Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer
Born	1896
Origin	Chennai, India
Died	1970 (aged 74)
Genres	Indian Classical Music
Occupations	Classical Vocalist
Years active	1911 - 1966

Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer (Tamil: மகாராஜபுரம் விசுவநாதையர்) (1896 - 1970) was one of the great Indian Carnatic vocalists.^[1] He won several awards including Sangeetha Kalanidhi and Sangeetha Bhupathy.

[edit] Early life and background

Viswanatha Iyer was born in Chennai to Rama Iyer, a good singer.

He was trained initially by Umayalpuram Swaminatha Iyer, a direct disciple of Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer. Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer had learnt from a direct disciple of Tyagaraja and thus Viswanatha Iyer represents the fifth generation of the Tyagaraja School. Young Viswanathan also learnt from Thanjavur Rangappa Iyer, a ghatam exponent.^[2]

[edit] Singing career

A unique feature about his music was his great success in raga elaboration in great detail. The raga alapana of Mohanam was one of his specialties. His has been hailed as the success of 'kalpana sangeetha', music rich with imagination in raga elaboration and swara singing, a specialty of his.

He had several prominent disciples including Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Mannargudi Sambasiva Bhagavatar, and his own son Maharajapuram Santhanam.^[3]

[edit] References

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