Mani Iyer..... emphasis on musical quality

rather than mathematical intricacy.

Rhythm Misses aBeat

Mani Iyer played as if he had fifty fingers.

"Palghat Mani Iyer's thaniavartanam was in a class by itself. Eventhose who had gone out of the concert hall for a quick bite or refreshment would hurry back to their seats so as not to miss it. There would be pin drop silence and every one would listen attentively trying to catch the nuances of the beat." Weighty words indeed, coming from the doyen of Carnatic music, Semmangudi R. Srinivasa Iyer.

Mani Iyer who passes away recently, hailed from a musical family. His father Seshan Bagavathar of Palghat was a vidwan. His first guru was Chathapuram Subba Iyer and later he studied under a great teacher, Tanjore Vaidyanatha Iyer. He owed a lot to Chembai Vaidyanatha Bagavathar who brought him to public notice.

"Mani Iyer was a born genius. He started giving concerts at the age of twelve. He had reached the top even as a teenager. We have given a number of concerts together. He was a man of principles and not one to chop and change. If he agreed to play free at a concert on a given date, even a crore rupees would not change his mind. That was the kind of man he was," Semmangudi goes on.

Though hailing from Palghat, Mani Iyer lived in Tanjore for many years, and then in Madras; his last few years were spent at the Rishi Valley School, teaching.

"Mani Iyer had a great respect for the Gandhian way of life. I am proud to say that I gave him his first pair of khadar dhotis way back in 1934 or 35 at a concert in Chettinad. He wore khadar after that till his dying day."

Mani Iyer was greatly influenced by yet another giant in the field, Dakshinamoorthy Pillai. They played together vying with each other and the older man was overjoyed at Mani Iyer's virtuosity. "I remember Mani Iyer saying at Dakshinamoorthy Pillai's death, 'We are bereft like an army without a commander, " Semmangudi recalls.

"It was the musical quality of playing that marked him out from the rest of his profession and endowed him with exclusive excellence," writes SYK, the critic, in a tribute to Mani Iyer in The Hindu. To Mani Iyer the mridangam was

more than a layavadyam and "he preferred to bring out the music of the mridangam rather than the mathematical intricacies of it."

In the last years of his life Mani Iyer refused to perform in any concert that used a mike system. perhaps to limit the number of concerts he played in. He was content to mikeless for small chamber music audiences and gave up playing in large concert halls. Says Semmangudi: "There is no doubt that the mike distorts the sound of the instrument. there is a world of difference between listening to music naturally and listening to it through the mike. Mani Iyer had a sound knowledge of music. He knew how to highlight a kriti, where to play up, where to play down and when to recede the mridangam to the background. He was such a master of laya that it became a great honour for a vocalist to be accompanied by Mani Iyer on the mridangam. Through his efforts the mridangam has been recognised as being as important as vocal music in any concert."

One of the finest compliments paid to Mani Iyer came from tiger Varadhachariar, one of the greatest exponents of Carnatic music : "During ordinary times Mani has ten fingers. When he plays, he has fifty fingers. If he had a tail, he will be Nandikeswara."
 
 

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