Musiri Subramania Iyer Biography 
Musiri Subramania Iyer was a Carnatic vocalist of Trichy who was active during the decades 1920’s to 1940’s. After retirement from the stage, he remained an iconic figure of Carnatic music and taught many students as well. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Carnatic singers of 20th century. Enta vetukondu in Saraswathi Manohari ragaTiruvadi caranam in Kambhoji, Enraikki shiva kripai in Mukhari, Enthu daginado in todi raga and Vritta shenjadai ada, a raga mala are the popular compositions of Musiri. He has played the role of Sant Tukaram in a movie.
Musiri Subramania Iyer was born in a poor family as the son of a Sanskrit pandit, Sankara Sastry and Seethalakshmi. He lost his mother at a younger age and got married at the age of 14. He learnt English at the age of 17 and was fluent in speaking as well. He was deeply inspired by classical singer S. G. Kittappa that Musiri decided to become a singer. Musiri learnt under S. Narayanaswamy Iyer, Karur Chinnaswami Iyer and later for 9 years from T.S. Sabhesa Iyer. Musiri’s first public performance was in the year 1920.
He assigned the name, "Subramania Iyer of Musiri”, honoring the town in which he was residing. Actually it was not his hometown, yet he used ‘Musiri’ as prefix, the name by which whole India knew this Carnatic singer later. His 78 rpm gramophone records were successful in those days. He has also recorded Kriti Nagumomu with Karnataka Devagandhari. Though he had to face criticism to re-compose Tyagaraja’s composition, it became widely popular among music lovers. Great artists of Carnatic music like artists such as Bangalore Nagarathnammal, M. S. Subbulakshmi and Bhanumathi Ramakrishna had also performed in this composition. Plus points of Musiri’s singing are high pitched voice and tonal purity and he is regarded as a great exponent of bhava.
Published: N/A
Updated: January 07, 2014
