Doraiswamy Iyengar Biography 
Doraiswamy Iyengar was a great Veena player and Carnatic musician. He is widely accepted as one of the greatest exponents of the Veena in modern history. His father, Venkatesha Iyengar was also a veena player who served as the court musician of Maharaja of Mysore. Born in a small village Doddagaddavanahalli, in Hassan district, Iyengar took the veena to great heights. At the age of 12, he got opportunity to perform before Maharaja of Mysore and was bestowed the status of Asthana Vidwan. His son, D. Balakrishna is also a noted veena artist of today. Doriswamy Iyengar also composed music for a few Kannada films. Music of Subbashastri is still popular. Indian government honoured him with Padma Vibhushan.
Doreswamy Iyengar was born in a musical family in the year 1920. He learnt the first lessons of Veena from his father and took advanced learning from Veena Venkatagiriyappa, a great artist in those days. At the age of 12, when he performed before the Maharaja, he gave him a 50 rupee silver coinand asked Veena Venkatagiriyappa to nurture the boy as he believed that this boy can bring fame to the princely state. He gave his first public performance in 1943 in the Bangalore Gayana Samaja and gained attention from listeners very soon. He also participated in music conferences gaining accolades and appreciations.
He studied BA in the Maharaja's College, Mysore and later served as music director of the All India Radio in Bangalore. The University of Mysore conferred on him an Honorary Doctorate in 1975. Chowdiah National memorial award, Sangeetha Kalaratna of the Bangalore gayana Samaj, Sangeetha Kalasikhamani of the Indian Fine Arts society and the Sangeetha Kalanidhi of the Madras Music academy are the other major awards received by him. He passed away in the year 1997.
Published: N/A
Updated: February 20, 2014
