A Brief Sketch of the Life of Sister John Dorai Chetty

Sister John Dorai Chetty (John de Britto ; Padmavathy) was a well known pianist, Music Teacher and also an exponent of carnatic Music on the Piano. Sister John has been teaching Music for many years in the Good Shepherd Convent at Madras and later at Mysore.

Sister John Dorai Chetty started learning the piano at the early age of 6, under an Irish nun called Sister Maurice, herself a competent musician and an excellent teacher of the Good Shepherd Convent, Mysore. This School of music has to its credit many distinguished Musician, to name some would be the Maharaja H. H. Sri. Jaya Chamaraja Wadiyar and his sister H. H. Smt. Rani Vijaya Devi a well known pianist, the Indian violinist Philomena Thumboo Chetty (her aunt), Dr. Raja Ramana the Nuclear Scientist, a great musicologist and Pianist.

Sister John Dorai Chetty completed her Fellowship (FTCL ; 1947) of the Trinity College of Music, London. Later she took a course of further study at the College in London, she learned professional course in Western music and achieved the Fellowship.

She joined the Good Shepherd Congregation in February 1948 and was professed on 20th October 1950. Soon after her profession Sister John Dorai Chetty was sent to Madras, where she taught Music for several years in the Good Shepherd Convent.

In 1970 she was sent to London for a refresher course in Music. On her return she took charge of the Music Department of Mysore, she was appointed the Principle of the school of music, Good Shepherd Convent, Mysore.

Inspired by her grandmother Baghavathy (last daughter of T. R. A. Thumboo Chetty), who was a good pianist and used the Piano for playing and composing Indian Music, Sister John started experimenting the ragas on the Piano. After several years of hard work and study, Sister John has achieved this art of playing with good success, of course, keeping in mind certain subtleties of carnatic music which cannot be sufficiently developed on the piano due to its structure for e.g. the subtle gamakas.

Sister John has been very fortunate to have the guidance of internationally famed Vocalist, Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna in the playing of Carnatic Music. Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna evinced great interest in this experiment, and is a source of great and hopeful encouragement to Sister John in her endeavour. She has also had the help of local artist like the Vidwan M. C. Chickaswamy and Mirdingam Vidwan M. S. Sheshappa and other musicians.

Sister John Dorai Chetty does not propose to westernize the Ragas, but to play the Music in all its purity, rendering the ragas as the best as she could on the Instrument which has its limitations where subtle gamakas are concerned. It has to be noted that the left hand is clinically relegated to the task of keeping Srithi and Tala. No doubt, the piano a majestic instrument, lends its charm to the rendering of the different aspects of the Kritis, e.g. The Alapana, Kalapana Svaras.

The piano has an expensive keyboard consisting of 88 keys. Sister John Dorai Chetty has indeed acquired a superior technique extending the Kritis over more octaves than usual and yet keeping strictly within classical precision of Carnatic music.

Sister John is a pioneer to make a serious attempt at playing Classical music of this high standard on the piano. Sister has given many performances in India and also in London and Singapore, Malaysia.

In the year 1995, Sister John Dorai Chetty received the Rajyotsava Award of the Karnataka Government for this achievement and also many Awards from other Institutions.

Sister John Dorai Chetty belongs to the well known Thumboo Chetty Family. The family has many musicians to its credit in Western and Indian Music, Sister John's aunt Philomena Thumboo Chetty renowned Indian violinist, Sister John's eldest sister Kanthavathy amma (Marie Thérèse de Condappa) was also a talented Pianist (Trinity College London, Licentiate ; LTCL), her cousin Sister Mary (Bhushna) Music Teacher of the Good Shepherd, Religious, accomplished pianist and accompanist in The Cicilian Choir in India.

Sister John Dorai Chetty lost her mother Kanakarathnavathy amma at a very young age, she was only 4 years old and the youngest of the three children. Her Father R. Dorai chetty was an officer in the Mysore State Railways and retired as the Chief Auditor. Her Brother Mr. D. J. Balaraj, I.A.S officer, K.S.G., served as the Secretary to the Maharaja of Mysore H. H. Sri. Jaya Chamaraja Wadiyar and was later the Development Commissioner of Bangalore. Mr. D. J. Balaraj was honoured by the Pope in 1965 as Chevalier (Pope's Knight) for his contribution to the church and to the State.

Sister John Dorai Chetty spent her last years of her life devoted essentially to her prayers. Sister John Dorai Chetty was 94 years when she died, she is buried at the Good Shepherd Convent Cemetery, Bangalore.

Sister John Dorai Chetty, Carnatic Music On the Piano

Carnatic Music Concert on the Piano by Sister John Dorai Chetty, Singapore, September 1999.

listen : Introduction

listen : shankara varnam

listen : Vathapi Ganapathim Bhajeham / Durga Devi

- Vathapi Ganapathim Bhajeham.

