A slender young man, dressed in a kurta and dhoti, sharp eyes, chewing vethlai – he was Nagai Sriram, the violinist who passed away recently. The Carnatic music world is in shock due to his untimely demise.
Born to Vasanta and Rangasamy, Sriram initially learned from his grandmother Komalvalli. He received further education under his uncle, Nagai Muraleedharan.
Our musical journey started together. As young learners, we often practiced together. Together we won awards – Yuva Award from Sangeet Natak Akademi, and Kalki Krishnamurthy Award. We have done many concerts together in America, Australia, Europe, UAE and all over India. He was the recipient of the Best Violinist Award from the Sangeet Akademi for eight consecutive years as well as Shanmukh Sangeeta Shiromani from Shanmukhananda Sabha, Mumbai.
ready for challenges
There are two types of violin accompaniment. Firstly, when the violinist tries not to reproduce the singer’s style, but plays in a way that does not bother the singer’s imagination. Second, the violinist pushes the singer to give his best and takes on more challenges, raising the level of the concert several notches. Nagai Sriram undoubtedly belonged to the second category. This was a quality associated with my mentor, the great violinist Lalgudi Jayaraman.
Sriram easily reproduces TN Seshagopalan’s Kanakas, TV Sankaranarayanan’s Sarvalaghas, Hyderabad Brothers’ sacred music, Neyveli Santhanagopalan’s soulful phrases, Ravikiran’s delusional concepts, Somvya’s rare ragas, Sanjay Subramaniam’s flair and the Malladi brothers’ classicism can do. The best part about Shriram was that he was always smiling whether he had successfully repeated the singer’s idea or not.
He loved and loved the sudden challenges on stage. He used to sense the mood of the lead cast as well as the pulse of the audience in a jiffy. He will specially elaborate and elevate my RTP concepts. A “Oh Bale” with a smile, and his musical reactions to my vocals/kanakku posers will live on in my memory. A viral video of Sriram alternating between Nalinakanti and Bindumalini ragas in swarakshar RTP at our concert at Parthasarathy Swami Sabha proves his musical prowess.
Another concert that comes to mind is the one we did in Muscat. His violin strings broke in the middle of the performance. Tout de suit, he got it right and played a super-fast accompaniment in Bhairavi, mesmerizing the Rasikas. But artists and organizers were often offended by their last-minute excuses for not being able to perform at a concert.
When Sriram performed with his mentor Nagai Muralitharan, he would love to play in an unobtrusive manner. Be it sad Subhapantuvarali or Shanta Sama or Tej Begada, his music was full of intellectualism and emotion.
He shared a great rapport with percussion exponents like Mannargudi Easwaran, Petri Sathish Kumar, K Arunprakash, KV Gopalakrishnan and Guruprasad. It was fun watching them take on the form of old-fashioned giants.
Gone too soon, my friend. You will always be missed on the stage.
The writer is a well-known singer from Karnataka.