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There was no pressing reason for the strapping young nadaswaram musician to leave his home in Karavadi, a village off the Andhra coast in Prakasam district, in the early 1950s. For nearly 300 years, across at least eight generations, his family of hereditary nadaswaram musicians had lived there, owning land and serving as respected asthana vidwans (resident maestros) at the local Rama temple. One day, he too would have inherited that generational privilege.
But the pull from across the border was irresistible: the dream of learning from the peerless nadaswaram superstar of Tamil Nadu, TN Rajarattinam Pillai. When that dream did not materialise, he sought out the maestro’s disciples, Ranjan and Duraikannu Pillai, at Nachiarkovil in Thanjavur district.
By the early 1960s, drawn by the prospect of finding work at the All India Radio in Tiruchirapalli, he moved to Srirangam, the river island off the city famed for its magnificent Ranganatha temple. In the decades that followed, he became a legend in his own right, turning the quiet Thangaiyan Street where he lived into a cultural landmark.
Two months ago, 27 years after his death, the street was renamed after him as a tribute to his remarkable life and art. For, Sheik Chinna Moulana occupies a...