N. Ramani

• Name — N. Ramani • Place of death — Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India • Born — 15 October 1934 • Died — 9 October 2015 • Birthplace — Tiruvarur, Madras Presidency, British India (now Tamil Nadu, India) • Occupation — Carnatic instrumentalist • Instrument — Venu flute • Years Active — 1939–2015 • Genre — Carnatic music

Ramani was born in Tiruvarur, a city in Tamil Nadu which is honored by its association with the Trinity of Carnatic music. Ramani was born into a family of flautists. Ramani first learnt music from his grandfather, Sri Aazhiyur Narayanaswami Iyer, a well known flute artist and singer himself. Aware of young Ramani's keen interest in the Carnatic flute, Ramani's initiation to Carnatic music began at the age of five. Ramani performed his first concert at the age of 8. The turning point in Ramani's career was when he became a disciple of his maternal uncle and eminent flautist, the late T. R. Mahalingam (known more commonly as "Flute Mali"), who first popularised the Carnatic flute in Indian music. By the age of 11 years, his first concert was held at Singaravelavar Temple, Sikkil, near Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu. His mother Smt Sarathambal was instrumental in bringing him to notice. She accompanied him for his concerts when he was studying at Boys High School Tiruvarur. Ramani accompanied his guru T. R. Mahalingam in a concert for the first time. N Ramani is related to Sikkil Sisters, his contemporary flute-playing duo.

In 1945, Ramani performed his first concert on All India Radio. Following Ramani's first concert at the Madras Music Academy in 1956, at the age of 22, Ramani had reached the highest point in his career and become an artist of international fame, and his concerts became a regular feature.

Ramani started the "Ramani Academy of Flute", and has trained more than 100 disciples. namely: • sl.no — Disciple — Details • 1 — Bagyalakshmi A N — | Performing for the past 45 years various carnatic Solo concerts and for various Bharathanatya accompaniment • 2 — Chitoor Raghavaraman — | NRI Flautist at London performing for various Dance Concerts and training students for Flute and Vocal. • 3 — Chitoor Srinivasan — | • 4 — Gopi Ganesh Brothers — | • 5 — Karthikeyan V — | • 6 — Karthikeyan K — | • 7 — Mukund L V — | • 8 — Nandhini Harish — | • 9 — Ramakrishnan B — | • 10 — Ramakrishnan.N (Ramji) — | • 11 — Rangarajan V — | • 12 — Ranjani Narasimhan — | • 13 — Rukmani Teacher — | • 14 — Subramanian K R — | • 15 — Thiagarajan Ramani — | Son of N. Ramani. Also plays kanjira and violin. • 16 — Tiruvarur Swaminathan — | • 17 — Trichy Rangarajan — | • 18 — Umashankar (Raja) — | • 19 — Dr. Prapancham S Balachandran — | ‘A-Top’ graded flautist at All India Radio. Retired Station Director at AIR, Chennai. PhD in Music from Madras University. • 20 — Nandakumar — | • 21 — Chaitanya Kumar — | • 22 — Ajit Ranganathan — | From Madurai, currently based in Bangalore. • 23 — B Gokul — | Renowned Bharatanatyam accompanist and flautist at Bhagavata Mela Natya Nataka Sangam(Melattur) • 24 — MV Swaroop — | Carnatic flautist who also plays jazz and rock on the bamboo flute • 25 — Nikhil Narayan — | Brother of Vocalist Sandeep Narayan • 26 — Sathva Srinath — | • 27 — A. V. Prakash — | ‘B high’ Grade Artist of All India Radio and Doordarshan. • 28 — R. Athul Kumar — | Grandson of N. Ramani, ‘A’ Grade Artist of All India Radio and highly decorated flutist, Composer for many productions. • 29 — K. P. Upadhyaya — Renowned flautist from Mysuru, composed many pieces for AIR Mysuru

Ramani performed in all major states, sabhas and venues throughout India, as well as numerous destinations around the world, including the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sri Lanka and other countries. He made more than 30 concert tours outside of India.

Until the late 19th century, the Carnatic flute (better known in Kannada as venu or murali or kolalu, in Telugu as pillanagrovi and in Tamil and Malayalam as pullanguzhal), an 8-hole bamboo flute, the South Indian equivalent of the North Indian 6-hole bansuri flute, had never been used in Carnatic concerts as a main instrument. Sharaba Shastri has been characterised by his followers as a musical genius after experimenting and creating the Carnatic flute. He is also known for bringing the Carnatic flute to the fore of Carnatic music concerts as an influential instrument. The Sharaba Shastri style or bani of playing was established and was carried on by his disciple Sanjeeva Rao. However it was the self-taught "Mali" who brought a revolution in popularising the Carnatic flute and whose legacy was carried on by Ramani and other national and international disciples of Mali.

Although Palladam Sanjeeva Rao was Sharaba Shastri's successor, it was "Mali" and N. Ramani who brought international attention to the Carnatic flute both in their own distinct flute playing techniques, with the latter improving on the former's methods. He did so by studying the long bass flutes of the North Indian bansuri genius, Pannalal Ghosh which the latter had incorporated successfully in Hindustani concerts. To further enhance tala dynamics, he followed the "GNB" style which was developed by the legendary G. N. Balasubramaniam. An interview with the Hindu The "Mali" bani encompassed facial expressions such as slight tilting of the head, varied movement of the lips which produced the vocal effect in the Carnatic never explored before by Sharaba Shastri or Palladam Sanjeeva Rao. According to Ramani, "Mali's teaching methods were worth emulating. A good teacher should be open to learning from his students too. Mali learnt Aahiri raga from me, which I had learnt from T. Vishwanathan, Balasaraswathi's brother". In 1996, he gained the most prestigious title/award in Carnatic music, Sangeetha Kalanidhi.

Ramani suffered from throat cancer during the last years of his life, and did not appear in many programmes. He died on 9 October 2015 in Mylapore, less than a week before his 81st birthday. He was survived by four children, including Thiagarajan Ramani.