Guruguha.org wishes Smt.Kalpagam Swaminathan many happy returns of the Day.
Smt.Kalpagam Swaminathan, a veteran vainika known for her rendition of Dikshitar krtis was referred to as 'DikshitariNi' by none other than Sangeetha Kalanidhi Musiri Subrahmanya Iyer
Listen to her play Dikshitar's ShrI saraswati hite in mAnji
The daughter of Seetaraman and Abhayambal,
Kalpagam Swaminathan was born at Setalapatti,Tanjore district on August 15th.
One of the senior-most and highly respected Vainikas today, she had her initial
training under her mother and later under doyens like Kallidakuricci
A.Anantakrishna Iyer,Justice T L Venkatarama Iyer, and Budalur Krishnamurti
Sastrigal. She taught veena at Kalakshetra between 1945-1949.Later,she taught at the Madras
Music College from late 1960s through the 70s.She has played very regularly on AIR and the concert
platform.
Old-timers even remember with nostalgia the BudalurAr-Kalpagam MAmi
gottuvadyam-veena duet concerts.Since BudalurAr played gottuvadyam very much
in a veena style
- their duet performances were very well matched and appreciated.
Smt.Kalpagam Swaminathan herself mentioned that it was Prof.R.Srinivasan of Trivandrum who first heard them practice/play
duet at Kalakshetra and made sure that the public heard them.
She has been felicitated many times; Sruti had a note on her 70th birthday celebrations in which
DKP, SRJ, B.Rajam Iyer spoke very highly of her music, repertoire and commended her role as a teacher.
She was honoured with the TTK award and recently the Sangeetha Kala Acharya by the Music Academy.She is also a recipent of the Sangeet Natak Akademi award to join an illustrious line of vainikas
including Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer and Kalyanakrishna bhagavatar.
One of her rasikas of her music,
Srinivasan Pichumani writes, "Here was a person who seemed like the perfect "medium"
thru which one could "hear" Dikshitar. She is a vainIka who has mastered the instrumental technique completely and plays in a style befitting the description "vaiNika gAyaka".The clarity/depth/strength in her instrumental technique, the sharp detail in her music, the complete eschewal of unnecessary elements, her repertoire, and the remarkable fidelity to the Dikshitar tradition are all stunning. In one session, she started off by playing some rAgams like PantuvaraLi,begadA, kalyani. She played a couple of Dikshitar kritis in Manji
(both of these are given in the Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini of Subbarama Dikshitar) and explained that he has left no doubt as to what is Bhairavi and what is Manji. She reiterated that this business of singing Brovavamma in Manji or calling it Manji is a different/newer pATAntaram, unlike "varugalAmO ayyA" of Gopalakrishna
Bharati and the two Dikshitar kritis which have always been in Manji".
When asked about various things relating to the veena -
different styles, DhanammAl's style in particular, her own style and how it got formed
etc, she said that at one point in time, she had observed and could reproduce 18 different styles.
Whether it is an oft-heard kriti like annapUrNe or seshAcala nAyakam or a rare krti like hAtakeshwara or Mangaladevataya the krti sparkles in her hands.
