S. Ramanathan was a Carnatic music

Carnatic music

Carnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu...

 singer and musicologist.

He learned music from Tiger Varadachariar

Tiger Varadachariar

Tiger Varadachariar was a famous Carnatic music vocalist who hailed from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. M. D. Ramanathan was his student.-Early life:...

, Sabesa Iyer, Ponniah Pillai, and Sathur Krishna Iyengar. He received a Ph.D.

Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...

 in ethnomusicology

Ethnomusicology

Ethnomusicology is defined as "the study of social and cultural aspects of music and dance in local and global contexts."Coined by the musician Jaap Kunst from the Greek words ἔθνος ethnos and μουσική mousike , it is often considered the anthropology or ethnography of music...

 from Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...

, Middletown, Connecticut

Middletown, Connecticut

Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles south of Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated as a town under its original Indian name, Mattabeseck. It received its present name in 1653. In 1784, the central...

, where he also taught.

He had disciples who have carved names for themselves such as P.UnniKrishnan, S. Sowmya, Savithri Sathyamurthy, Seetha Narayanan, Vasumathi Nagarajan, Sukanya Raghunathan (veena),Geetha Bennett(veena and a renowned short story writer in Tamil),Banumathy Raghuraman(veena), Vidya Hariharan (veena and vocal), Vanathy Raghuraman, Latha Radhakrishnan (violin and vocal), Padma Gadiyar (veena), Thiagarajan/Raju

He also has composed many varnam

Varnam

Varnam is a form of song in the Carnatic music repertoire. A varnam is a relatively long piece and can range from 30 minutes to up to an hour. It is usually set to Aadi or Ata tala. It is the center piece in a recital of a Bharathanatyam dance. It is a tradition to start a recital in Carnatic...

s and kriti

Kriti

-Structure:Kritis typically contain three parts#Pallavi. This is the equivalent of a refrain in Western music.#Anupallavi. The second verse, which is sometimes optional....

s, which have been popularized by his disciples.He also won the Sangeetha kalanidhi award(1985).The American ethnomusicologist David Nelson studied with him.

In 1981 Ramanathan released an album of Carnatic music, Navagraha Krtis (The 9 Planets), Cāturdaṡa Rāgamālika (The 14 Worlds) and Srī Gurunā: By Muttuswāmī Dīkṣitar (1775-1835), on Folkways Records

Folkways Records

Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987, and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways.-History:...

.

See also

• Ramnad Raghavan
  Ramnad Raghavan
  Ramnad V. Raghavan was a South Indian player of the mridangam. He was born in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, to P. Vaidyanatha Ayyar of Kooniyur, Tirunelveli district, and Brhannayaki....
  
  
• T. Ranganathan
  T. Ranganathan
  Tanjore Ranganathan was a Carnatic musician specializing in percussion instruments, particularly the mridangam....