A dedicated teacher all her life, S Rajeswari continues to research selflessly the cause of music and dance. A professor with an M Phil, she became the principal of Tamil Nadu Government Music College. She is one of the rare artistes who acquired proficiency in conducting bharatanatyam recital (nattuvangam) while simultaneously accompanying the dancer on the vocal.
Her teaching experience in Mauritius at Indira Gandhi Centre for Indian culture, imparting training to foreign students, moulded her into a musician of calibre. It also won her approbation.
“I have been grooming numerous non-resident Indians from New Zealand, USA, Canada and South East Asia. Their intonations and incarnations in vocal expression are fine-tuned,” she said. Rajeswari has thirteen volumes of CDs to her credit. With her sterling contribution to the field of music and with her being as an original composer in her own right, she has created several ancient and modern poetic works conducive for dance and music.
This accomplished artiste has accompanied ace dancers like Sudharani Raghupathy, Chithra Visweswaran, Dhananjajyan and Alarmel Valli among many others.
She has also vocally accompanied the doyens in the field of Kuchipudi like Vempatti Chinna Satyam, Shoba Naidu and others.
It is no wonder that the State Government honoured her with Kalaimamani Award. It was the first time teh award was being given for an artiste under the category of music and dance.
Also, she has won several awards and titles, including the prestigious Sangeetha Nataka Acadamy Award from the Government of India.
With nostalgic memories, she recollects and says, she owes it to all her revered gurus Ramanad krishnan, Madurai Krishnan, S Rajam and DK Jayaraman, who have been the four pillars in moulding her career.
A prolific solo artiste, her genius in vocal rendition earned her a top rank in All India radio. She has undoubtedly touched the pinnacle surpassing all her counterparts with her mastery over the art for over 20 years.
Rajeswari says she was trained in dance under the tutelage of Adyar Lakshmanan and Pakkrisamy Pillai. “I have always wanted to integrate bava of music with rhythmic cadences of natya,” she says.
Does she perceive any difference between accompanying bharatanatyam artiste and a kuchipudi artiste? “Of course the presentation is different. It is repetitive type of lyrical expression in kuchipudi. For the former, it could be simulated to neraval similarity,” she says.
She says that she trains students in both classical art forms and bharatanatyam with a comprehensive curriculum. “Nattuvangam, rhythmic technique of dance and lyrical expressions, is for calibre-oriented performances and not for ‘Super Singer’ competitions,” she says with a laugh.