Kizhvelur N.G. Ganesan

      Kalaimamani vidwan N.G. Ganesan is an Indian Carnatic musician, a nadaswaram maestro who hails from the village of Nirthanamangalam in Nagapattinam, a district in the State of Tamilnadu. He was born on 6th May of 1942 in a family of traditional nadaswara players. He pursued his earlier education from his father vidwan Govindaswamy pillai and then he continued his training under Sikkal Kandaswamy pillai. Later he underwent three years of training in the nadaswara college run by Palani thandayutha temple and subsequently continued his tutelage under  T.N. Somasundaram pillai of Thirupampuram. He was fortunate enough to get the guidance from Thiruvaduthurai T.N. Rajarathnam pillai and also from Karukurichi Arunachalam pillai.

  In the college examination which was held on 10th April of 1962, he was selected as the first grade student by Thiruvidaimaruthur P.S. Veeraswamy pillai and got his eligibility certificate from        K. Kamarajan, who was the Chief Minister of Taminadu then.

On 1st June of 1963, he was appointed as the honorary nadaswara player for Sri Akshayalingaswamy temple at kilvelur. In the year 1964 he was married to Smt. Sundarambal, the daughter of nadaswara vidwan K. Natesapillai.

                Along with his brother N.G. Rajamanickam pillai, he has performed many concerts in various states of India and also  abroad like Singapore, Malaysia to name a few countries. For the past 25 years he has been performing concerts along with his elder son N.G.G. Balasundaram. He has also performed concerts for     “All India Radio”, Tiruchirapalli for almost 40 years. He has given concerts for festivals like Thiruvaiyar Aradhana, Thiruvarur Mumoorthi Jayanthi festival, Sirkali Tamizhisai Moovar vizha, Mayiladuthurai Moovar vizha and also in various sabhas of cities including the prestigious “The Music Academy” of Chennai.

He has conducted many practical classes for the students of district government music schools. He was the examiner for the annual exams conducted by Annamalai University in Chidhambaram of Tamilnadu, under the section of Nadaswaram. At the Chennai Music College, he has trained many government school nadaswara teachers and he has also classified subjects for the Master’s degree in Nadaswaram of Madras Fine Arts College.

A special program “Nada Laya Natyam” which was performed by him along with Thirunageswaram thavil Medai T.R. Subramaniyam in 1995 which was held in Malaysia is still spoken today.

Also, as his own contribution to the nadaswara world, he has trained more than two hundred poor students without any payments. He has also given a lecture demonstration on Nadaswaram and the system of learning with ease in a program named “Mangala Naadham” which was conducted and telecasted in DD Podhigai.

                               His prominent disciples include Palani Lakshmi Narasimha Iyer, Kalaimamani Sheshampatti T.S. Sivalingam, Manglore Nagesh Bappanadu, Saxophonist P.K. Ganesh Manglore, Guruvayoor Murali, Sikkal S.K. Umapathi, Nirthanamangalam N.R. Kandaswamy, Thiruvaimoor T.R. Balasubramanian, Rettiyur R. M. Sivavadivel, Kovil Thirumangalam T.S. Pandian to name a few.

Achievments:

• On 27th September 1994, Tamil Nadu Government awarded him “Kalaimamani” which was presented by the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu Smt. J. Jayalalitha.
• The title “Rajarathna” was awarded to him by Kalaingar Mr. M. Karunanidhi on 14.02.2006.
• “Karukuruchi Memorial Award” on 24.12.2015
• “Thirunelveli Subramaniya Iyer Award” presented by Narada Gana Sabha, Chennai on 16.12.2011
• “Karukurichi Arunachala Award” presented by the film producer E.V. Rajan on 08.02.2011
• “Kalaingnana sigaram” presented by South Zone Isai Vellalar Sangham on 04.05.1998
• “Nadaswara Kala Ratnam” in 01.04.2005
• “Kalaisigaram” in 18.12.2016
• “Karaikal ammaiyar Award” on 18.08.2014
• Thiruvarur Kalaimamani T.S. Lechapa pillai Memorial Award” in 29.11.2014
• “Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam Asthana Vidwan” in 27.09.2011
• “Nadhabramam” presented by Guruvayoor Devswom on 01.01.2012
• “Nadaswara Kalaiullaga Arasu” in 26.09.2015
• “Sri Kediliyappar nadaswara isai jyothi” award presented by kilvelur siva kaingarya devotees on 29.04..1968
• “Inkuzhal isai mugil” by Kilvelur Sivachaariyas on 02.04.1978
• “Inbagana thilagam” presented by thavil media V.A. Shanmugasundaram pillai