Three senior musicians receive the TTK awards for 2025

Well-known vainikas JT Jeyaraaj Krishnan and Jaysri Jeyaraaj Krishnan have been propagating the ‘gayaki’ style of playing. Their authentic classical renderings appeal to the connoisseur and the layperson alike, for the couple’s music combines aesthetics and virtuosic skills. Both are graded A-Top artistes of All India Radio, Chennai.

The ‘Veena Couple’, as they are popularly known, belong to the sishya parampara of Muthuswami Dikshitar. Jeyaraaj and Jaysri, both born and brought up in Kolkata, started their intensive training in vocal and veena at a young age under the tutelage of veena vidwan A. Anantharama Iyer and his sister A. Champakavalli. The dedicated gurus continued the Dikshitar parampara imbibed from their father, Brahmasri Ananthakrishna Iyer, who was a direct disciple of Ambi Dikshitar, the great grandnephew of Muthuswami Dikshitar. Jeyaraaj and Jaysri have also been fortunate to learn from vidwan Chingleput Ranganathan.

Jeyaraaj and Jaysri have performed close to 2500 concerts, in India and abroad. Firm in their belief that veena music should be representative of vocal music, the artistes have presented many intricate pallavis in their concerts, including nadai pallavis and pallavis in 8-kalai. They also perform thematic and four-hour concerts that have been well received.

Jeyaraaj and Jaysri have used the platform of lecture demonstrations to popularise and highlight the attributes of the veena. They have launched an organisation called ‘Veenavaadhini’ to teach the veena; to conduct chamber concerts to provide an accessible platform for musicians; to retrace Muthuswami Dikshitar’s pilgrimage and render the kritis that he has composed on various gods and goddesses enshrined in different temples.

Jaysri Jeyaraaj has composed several Carnatic compositions with the pseudonym ‘JaysriVani’. They have a number of audio releases to their credit. They are Asthana Vidwan and Asthana Vidushi of Sri Chakra Maha Meru Peetham, in Bilaspur. The recipient of awards such as Vainika Mudhra, Nada Kala Vipanchee, the Pichumani Iyer Centenary Award, Emani Sankara Sastry Award and Veena Dhanammal Prize.

Known to blend technology with tradition, the couple has launched a unique Mobile App called ‘VeenaJJ, which features 500-plus compositions of Muthuswami Dikshitar and his parampara as well as 500 more of other Carnatic composers.

Madambi Subramanian Namboodiri

Singer, teacher and scholar Madambi Subramanian Namboodiri.
| Photo Credit:
NARAYANAN MUTTUTATTIL

Madambi Subramanian Namboodiri is a respected name in Kathakali music. The veteran singer, teacher and scholar, was  born on June 15, 1943, to Sreedevi Antharjanam and M. Sankaran Namboodiri, at Shreekrishnapuram, Palakkad,in Kerala. Subramanianreceived training in Kathakali music from gurus Ramankutty Warrier, Kavungal Madhava Panicker, Kalamandalam Neelakandan Nambeesan and Kalamandalam Sivaraman Nair. He also studied Carnatic music under Kongoorpally Parameswaran Namboodiri. 

Subramanian then worked as a Kathakali music teacher at Gandhi Seva Sadanam for a year before joining Kerala Kalamandalam in 1968 as a Kathakali music teacher, and  retired in 1997. He returned to Kalamandalam in 2007 to serve as visiting professor till 2024.

Subramanian has performed widely and received critical acclaim for his art. Unlike his well-known colleagues Embranthiri and Hyder Ali who experimented and brought in brigas and bhava music, Subramanian continues to uphold the traditional style, in which the melody and rhythm are perfectly synchronised. 

In fact, he is considered an authority on traditional Kathakali music, in the style propagated  by his guru Neelakandan Nambisan who incorporated some elements of Carnatic music into Kathakali music, without changing its character. Subramanian has 60 years of experience in Kathakali music and is a significant link in the guru-sishya parampara as he has trained a substantial number of musicians at Kalamandalam. 

Subramanian has travelled extensively for performances and workshops within India and abroad, performing in countries like the US, Japan, Australia, as well as in Europe and West Asia. 

The veteran is a recipient of several awards — Kerala Kalamandalam Award, the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award, the Kalamandalam Neelakandan Nambeesan Award, the Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair Memorial Award, the Kerala State Kathakali Award and the  Kerala Kalamandalam Fellowship which he received in 2024. Earlier, in 2017, he was bestowed with the Central Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for his contribution to Kathakali.