Hyderabad marked the T.R. Mahalingam centenary with three evenings of Carnatic flute from 30 October to 1 November 2026, when the city’s music organisation Kalasagaram brought three flautists together to honour the man listeners still call Mali. He was born on 6 November 1926, taught himself the flute at five and gave his first concert at seven.
The tribute followed his line of students. It opened on 30 October at Meenakshi Sundaram Hall, Shrinath Bhavan, in West Marredpally, with Jayaprada Ramamurthy, a senior disciple of N. Ramani. Ramani was Mali’s nephew and one of his best-known students, so the first evening was, in a sense, the music coming home. B. Pavan Singh played violin, R.S.R. Srikanth mridangam and P.S. Mallikarjun ghatam.
All three T.R. Mahalingam centenary concerts were free, began at 6 pm and ended with dinner for the audience, according to Telangana Today’s report on the line-up.
Who was T.R. Mahalingam?
T.R. Mahalingam (1926 to 1986), known as Flute Mali, was a Carnatic flautist from Thiruvidaimarudur in Tamil Nadu who changed how the bamboo flute is played. He debuted at seven, in 1933, and his new grip, cross-fingering and an added eighth hole let the flute carry gamakas, the oscillations that make Carnatic melody sing.
Before him, the flute in Carnatic concerts was played in a plainer style, with few of those slides and shakes. Mali’s grip, later nicknamed the “parrot clutch”, and his breath control, which let him hold a single note for more than 40 seconds, brought the instrument closer to the human voice. He shared the stage with violinist Papa Venkataramaiah and, most famously, with the mridangam player Palghat Mani Iyer.
He was known, too, for being unpredictable on stage, and in January 1986 he declined the Padma Bhushan. He died in Chennai on 31 May 1986, aged 59.
What was played at the T.R. Mahalingam centenary concerts?
On 31 October, B. Vijayagopal, an All India Radio artist, opened with the varnam “Chalamela” in Raga Natakuranji, a varnam being the study piece that warms up a Carnatic concert. He went on to an expansive “Prakkala Nilabadi” in Raga Kharaharapriya, a long exploration of Raga Mohana and a thillana in Raga Desh. Komanduri Krishna played violin, P. Jayabhaskar mridangam and K. Shyam Kumar khanjira, the small frame drum.
The finale on 1 November moved to the clubhouse of Aparna Sarovar Zenith in Nallagandla, held with Sangeetha Lahari. J.B. Sruthi Sagar built his concert around a detailed “Nidhi Chala Sukhama” in Raga Kalyani, with R. Dinakar on violin, D.S.R. Murthy on mridangam and Shyam Kumar again on khanjira, as Telangana Today reported from the closing recitals.
What comes next from Kalasagaram?
Mali’s 100th birthday falls on 6 November 2026, so the Hyderabad evenings came just ahead of the T.R. Mahalingam centenary date itself. Kalasagaram, whose annual festival has run in Secunderabad since 1967, opens its weeklong Annual Music and Dance Festival at Keyes High School on 29 November 2026.
For another instrument that was rethought from the inside, read about the Gajveena, where a double bass meets the rudra veena. Carnatic listeners can also follow Tadepalli Lokanatha Sarma’s Vidwanmani award in Vijayawada and plan ahead with the Chennai Margazhi Music Season 2026 to 27. More concert stories are in On Stage, and every upcoming date is on News & Concerts.
Sources: Telangana Today, on the three-day tribute and its line-up (29 October 2026); Telangana Today, on the closing recitals (2 November 2026); Wikipedia, T.R. Mahalingam (background); Wikipedia, Kalasagaram festival history (background)