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.
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