Guruvayur Dorai
Encyclopedia
Palani Subramaniam Pillai
Palani Subramaniam Pillai was a well known Carnatic music percussionist. He was adept in playing the mridangam and kanjira. He was the sishya of the celebrated Malikkottai Panchapakesa Pillai .-Early life:Subramaniam Pillai was born on April 20, 1908...
. Initiating his concert performances at the age of eight, Guruvayur Dorai has performed on the concert platform for the past 60 years. His wide range of efforts in the field of mridangam and music have helped propagate the art around the globe.
Early years
An exponent of the Pudukottai style of mridangam, Guruvayur Dorai (his real name being Vaidynathan) was born in GuruvayurGuruvayur
Guruvayur is a municipal town in Thrissur District, of Kerala State in India. It houses the famous Guruvayur Sree Krishna Temple, the fourth biggest temple in India in terms of the number of devotees per day.-History:Guruvayur, according to the legends may be 5,000 years old as the Guruvayur...
, Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, to G.S. Krishna Iyer and Meenakshi. His father was a priest and mother, a housewife. He has two brothers and three sisters. His sister Guruvayur Ponnammal was a highly reputed singer at the time. His other sister is a reputed music teacher in Madras, while his brother, G.K.Rajamani is a notable violinist living in Palghat (Kerala).
Young Dorai had a penchant for percussion and was frequently seen drumming on his body with his fingers even while in sleep. Struck by polio at the age of five, his father thought it would be difficult for Dorai to go outside of Guruvayur for higher studies and a job.
There was already a vocalist and a violinist in the family, a mridangist was all that was lacking. So his father decided to sculpt him into one. His father thought Ponnammal, Rajamani and Dorai could give concerts together and that the siblings would take care of Dorai. Moreover, they could make a living out of it.
Dorai began to learn mridangam under the Late Palghat Subba Iyer when he was six. E.P. Narayana Pisharody of Eranallur also taught him at this time. Pisharody's book 'Mridanga Nada Manjari' (a practical study of mridangam) was published by Guruvayur Dorai on September 23, 2001.
The legendary vocalist Chembai Vaidhyanatha Bhagavathar
Chembai
Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar was a Carnatic music singer from Palakkad . Known by his village name Chembai, or simply as Bhagavatar, he was born to Anantha Bhagavatar and Parvati Ammal in 1896, at Kottayi near Palakkad on Janmashtami day, with Bharani star in the month of Chingam...
was teaching Ponnammal at that time. Whenever he came to Guruvayur, Chembai used to stay at their house. He took active interest in Dorai's mridangam practice. Dorai had his debut performance (arangetram) at the age of eight, performing with none other than Chembai himself.
1949 was a watershed in Dorai's career, as he came to Chennai for the first time to perform with Chembai in a concert. Meanwhile, Ponnammal got a chance to sing in a Malayalam film. As the opportunities were more copious in Chennai, their father decided to settle there. Dorai, Ponnammal, Rajamani and the father stayed in a rented house in the city while the rest of the family remained in Guruvayur. In the same year, he also happened to meet the legendary mridangam artist Palani Subramaniam Pillai
Palani Subramaniam Pillai
Palani Subramaniam Pillai was a well known Carnatic music percussionist. He was adept in playing the mridangam and kanjira. He was the sishya of the celebrated Malikkottai Panchapakesa Pillai .-Early life:Subramaniam Pillai was born on April 20, 1908...
in Thirupoontharai. After Palani Subramaniam Pillai
Palani Subramaniam Pillai
Palani Subramaniam Pillai was a well known Carnatic music percussionist. He was adept in playing the mridangam and kanjira. He was the sishya of the celebrated Malikkottai Panchapakesa Pillai .-Early life:Subramaniam Pillai was born on April 20, 1908...
moved to Madras in 1953, Dorai commenced classes with the maestro. This helped him understand and absorb the complexities of the Pudukottai style of mridangam. Dorai stayed with Palani Subramaniam Pillai
Palani Subramaniam Pillai
Palani Subramaniam Pillai was a well known Carnatic music percussionist. He was adept in playing the mridangam and kanjira. He was the sishya of the celebrated Malikkottai Panchapakesa Pillai .-Early life:Subramaniam Pillai was born on April 20, 1908...
in his residence for nearly nine years in the gurukulavasam fashion.
