Flute Maestro Dr. N. Ramani

Flute Maestro Dr. N. Ramani

Tribute to Dr. N. Ramani This is a humble tribute to Padmashri Dr. N. Ramani who had popularized the Carnatic flute to what it is tod... 20:24

Tribute to Dr. N. Ramani

This is a humble tribute to Padmashri Dr. N. Ramani who had popularized the Carnatic flute to what it is today. He had arguably brought numerous innovations in both flute playing techniques and concert patterns. His warm and soft nature had always overshadowed all his pioneering achievements in the field of Carnatic flute playing which would sit so lightly on his shoulders. Most amazingly, he does not even bother to publicise his innovations including the introduction of bass flutes and transposed fingering. Steeped in Nadhabrahma (Cosmic Consciousness of Aum) bakthi, such publicity does not mean much to him.

Even as an octogenarian, his musical competency had not lost its sheen and he continued to draw packed crowds both from the lay and connoisseurs wherever he performs in India and abroad till his very end

This blog would gladly welcome inputs from well-wishers and fans who would like to add on to this page and promote Dr. N. Ramani and his music.

Birthplace 

Tiruvarur is a holy town in South India, famous for the holy temple of Lord Thyagaraja - who is Shiva of the Hindu Trinity - where many sages, poets and musicians have derived inspiration to sing in praise of the deity notable among them, to mention a few, Sri Sundramurthy Nayanar, and the Carnatic Music Trinity Sri Thyagaraja Swami, Sri Muthuswami Dikshitar, Sri Shyama Sastrigal. 

It is prompted by many that it is due to Lord Thyagaraja's divine grace and will that all of the Carnatic Music Trinity were born in this holy town and flourished in the same period. This holy temple is noted for music performances, especially on the Nadaswaram during festivals and even for daily worship. 

Heritage 

Born in a family of rich musical traditions on 15 Oct 1934, young Ramani grew up in an atmosphere charged with music. His grandfather, and first Guru, Sri Aazhiyur Narayanaswami Iyer was a well-known flute artist who could also play other instruments as well as singing. Dr. Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer himself was declared on many occasions that he had learned some music from Sr. Aazhiyur Narayanaswami Iyer. 

Noting Ramani's natural attraction to music and to the flute, his grandfather started instructions on the flute at the age of 5, the formal initiation age. Many noted musicians of that period would visit their house and invariably muscians would begin, with young Ramani listening with full attention. 

Flute Mali's Appraisal 

On a memorable day, Ramani's uncle Sri T. R. Mahalingam, the celebrated flute artist, popularly known as Mali, had a concert at Tiruvarur. Ramani attended this concert spell bound and was inspired by it. The next day, in the presence of Mali, he reproduced many songs from that concert. Mali was so impressed by the natural control of Lay and South of the young Ramani who was just 9 years old that he himself undertook to train Ramani. Since Mali was mostly at Madras, Ramani would spend his vacation from school, at Madras and got intense training from Mali. After completing the school education, Ramani's family moved over to Madras permanently to enable Ramani to get further training from Mali, as well as to pursue a musical career.

The Arangetram - Debut Concert 

The formal introduction to Ramani as a flute artist, the Arangetram, was performed in 1942 when he was just 8 years old, in the holy shrine of Chikkil Singara Velan the famous temple of Lord Subramanya, the favourite Deity of Sri Muthuswami Dikshitar of the Carnatic Music Trinity. This was certainly an auspicious moment. On this occasion, the veterans, Vedaranyam Krishnamurthy Iyer on the Violin and Tiruvarur Kunju Iyer on the Mridangam provided the accompaniment. It was a splendid success. Sri Krishnamurthy Iyer and Sri Kunju Iyer and other musicians present, praised Ramani's talents, especially the grasp of Laya, and predicated a great musical career, which proved to be correct.

Training under Flute Mali 

In 1945, while undergoing intense training at Madras under Mali, Ramani got the opportunity to accompany Sri T. R. Mahalingam in a flute concert, given at Rasika Ranjani Sabha, Madras to the accompaniment of Sri. T. N. Krishnan on the violin, and Sri Muruga Bhupathy on the Mridangam. Ramani's performance on that day drew appreciation from Mali himself and other vidwans and fans present. This success was followed by other such concerts with Ramani accompanying Mali, for over a decade at various cities of India.

