Carnatic vocalist T.V. Sankaranarayanan passes away

Considered torch- bearer of the Madurai Mani Iyer style, T.V. Sankaranarayanan won the Padma Bhushan award in 2003.

Carnatic vocalist T.V. Sankaranarayanan, considered torch- bearer of the Madurai Mani Iyer style of singing and technique, died here on Friday evening. He was 77 and is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.

Sankaranarayanan was the nephew of Mani Iyer and son of T.S. Vembu Iyer, who accompanied Mani Iyer on stage till his last days.

Sankaranarayanan was born in Mayiladuthurai in 1945 after Madurai Mani Iyer had shifted his base there due to the evacuation in Chennai during the Second World War. The family returned to Chennai in the 1950s and Sankaranarayanan studied law, though he opted for a full-time career in music.

“My father also started accompanying Mani Iyer from the age of nine and his arangetram was held in Thanneerthurai Anjaneya temple in Mylapore,” said Mahadevan, son of Sankaranarayanan.

He won the Sangita Kalanidhi award of the Music Academy in 2003. In the same year, the Centre conferred on him Padma Bhushan.