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T.R. HARIHARA SARMA - PERCUSSIONIST.............(b. January 4, 1904) Having passed the Teacher's training course at the Thanjavur Government School, Harihara Sarma got employed as a teacher. But his ardent desire lay in percussion; and so he quit the job after a year. He underwent a full course of training for three years under the stalwart percussionist, Thanjavur Vaidyanatha Ayyar. Later, he joined the Annamalai University for another two years' training under the famous Ponniah Pillai. Arriving at Chennai, he was participating in concerts and was working as teacher too for sometime. Harihara
Sarma met with an accident when he slipped from the electric tram, which
was then plying at Chennai and this resulted in his being handicapped from
playing on mridangam. Undaunted, he took to morsing. He had been giving
special tuitions to numerous disciples, among whom Karaikudi Mani, K.M.Vaidyanathan
and his sons T.H.Vinayak Ram and T.H.Subashchandran have distinguished
themselves. The stature of the master finds reflection in the ebullient
rendition of the disciples, their wide practice and popularity in and out
of India. He has founded an Institution - Sri Jaya Ganesa Talavadya Vidyalaya,
Chennai which has acquired much importance. He has published "Methods to
learn mridangam" - 2 volumes.
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