Myself and my family have known Sri.Kedaranathan for over 6 decades from his days in Trivandrum - my sister besides several members of our family including my daughter have learnt from Kedaram Mama. He was a very highly creative artiste and some of his creations include rare ragas like Hritkamali. He had a flair for Hindusthani music and could easily turn out a lilting melody in one of the Hindusthani ragas.

He was an able Sishya of the Semmangudi School and his elder brother the late K. R. Kumaraswamy. I met him last in October when he and his disciples led by his wife Meera sang on the occasion of Semangudi mama's death aniversary.

He looked frail but with his inimitable sense of humour, he deflected queries about his health. He was a loyal and steadfast disciple, sincere artiste and yet fame and recognition eluded him and he was understandably bitter about it. Frank and forthright to a fault he would never 'bow' down or curry favour and subordinate his art and craftsmanship to getting rich.

While this seemingly uncompromising attitude may have cost him many valuable honours--honours and recognition that he mightily deserved and never got enough of - he never let that lack of recognition deter him from his high moral ground in the pursuit and practice of his art form.

His biggest legacy to the music world would be the hordes of disciples that he trained and launched their careers. To this extent the World of Carnatic Music owes him a deep debt of gratitude.

Our family's heartfelt condolences to his wife and sons.

M. K. Ramasubramanian(Ramesh),
by E-mail