Blessings from Legends 

Many famous vidwans listened to Ramani's flute concerts while he was very young and not only appreciated them, but also predicted a great future and blessed him. Sri Palladam Sanjeeva Rao, Sri Tiruppampuram Swaminatha Pillai, two famous flute artists, Sri Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Alathoor brothers, Madurai Mani Iyer, Chembai Vaidhyanatha Bhagavathar were among those vidwans who encouraged Dr. Ramani while he was a young artist. 

All-India-Radio (AIR) Debut Concert 

It was about this time, in 1945 that Ramani gave his first flute concert over the All India Radio, at Trivandrum station. Then onwards he his regularly performing concerts through AIR, as well as Television. He had been participating in Radio Sangeetha Sammelan and national programmes of A.I.R. since 1968.

Marriage & Stellar Concerts 

In the year 1956, at the age 22, Ramani got married, and in the same year his first flute concert at the Music Academy, Madras was given. Since then, his concerts at the Music Academy became a regular feature. He is also on the expert committee of the Music Academy, Madras. The well- known music critic Subbudu praised this concert very highly. Just as the Madras Music Academy concert of 1956 was a milestone in Dr. Ramani's great career; other concerts around this period deserve special mention. The concerts at Sri Krishna Gana Sabah, Sri Bala Subramanya Sangeetha Sabha, The Mylapore Fine Arts, all at Madras, were noteworthy because, in these, Dr. Ramani was provided with accompaniments of rising stars like Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman, Sri T. N. Krishnan, Sri M. S. Gopalakrishnan, Sri Palghat T. S. Mani Iyer and other eminent artists. 

Other leading music centres like Tamil Isai Sangam, Indian Fine arts, Kalakshetra, Kartik Fine Arts, all at Madras, and other leading sabhas of Madras, Bombay, Bangalore and other cities followed this example.

Concert Innovations 

Another notable milestone in Dr. Ramani's brilliant long carrer was the "Violin - Venu - Veena - Trio Concerts" with Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman on the Violin, Sri Ramani on the Flute and Sri R.Venkataraman on the Veena. This was in the mid 1966 and the first of this series was given at Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Madras. These concerts instantaneously became popular. His collaborations with Lalgudi Jayaraman & M.S. Gopalakrishnan became legendary and set a trend in flute violin duets.  

Dr. Ramani's popularity as a flute artist grew far and wide and his fame spread to an international level. His global concert tours and performances all over the world became a regular feature. Popular demand and a touch of prestige compelled many wedding celebrations to include Dr. Ramani's flute concert. 

Dr. Ramani also gave Carnatic music Flute duet concert with double mridangams at Coimbatore. Mali, his Guru preside over this function and appreciated the effort very much and honoured Ramani with a momento. Mali suggested that such duet flute concerts must be given in larger number and at various centres. Mali himself set this in motion, and in the year 1974, Dr. Ramani gave a flute - duet concert with Mali and with double mridangam. About a dozen such concerts were given at cities like Madras, Delhi, Bombay, Hyderabad, and Nagpur and were eagerly awaited and appreciated by those who attended them. Dr. Ramani gave a "five flute" concert with his disciples, which was featured in Television also. 

Dr. N. Ramani was one of the first Carnatic musicians to come to wider, Western attention. The Soul of Indian Flute (World Pacific WPS 21456) followed the release of Balachander's Sounds of the Veena Featuring the Flute of Ramani (WPS 21436). 

- Ken Hunt, The Guardian

In the year 1962 famous 'World Pacific' L.P. records album containing the contributions of leading artists like Pandit Ravi Shankar, included the L.P. records of Dr. Ramani. Dr. Ramani had given in USA and at other places several records, audio cassettes and C.D's and is continuing to give many more such records. 

Appraisal from Pt. Ravi Shankar

A special feature of Dr. Ramani's musical career was that he was involved with famous Hindustani music artistes and western music artistes and gave several "Jugalbandhi" concerts at various cities all over the world. This happened to have its origin under unexpected circumstances. During the mid 1960s the famous Hindustani sitar artist, Pandit Ravi Shankar was visiting India to give a Sitar concert. He happened to hear Dr. Ramani's concert over the All India Radio Broadcast, at the airport. Attracted by Ramani's music, he made enquiries about the artist and was at Ramani's house the very next day to express his appreciation, and to induce Ramani to make a USA Tour to give Jugalbandhi performance with him. 

