Dr. N. Rajam, Emeritus Professor and former Dean, Faculty of Performing Arts, Banaras Hindu University, presided over the Sadas of the Music Academy, Madras, on January 1, 2026 and conferred the birudu of Sangita Kalanidhi on Vidvan RK Shriramkumar. She also presented the Academy’s Sangita Kala Acharya awards, the TTK Awards and the Musicologist Award to the awardees.
The text of Vidushi N Rajam’s presidential address at the Sadas on January 1, 2026, is given below.
Respected recipients of Sangita Kalanidhi, Sangita Kala Acharya, TT Krishnamacharya Awards, the Musicologist Award, the honourable president of the esteemed organization — the Music Academy Madras, Sri N. Murali, all the dignitaries on the dais and music enthusiasts present here. At the outset, a very happy and glorious New Year to all of you on this grand and special occasion of the Sadas.
I have known vidwan RK Shriramkumar, the violinist par excellence, for many years. He undoubtedly deserves the much coveted and prestigious award — the Sangita Kalanidhi conferred on him by the Music Academy, Madras this year. I am extremely happy that I happen to be present on this grand occasion. My hearty congratulations to you, Sangita Kalanidhi Sri RK Shriramkumar. I congratulate from the core of my heart each and every one of you — Smt Urmila Sathyanarayanan the awardee for Nritya Kalanidhi, Smt Shyamala Venkateswaran and Sri Tanjavur Govindarajan for Sangita Kala Acharya, Madambi Sri Subramania Namboothiri, JT Sri Jeyaraj Krishnan and Smt Jayashri Jeyaraj for the TT Krishnamachari Award and Prof. CA Sridhara for Musicology — I wish you all a great and unforgettable journey in the field for many years. The music fraternity, I am confident, will immensely benefit from the extraordinary progress of these great artists in their fields.
It is indeed very kind of the esteemed and internationally known organization, the Music Academy, Madras, to have extended an invitation to me to participate at the grand Sadas on the concluding day of the 99th annual conference and concerts. I am immensely grateful to the President Sri N Murali and the members of the executive committee.
To start with, on this great occasion, I fondly remember my illustrious brother Sangita Kalanidhi, Padma Bhushan, Prof. TN Krishnan who had been very closely connected with the Music Academy and its activities throughout his life. Anna was the pillar of our family and had been very protective of all of us his siblings always; I miss him a lot. Today, as I stand here in the presence of a highly knowledgeable audience on this auspicious sadas, I am being taken back to the good old days when I was about nine or 10 years of age, sitting in the last row of the Music Academy festivals year in and year out, and trying to keenly observe and absorb veteran performers of yesteryears rendering the difficult and complicated ragam-tanam-pallavi section of the concert. My takeaway from the concerts would be the Pallavi line and its anulomam and pratilomum rendered immaculately by the veterans. These three items I have mentioned would be memorized by me then-and-there during the concert. I would literally run home immediately after the concert where my revered father would be eagerly waiting for me. The first thing I would do on my return was to render verbatim the pallavi line, with anulomam and pratilomam, in front of my father. It was only after he approved that I had absorbed it accurately that I would rest in peace. These are some of the unforgettable experiences carved deeply in my being for which I am very grateful to the Academy.
My training on the violin under my revered father commenced when I was three years of age. That was the tradition in our family. The moment a child, whether a boy or girl, became three years of age, my father would present the child with a violin and bow. Even after more than 85 years of rigorous practice and sadhana, I continue to feel that I am still a student. Music is such an unfathomable ocean whether it is Carnatic or Hindustani, south or north. What we learn in one birth is just a speck of the ocean.
I strongly feel that all the great musicians that we come across, with prodigious proficiency, must have been practicing this art for multiple births. It is a fact. Anyway, it is their accumulated merits over several births that result in their extraordinary progress — so amazing is this subject! The Music Academy has been doing yeoman service to the cause of music and music education for the past nearly one century. It is very commendable indeed.
The students of the music school attached to the Academy, who aspire to become great artists in the future, am sure are receiving excellent training from great masters. My advice to all students of music is to continuously, uninterruptedly carry on their practice — sadhana, and with time, be assured that it will certainly keep opening doors you never expect.
My destiny took me from Madras to North India where we made a major contribution to the violin playing standards. Destiny has again brought me back to Tamil Nadu. We have a beautiful gurukulam in the midst of nature near Dharmapuri, close to Bangalore — the Swarasadhana Tapovan in Samanur village. This has been made by my daughter Dr. Sangita Shankar, an eminent violinist, in order to contribute back to the society for all that it has showered us with for making us what we are today.
We welcome all gurus and students there to experience the traditional gurukula lifestyle.
Before concluding, I wish the Music Academy an active life of dedicated seva and service for many centuries to come. I once again thank the Academy from the bottom of my heart for inviting me for this memorable function. And lastly but not the least, my namaskarams and a big thanks to one and all of you.
About Dr. N. Rajam
Dr. Rajam was born in a family steeped in music. Her father Sri Narayana Iyer was a well-known exponent of the violin, and her brother the celebrated violinist Sangita Kalanidhi Prof. TN Krishnan. She and her brother, both learned the art of violin playing from their father.
Young Rajam had her intensive initial training in violin in the Carnatic style under her father’s guidance. She trained under the titan Sangita Kalanidhi Musiri Subramania Iyer as well.
She started her concert career at a very young age and at age 13 even accompanied the great Sangita Kalanidhi MS Subbulakshmi. She performed in concerts in the Carnatic style, including some of them with her illustrious brother.
She later switched to Hindustani music that came about in serendipitous circumstances, as her double promotion rendered her under-aged to appear for the intermediate school-leaving examination in her local school. She therefore chose to appear for the intermediate exam as a private student at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU). It was at BHU that she decided to pursue Hindustani music. Having earlier listened to the 78 RPM records of Pandit Omkarnath Thakur (founding Principal of the Faculty of Performing Arts at BHU and armed with a letter from Sri Parur Sundaram Iyer, she met Dr. Omkarnath Thakur and became his student after she played before him faithfully what she heard from the LP records. He agreed to take her as his student and the rest as they say is history.
She also developed the ‘gayaki’ style of violin playing. Before her, the violin was not really an accompanying instrument in the Hindustani system. Further, the instrumentalists had been playing their accompanying instruments in a style distinct from the gayaki style played by Dr. Rajam. She thus played a pioneering role in adopting the gayaki style in Hindustani music wherein she established herself as a front ranking musician. She later started teaching at Banaras Hindu University along with a successful performing career. She became Professor of the Faculty of Performing Arts in the university and later its Dean. She is now an Emeritus Professor.
She has received several honours, notably the Fellowship of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the prestigious Pandit Bimshen Joshi Lifetime Achievement Award, the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, and more recently the Padma Vibhushan from the Government of India.
Sri N. Murali, President of the Music Academy, said it was but fitting that Dr. Rajam is presiding over the Sadas when an eminent violinist will be receiving the Sangita Kalanidhi award.
