T. R. Pappa Biography 
T. R. Pappa was a music director of Tamil, Telugu and Sinhalese movies during the golden era of film music. His full name is Thiruthuraipoondi Radhakrishnan Pappa and his real name is Sivasankaran. He has worked with leading singers of his time like Sirkazhi Govindarajan, Jikki, T. M. Soundararajan, P. Susheela, S. Janaki, P. Bhanumathi, A. M. Rajah, J. P. Chandrababu, K. R. Ramasamy and Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi of whom a few are singing actors belonging to the era of 1950’s.
T. R. Pappa was born in a musical family in 1923 at Thiruthuraipoondi, Madras Presidency, British India. Papa's real name is Sivasankaran. He learnt violin at a younger age and later worked as a violinist at Modern Theatres and Jupiter Pictures. In the late 40s, Papa and T. K. Ramamoorthy were the highest paid violinists for the movies. In 1952, he gave music to a Malayalam film, Athmasanthi thus making his debut as a music director. This role was offered by Joseph Thaliyath and later the movie was dubbed and released in Tamil. Mallika, Vijayapuri Veeran, Vilakketriyaval, Iravum Pagalum and Kadhal Paduthum Paadu are a series of musical hits after his successful debut.
Apart from Indian movies, he has also composed songs for Sinhalese movies and many of his songs are popular. Siriyame Sara, sung by H. R. Jothipala is one of his popular hits in this language. He was a Nilaya Vidwan of AIR from 1946 and has accompanied many vocalists. Apart from film music, he has also composed music for many hit devotional albums with Seerkazhi Govindarajan. Chinnanjiru Penn Pole dedicated to the Goddess Abirami is still a popular song. Pappa has served as the Principal of Madras Music College.
Published: N/A
Updated: January 16, 2014
