The (Old) Boys of Tiruveezhimizhalai

The triumverate of this OriginatBoys'
Company— Subramanian.
Natarajasundaram and Kalyanasundaram
— are the sons of Swaminatha Pillai, a
well-known teacher of nagaswaram. The
nagaswaram brotherhood is not
necessarily one of blood kinship, but in
this particular instance blood is thicker
than.water. Subramania Pillai. born in
1893. started his novitiate as a flautist
and his younger brother Natarajasundaram Pillai had his early'training as a
vocalist, but they could not easily wriggle
out of the nagaswaram tradition. Father
Swaminatha Pillai and maternal uncle
Nagore Subbiah Pillai were steeped in
the tradition that permeated every village
in the Tanjavur district. Subramania
Pillai's father-in-law was the celebrated
maestro Semponnarkoil Ramaswami
Pillai. It would be next to impossible to
analyse this geneological tree which has
its root or branch in every one of the
Tanjavur villages.