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Composers
and Musicians Mysore Vasudevachar |
| Mysore Ragalist |
Mysore Vasudevachar is perhaps the most important Carntic composer of the 20th century. Vasudevachar was born in Mysore on 28th May, 1965. He was trained in Sanskrit by his maternal grand father after the early demise of his father. His initial training in music was at the Maharaja Sanskrit Pathasala by the ashtana vidhwan Veena Padmanabhiah. Later Maharaja's gracious patronage helped him to undergo training under Patnam Subramanya Iyer, an illustrious vocalist-composer of the Thyagaraja school. Vasudevachar became a ashtana vidhwan or Court musician at the Mysore court after his return from Tiruvayyaru. For over five decades he continued his concert career with great success. Upon Rukmini Devi's request he also taught at the Kalakshetra in Madras, eventually becoming its principal. He is remembered more for his great compositions, over 200 in all. Vasudevachar's compositions were mostly in Telugu and Sanskrit. The style was essentially the one used by Thyagaraja. He composed in many forms including Swarajathi, Varna, Kriti, Javali, Tillana and Ragamalika. He has composed in popular as well as rare Raagas and Taalas. He has published a memoir called Naa Kanda Kalavidaru, which wastranslated into English by his grandson S. Krishnamurthy as With Masters of Melody. After a long and fruitful life he breathed his last in 17th May, 1961 at the age of 96.
