T. R. Mahalingam (flautist)

Mali was the founder of the popular style of flute playing followed today by the Carnatic flautists. Before Mali, the style of flute playing was called Sarabha Sastri style, popularised by Sarabha Sastri's disciple, Palladam Sanjiva Rao, and did not have any gamakas and involved playing the flute in discrete bursts. T.R. Mahalingam had breath control that enabled him to blow any single note over 40 seconds. This breath control let Mali give great volume to the lower octaves as well as the higher octaves. Mali introduced new fingering techniques, and a grip on the flute that came to be known as the "parrot clutch or the cross-fingering style ", allowing greater control. His style of continuous flute playing provided gamakas, and an ability to better imitate the human voice. In Carnatic music, instrumental music seeks to emulate vocal singing which is considered the ideal, and it was only with Mali's style did all the nuances of Carnatic music become possible to be expressed on the flute. His style prevailed over the Sarabha Shastri style whose last follower, Ramachandra Shastri, a disciple of Palladam Sanjeeva Rao, died in 1992. The loss of Sarabha Sastri style is only an academic loss and Mali's style of playing remains to this day unparalleled. Mali's techniques came into greater prominence under Dindigul SP Natarajan T.S.Sankaran, N. Ramani (who was his sister's son), B. N. Suresh, N. Kesi and have been carried forward by Mr.Viswanathan (son of Dindigul SP Natarajan) and students including Prapancham Sita Raman, L. Sundarachari (also known as L. Sundaram), B.G. Srinivasa, C.M.Madhuranath, B. Shankar Rao and B.M Sundar Rao.

Mali mentioned many times that he did not care for any praise or awards for his music, ideals that he upheld to the very end. Shortly before his death, he was awarded India's highly prestigious Padma Bhushan for music in January 1986, which he flatly refused.

After moving to Bangalore in 1955, he went to seclusion in 1958, playing very infrequently. From 1980 to 1985 he lived in the United States with his American wife, Ellen Chadwick. In 1985 T.R. Mahalingam decided to return to India, and after a short time in Bangalore, he died of a cerebral haemorrhage in 1986 at the age of 59, leaving behind him an indelible mark that changed the face of Carnatic music on the flute forever.

His first concert was in 1933 at the Thyagaraja festival in Mylapore, at the age of seven. At the concert, two stalwarts in the audience, Parur Sundaram Iyer and Musiri Subramania Iyer, were so impressed that they left the concert to bring ponnadai (shawls) to drape around the boy's shoulders, a great honour usually reserved for Carnatic music veterans. After this successful debut, his father put him on a hectic touring and performing schedule, leading to resentment on the boy's part. It was also hard to persuade well-known musicians to accompany him. However, within a very short time, Mali was being accompanied by some of the best accompanists in the realm, including Chowdiah, Papa Venkataramaiah, Kumbakonam Azhagianambi Pillai, and Tanjavur Vaidyanatha Iyer. Later in his career, he worked with the legendary Palghat Mani Iyer and Palani Subramaniam Pillai. Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar once picked up the violin to accompany Mali. However, it was Palghat Mani Iyer whose pairing with Mali became the most well known. "Only Mali gives me work for my hands" – Mani Iyer.

Tiruvidaimarudur Ramaswamy Mahalingam (6 November 1926 – 31 May 1986) affectionately known as Mali, was a flautist who revolutionised the style of flute-playing in Carnatic music.