Kollengode Viswanathan Narayanaswamy, known widely by his initials KVN, is one of the illustrious torch bearer of carnatic music to carry on the tradition after Ariyakudi, GN Balasubramanian, Madurai Mani Iyer etc in the later part of the 20th century. Per Anuradha Krishnamurthy (thanks to Kumudam Online's Alapanai), his daughter, he was christened Ramanarayanan. His mother had called him Swamy at home and eventually he ended up as Narayanaswamy!
A disciple of Ariyakudi he was born on Nov 15 1923 in Kollengode and is well known for sruthi sudhdham, divine neravals and eschewing excesses. After more than six decades of having enthralled rasikas with unadulterated music that adhered to tradition, he passed away on Apr 1, 2002.
He was recognized for his contribution to carnatic music and was awarded the title of Sangeetha Kalanidhi at the 60th Annual Music Conference of Music Academy in 1986.
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