Performances
Dorai performed with nearly all the eminent artists even at a young age, including Musiri Subramania lyer, M. D. RamanathanM. D. Ramanathan
Manjapara Devesa Ramanathan affectionately called MDR was a Carnatic music composer and vocalist.-Early life:...
, Semmangudi Srinivasa lyer, M. S. Subbulakshmi
M. S. Subbulakshmi
Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi , also known as M.S., was a renowned Carnatic vocalist. She was the first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honor. She is the first Indian musician to receive...
(it was Dorai who performed with her in Carnegie Hall, New York), G. N. Balasubramaniam
G. N. Balasubramaniam
G. N. Balasubramaniam , popularly known as GNB, was a legendary vocalist in the Carnatic tradition. He became the first superstar of Carnatic music, innovating the art through emphasis on laya control & reducing the gamakas which eventually made Carnatic music appeal to the lay and the learned...
, Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu
Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu
Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu was one of the most important carnatic violinists of the 20th century.-Early life and background:...
, S. Balachander
S. Balachander
Sundaram Balachander , born in Madras was an Indian self-taught veena player.-Early life:His ancestors were from the Tanjore area, which is acclaimed as the seat of culture and fine arts in South India. His grandfather is Rao Saheb Vaidyanatha Iyer. He was born to V. Sundaram Iyer and Parvathi...
, Chitti Babu
Chitti Babu
Chitti Babu is a Indian comedian, presenter and actor who prominently plays supporting roles in Tamil cinema. He was also one of the judges in the comedy show Asathapovathu Yaaru on Sun TV.Filmography=Television=* Hari Giri Assembly...
, T. R. Mahalingam
T. R. Mahalingam (flautist)
-External links:* * * *...
, Mysore T. Chowdiah
Tirumakudalu Chowdiah
Tirumakudalu Chowdiah was a violin maestro from India in the Carnatic classical tradition.-Early Years:Chowdiah, was born in Tirumakudalu village on the banks of the river Kaveri near Mysore....
, Palghat Ghatam Sundaram, Alangudi Ramachandran, G. Harishankar and others.
Dorai also accompanied Sr. Vinjamuri Varadaraja Iyengar on multiple occasion to concerts across Andhrapadesh. An excerpt from his interview - "He encouraged me very much, kept me with him and let me play for him. Apart from that, I gave a lot of kutcheries in Andhra Pradesh. For all those places, Vinjamuri Varadaraja Iyengar took me with him; like Kakinada, Guntur, Tenali, Vijayawada and to many other places he took me with him and introduced me. Because of his taking me with him, those Sabhas/ people got acquainted with me and got to know me". Read More About the Interview
Moreover, he is one of the few mridangists who has performed with nagaswaram wizards, namely T.N.Rajarathnam Pillai (in 1956, Rama Seva Mandali, Bangalore; P. Bhuvaneswariah played violin, Bangalore Venkatram played ghatam, and a khanjira artist was part of the team), Thiruvengadu Subramanium Pillai in 1951, and Namagiripettai Krishnan (from the 1960s onwards). He has also performed with leading present-day artists including T. V. Sankaranarayanan, T. N. Seshagopalan, Neyveli Santhanagopalan
Neyveli Santhanagopalan
Neyveli Santhana Gopalan is a noted, respected Indian Carnatic vocalist. He has distinguished himself with numerous concerts worldwide, and is the recipient of many awards from music associations in India and overseas. He is known for his traditional and purist styles of rendering ragas, musical...
, Chitraveena N. Ravikiran and others.