Chembai-the man and his musicThe world of Carnatic music is not without its crop of many illustrious men who had left their footprints on the sands of time. One such was Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar, a patrician in the sphere of Carnatic music abounding in gayaka lakshana. A deeply religious man, music in his family was taught and learnt as part of Vedic instruction.
Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar (b. 1896-1974) was the son of Ananatha Bhagavathar and Parvati Ammal. He received his initial training in music from his father. Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar had music in his blood. A great grandson of Chakratana Subba Aiyar, who was a contemporary of the musical trinity, and son of Chembai Anantha Bhagavatar, young Vaidyanathan had music readymade for him.His formal debut took place at the age of eight, alon with that of his younger brother, Subramaniam. For many years the brothers sang as a team. In 1909 the Kalakshepam artist Kaliakudi Natesa Sastrigal took the boys to Tiruvarur, where he trained them to sing along with him and also independently. This invaluable years’s experience stood the Chembai brothers in good stead, and they became fully equipped musicians, performing to packed halls. After 1937, while Subramaniam retained a low profile, Chembai Vidyanatha Bhagavathar became a soloist. He is remembered for the effortless power of his singing, the ringing and vibrant voice, rich in melody, with a metallic timbre and immense vigour that he retained till the end. In addition to his musial genius, Chembai was of very noble character and helped many a young musician to come to the notice of the public.
Way back, in an interview with Mr. B. V. K. Sastry, musicologist, Vaidyanatha Aiyar is reported to have said: "By the grace of God, I had no necessity arduously to tread the way from one guru to another..... Music was readymade for me at my home.'' (Gayana Samrajya of Bangalore, April). He had his early training under his father and for himself equipped fully to give an independent performance even at the age of nine.
In a brief talk on Chembai's musical genius and genre, Mr. T. V. Gopalakrishnan, the mridangist-vocalist et al and a disciple of the former, presented a sparkling word picture of his mentor in a birth centenary tribute to his guru, under the auspices of the Indian Fine Arts Society, Madras, at Balamandir German Hall in T.Nagar. TVG made a special mention of Chembai's total mastery over his voice, achieved from rigorous practice of the techniques of rendition such as namitham, dhavala sadhakam, vaiji sadhakam, sukla paksha sadhakam, to be able to sing in all kalas with equal facility.
The speaker also referred to his guru's tonal clarity and flawless articulation with undiluted rhythmic content. His repertoire was wide enough to include poems from the Tiruvachakam, Tiruppugazh, Divya Prabhandam, Ramalingaswami's Viruttam, compositions of Muthuthandavar and bhajans of Kabirdas, Tulasidas and Bhaktha Meera, besides the immortal creations of the trinity and others. Chembai, according to TVG, also set to music the song of Lalitha Dasar (T. G. Krishna Aiyar).
As a performer his creative ability was astonishing, said TVG and he could do a neraval and swaraprasthara from any given point, which bespoke of mental alertness from the word ``go'' in a concert. His abiding sympathy for his accompanists was noteworthy and he would go to any length to encourage them by giving them full scope to develop and display their talent. By way of illustration, he had a few records of his guru played; one of Todi alapana in which he had T. Chowdiah play on his violin in between the ragavinyasam and another wherein he had Palghat Mani Aiyar to do a tani avartanam soon after the first song had been completed.
With his rich vibrant voice and a ringing tone, Chembai's music had a direct appeal to his listeners. Sastri says, "the deep solid tone seeming to illuminate such model figure in his singing and the joy of the pure nada when he held on to single notes are something not easily forgotten.'' To Chembai, the main factors that contributed to the development of a musical personality were the intuition of the musician, his sound knowledge of ragas and swaras and firm control of sruti and laya and the capacity to evolve an individual style of expression suited to one's voice and aptitude and ``ideas distilled through the variegated experience behind him.'' He lived a life of a savant larger than real life to two years short of four-score. He passed away on October 16, 1974.
Chembai was the recipient of numerous honours. Swami Sivananda conferred on him the title of Sangita Samrat. Honours were also bestowed on him by the rulers of Cochin, Mysore, Baroda, Vijayanagaram, Bobbili and Jaipur. T.V.G. said in conclusion, that a committee with Mr. T. N. Seshan, Chief Election Commissioner, as Patron, Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna, as Chairman, himself (TVG) as the convener and Radha Gopala Krishnan and Saraswati Sundaresan as coordinators had been constituted to celebrate the birth centenary of this musical colossus in a fitting manner, between August 23 and 29 next.
Mr. N. Srinivasan, who earlier introduced the speaker to the audience, spoke on some of the peculiarities of Chembai's music.
‘Geetanjali’ was organized as a tribute to Dr K J Yesudas's Guru Shri Chembai Vaidhyanatha Bhagavathar, for 100th birth Anniversary on the first of September 1996. He popularized many carnatic songs such as "Rakshamam", "Brova Bharamma" and "Manavyalakin". Shri Chembai was well known for his Bhavam and Bhakti.
The Geethanjali program on April 26, 1996 provided glimpses of rich musical heritage of the Chembai school of music and embodies joy and fanfare through a music soulful in its rendition, colorful in its variety of ragas and swaras in representing the moods of times.
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