Veteran musician T K Ramamoorthy died at his Royapettah residence in Chennai on April 17. He was 91 and survived by wife and 11 children.

Ramamoorthy partnered with film musician Vishwanathan to compose music for more than 700 South Indian films from the 1950s. The duo known as Mellisai Mannargal (the kings of light music) gave hundreds of memorable songs in films likeRatha Kanneer, Pudhayal, Pathi Pakthi and Nichaya Tamboolam.

Born in Tiruchy, about 250km from Chennai, Ramamoorthy became an accomplished violinist by 16 years of age and gave concerts under his parents’ tutelage.

He was spotted by film musician C R Subburaman and taken to Madras (the present-day Chennai) to work for AVM studios. There Ramamoorthy met Vishwanathan, who was an expert at harmonium, keyboard and piano. Vishwanathan was seven years younger to Ramamoorthy but they had an instant rapport.

Their big break came when Subburaman died in 1952 while composing for films Devadas, Chandi Rani and Marumagal.

The two musicians completed Subburaman’s work and became inseparable until 1965. They were the highest paid musicians of that period and honed generations of singers and musicians besides taking film music to a light racy level.

After their amicable separation in 1965, Ramamoorthy composed music only for 19 films whereas Vishwanathan had more professional success. However on the request of friends, the pair came together again for the 1995 Tamil film Engurintho Vandhan but did not continue their partnership.

Ramamoorthy and Vishwanathan have won many national awards, the most recent being a felicitation ceremony organised by Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa in 2012.

source: http://www.gulf-times.com / Gulf Times / Home> International> India> Tamil Nadu Round Up / by Umaima Shafiq / April 21st, 2013