Palghat Kollengode Viswanatha Narayanaswamy

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K. V. Narayanaswamy
Born	November 15, 1923(1923-11-15) Palghat, Kerala, India
Died	April 1, 2002 (aged 78) Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Palghat Kollengode Viswanatha Narayanaswamy (Tamil: பால்காட் கொல்லெங்கேடெ விஷ்வநாத நாரயணசுவாமி) (November 15, 1923 - April 1, 2002) ("KVN") is one of the most renowned Carnatic vocalists of the 20th century. He was born in Palghat, Kerala, India, in a family of continuing music tradition. His father Fiddle Viswanatha Bhagavatar was a violinist of repute; his grandfather Narayana Bhagavatar and his great-grandfather Viswam Bhagavatar were also musicians.

His first guru was mridangam vidwan Palghat Mani Iyer. He had further training, first under C.S. Krishna Iyer, a highly competent vocalist who was in Palghat, and then under violinist Papa Venkataramiah. Subsequently, he entered gurukulavasam under Sri Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar in 1942. From then on, KVN remained an ardent disciple of Ramanuja Iyengar until the latter's passing away [in 1967].

KVN's concert career spanned over 40 years. He delighted listeners all over India and abroad with his immense classicism and sweet voice. He had a wide repertoire and was capable of extensive variations both of his concert fare and the technical make-up of the concert. He serves as a model musician, who has paid attention to every aspect of music carnatic musicians strive for, be it lyrical purity in various languages, gifted adherence to shruti, vast repertoire and innovative aspects.

Narayanaswamy performed in the Edinburgh and Commonwealth Music festivals and in the Berlin Festival. In 1965, he went to Wesleyan University in the U.S. for a two year stint. Besides teaching there, he went on a coast-to-coast concert tour during which he gave lecture-demonstrations as well. In the first part of this tour, he had only mridangam and tambura accompaniment but no violin. He was one of the four main artists in a large festival of music held at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles in the summer of 1967 which attracted an audience of 12,000 people. The others were Bismillah Khan, Ali Akbar Khan, and Ravi Shankar. He also participated in the East-West Encounter in Delhi in 1964.

In 1974, KVN went to Berkeley, California in the U.S. for a year, in the company of such other renowned artists as dancer Balasaraswati and sitarist Nikhil Banerjee. This was organized by the American Society for Eastern Arts. He travelled to North America, Europe and Australia multiple times thereafter on various concert tours.

KVN joined the Music College in Madras as a lecturer in 1962 when Musiri Subramania Iyer was its principal. He retired as Professor of Music in 1982.

In 1984, Narayanaswamy went to San Diego State University in California as an artist-in-residence under the Fulbright scholarship. He was the first Indian to be awarded a Fulbright grant in the music field and only Indian among four Asians to be given the award that year. For nine months he taught at the university and also gave performances all over North America.

Narayanaswamy received many awards and titles for his musical excellence. Among them are the Sangeetha Kalanidhi from the Madras Music Academy (1986); the Kerala Sangeet Natak Akademi award (1970); the President of India's 'Padma Sri' award (1976); the central Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1976); the title of 'Sangita Kala Nipuna' from the Mylapore Fine Arts Society of Madras (1982); and the title 'Gayaka Choodamani' from the Tulasivanam Sangita Parishat of Trivandrum (1983). In 1975, the Bharati Society of America conferred on him the title of 'Geeta Bhushanam,' while Bhairavi bestowed on him the title 'Sangita Ratnakara.'

Narayanaswamy had been a member of the Experts' Committee of the Madras Music Academy for many years. He has several disciples both in India and North America.

See also: Carnatic music