Arunthathy Sri Renganathan

This week’s column is dedicated to Kalasuri Desha Nethru Arunthathy Sri Renganathan and to examine her seminal contribution to Arts, Culture and Broadcasting.

Arunthathy Sri Renganathan was born on February 24, 1946 in Jaffna. She is the youngest of five daughters in the family of K. Sivasubramaniyam (Kandarmadam, Jaffna) and Mrs. Veeraluxmi (Uduvil, Jaffna). The family that Arunthathy Sri Ranganathan hails from, is a family of academics and artistes who served the nation in their respective capacities, marking Sri Lanka in the international arena.

After receiving her primary education at the Saiva Mangaiyar Vidyalayam or Hindu Ladies college Colombo, she entered Vembadi Girls’ High School in Jaffna for higher education. It was from Vembadi Girls’ High School that she sat the University entrance examination and entered the University of Peradeniya to read a special degree in Economics.

Interest in arts

At an early stage of her life, she showed an abiding interest in music and dance and learnt Carnatic music (singing) under the tutelage of Master Anthony from Kerala and Veena under veteran Veena player Mrs. Raju from Andhra. Subsequently, she also learnt dancing under Jayaluxmi.Kandiah ( Sister) and Ms.Balasundari Pradalingam ( Kalakshethra). She was a disciple of Maestro Maharajapuram Santhanam in Vocal, and Maestro Kalyana Krishna bagawathar in veena from South India.

She commenced her trailblazing career in music even at school level by participating in SLBC’s Carnatic classical music programs. She was the only Tamil artiste who passed the auditions and performed in all four categories of Music; Classical vocal, Classical Veena, Pann Isai and Light Songs. In 1966, she passed the Final certificate NCOMS ( Teachers ) in Carnatic music in both Vocal and Veena. At that time, this was the highest examination in Classical music in Sri Lanka

In 1967, she entered the University of Peradeniya and obtained a Special (Honours) Degree in Economics.

Pioneer broadcaster

Kalasuri Desha Nethru Arunthathy Sri Ranganathan is one of the pioneers in the field of Broadcasting in Sri Lanka. She commenced her longstanding career at Sri Lankan Broadcasting Corporation in the SLBC’s Tamil Service as Program Producer in 1974. She climbed the career ladder in the field of Broadcasting by sheer dint of perseverance and hard work. At SLBC, she became Program Controller in 1979, then Director (Music) in 1984 and finally, she served as the Director (Tamil Service) in 1994.

Arunthathy Sri Renganathan excelled at SLBC leaving a rich legacy for posterity. Her major interests are arts, culture and broadcasting. She is a pioneer in broadcasting who served the nation for over 30 fruitful years.

It is not an exaggeration to state, to her credit, that all the officers at the SLBC who commenced their own Tamil radio stations in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Paris and Norway, were her contemporaries and officers who worked under her. During her SLBC days she was known as radio skylark. A significant milestone in her career at SLBC was her launching of 10 CDs on the SLBC’75th anniversary celebration. During her tenure, Arunthathy Sri Renganathan organised Radio Drama festivals and radio music festivals throughout the island. .

Arunthathy Sri Renganathan’s contribution spread over diverse areas; her contribution to enrich Sri Lankan cultural and artistic landscape as Carnatic singer, Veena player and teacher of Carnatic music. In addition to academic papers presented at international fora, she contributed indepth articles to newspapers, magazines and journals.

Cultural ambassador

She is one of Sri Lanka’s best known cultural ambassadors who forged an important cultural links among diplomatic community in Sri Lanka and represented Sri Lanka at diverse international cultural festivals. She has script- written and composed music for over 20 dance dramas such as Ashta Lakshmi, Ramayana, Sakuntala, Nala Damayanthi, Anbesivam, Thanjaur Big Temple and Skanda Lila. She has contributed substantially to enrich the contemporary music by making compositions based on Varnam, Padam, Kirtanam and Tillana.

Arunthathy Sri Ranganathan is a highly respected Sri Lankan artist who is capable of bringing together Sri Lankan artists of diverse races and ethnicities on to a common platform. She has made a lasting contribution to promoting national reconciliation through performing Arts.

She is, currently, engaged in teaching and popularising Carnatic music not only among Tamil students but also among Sinhala students in her capacity as a teacher, Course Director and as an external lecturer of the University of Visual and Performing Arts. She pioneered in producing a batch of first ever Sinhala graduates in Carnatic music. Arunthathy Sri Ranganathan is the only Sri Lankan Tamil artiste who was honoured with honorary titles such as Kalashuri, Vishva Prasadini, Desha Nethru and Kalai Semmal.

These honorary titles were conferred by the Head of State.

Arunthathy Sri Renganathan founded Aru Sri Art Theatre in 2004 to promote the visual and performing arts Nationally and Internationally. Today, it has bloomed into a centre par excellence for innovative artistic and cultural creations renowned worldwide. The vision of Arunthathy is to develop the theatre as a place where traditional art forms can flourish alongside contemporary interpretations and to carry age old traditions into the new millennium. Arunthathy with her theatre has travelled widely, performing in prestigious festivals, around the globe, and collaborated with many International organisations.

Arunthathy has been the most sought after artiste to sing for Bharathanatyam recitals and Arangetrams for more than four decades locally and abroad. She has sung for almost 98 percent of dancers in Sri Lanka. She has released a large number of audio and video cassettes to her credit; Anupavam is a DVD production of her theatre dancers. What is noteworthy is that through her contribution over the years Arunthathy Sri Renganathan has not only enriched the rich cultural landscape of the nation but also effectively promoted national reconciliation through Arts and Culture.