CHENNAI: An honour considered long overdue for the two octogenarian musicians - the maverick genius musician, researcher, vocalist and mridangam artiste T V Gopalakrishnan, and violin trendsetter M S Gopalakrishnan - were bestowed with the Padma Bhushan. So was Subbiah Murugappa Vellayan, former chairman of the Murugappa Group.
Tirupanithurai Viswanatha Gopalakrishnan is a well-known musician, guru to some of the best-known musicians and composers of the Indian music industry like K J Yesudas, Kadri Gopalnath, Ilayaraja and A R Rahman. Known for his expertise in the Carnatic, Hindustani and Western Classical music schools, TVG is regarded as one of the pioneers of Indian jazz as we know it today.
His namesake and another Padma Bhushan awardee for his achievements in instrumental music, M S Gopalakrishnan, is the man who completes the violin trinity of classical music with Lalgudi Jayaraman and T N Krishnan, and an accomplished artiste of the Parur bani (style), having customised it to what is now called the Parur-MSG bani (style).
Subbiah Murugappa Vellayan, currently the chairman of the National Skill Development Corporation, is known to be in the forefront to establish and enforce benchmarks in professional corporate governance. He is a third generation member of the Murugappa family in the business.;
Natesan Muthuswamy, founder of Koothu-P-Pattarai and one of the most renowned playwrights of the state lauded for his experimental outlook towards the art form, was also among those named for the Padma Shri award.