally failed me. The concert broke up in confrusion. Many rushed up to the dais to render help. Doctors tried their best with pills and potions but to no avail.

I went through life without any hope and no ray of hope seemed to come anywhere. In this state of desperation, in 1954, on the great Ekadasi Day in Guruvayoor, I stood before the Lord and wrung out my heart to Him. I could not give vocal utrterance to my anguish. Memories of the glorious days when I had sung His praises surged forward.

O Lord, I cried out, will Thou not let me sing Thy praises? Will Thou let my heart break, for without this outward expression of my heart's agony, I can hardly live? Hadst Thou in the past not given the gift of speech to the great Muka Kavi? Had he not sung Thy praises in enchanting Sanskrit verses known so well as the Muka Panchasati Stotras?

In my agony and mute supplication to the Lord, I had not noticed a Numbudiri standing at a distance of some fifty feet from me. He divined my trouble and came to me. He had evidently heard my inarticulate prayer. He promised to rid me of my trouble, Guruvayoorappan willing.

The Lord had sent his minister to help me and I regained my voice. In keeping with my promise I have since then been singing the praises of Bhagavan. Every year, I have the 'Udayastamana' puja performed at the temple fo Guruvayoor and the sum of Rs. 5,000 need for it comes from the concerts that Guruvayoorappan himself arranged.

Performing ability and style

He could do a niraval and swaraprastara from any given point (a fact which is attested by his disciples), which bespoke of mental alertness from the word "go", in a concert. His abiding sympathy for his accompanists and disciples was noteworthy and he would go to any length to encourage them by giving them full scope to develop and display their talent. His closed left fist gently swaying up and down, the joy of pure nada when he held on to single notes, his very own "kathri" swaras (lit. "split" swaras) , his great stamina, his great sense of humour, his closed mouth singing of ragas etc., endeared him to connoisseurs and critics alike.

Chembai's music had a direct appeal to his listeners. According to Mr. B.V.K.Sastri, musicologist, "The deep solid tone seeming to illuminate such model figure in his singing and the joy of the pure nada when he held on to single notes are something not easily forgotten." To Chembai, the main factors that contributed to the development of a musical personality were the intuition of the musician, his sound knowledge of ragas and swaras and firm control of śruti and laya and the capacity to evolve an individual style of expression suited to one's voice and aptitude and ideas distilled through the variegated experience behind him.

Disciples

He was above caste and communal prejudices ruling the roost in contemporary music world, especially in his relation with his disciples, allowing any aspiring and talented youngster to learn from him. His disciples and others who consider him their guru, include noted musicians like L. Subramaniam, Guruvayur Dorai, M.S.Gopalakrishnan, T.N.Krishnan, Palghat Mani Iyer, Palani Subramaniam Pillai, P.Leela, Coimbatore Mani Bhagavatar, Trivandrum Mani Bhagavatar, Poomullimana Raman Namboodiri, O.M.Vasudevan, Njeralath Rama Pothuval, T.V.Gopalakrishnan, V.V.Subramanian, L. Shankar, V.V.Ravi, K.J.Yesudas among others.

Awards and Honours

Sangeetha Samrat (1935)
The people of Trichy held Chembai in special esteem. In 1935, when he was invited to perform there, they had decided to honour him with a title, under the leadership of Kalki Krishnamurthy. Swami Sivananda who was then camping at Trichy, was invited to honour Chembai and bestow the title of Sangeeta Samrat (Emperor of Music) on him.

Honours from Mysore Maharaja (1937)
Chembai visited Mysore at the invitation of Krishnarajendra Wodeyar, its then Maharaja, and gave a command performance there. But he declined another invitation that followed, to serve as an asthana vidwan of the Mysore Royal Court, since he felt he would not be able to stay in Mysore for the entire duration of Navaratri since he was conducting an annual Navaratri music festival in his own village (Chembai). Far from being offended, the Maharaja appreciated his sense of priorities, and rewarded him for his sincerety.

Gayana Gandharva (1940)
His popular recognition found further expression in 1940 when his old friend T.D.Narayana lyer, about to retire as a senior postal official, arranged a function to raise funds for the War effort and for activities promoting the welfare of the employees of the postal department. He decided to invite Chembai to give a performance on the occasion and to honour the Bhagavatar. Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar presided over the function, of which the highlight was the awarding of the title of Gayana Gandharva ("musician among musicians") to Chembai.

Sangeetha Kalanidhi (1951)

The recognition most coveted by Carnatic musicians, is the invitation to preside over the annual conference of the Music Academy of Madras. The title of Sangeetha Kalanidhi goes to the person presiding over the conference.

Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar received the invitation and the title in 1951. Chembai accepted it graciously though others who belonged to his era, like Musiri Subramania lyer, Maharajapuram Viswanatha lyer and Semmangudi Srinivasa lyer had been given the title much before him.

In his presidential address, he said:

Music has an individual, innate beauty, different from other fine arts. Originating in the air, it dissolves into the air, giving 'Nirgunabrahmam' - which fills all space - the form of 'Nada brahmam'. Practice of music is, therefore, worship of `Nirgunabrahmam', and sangita is a yoga by itself. ... I have no doubt that the art and practice of Carnatic music will flourish and grow with good cooperation between vidwans and rasikas.

