Sangeeta Kalanidhi, Padmabhushan, Sri. R.K. Srikantan passed away on Monday Feb 17, 2014, only one day after celebrating his 94th birthday.
Mysore has been the home of many outstanding Vainika Vidwans like Veenai Seshanna and Veenai Subbhanna and many others. Indeed, Karnataka continues to nurture many brilliant young instrumentalists in violin and flute even today. There are also vocalists from Karnataka who are emerging as outstanding theoreticians and book authors on music and dance. However, based on the sheer melody and voice culture and authentic renditions, Sri R.K Srikantan has been the unique and unquestioned monarch among the vocalists of Karnataka.
When I was young, I used to be truly tempted by only a few male vocalists for their melodious voices. In All India Radio, Maharajapuram Santhanam and Sri. R.K. Srikantan were the two artists whose 45 minutes programs I would never miss. I remember our co-tenant one Mr. Thirumalachari , who was working for Lactogen Company, bought a new radio. He also subscribed for the Vanoli (a magazine containing the monthly program for that month). I would always look through the Vanoli for the timings for these two persons. Needless to say, I certainly listened to people like GNB, Ariyakkudi, and Chembai who were given the night time slots. However, Srikantan’s rich voice was certainly attractive to any music loving person or even a new comer who was only marginally interested in classical music.
In those days, the yard stick by which to evaluate vocalists as performers was whether they could match the vocal skills of GNB. While Maharjapuram Viswanatha Iyer’s musical depth and Ariyakkudi’s mastery and speed of rendering kritis stunned one and all, when it came to looking for a pleasing and capturing voice, GNB, Santhanam and Srikantan belonged to a different class altogether. Unfortunately for many years, Santhanam and Srikantan were not able to dominate the concert scenes unlike Ariyakkudi, Chemmangudi, Madurai Mani Iyer, and Chenmbai. In fact, the two were sought after on the concert stages in more recent years (i.e. the last 25 years).
It was with God’s grace that R.K. Srikantan at 84 or 85 was touring the U.S. and we were fortunate to organize his concert for the Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam. That year, many young talents and local music teachers learned some rare kritis from him under a matching grant program that CTU initiated. Being truly devoted to the music of Saint Tyagaraja, during the concert he refused to sing any Kritis other than Tyagaraja Kritis. If my memory serves me, he sang perhaps one Purandara Dasa Devarnama to appease some Kannada speaking music lovers in the audience. He strongly believed that his music concert was not to be a formal concert but rather a true homage to that immortal composer.
He has trained many vocalists from Karnataka like M.S. Sheela, Satyavati, and his own son Rama Kanth and so on. I am sure the vacuum is not easily filled in Carnatic music, no matter how many new talents emerge.
T.E. S. Raghavan