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Famous Carnatic Composers - KR


K Ramaraj

K Ramaraj - Born on June 9, 1936 at Rangoon (Burma), he hails from a family of music connoisseurs of of the Coimbatore district (Tamil Nadu). His father Poojyashri Kovai Krishnabhagavatar was a versatile vaggeyakara and an eminent exponent of Harikatha. His mother, the late Smt.Lakshmi, was a student of Palghat Sri Radhakrishna Iyer (grandfather of mridangam maestro Sri.Palghat R. Raghu. His younger sister (Vatsala) was an illustrious disciple of Sangeetha Kalanidhi Nedunuri Krishnamurthy. Among other close relatives who helped form the musically luminous atmosphere of his development is his maternal aunt Vidushi Smt. Rajam Rama Krishnan, disciple of Kovai Krishnabhagavatar, Tanjore S. Kalyanaraman, Sangita Kalanidhi Mudikondan Venkatrama Iyer and Veena Vidwan Sri Raghavan.

The formative years of his career, from 1954-63, began with employment in a sugar factory at Pithapuram (E.Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh) and not only resulted in close friendship with Shri. Nedunuri Krishnamurthy and Sri.Voleti Venkateshwarulu, but also "kindled the inherent flair to compose classical pieces, whereby moulding into a blossoming composer in a sustained manner."

After 1963, he moved to Madras and changed employment, which allowed him to meet with musicians such as Mr.P.Ramachandriah, Prof. Sri.TR Subrahmanian, Sri.Rajkumar Bharathy, Smt.Rajee Gopalakrishnan, her father Sri. P.V.Natarajan (in the US), and recently Sri. Ram Kaushik (Nashville, TN, USA), "whose motivation all along the years contributed to the perpetuation of the ardent desire ...to humbly dedicate his classic creations to the Music World."

His compositions number 200 and are written in Tamil, Telugu, and Sanskrit. He has focused on composing in rare ragas so that these rare forms are brought into current use. They have been published in Tamil script in the book Innisai Paamaalai, Vol.I (Dec 2002), and are composed in both common and rare ragas. His compositions are highly acclaimed by (other than those above) Mr.S.R.Janakiraman, Dr.V.V.Srivatsa, and Prof.P.Ramachandriah, among others.

Sri. Ramaraj has three sons.

Source: K. Ramaraj. For more information, see the articles published in Samudra and Indian Express. Also, see this CD review of his compositions rendered by Raji Gopalakrishnan. Finally, here is the Foreword to his book Innisai Paamaalai, written by TR Subrahmanian.

Mudra:

Tributes:

Compositions: (Audio performed by the composer and disciples)

Audio renditions of the composer's music have also been performed by Rajee Gopalakrishnan

Audio files and classes for compositions are also available at Shivkumar Kalyanaraman's site

  1. aadi antam illai - jyOtiswaroopini
  2. aadi madhyaanta rahitE - kaatyaayani
  3. aadi vyaadihara - aabhOgi
  4. ambaa paramEshwari - shiva ranjani
  5. ambaa sudhaa gaNapatE - ghambeeravaNi
  6. annayE nin paadamE paNindEnE - kamaas
  7. bhaarata taay tanda selvanE - bhaarati
  8. brahma vishNu mahEshwara - kanakaangi
  9. brOvakownduta - vaasanti
  10. dasharata nandana - lavaangi
  11. dayaamayi shankari - lataangi
  12. enta vaadanuraa muraari - kaambhOji
  13. gamaka ezhil kamazhum - naaTTai kurinji
  14. ghambeera gandharva gaana vilOla - shankaraabharaNam
  15. gowri nivaasa karuNaa vilaasa - malayamaarutam
  16. gurunaathapriya - gurunaathapriya
  17. hamsadwani rasika ranjanaa - hamsadwani
  18. hari amsanE hara vamsanE - ratipatipriya
  19. haridaasa giri - ranjani
  20. harihara tanayuni - kharaharapriyaa
  21. idaya veeNaiyin ediroliyE - maanD
  22. innamum enai aaLa tiruvuLLam - caarukEshi
  23. innisai ezhil konjam - natabhairavi
  24. innisai maamanDramE - behaag
  25. isaiyil negizhum jagadeesanE - rishhabapriyaa
  26. jaya jaya shree bruhannaayaki - dharmavati
  27. kamalaa kaantaamaNi bhooshaNa - kaantaamaNi
  28. kanna talli naapai karuNincavE - raagavardhani
  29. kanni moola gaNapatiyE - naagaswaraavaLi
  30. karuNaiyin tiruvuruvE - tilang
  31. kumarEsan - vishnupriyaa
  32. maakula bhooshana shree ramaNa - kalyaaNa vasantam
  33. maal maruganai - neelamaNi
  34. maargam tandaruL - shhadvidamaargini
  35. maataa bhavaani - kannaDa
  36. maataa shree raaja raajEshwari - kapilam
  37. mahaa tripura sundari - vaagadeeshwari
  38. mahishaasura mardhini - udaya ravi candrikaa
  39. makara jyOti divyadarisanamE - kaamavardhani
  40. marudaacala naayakaa - shhanmugapriyaa
  41. naada sampoorNa sadaananda - naasikaabhooshhaNi
  42. naarada gaana rasikapriyE - rasikapriyaa
  43. naatapamE teercu naaraayaNi - candrajyOti
  44. nee manam - sumanEsharanjani
  45. nee tanda isaikonDu - valaci
  46. needaya kOriti neerajalOcani - karnaranjani
  47. neerajaakshi sharanamulE - jhaalavaraaLi
  48. nindarul vENDinEn nimalanE - paTadeep
  49. pavanatanaya paramaatmaa - bahudaari
  50. punidanE - soorya
  51. raadhE shyaamaLanE - shyaamaa
  52. raaga rasika shirOnmaNi - keeravaaNi
  53. saarangapaaNiyin - hamsakalyaaNi
  54. sadaa nee paadamE gati - manasijapriya
  55. sadaashiva hridaya nivaasini - sarasaangi
  56. sadguru priya tyaaga brahmamE - gurupriya
  57. sadgurunaada manamirangaada - bEgaDa
  58. samasaaTi lEni saayee naadaa - karnaaTaka dEvagaandhaari
  59. sanaatana dharma samvarddhini - dEsh
  60. sannidhiyE - priyadarshani
  61. sashimukhi - kaikavashi
  62. sentaamarai paatanE - bilahari
  63. shabarigirivaasa - tODi
  64. shankara harapriya gurunaathanE - kharaharapriyaa
  65. shiva vaama bhaagEshwari - bhaagEshri
  66. shree raaghavEndra sadguru - shree
  67. shree rajagOpaala sudanE - jayantasEna
  68. sunaadavinOdini vaarini - sunaada vinOdini
  69. tagumO murayO - shree ranjani
  70. tanigai malai mEvum - gowri manOhari
  71. tiruvuLLam irangaadaa - hamsaanandi
  72. umaa mahEshwari - nalinakaanti
  73. unakkinai neeyE - calanaaTTai
  74. unakku nigar neeyE - kEdaaram
  75. undan padam vENDinEn muruganE - rEvati
  76. unniru padam tozhum varamum - varam
  77. vaaNi saraswati dEvi - saraswati
  78. vaDivaambikE - dwijaavanti
  79. veeNa gaana - sindu bhairavi
  80. venkaTa girivaasa - karnaaTaka dEvagaandhaari
  81. vEnuvu vinipinci - saaramati

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updated on 11/26/2013