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1958)
Chembai received the 'Sangeet Natak Akademi Award' in 1958, from the President of India Dr. S.Radhakrishnan, at Delhi before an invited audience of eminent Hindustani and Carnatic musicians and rasikas. This was a national recognition for his fame. He had come to be called the Bade Ghulam Ali Khan of South India.

Suvarna Mudra

The Suvarna Mudra (gold medal) was awarded by Kerala Kalamandalam (an well-known institution of arts) to Chembai in recognition of his fame as the best known Indian musician from Kerala. His eminence is guaged by the fact that he had remained the first and only recipient of this honour.

Padma Bhushan (1973)
The Padma Bhushan is a national award bestowed by the President of India on select musicians and other eminent people. Chembai was selected to receive the award in 1973 from the then president V. V. Giri. He was one of its early awardees in the field of music.

Honours from other princely states
Honours were also bestowed on him by the rulers of Cochin, Mysore, Baroda, Vijayanagaram, Bobbili and Jaipur.

Stamp Release (1996)
The Department of Posts, Govt of India has released a special issue stamp on Chembai's birth centenary year (1996) as a national recognition in his honour.

Chembai Memorial Govt. Music College
The Kerala Govt named a music college after Chembai to honour him. This college celebrates its golden jubilee in 2007.

Death

He performed his last concert on 16 October 1974, at a temple in Ottapalam, which had been the venue of his first concert. He had finished his concert with his favourite song "Karunai Cheivan Endu Thamasam Krishna" (Why is there so much delay in conferring your bliss, Krishna?) and passed away shortly thereafter. Even after his demise, Chembai continues to inspire many musicians who participate in his memorial concerts.

Music Festivals

At Chembai village
Chembai had been conducting a music festival in his native village right from 1924 onwards. This is now continued by his disciples and others in his memory. The concerts are called Chembai Smaraka Concerts and held annually in February-March in the same village.

At Trivandrum
Another memorial music festival is conducted by Chembai Memorial Trust at Trivandrum in his honour in September every year.

At Guruvayur

Chembai had also been conducting a Sangeetholsavam (Music Festival) on Guruvayur Ekadasi Day (mid November) at Guruvayur every year. This festival, now called Chembai Sangeetholsavam in his honour, is now being conducted officially by the Guruvayur temple Devaswom Board.

Discography

The following is a list of the recordings of Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar available in the market.

Live Concert 1
Title: Sri Chembai Vaidyanatha Bagavathar - Live Concert 1
Accompanists: Lalgudi Jayaraman (Violin), Palani Subramaniam Pillai (Mridangam), Alangudi Ramachandran (Ghatam)
Release Date: January 1, 1987
Label: Inreco

Classical Live Concert
Title: Sri Chembai Vaidyanatha Bagavathar - Classical Live Concert
Label: Inreco

Live Concert
Title: Sri Chembai Vaidyanatha Bagavathar - Live Concert
Label: Gitaa

See Also

• Carnatic Music
• List of Carnatic singers
• Indian Classical Music
• Hindustani Music

Notes

1. ^ Chembai Selvam - Biography of Chembai written by LRV, 1954 (pg 28) Cite error: The named reference "cs" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
2. ^ Calutta K.S. Krishnamurthi, 'Sruti' Issue 98 Nov 1992 Cite error: The named reference "sruti" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
3. ^ http://www.musicalnirvana.com/carnatic/chembai.html
4. http://www.carnatica.net/artiste/chembai.htm
5. Aeolus, Shankar's Weekly (Journal), Dec 12, 1963
6. ^ Chembai Memorial Govt. Music College Cite error: The named reference "cmc" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
7. http://www.geocities.com/~maniiyer/biography/mahadevan.htm
8. http://www.geocities.com/~maniiyer/impressions/babusir.htm
9. http://guruvayoorappanvizag.20m.com/catalog.html
10. ^ http://taal.20m.com/chembai.html
11. http://www.carnatic.com/www/index.php?why=carnatic-people-musician
12. ^ http://chembaivaithi.tripod.com/cvb1.htm
13. http://www.keralahistory.ac.in/socialhistoryofmusic.htm
14. The Hindu dated 22 Dec 1951.
15. Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
16. http://www.cyberkerala.com/kathakali/artists/embranthiri.htm
17. Chembai Stamp Released
18. ^ http://www.guruvayurdevaswom.org/chembai.shtml

References

• Sarma, L.R.Viswanatha (1954), 'Chembai Selvam', Amudha Nilayam Ltd.
• Aeolus, Shankar's Weekly (Journal), Dec 12, 1963.
• 'Sruti' Issue 98, Nov 1992
• Social History of Music in Kerala

External links

• http://chembaismruthi.org
• http://www.guruvayurdevaswom.org/chembai.shtml
• Discography of Chembai
• http://www.guruvayurdevaswom.org/chembai.shtml
• http://www.cmana.org/cmana/articles/gmcm.htm
• http://www.sangeethapriya.org/~chembai/
• http://www.musicindiaonline.com/music/carnatic_vocal/m/artist.15/
• http://groups.google.com/group/chembai

• Carnatic music
• 1895 births
• 1974 deaths
• Carnatic singers
• People from Kerala
• Padma Bhushan awardees