Concerts of Chembai - A Year With Kaliakudi Natesa Sastry (1909)

A Year With Kaliakudi Natesa Sastry (1909)

When Kaliakudi Natesa Sastry of Tiruvarur, an exponent of the art of Harikatha (musical discourse), came to Chembai village, Anantha Bhagavatar and his family attended the programmes, leading to the boys joining Sastry's troupe. Their concert in Tiruvarur (in Tanjavur district) at a guru pooja festival at which Natesa Sastrigal gave a discourse was especially notable, because it was at this concert that the boys were heard for the first time by Pudukkottai Dakshinamurthy Pillai, a famed exponent of the mridangam and kanjira. During their sojourn with Natesa Sastry, they had not only been singing at various places, they had also taken every possible opportunity of listening to famous musicians whenever they performed, such as Namakkal Narasimha lyengar, Kallidaikurichi Vedanta Bhagavatar, Ramanathapuram Srinivasa lyengar, Konerirajapuram Vaidyanatha Iyer, Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar, Madurai Pushpavanam, Tirukodikaval Krishna Iyer, Malaikkottai Govindaswamy Pillai and Pudukkottai Dakshinamurthy Pillai. This learning by listening was a valuable facet of the brothers' training. After about a year's absence, the brothers returned to Chembai in 1910 as experienced musicians.