Young v. Shivanandan completed a three -year syllabus in 1954 from a reputed institute in Thiruvananthapuram at Karnatik Vocal, when he decided to expertly in violin. Virudhunagar Ganapati Pillai took Shivanandan under his wings. Mattering gave a new exponent to the magnificent Kumbconam style of violin-playing, which Ganapati learned from Rajmanikam Pillai.
Daughter V. Violin player with Indus. , Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
All India Radio (AIR) -Thiruvananthapuram, an employee -artist Ganapati initially started with weekly classes for Shivanandan. The boy often used to go 18 km from his house in Nedumangad. “There is no big deal,” says Shivanandan, now at the age of 90. “I was familiar with such a drill. My father used to take me to concert in the city and we used to walk.”
Shivanandan’s father, Neyatthinkara Vasudevan Pillai, was a harmonium master, who was eager to train his eight children in music, who either sang or played Veena or Mridam. “I chose a violin,” Shivanandan smiles. His father was his first tutor. “At the age of 12, I made a debut for a Harikatha in the local temple. I never had a formal Arangatram.”
In his mid-fashion, Shivanandan enrolled for a singer course at Swati Thirunal College-known as the Sangeet Academy (for 23 years since its inception in 1939). The faculty was stellar: Semangudi Srinivas Year, CS Krishna Iyer, KR Kumaraswamy, others. “My main Veena teacher, KS Narayanaswamy, found me promising. My first love, however, was violin.”
Shivanandan later trained under Ganpati Pillai in a Gurukula system. “Tanwala clarity and restraint are the symptoms that he was passed on. I achieved a sense of proportion as a company. If the singer’s bellow spread for 10 minutes, my single response would look almost half at the time,” says Shivanandan, who has a performance of more than seven decades.
Shivanandan is being done by KJ Yasuda. , Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
For Shivanandan, practice holds the key to excellence. “Even for violin genius such as Ms. Gopalakrishnan or Lalguri Jayaraman, they note. “I insist on allocating a decent time on my students for daily time SadhakamTime is banned for classes and concerts. I once taught Don-to-Dusk. ,
Shivanandan remains in Cherthala in the coastal Alappuzha district. “From the very beginning, I was flooded with an invitation to Kacharis. The area was lacking in the region,” says Shivanandan, who woke up to constantly getting up with stallwarts, including Parsla Ponammal, Biwi Raman-Lakhanan, Bombay Sistors, Trichur V. Ramachandran, Os Thiyarajan, Os Thiyarajan, Os Thiyarajan, Jayashree and TM Krishna. For a long time, he was in Retinue of Neyatthinkara Vasudevan and KJ Yesudas.
Shivanandan with NP Ramaswamy during a concert. , Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Big or small, each concert “serves a lesson”. He wore a short violin that his guru gifted him on the 60th birthday of Shivanandan. Kerala Sangeet Nataka Academy Awardee says, “You learn something new from a well -good kachri. This is a lesson that I have met by my teacher.”
Apart from music, Shivanandan likes to read. Although not a film buff, he played the role of a violinist in the 2007 Malayalam film, Anand Bhairavi“During my visit to the concert, I will always take a book. I had no objection, even though it was the literature of the children.”
Even today, Shivanandan’s hands cleverly left with violin wire. “I follow a disciplined routine. I am especially about my diet. We get most of the vegetables from the garden in our backyard. We also grow many medicinal plants.”
Shivanandan’s daughter V. Sindhu taught violin at Chembai Music College, Palakkad. “Apart from my daughter and grandson Adarsha Dilip, I have many disciples, including Thiruvizha Shivanandan, Edpali Ajitkumar, Bindu Ke. Shenoy, Cherrathala Shivkumar, Viju S. Anand and Manzoor Renjith.”
Published – July 01, 2025 02:00 PM IST
