Fitting tribute by Krishna Ramarathinam

A young trio performs at the Sathur Subramaniam memorial concert

A prominent vocalist apart, Sathur A.G. Subramaniam was a much-loved guru. A purist to the core, he was known for his raga alapanas and pallavi elaborations marked by lakshya and lakshana. When Chennai-based sabha Kedaram recently organised a concert in his honour, what better choice for singer than his grandson, Krishna Ramarathinam? The concert, replete with Tyagaraja’s compositions, began with ‘Sri Ganapatini’ (Sourashtram) from the poet’s opera Prahlada Bhakthi Vijayam. It was followed with a virutham, ‘Ramabrahmakya viprendra’, in Gowri Manohari, as a prelude to ‘Guruleka etuvanti’ (Khanda Chapu) with niraval at ‘Thathva bodhana’. Krishna, an IT professional from Sydney, trained initially under M.S. Ramanathan. He later learnt from V. Subramaniam, A.S. Murali, M. Chandrasekaran and, of course, his aunts, the Sathur Sisters.