T.R. Mahalingam

TR Mahalingam, aka Mali, was a flautist who was one of the pioneers of playing flute with a different style in Carnatic music. He was born in Thanjavur’s Thiruvidaimarudhur to Ramaswami Iyer and Neelaambaal on 6^th November 1926. He had an elder sister, an elder brother, three younger sisters, and a younger brother. Jalra Gopala Iyer is his maternal uncle, and he learned music from his uncle’s music school. When he was five, he watched his friends play the flute and developed an interest in the flute. Despite his father was against him learning flute, he continued learning. Mali was married to Ellen Chadwick, an American.

TR Mahalingam’s first concert was held at the Thyagaraja festival in Mylapore in 1933. Parur Sundaram Iyer and Musiri Subramania Iyer, who were at the concert, were impressed by TRM’s talent and draped shawls around his shoulders. It was a great honour for him to be appreciated and felicitated by the stalwarts.

The style the Carnatic flautists follow today was founded by Mali. Mali was capable of controlling the breath for 40+ seconds to blow a single note. This breath control gave Mali to blow lower and higher octaves with ease. Mali introduced the parrot clutch style, a new fingering technique. He can imitate human voices through his flute. Before Mali’s new techniques, classical flautists followed Sarabha Shastri style. Ramachandra Shastri was the last follower of the Sarabha Shastri style. After his death in 1992, Mali’s technique started ruling the classical industry.

TR Mahalingam’s style led to the redesign of the bamboo flute. His flute reeds were thicker, and the holes were smaller, which produced a warm yet rich tone. He also designed eight holes in his flute. Until 1985, he had been living in the US. Mali was honoured with Padma Bhushan in 1986 for his excellence in music. In 1986, he died of a cerebral haemorrhage at the age of 59.