'When my mother played on the instrument I would grip her feet and listen to the music. When she understood my love for music she started teaching me the violin at the age of seven She made me overcome my visual disability and learn the art', he recalls.
Chandrasekharan inculcated the essence of Carnatic music quickly and gave his first performance as an accompanist at the age of 11 at the Thyagaraja Vidwat Samaj. His career was heralded after he won the best violinist award in the year 1950 from the Music Academy.
Chandrasekharan's style is known for its intellectual power, flamboyance and sense of adventure. He is famous for his mellow tonal flourishes and for following the main artiste like a shadow.' An accompanist should always be supportive and never dominate the concert.
All inherent desires to exhibit the talents should find expression only in a solo concert and that too within the boundaries of tradition,' he says. 'The violin is the best instrument for accompaniment and so it gets featured the maximum in concerts, ' he adds.
Chandrasekharan has accompa- nied the clarinet maestro AKC Natarajan several times and is famous for his Nadaswaram and Shennai touches on the violin.
His vocal gurus include his mother, Mannargudi Sambhasiva Bhagav- athar, Kumbakonam Vaidyanatha Iyer,T Jayammal (padams) and Vidyalaya Narasimhalu Naidu (pallavi)and also vidwans and well-wishers. Learning vocal music is very important to play any instrument as it gives a stronger base, he points out.
Providing accompaniment to a gamut of stalwarts, titles and praises have come his way but his most precious moment was when he was presented a gold-plated silver violin for his shastiabdapoorthi in December 1997 by his students.
' It was the most momentous moment and touched me because of the love and affection behind the gift. Students should always have regard and respect for their elders and it will pay them rich dividends,' he says.
Chandrasekharan is also endowed with an extraordinary memory which helps him to recall past events and their dates exactly. He is a prolific composer and also runs a trust in memory of his mother called the Charubala Mohan Trust . The trust honours music vidwans and conducts programmes periodically.
This artcle appered in News Today and is reproduced here for informational pupose only
