Renderings Ramanathan was known for his unique style of singing. In addition to having an extremely deep, booming voice, he rendered songs at an extremely slow pace, thereby allowing ample time for the listener to catch every phrase of a composition and gauge its meaning. He also sang with adequate
bhava or expression. Ramanathan has sung in most Carnatic music
ragas such as
Sahana, Sri, Anandabhairavi, Reethigowla and
Yadukula Kambhoji. Other favorite ragas of his include
Kedaram, Kambhoji and
Hamsadhwani. As he himself once admitted, his
Vilambita Kaala Gaanam renderings during
Kathakali dances had influenced his music and style of singing. Though Ramanathan is identified with his "trademark" slow pace of singing, he did include a few relatively brisk renderings in his concerts off and on. His style of rendering was very different from the rather brisk style of rendering that had become quite popular then. Due to this, he also received a fair share of criticism from some music critics. During the rendering of krithis, he sometimes made alterations and embellishments to the lyrics. One highlight that his rasikas would always remember is starting the krithi from the
anupallavi and then going to the
pallavi.
Compositions Ramanathan composed more than 300 songs in carnatic music in
Tamil,
Telugu and
Sanskrit. He used the word
Varadadasa as his
mudra, in respect for Tiger Varadachariar, his teacher. Some of his famous compositions are: ==Awards==