MSV: The Legend of Music

M.S. Viswanathan (1928-2015) and his music have a unique space in the hearts of both connoisseurs and commoners.

- Ilangovan Rajasekar

This is the story of a self-made musician: Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan, popularly and fondly known as MSV, who mesmerised Tamil minds with his melodies for close to six decades. He passed away at his residence in Chennai on July 14 at the age of 86.

Born in Elappully near Palakkad in Kerala in 1928, MSV grew up in near poverty after he lost his father when he was four years old. His mother made him the extraordinarily humane but strong human being that he remained all through his life.

One of his disciples, the composer Ganesh of the Shankar-Ganesh duo, said he was more a humanist than a composer. “Music and humanism cannot be separated,” he said.

MSV’s basic schooling in Carnatic music from Neelakanda Bhagavathar for a brief period laid the foundation for his phenomenal career, which spanned more than four decades and thousands of immortal melodies. When he began his career, film music still had a strong Carnatic infuence, with doyens like Adi Narayana Rao, S.M. Subbiah Naidu. G. Ramanathan, S. Dakshinamoorthi and the irresistible K.V. Mahadevan ruling the roost.

But MSV’s genius saw him innovating with ragas, which others refused to do for fear of “polluting” divine music. This break with tradition appealed to the common people and brought for MSV’s brand of music a unique space in their hearts. Rare ragas were taken out of their traditional form of rendition and given a “makeover” that evoked popular appeal and left the purists with nothing serious to complain about.