Semmangudi Radhakrishna Srinivasa Iyer (July 25, 1908 - October 31, 2003) was a Carnatic vocalist. He was the youngest recipient of the Sangeetha Kalanidhi awarded by the Music Academy in 1947 and has received many awards including Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan from the Government of India, Sangeet Natak Academy award (1953), Isai Perarignar from Government of Tamil Nadu and Kalidas Samman from Government of Madhya Pradesh. He was affectionately addressed as "Semmangudi Maama" (Semmangudi Uncle) by his disciples. He was also considered the "Pitamaha" or the grand sire of modern Carnatic Music. He was conferred with an honorary doctorate by University of Kerala in 1979.
He was born in Semmangudi, Tiruvarur District as the third son of Radhakrishna Iyer and Dharmasamvardhini Ammal. He lived with his maternal uncle Tirukkodikaval Krishna Iyer, a violin maestro, until the age of four and after his death, moved back to his parents' home in Semmangudi, Tiruvarur District. At the age of eight he started learning music from his cousin Semmangudi Narayanaswamy Iyer. This was followed by some rigorous training under Thiruvadaimaruthur Sakharama Rao, a famous Gottuvadhyam exponent, an event considered by Semmangudi as a turning point in his life. This was followed by another training stint with Narayanaswamy Iyer, during which time he learnt a lot of varnams and keerthanams. More »
Sikkil C. Gurucharan(born on June 21, 1982) is among the foremost young performing musicians of Carnatic music in India today. He is the grandson of Sikkil Kunjumani, elder of the internationally acclaimed flautists the Sikkil Sisters. Gurucharan has been under the tutelage Vaigal Shri S. Gnanaskandan and is currently being mentored by Shri B. Krishnamurthy. He is an 'A' grade All India Radio artist. The magazine India Today featured him among 35 Game Changers Under (the age of) 35 in India, a list of young achievers from different walks of life.
Around 1987, as a 5-year-old, Gurucharan was casually coaxed by his grandmothers, the Sikkil Sisters, to sing some tune. After a little cajoling, he sang a popular film song. The sisters, especially Smt. Neela, were amazed at the "sruthi sudhham" or tonal perfection in his singing and also the near-perfect alignment of the notes. Together they decided that he must pursue vocal music. Almost every second member in the family had been trained in flute. But they were insistent that this boy should pursue singing, especially since he had shown immense promise at that age. More »
Sudha Raghunathan is a Carnatic music singer from Sount India. She was awarded a Padma Shri for excellence in singing. She was born in Bangalore and went to Good Shepherd Convent. She did higher education at Bangalore, Karnataka and obtained a Masters Degree in Economics.She started singing at nine years of age. Later, she received her training from her mother Choodamani, and continued the training under B. V. Lakshmanan. She has received the Artistes for advanced training in Carnatic music. In 1977, through the success of her first performance, she got a scholarship to study music under Padma Bhushan, Sangita Kalanidhi Dr.M.L.Vasantha Kumari, Dr MLV encouraged her to pursue music as a career. She is married to Ragunathan and they have two children. More »
Sowmya (born April 16, 1969) is a Carnatic music singer. She learnt music initially from her father Dr. Srinivasan, and later from Dr. S. Ramanathan and Smt.T. Muktha.In 1998, Sowmya co-founded Carnatica - an online institution dedicated to classical music & dance instruction, archival, talent search and other related activities to Carnatic music. She also co-authored the first comprehensive reference CD-ROM on Carnatic music, Nadanubhava. More »
Trichur V. Ramachandran (born 1940) is a Carnatic music vocalist. He was born in 1940 in Thrissur, Kerala. He gave his first concert at the age of 14 and was a disciple of G. N. Balasubramaniam. Later he underwent training under M L Vasanthakumari as part of an Indian government Cultural Scholarship. Ramachandran married Charumathi in 1973. Ramachandran is recipient of Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2003. He also received the Padma Bhushan award from the Government of India in 2003. Among plenty of titles and accolades, he is also the recipient of Vidhya Tapasvi title from TAPAS Cultural Foundation in 2009. More »
T.M. Krishna (Thodur Madabusi Krishna, born 1976) is a Carnatic music vocalist. Hailing from a family of music connoisseurs, he was exposed to the south Indian classical music at an early age. His first concert was at the Spirit of Youth series organized by the Music Academy, Chennai (India). Since then, he has travelled widely in India and abroad and won applause from his listeners. He has received numerous awards and titles from many leading organizations, notable amongst which are the Young Achievers Award by India Today and the Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar Award by the Central Sangeet Natak Akademi. He has released many music albums from leading audio companies like Magna sound, HMV, Inreco, Amudham (USA) and Charsur.
T.M. Krishna was born in Chennai on January 22, 1976. His father was a businessman in the automobile industry and his mother has been running a music school, Kalapeetam, in Chennai. Krishna's mother used to learn from his guru (teacher) B. Seetharama Sharma when he was four years old. Sharma noticed Krishna's interest in music, and started teaching him at the age of six. More »
T. V. Sankaranarayanan (Tiruvalangadu Vembu Iyer Sankaranarayanan, born March 7, 1945) is an eminent and popular Carnatic vocalist (South Indian classical singer), known for his vibrant music that essentially stems from the style of his late uncle-guru, Madurai Mani Iyer.
Padma Bhushan Sankaranarayanan, a winner of the Sangeetha Kalanidhi award instituted by the Madras Music Academy, is particularly noted for the easy reach of his voice to the upper notes and colorful delineation of the Swaraprastaram.
He was born in Mayiladuturai of Thanjavur district in the state of Tamil Nadu in south India. At the age of nine, he started learning music from his uncle, Madurai Mani Iyer. He made his debut on the concert platform in 1968 and then gradually established himself as a Carnatic vocalist. His emotion-laden style of singing has won him a large following among music lovers. He has performed widely at home and abroad and has several albums to his credit. In a profile published in the Financial Express, Subbudu, a music critic, once wrote: "Sankaranarayanan is indeed an asset to the Carnatic music world, where the tribe of good vocalists is dwindling."
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Madurai Thirumalai Nambi Seshagopalan (born, September 5, 1948) is a noted Carnatic singer, musician and composer. As well as being a master of the veena and harmonium, he is an exponent of harikatha.
He was conferred the prestigious Sangita Kalanidhi title by Music Academy in 2006.
T. N. Seshagopalan was born in Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu. He first learnt under his mother, and later under tutelage of Ramanathapuram C.S.Sankarasivan. He holds a degree in science from Madras Universityand a degree in music from Madurai Kamaraj University where he later served as professor of music
He is proficient in rendering Harikatha and performs as per the guruparampara of Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar. Seshagopalan continues to increase his wide repertoire with compositions of his own. He is noted for his own elegant thillanas, Bhajans, namavalis and abhangs. He is equally at home with North Indian ragas and has participated in several jugalbandhis.
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P. Unnikrishnan (born 9 July 1968) is a Carnatic vocalist and a national award winning playback singer.Unnikrishnan was born to K. Radhakrishnan and Dr. Harini Radhakrishnan in Palakkad, Kerala.The family home, Kesari Kuteeram, was a well known landmark of Madras city, with great grandfather Dr KN Kesari being an eminent Ayurvedic physician and the promoter of the popular Telugu women's magazine Gruhalakshmi .
He went to Asan Memorial Senior Secondary School, Chennai, in 1983. He graduated from Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda College, Chennai, and received his B.Com degree from the Madras University. He earned a General Law and Post Graduate Diploma in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations.He worked as an executive in Parrys Confectionery Ltd. from 1987 to 1992 and quit his job to become a professional singer. More »
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