- Durga Devi in raga Dharmavathi composed by the Maharaja H. H. Sri. Jaya Chamaraja Wadiyar.

listen : Raghuvamsa sudha

listen : Jaga janani sukavani kalyani followed Yesu Parama Deva (Composition of Sr John)

News Paper Excerpts

1. Ragas On The Piano

The Calicut Music Association gave the opportunity to Sister John Dorai Chetty to perform at Sri Padmashree Kalyan Mantap in collaboration with Guru Sangeetha Sabha. Sister played ten ragas by famous and well known composers. The Violin, a western instrument, is already used in Carnatic Music.If the Piano is to be used it will be Sr. John's gift to the music world. Sr.John's fingers jump on the keyboard and runs on the black and white keys. It is a marvel to watch this. It was like butterflies fluttering and birds chirping. No other artist has courageously taken this experiment and made it a success. She has used the instrument for the ragas and shown the potentialities of the instrument.. This talented sister is revealing the truth that God is the source of all through her music.

Manoramaweekly" Calicut. July, 1983.

2. Piano plays to tune of karnatic music

Sister John created a minor sensation in the music circle here by experimenting Karnatic Classical music on the Piano - a. Music instrument essentially meant for western music, The Piano rose to the occasion and rendered the classics almost flawlessly shattering the myth that this instrument, with its fixed scales is far from ideal for the performance of "Indian Classical Music".

Deccan Herald Mysore, 1983.

3. The ragas had gained a new dimension (Piano effect) especially in the Kalpana Svaras (passages played on the ragas, composed on the spot, creativity of the Soloist). Sister had taken great loving care to produce the finer nuances of these ragas.

Star of Mysore - September 4th, 1978.

4. The Piano with its fixed scales is far from ideal for the performance of Indian Music, but it is also a powerful instrument that can, by itself, entertain a large audience. Can its potentialities be exploited for the performance of Indian Classical Music? Sister John with the accompanists Vidwan M. C. Chikkaswamyand Vidwan M. S. Seshappa tried to find an answer. And the answer seems to be, that piano forte technique can be successfully synthesized Classical Indian compositions, provided the piano is allowed to retain its distinctive character.

"Star of Mysore" 16th November, 1983.

5. If Traditional Indian Classical music can be said to explore the subtle nexus between elemental human emotions and the real of near spiritual experience, this nexus, the link as it were, could be glimpsed in the Karnataka Classical music presented on the piano by Sister John Dorai Chetty for the Cultural Evening.

"Mid-day Bangalore" May 20th, 1984.

6. In the world of scientific music new experiments are being made. It is no matter whether orthodox musicians like or dislike it. A few creative musicians are sincerely continuing their efforts in the field in different ways. Sister John Dorai Chetty with a firm mind started her experiment on the Piano. She dedicated a Kacheri to the public lovers of music and men of importance in the field, arranged as a Every Friday Evening Concert, arranged by the I.C.C.R. and artiste's Guild. The music on this instrument was melodious and pleasant. More experiments should be made in this field to adopt Karnatic Music.

"Kannada.Prabha" May, 1985. Bangalore.

7. Sister John of Mysore created history by playing Carnatic Ragas on the Piano at Azad Bhavan under the auspices of the Indian Council of Cultural Relation; Sister John's innovation deserves appreciation.

"Times of India". Delhi. November, 1985.

8. Carnatic Music on the Piano

The Madras Philharmonic and Choral Society of Madras is to be congratulated on its presenting, on September 24th at the Mini Hall of the Music Academy, a recital of Carnatic Music on the Piano by Sister John Dorai Chetty. The Piano has a range of a seven and a half octaves - playing with both hands, the Sister traversed several Octaves, a facility not available in any other instrument. She performed lays vinyasa and filled the hall with melodic strains of the raga Mohanam. Other ragas also showed the artiste's understanding of raga bhava and the contours of the raga handled.

"TSP Indian Express" Madras. 24th September, 1986.

9. Physicist and the Nun/ Pioneers

Naidu was raised in Visakhapatnam but born (in 1893) in Bangalore—a city that later groomed at least two noted personalities who brought the piano and Carnatic together at public concerts. One was physicist Raja Ramanna; the other a nun named Sister John Dorai Chetty. Dr Ramanna, who became the director of India’s nuclear programme in 1967, also held a diploma from the Royal School of Music, London, and authored, in 1993, The Structure of Music in Raga and Western Systems. Essentially motivated by the “beauty of movement”, he occasionally incorporated elements of Carnatic into his playing.

Sister John Dorai Chetty,

Sister Chetty’s forays into Carnatic were more direct, playing alapanas and equally imaginative kalpanaswaras—Instant improvisations—beyond the compositions. In 1947, she completed her fellowship from London’s Trinity College of Music and went on to teach in Madras and then her native Mysore before moving to the Karnataka capital. Her trailblazing attempts caught maverick vocalist M. Balamuralikrishna’s attention, who helped fine tune her musicality.

Critic V. Balayogi recalls a 1986 kacheri he attended at the hallowed Madras Music Academy following an invitation by Balamurali, who wouldn’t tell him anything about the programme. “I went and to my surprise there was Carnatic being played on one of those antique big pianos by a nun,” he says. She was playing 19th century composer Ghanam Krishna Aiyyar’s Jaga janani. The nun breathed her last in January last year aged 94, while Dr Ramanna was 79 when he died in 2004.

Source : www.outlookindia.com 28 August 2017

Chopin Canarese

https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/chopin-canarese/299227

Source :

- Sister John Dorai Chetty (Bio data)

- Good Shepherd News Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, GSN 239, December 2010. http://www.buonpastoreint.org/downloads/document/get/gsn_239_000.pdf

- “Music & Musicians of Bangalore and Mysore – A Rhapsody” by Anand Sirur. 2015