N. C. Vasanthakokilam

Nagapattinam Chandrashekhara Vasanthakokilam
File:Vasanthakokilam.jpg Vasanthakokilam in the 1944 blockbuster Haridas
Born	Kamakshi 1919 Irinjalakuda, Cochin State, British India
Died	November 7, 1951 (aged 32) Gopalapuram, Madras State, India
Spouse	none
Children	none

Nagapattinam Chandrashekhara Vasanthakokilam (Template:Lang-ta; 1919 – November 7, 1951) was a carnatic singer and actress. Her works included the performances of kritis by Tyagaraja and Muthuswami Dikshitar. She popularised many of Suddhananda Bharathi's songs in the years after Indian independence. She died of tuberculosis in 1951.

Early life

NCV was born as Kamakshi in Irinjalakkuda, Cochin State of British India, the present Kerala. Her family then shifted to Nagapattinam. Her father, Chadrashekhara Iyer send her under the tutelage of Nagapattinam 'Jalar' Gopala Iyer, an accompanist in Harikatha performances. In 1936, the family moved to Madras, where she started giving concerts. She won the first prize in vocal music at the Madras Music Academy annual conference of 1938, which was presided over by Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar and declared open by the Yuvaraja of Mysore.

Her Music

Her voice was melodious with perfect intonation, sruti, emotion, high-pitched and clear pronunciation of words. Her rendering of higher octaves and sruti were remarkably with effortless ease to bring off brigas. She sang plenty of Tamil songs. She was a regular performer at the festivals of the Tamil Isai Sangam in Madras and Nellai Sangeetha Sabha in Thirunelveli. She also perform for the Tyagaraja Aradhana each year between 1942 and 1951. NCV ranked among the top performers of the classical singer of that time and many records were released containing her classical/ semi-classical songs. The famous Carnatic music vocalist Tiger Varadachariar had bestowed the title Madhuragita Vani. Her songs are:

• yen paLLi koNdeer ayyaa
• thanthai thaai irundhaal umakkindha
• nitiraiyil vandhu nenjil idam
• mahalakshmi jaganmatha
• aanandha nadanam aadinAL
• aasai koNdEn vaNdE
• thithikkum senthamizhaal dEsaabhimaanam enum
• andha naaL ini varumO
• varuvaanO vanakkuyilE
• aadu raattE
• saarasa dala nayana
• indha varam tharuvaan
• needayarada

Film Songs

She also sang the following songs for Kollywood (a word which didn't exist in her time) which became very popular :

• punniya dhinamindre srikannan pirandha punniya dhinam (Venuganan)
• eppO varuvaaro endhan kali theerae (Venuganan)
• inbam inbam jagamengum (Venuganan)
• pozhudhu pularnthadhu yAm seidha thavathAl
• kuzhalOsai kEtkudhammA gOplakrishnan
• thanthai thaai irundhaal umakkindha
• nitiraiyil vandhu nenjil idam
• paanganachOlai alankaram (Gangavatar)
• kalaivaaNi aruL purivaai (Gangavatar)
• anandam aLavilla miga anandam (Gangavatar)
• idhuvenna vEdhanai (Gangavatar)
• ananda maya vaanulageedhE (Gangavatar)
• kaavin manOhara kaatchiyin maanbe (Gangavatar)
• kathiravan udhayam kaNdu kamalangaL mugam malarum (Haridas)
• kaNNa vaa maNivaNNa vaa (Haridas)
• enathu manam thuLLi viLayaadudhE (Haridas)
• enathu uyir naathan hrudayam nondhE ennai pirindhaan (Haridas)
• thottadhaRkkellaam thappeduthaal with M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar (Haridas)
• sundarananda vaikuntha hare mukuntha (Valmiki)
• puvi meedhu thava gnaniye uyar pugazh mevum periyor thanpaal (Valmiki)
• jaya jaya bhuvanapathae paalaya jaya karunajalathe (Valmiki)
• poithavazhum mayappuvi vaazhvu (Valmiki)
• navaneetha kaNNanae radhamOha (Krishna Vijayam)
• karuNanidhE madhava nithya kalyaNa guNa madhava (Krishna Vijayam)
• porumai kadalaagiya bhoomadEvi (Krishna Vijayam)

Acting career

Besides being a singer par excellence, NCV acted in movies. She started with Chandra Gupta Chanakya playing the role of the princess Chaaya directed by C. K. Saachi in 1940. Followed by Venuganam (1940), Gangavathar (1942), Haridas (1944), Valmiki (1946), Kundalakesi (1946) and Krishna Vijayam (1950). Today, not many of her Carnatic renditions are available as CDs or audio recordings and those which are available contain both cinema and carnatic compositions which were concert pieces.

Personal life

Her personal life was an unhappy one. Her marriage had been a failure as her husband had not inclined to encourage her music pursuits. In later years, she found a life-partner in a lawyer turned film-maker, C. K. Sathasivan (known as C. K. Saachi) till her last days. She fell victim to a severe attack of tuberculosis, and died in 1951 at her residence in Gopalapuram, Madras when she was just thirty-two years old.

Notes

• [1]

References

• Sriram Venkatakrishnan (November 28, 2008). "Flight of a nightingale". The Hindu.