Hailing from a musical family – his great-grandfather was Komal Muthu Bhagavathar and his grand uncle was vocalist Madirimangalam Natesa Iyer.

He explained the gamaka technique in Carnatic music that most Hindustani musicians criticize as detrimental to shruthi clarity.

He became a specialist in vivadi ragas and popularized the Śruti bhedam technique (modal shift of tonic note) introduced by his guru.

He used nadais (transposed rhythmic patterns) extensively and uninformed audience found his concerts challenging to understand and interpret.

His renditions of vivadi ragas like Chandrajyothi, Sucharitra, Hamasanadam are beloved by the connoisseur and the informed audience for the musical weight Kalyanaraman's genius had given.

However, Kalyanaraman also popularized the GNB bani (style) of singing and immortalized his guru's hallmark ragas like Shanmukhapriya, Kalyani, Sankarabharanam, Kapi Narayani and many more.

Noted among his disciples are his wife Bhushany Kalyanaraman, Prof. Gowri Kuppuswamy, Brinda Venkataramanan and the popular playback singer Anuradha Sriram.

He is held in high regard by senior contemporaries such as T. N. Seshagopalan, Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna, M. S. Gopalakrishnan and Lalgudi Jayaraman, Kalyanaraman's contribution to Carnatic music is noteworthy.

The SKR Trust, established by his wife and student Smt Bhushany Kalyanaraman promotes his music and his legacy.

A documentary of his life and work was released by Kalakendra Sanskriti Series The Sunaadha Vinodhan in a DVD format.