S.R. GOVINDASWAMY PILLAI (1897 - 1955) & S.R. DAKSHINAMOORTHY PILLAI (1904 - 1976)

The tiny village of Sembanarkovil, near Mayavaram, is associated with the prominent musical term Rakthi, which relates to the essence of enjoyment of this art. Rakthi, which encompasses within itself beautiful intricacies of laya, is a unique masterly composition (Rakthimelam) that brought glory to the nagaswaram artists of Sembanarkovil tradition for their exquisite handling of this exposition. Rakthimelam being the breathing pond of the Sembanarkoil Parampara was the specialty that was practiced and presented as a master piece not only by Sri Pallavi Vaidyanatha Pillai and his son Sri Sembanarkovil Ramaswamy Pillai but was also shown as an piece expertise by his grandsons S. R. Govindaswamy Pillai and S. R. Dakshinamoorthy Pillai. They were born on 1897 and 1904 respectively.

They inherited the art of vocal from Guru Sri Sambamoorthy Iyer and Nadaswara from Guru Mayuram Sri Ramaya Pillai. S. R. Govindaswamy Pillai started his musical career at the age of eleven and his brother joined him a few years later. Rakthimelam being the asset of the family had no one else to play this intricate piece with full of satisfaction and perfection except for the Sembanarkovil Brothers. They joined hands with the great Tavil exponent Needamangalam Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai following after their father’s footsteps. They then released nine 78 RPM records with the Columbia Records Label.

Pandanallur Rathinam Pillai, Kumbakonam Thangavel Pillai and Nachiarkovil Ragava Pillai were the most frequent Tavil exponents that accompanied them in many of the occasions. S. R. Govindaswamy Pillai introduced his sons S. R. G. Sambandam and S. R. G Rajanna, before he expired in the year 1955; meanwhile S. R. Dakshinamoorthy Pillai introduced his sons S. R. D. Muthukumaraswamy and S. R. D. Vaidyanathan, and then expired in the year 1976.

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SEMBANARKOVIL RAMASWAMY PILLAI (1880 – 1923)
S.R. GOVINDASWAMY PILLAI (1897 - 1955) & S.R. DAKSHINAMOORTHY PILLAI (1904 - 1976)
PANDANALLUR GURUSWAMY PILLAI (1875-1963)