Kalyani Krishnaswamy - Smt. Born in 1930, Kalyani Krishnaswamy has composed over fifty four kritis and her love for her Goddess Shivashakti has only become stronger. Her kritis are profoundly touching and personal, revealing an amazing contemporary example of bhakti. Since her school days, Kalyani has always been writing verses and poems in Tamizh, but she began composing proper kritis only around 1973. Being a poet and a lover of Tamizh and Sanskrit languages, her first attempts were more as verses, and she says with a smile that she used to struggle to put them into ragas. Since she loved singing her own songs, the need to put them into a ragam became a necessity. Gradually, over the years she began to compose kritis like all vaggeyakaras do, in perfect classical style, neat in poetic form, with the ragam and talam sitting well.

Born and brought up in Madras, where regular visits to the temple were a part and parcel of her growing up years, Kalyani has nurtured a devotion for Devi throughout her life. Solladi Shivashakti, her signature, slowly began to surface in all her kritis. Looking back, she feels it was inspired by her deep love for Subramania Bharathiya’s writings. Her training in Karnatik Classical music began with her learning vocal music from various gurus during her formative years, following which she passed her lower and higher exams conducted by the Tamilnadu Government. She subsequently approached the renowned veena vidwan Karaikudi Shambhashiva Iyer to teach her. The story goes that when he advised her to just take care of her doctor husband and her children, instead of wanting to learn this difficult instrument, she broke down into tears! He quickly said, "please don’t cry, I’ll teach you!". Such was her eagerness to learn, which is evident even now.

Her compositions created over the decades have been sung in concerts in India, USA and Australia. Her songs have been learned by students of senior vidwans. The collected songs were published as a 4-CD collection, "Naad Anunaad". All this would not have been possible without the help of Sri KN. Shashikiran and his organization, Carnatica and the many musicians who contributed.

Biography contributed by her son, Guha Krishnaswamy.

Mudra:

Compositions:

1. Adi shivamAgi - nAdanAmakriyA
   
2. ambA jagadambA - kIravANi
   
3. dEvi bhavAni - hamIr kalyANi
   
4. dEvi kAmAkSi un - mOhanam
   
5. dEvi shrIdEvi karuNai - sAvEri
   
6. dEvi tuNai nI ammA - kalyANi
   
7. Edu solven - sindu bhairavi
   
8. ekkAlattilum unai - dEvagAndhAri
   
9. enna bhAgyam seidanaiyO - nIlAmbari
   
10. ennai kaiviDalAgumO - kEdAra gowLa
    
11. ennai rakSikka - Ananda bhairavi
    
12. ennEramum unnai dhyAnam - pantuvarALi
    
13. hE jagadhIsvari - nAgagAndhAri
    
14. inmukham kATTi - bhairavi
    
15. isai kETTAl bhuviyum - dEsh
    
16. jaya jaya sarasvatiyE - tilang
    
17. Isvari jagadIsvari - yamunA kalyANi
    
18. kaDaikkaNNAl pArammA - vasantA
    
19. kalaivANiyE ennuL - kAnaDA
    
20. kandA unakk anantakOTi - khamAs
    
21. karpakamE (tirumayilai) un - madhyamAvati
    
22. kuru nagai tavazh - behAg
    
23. mahAlakSmi kaDaikkaN - kalyANi
    
24. mAtA lOkamAtA - nAdanAmakriyA
    
25. mAtA shrI sarasvati - asAvEri
    
26. mAyam enna mAyamO - mAND
    
27. murugA mAl marugA - SaNmukhapriyA
    
28. OmkAra gaNapatiyE - hindOLa
    
29. Om murugA murugA - mAND
    
30. parama pAvani nI pAhi - shankarAbharaNa
    
31. piravA varam taruvAyA - pUrvi kalyANi
    
32. pArvati putra parama pavitra - bauLi
    
33. pOTri pOTri karuNai pOTri (guru stuti)
    
34. sadA undan dhyAnam - mOhanam
    
35. shrI kAmAkSi jaya - tODi
    
36. solla solla - rAgamAlikA
    
37. tAyE tripurasundari - Arabhi
    
38. unai ninaindAlum - mAyAmALava gowLa
    
39. unnai tudikka varam - aThANA
    
40. un pArvai onrE pOdumE - sahAnA
    
41. un tiruvaDi caraNam - kApi
    
42. vA vA vA jagadambA - mOhana
    
43. vEinkuzhal UdiyE en - rAgamAlikA
    
44. veLLai tAmarai - yadukula kAmbhOji
    
45. ODi ODi oLivadum - shenjuruTTi