S. R. Janakiraman

Who is S. R. Janakiraman?

S. R. Janakiraman is a Carnatic vocalist and a musicologist. He was born in Lalgudi, Tamilnadu on July 12, 1928 to Rangaswami Iyer and Gowri Ammal.

He started learning Carnatic music in 1938 and learnt several compositions and under Thanneerpalli Krishnamurthi at Trichirapalli.In Chennai, he continued his musical training from masters including Tiger Varadachariar, Tiruppamburam Swaminatha Pillai and T Brinda. Other stylistic influences include teachers such as Musiri Subrahmanya Iyer and Kalpakam Swaminathan. On the side of musicology he was trained by Prof.Sambamoorthy and P.K.Rajagopala Iyer.

He began his career teaching musicology at Madanapalli and Tirupati in Andhrapradesh.He headed the Dept. of Musicology at Sri Venkateswara College of Music, Tirupati. After retirement, he served as a research scholar and was part of the Experts committee at the Madras Music Academy.He also served as the Principal at the Teachers College of Music in the footsteps of his guru.

He is well known for his lecture demonstrations and a unique presentation style combining knowledge of lakshana and theory with the ability to practically demonstrate them. He is also known for his wide and varied repertoire which includes rare and complex tana varnas, some of the rarer compositions of Muttusvami Dikshitar and Subbarama Dikshitar, Compositions of Annamacharya. Like his teacher Tiger Varadachariar he belongs to the school of musicians who believe that ancient and medieval ragas can be resurrected successfully and does not believe in the notion of vivadi dosha. He includes several vivadi ragas as part of his repertoire.