Musicians of the Kingdom of Mysore
Instruments such as the harmonium, the sitar and the jaltarang, though uncommon to the southern region, came into use and British influence popularised the saxophone and the piano.
He composed many philosophically themed javali (light lyric) and devotional songs in the Kannada language under the title Anubhava pancharatna.
[8] His scholarship in Kannada is acclaimed and his compositions are seen as parallels to the vachana poems of the Virashaiva poets and to the devotional songs (pada) of the Haridasas of Karnataka.
[9] Mysore Sadashiva Rao was born in Greemspet in the Chittoor district of modern Andhra Pradesh to a Maharashtrian family.
He has over fifty works including compositions, dramas, and Yakshagana to his credit, all of which were written with a pen name beginning with "Linga", such as "Lingendra" or "Lingaraja".
His most famous compositions in Kannada are titled "Chandravali jogi hadu", "Pancha vimshati leele" and "Amba kirtana", and in Sanskrit, the "Shringara lahari".
While singing the tune, Venkataramaniah went into a trance and the court musician hurried to the palace and requested the king to be audience to the singer.
Famous among these compositions are Ninnu koriyunna, Vanajalochana, Nivanti, Chakkani na mohanaguni, Manavigai konarada and several javali.
[16] Veena Chikka Lakshminaranappa, an expert vainika, was a descendant of Krishnappa, a Mysore court musician during the time of Bettada Chamaraja Wodeyar in the 16th century.
[19] Veena Shamanna was the son of Rama Bhagavatar, an immigrant from Tanjore who came to Mysore during a famine, seeking royal patronage.
A well-known musician called Veena Sambayya made a mistake in interpreting a shloka in the musical treatise Sangeeta Ratnakara.
[27] His achievements in classical music won Mysore a premier place in the art of playing the veena and he was given the title "Vainika Shikhamani" by King Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV.
He played the veena at the Indian National Congress in Belagavi in 1924 to an audience comprising such leaders as Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru and others and received the title "Vainika Chakravarthi".
[29] Sheshanna was proficient at other instruments, including the violin, swarabhat, rudra veena, jalatarang and even the piano, in which he is known to have composed in English.
[31] Mysore Karigiri Rao was the son of Lakshmi Narasimhacharya, who hailed from Tumkur and was a Sanskrit Pandit in the court of King Krishnaraja Wodeyar III.
He later travelled, performing in many places before returning to Mysore at the age of fifty when he was appointed court musician by King Chamaraja Wodeyar IX.
[36] A master of both Carnatic and Hindustani raga, he delivered the opening Sanskrit shloka (devotional songs) at the Indian National Congress convention at Belagavi in 1924.
[37] Numerous compositions in Sanskrit and Telugu are credited to him, as well as one song in Kannada called Karunisou under the pen name "Vasudeva".
[40] Among other well-known composers of the time, Tiruppunandal Pattabhiramiah from Kumbakonam was well known for his javali, with more than fifty to his credit written mostly in Kannada and Telugu under the pen name of "Talavana".
He was also noted for his musical and painting abilities and was given the titles Maha Vidwan in 1905 and Kavi Tilaka in 1912 by King Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV.
[42] Ayya Shastry also authored the well-known composition Svami Devane Loka Paalane, which was widely used as a school prayer.
In the late 19th-early 20th century, Jayarayacharya (1846–1906) composed Kalyana Gitavali containing more than fifty devotional songs to be sung in the king's court and at festivals, and prayers by women; the dramatist Giribhattara Tamayya (1865) wrote the well-known works Gaya charitre, Droupadi swayamvara, Neeti chudamani, Virata parva and Sudhanva charitre under the pen name "Tammayya".
[45] During this period, Veena Subramanya Iyer wrote an important treatise on music in Kannada, dealing with both its theoretical and practical aspects, called Sangeeta Samayasara which was published in 1915.
A native of Tirunalveli (in modern Tamil Nadu), he was a scholar in Sanskrit and was trained in music by Samabasiva Iyer in Tiruvayyar.
To this famous musician are credited one hundred and eight Chamundeswari kritis in Kannada, one hundred and eight Shivashtottara compositions in Sanskrit, an important treatise on music in Tamil called the "Sangeeta Kalpadrumam", and a biography in Sanskrit on the life, achievements and contributions of Tyagaraja to Carnatic music called Srimat Tyagaraja Vijaya.
For his accomplishments, he was given the title of "Sangeeta Kalanidhi" by the Madras Music Academy and received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from the University of Travencore.
Venkatagiriappa played the veena for fifteen minutes in a well-known documentary movie called "Musical Instruments of India" in 1935.
At the age of sixteen, he was tutored by Bidaram Krishnappa for eighteen years at the end of which Chowdiah emerged as an accomplished violinist.
He was appointed as a jalatarang player in the court of King Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV and served the palace orchestra as a vocalist and violinist.
Tiger Varadachariar, a native of Kaladipet (modern Tamil Nadu) moved initially to T. Narasipura where he performed music for some years.