The First Flute Jugalbhandi (Hindustani & Carnatic) 

Though Ramani could not undertake the U.S.A. tour then, he accepted Pandit Ravi Shankar's another suggestion to give Jugalbandhi performance with Sri Hariprasad Chaurasia, the famous Hindustani Flautist. This was given at Sri Balasubramania Sangeetha Sabha, Madras (1971) and Pandit Ravi Shankar himself attended this concert and expressed his appreciation of Dr. Ramani's music. This was historically first flute Jugalbandhi of Hindustani and Carnatic Music. Dr. Ramani is the only flute artist to have performed Jugalbandhi performance with Hindustani as well as Western Music Artists. Dr. Ramani had since then given over 100 such Jugalbandhis, approximately half within India and others abroad. In about 40 about them, Dr. Ramani performed with Sri Chaurasia. 

He had occasionally duetted with the Hindustani flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia -- the first occasion was 1971. Other jugalbandis have included partnerships with the vocalists Balamurali Krishna and Pandit Jasraj, the violinist T.N. Krishnan and the sarodist Amjad Ali Khan. He had pursued a parallel recording career for a variety of labels including EMI India and Magnasound/OMI and Shankar.

- Ken Hunt, The Guardian

Appraisals from Hindustani Music Maestros 

Noted Hindustani artists like the late Ustad Vilayat Khan, Kumar Ghandarva and many others, were in full praise for Ramani's talent as a musician of rare class. This culminated in several international Jugalbandhi concerts and ones involving top ranking Western music artists as well. These experiences brought Ramani's music to the pinnacle of Carnatic music Jugalbandhi concerts.

The World's Biggest Representative of  Carnatic Music - Olympics & World Tours

A very special feature of Dr. Ramani's brilliant career was the spread of his fame all over the world. He had undertaken over 100 major international concert tours and had participated in every major music festival in the world adding up to over 10000 concert performances throughout his career

Dr. Ramani was also the first Carnatic music artist to have participated in the Olympics (at Munich, Germany in 1972), sponsored by the Government of India. This list of concert tours is long enough to be attached separately to this article. 

The auspicious beginning of this phase of Dr. Ramani's career was in the year 1962 when he was just 28. Asia society, New York, USA. Invited him for an international concert tour. This is historically the first International Carnatic Music Flute concert tour. Dr. Ramani undertook flute concert tour of U.S.A. with Sri S. Balachander the well-known Veena artist, in 1962. This initiated a series of concert tours of USA, Canada, UK, Europe, and Singapore the Gulf Countries and Australia.

The Plethora of Honours, Citations & Awards

Dr. Ramani's great success as a performing artist brought to him many titles, awards and honours. This list is also long enough to be added as an appendix. Just as his talents blossomed at very tender age, he started receiving honours also at tender age. This first major one was at age 10 from Tanjore Palace. Tanjore Kings were great patrons of art, particularly music; some of them gifted musicians and scholars. 

Many famous musicians like Pachimaryam Adiappa; Pallavi Gopala Iyer adorned the list of the palace artists. Tanjore district is the proud birthplace of the great Carnatic Music Trinity - Sri Thyagaraja, Sri Muthuswami Dikshitar, Sri Shyama Sastrigal and many other famous musicians of Carnatic music. Dr. Ramani himself was born in this district and hence receiving an honour at the conclusion of his concert at the palace from the Royal Patrons at age 10, was an auspicious start; at it proved to be later. 

Dr. Ramani had received awards and honors directly from the Presidents and the Prime Ministers of India and the Holy Sri Sankaracharya Swamigals of Sri Kanchi Peetam and Sri Sringeri Peetam. The "Sangeetha Choodamani" (1971) "Kalaimamami" (1973), the Doctorate (1980), the "Sangeetha Nataka Academy Award" (1984-85), the "Padmashree" (1987), the honorary citizenship of Maryland, the state of Maryland and the district of Columbia, Washington DC (USA) (1993-94) are some of the honours he had received. 

Apart from giving several concerts in Art centres all over the world, Dr. Ramani had enchanted millions of fans through Radio broadcasts, television programmes, audio cassettes and CD's. His music is thus well preserved for the future generations.

The Ramani Bani - Ramani Style 

Dr. Ramani is identified easily from his flute performances by his own characteristic, strong, pleasing, soft tonal quality, subtle variations and the melodious quality of the music he produces. These are, apart from his natural inherent talents and skills due to several other factors. The flute playing techniques such as the blowing, fingering, which he inherited from his grand father and his guru, Mali was further developed by Ramani's own researches. 

