T. Ranganathan Biography 
T. Ranganathan was a legendary mridangam artist of Carnatic music from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Both his siblings were famous in the field of Indian art. His elder sister Balasaraswati was a celebrated Indian dancer of Bharatnatyam and a recipient of Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan for her outstanding contributions to the field of dance. His younger brother T. Viswanathan was a percussionist specialized in flute. Viswanathan was the first Indian musician to receive National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts US. He was the grandson of the legendary Veena Dhanammal, the great exponent of Veena. When the legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray made a documentary film on their sister, Bala (1976), the brothers were associated with it. They recorded music for the documentary film.
T. Ranganathan was born into a musical family of Chennai on March 13, 1925. His family has a strong background in Carnatic music. He originally belongs to a devadasi family of hereditary musicians and dancers. His brother established Carnatic music in the United States. Ranganathan learnt mridangam from the legendary Palani Subramaniam Pillai. He started his professional career in 1938 at the age of only 13. Apart from live concerts he was the first Artist in Residence in Music at Wesleyan till his death in 1987. He joined as faculty in the year 1963.
He was also a dedicated teacher who taught several non-Indian students at Wesleyan and CalArts. A longtime artist-in-residence at Wesleyan University, he was a performer for more about 5 decades. He died at Middletown, Connecticut, USA in 1987 at the age of 62. He was survived by his wife Edwina Ranganathan and two sons, Arun and Suddhama. Robert E. Brown, John Bergamo, Jon B. Higgins and David Moss were among his famous disciples.
Published: N/A
Updated: March 27, 2016
