Violin Maestro Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan Passes Away
Renowned violinist Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan, whose majestic bowing widened the circle of rasikas for Carnatic music, passed away in Chennai today after a brief illness, The Hindu reported. He was 73.
He is survived by wife V. Bagirathi, sons V.R. Shekar, V. Srinivasan, V. Sridhar, V. Balasubramanian and daughter Bhanumathi Ramakrishnan.
Born on March 2, 1935, he trained under his father Ramaswamy Sastry. As a youngster, he accompanied stalwarts, including Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Maharajapuram Santhanam and Chittoor Subramanya Pillai. He also performed with legendary nagaswara vidwans such as T.N. Rajarathinam Pillai and Thiruvenkadu Subramania Pillai.
He made a mark in classical music as well as film music, and made conscious attempts to make music more accessible to the common man.
His foray into the film industry began with A.P. Nagarajan giving him a break in ‘Vaa Raja Vaa.’ From then, he gave several magical numbers and super hits that are among the eternal melodies in Tamil films.
In the film ‘Deivam,’ he had all his playback singers including Madurai Somu appear on screen.
Melody from Raja Raja Cholan
His composition ‘Marudamalai mamaniyae murugaiyya…’ in Darbari Kanada made waves in the industry like not many songs have. Several other films such as ‘Agathiyar’ and ‘Raja Raja Chozhan,’ for which he scored music, were also phenomenal hits.
Mannil Intha Kathal
Marutha Malai
The internationally famed violinist Kunnakudi Vaidhyanathan has performed numerous times at several venues and festivities in Sri Lanka and around the globe.