Dr. Ramani's flute guru, the famous flute Mali was the first artist to exploit the eighth hole in flute while playing in the lower octave. Dr. Ramani had exploited this further, and extended the range further below by employing more number of longer flutes one after the other. He had developed many innovative fingering techniques and the technique of blowing, which are quite complicated but very effective. His exquisite raga bhava, melody, precision of notes, control over laya, all seem to come to him effortlessly. 

He was also able to indulge in complicated rhythmic gymnastics without loosing melody and precision of notes in such an effortless manner, to make the listener delude into the feeling that is so easy.

Flute Innovations

Dr. Ramani is the first Carnatic music flute artist to introduce long bass flute to the concert to enable longer reach in the lower octaves. Usually he plays on this long flute towards the conclusion of his concerts and invariably chooses devotional songs from the famous compositions such as Ashtapadi of Jayadeva, Tarangam of Sri Narayana Theertha, Purandara Dasa's songs, Sadasiva Brahmendra's songs Meera Bhajans etc. with suitable ragas to match their moods.

The mellow, bass tonal quality Ramani produces on these occasions full of Bhakti rasa; hypnotizes the audience and invariably brings tears in an enchanting mood of devotional ecstasy, swaying the audience into a trance like state. Dr. Ramani is conducting researches on the special sizes and positioning of the holes, to enable very fast tempo music on the long flute, which is quite difficult with the present types of long flute. 

We should mention here that Dr. Ramani boldly departed from the traditional method of using 4 or 5 pitch flutes in concerts, and settled to 2.5 pitch which is ideal sruthi for veena and violin solo concerts. 

The natural musical creativity in Dr. Ramani is manifest through his musical compositions of Varnams, Songs, Tillanas and Pallavis. For the performances on the long bass flute, he had set new tunes in very melodious ragas, specially suited to the moods of the selected devotional songs. These are preserved in many commercial audio cassettes and CD. 

Among the many unrecognized innovations also involves the transposed fingering which was pioneered by Dr. N. Ramani before being developed and popularized by later flautists. 

Recognized Performer & Teacher 

The power of music over living creatures to produce various moods and psychological effects is well known from ancient times. So experiments are being conducted at various centres all over the world, to explore the use of music to produce favourable effects upon plants in agriculture, to cure diseases etc., Dr. Ramani was involved in such projects sponsored by the Government and private institutions.

Dr. Ramani’s musical talents have made him not only a great performing artist, but also an excellent teacher. He is very quick to spot talents, strong and weak points of his students and innovating methods to improve the students from all over the world. Many of them are performing artists and teachers in many parts of the world. His skill as an outstanding teacher is recognized internationally. He had also been honoured as "Sangeetha Acharya" (Wasser College, U.S.A., 1978). 

Charity Concerts 

Dr. Ramani had given several charity performances to help in the welfare of the disabled, the orphans and to help fight diseases such as cancer etc., for over two decades and continued this noble trend till the very end.

Ramani Academy of Flute (RAF) 

To propagate flute playing further and to preserve that art and to carry on the torch for the years to come Dr. Ramani with far reaching vision, established "Ramani Academy of Flute" in 1983, to train young talents from India and abroad in his art. Dr. Ramani continues to have the largest

member of disciples spread all over the world. Many are performing artists. All India Radio had also employed many of his students. 

Dr. Ramani had given several lecture demonstrations all over the world. It started with his international concert tour of 1962. During his several subsequent worldwide concert tours, he had given lecture - demonstration at various universities and music centres. The RAF also honours, every year, noted flute artists (including those who do not belong to the Ramani school) who have contributed to the progress of flute playing such as H. Ramachandra Shastri, the disciple of Palladam Sanjeeva Rao.

Palladam Sanjeeva Rao was also honoured by the school.

Personal Life 

Dr. Ramani's gigantic stature as an artist of international fame is contrasted with his total simplicity as a person and his extreme humility. He is not shy to openly acknowledge his indebtedness to other musicians, and is willing to learn new features, even if it is found in a young budding talent. Deeply religious in a quiet way, he performs pilgrimage to the Holy Shrine of Sri Ayyappan in Sabari Malai in Kerala. Despite being the current numero uno of Carnatic flute in the world, Dr. Ramani is not dazzled by the pompous and a luxurious life, which he could well, indulge in, and leads a very simple life. He is blessed with excellent happy home with many grand children, several of whom show musical talents. 

