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Artist
M D Ramanathan
12+ albums
about
M.D.Ramanathan (MDR) was born in Manjapara, Palghat District, Kerala on 20 May 1923. He had his early exposure and training in music from his father, Devesa Bhagavatar, who was a music teacher himself. MDR attained a B.Sc. degree majoring in Physics from Victoria College in Palghat. After completing his degree, he was taken to Madras by his father to further his musical career. MDR auditioned for a music course at Kalakshetra initiated by Rukmini Devi Arundale with Sri Tiger S. Varadachariar as Principal of the college. He was selected for the course and was the only vocal student in the very first batch commencing in 1944 and hence received extra special attention from Tiger Varadachariar. M.D.Ramanathan is recognised as Tiger S. Varadachariar's most renowned disciple. The music of M. D. Ramanathan is a slow rendering (vilambita kala which not only gave him time for introspective exploration, but also provided the audience with the opportunity to receive the message and ponder over it. His raga alapanas were characterised by effective use of gamakam which were full of bhavam and his bass tone complemented this facet. Ramanathan's alapana-s in Sahana, Sri, Ananda Bhairavi, Reethigowla and Yadukulakambhoji will forever hold a special place in Carnatic music history. MDR has composed more than 300 compositions. This includes varnams, krithis and tillanas. He has compositions in Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-S
