Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan (March 2, 1935 – September 8, 2008) was an
Indian classical music violinist.
Early life
He was born to Sri Ramaswamy Sastri and Smt. Meenakshi at
Kunnakudi, a temple town of Lord
Murugan in the southern Indian state of
Tamil Nadu.
His father was a scholar in
Sanskrit and
Tamil, and a composer and exponent of
Carnatic Music and Kathakalakshepam. Vaidyanathan started learning
South Indian Classical Music from his father at a very young age.
Vibhuti or sacred Ash and a large
Vermilion dot smeared prominently on his forehead were his trademark symbols.
Career
The violin was his forte. Known for the dexterity and subtlety in handling the violin, he catered not only to the music scholar but also to the layman. His play reflected his own different moods and the demands of his audience with whom he established and enjoyed a good rapport. He dwelled with ease and competence in the high as well as the low octaves.
At the age of 12, he accompanied great stalwarts like
Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar,
Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and
Maharajapuram Santhanam in concerts. He also performed with
Nadaswaram vidwans like T.N.Rajarathinam Pillai and Thiruvenkadu Subramania Pillai.
He stopped accompanying vocal artistes in 1976 to concentrate more on solo concerts. He was famous for his fingering techniques on the violin. His interest in new attempts and innovations led him to work with veteran
thavil vidwan
Valayapatti Subramanian. They...
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