Legacy 

The family tradition of Dr. Ramani from his grand father is continuing in the future generations. His son and disciple, Sri R. Thyagarajan is a well- established flute artist of his own standing who had given over 2000 concerts all over the world. He continues to manage the Ramani Academy of Flute (RAF) till today. He has accompanied Dr. Ramani in international tours and has himself on his own given many solo performances in international tours. Dr. Ramani's grandson and disciple, Atul Kumar is blossoming into a talented artist and he has also accompanied Dr. Ramani in international concert tours of the USA since 1995. 

Sangeetha Kalanidhi & Other Awards 

The Music Academy of Madras has established its "Sangita Kalanidhi" title (which it confers upon outstanding artists of reputation and record of long service to art, each year, on the first day of the year) as an honour and recognition of outstanding level of achievements in the music world, which many artists as well as music listeners feel should adorn the list of honours of any great musician. 

On January 1st 1997, Dr. Ramani joined the band of musical celebrities who have received this honour, when the Music Academy of Madras selected Dr. Ramani as the President of its 70th Conference and honoured him with the title of Sangita Kalanidhi. Following this event, Dr. Ramani was felicitated at many centres of music all over India. 

Dr. Ramani continues to entertain international fans by undertaking international concert tours. During August - September 1997 he had undertaken a tour of Australia, to give Jugalbandhi concerts. He had also given several concerts in Europe during November 1997. 

In 1998, Bhairavi invited him to give concert at Cleveland, Ohio, USA, which was followed by concerts at other cities of USA. It is worthy to mention here that Bhairavi had been inviting him continuously every year to play at their Thyagaraja Festival usually during the month of May every year. He was invited to give concerts at Kuwait in November 1998.

Till the very end, he remained as a stock performer in the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana Celebration held in Cleveland, Ohio, USA every year. 

Honours and felicitations continue to be bestowed upon him. The "Papanasam Sivan Award" was awarded to Dr. Ramani at Chennai on 9th January 1998.

The "Isai Perarignar" of Tamil Isai Sangam, Chennai was awarded to him during the Music Festival 1998.

His Holiness Ganapathy Sachithananda Swami ji, Mysore honoured and blessed with the award "Nadha Nidhi" in May 1999.

During the December 2000 music season, Dr. Ramani was awarded the "Hanumath Gana Shiromani" from the Anjaneyar Temple Nanganallur and "Sangeetha Kala Ratna" by the Sri Ranjani Trust Chennai.

Bhairavi Fine Arts society celebrated its 25th Anniversary in April 2002 and honoured him with a Golden Flute and the award "Seva Ratna".

Sri Shanmukhananda Fine Arts, New Delhi honoured Dr. Ramani in February 2003 with the title "Nadha Kalanidhi".

All India Radio celebrated its Golden Jubilee Year in March 2004 and honoured Dr. Ramani with the most prestigious award "National Artiste Award" along with other eminent and senior Carnatic and Hindustani Artists. It was a special event organized by AIR at the Golconda Forte, Hyderabad. We also mention here that only 25 artists from across the country were selected to receive this award. 

Recent Years 

In Oct 2010, he released a book called Ramaneeya Geetham, a collection of songs popularized by him and also rare ones which he had not performed himself. It is only available in the Ramani Academy of Flute. The speciality of the book is that the notations are all tuned to suit flute playing which is arguably the first of its kind in Carnatic music book publications.

In April 2012, he received the prestigious Sangeet Natak Academy Tagore Ratna award from the most esteemed body of music and arts, the Sangeet Natak Academy. In a felicitation function honouring 50 of the most celebrated musicians of the country, Dr. N. Ramani was aptly selected for the award.

Of the most esteemed awards that was bestowed to Dr. N. Ramani, was the "Padmavibhushan Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia Award" which was personally presented to Dr. N. Ramani by his counterpart Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia on Jan 2013 at a glittering function in Thane, Mumbai at Dr. Kashinath Ghanekar Theatre. Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia relished that it was indeed an honour for him to personally present the award to Dr. N. Ramani. Both Pt. Hariprasad and Dr. N. Ramani have given many a jughalbhandi flute concerts and the most recent one being in the GNB Centenary Celebrations that was held in Chennai in 2010.

He passed away on 9 Oct 2015 due to age-related ailments.