Description
வர்ண களஞ்சியம்
Vignesh Ishwar – vocal
RK ShriramKumar – violin
K Arunprakash – mridangam
N. Guruprasad – ghatam
Navaneethakrishnan – tambura
Vignesh Ishwar is one of the leading young musicians of Karnatik music. Endowed with a sonorous voice and unforgettable presence on stage, his music is fresh, energetic and impactful. His uniqueness as a musician stems from an individual approach that combines sincerity, discipline, creativity and perfect shruti. Born and raised in Mumbai, Vignesh trained from a young age of 4 from Palakkad Shri T S Anantharama Bhagawathar. His music is steeped in strong foundation. Since 2008, he has been receiving training from Shri T M Krishna.
Vignesh has won prizes in competitions throughout India. He has numerous awards to his credit including the Best Concert Award 2019 by the Music Academy Madras, Shanmukha Sangeetha Shiromani Award by the Shanmukhananda Fine Arts and Sangeetha Sabha, Mumbai, 2019, Kedaram Yuva Ganamurthy Award by Kedram, Chennai, 2019, Best Vocalist Award 2015, 2018, by the Music Academy Madras, Spirit of Youth award instituted by The Music Academy Madras, Dr Vasantrao Deshpande Yuva Sangeet Puraskar. He is also a recipient of the Government of India Scholarship for Karnatik music. He is a graded artist of the ‘All India Radio Chennai’ (AIR Chennai).
Holding a masters degree in sound and music computing, he has always desired to contribute to the world of art through the amalgamation of music and technology. He is a collaborator in an up and coming startup Musicmuni Labs, a spin off from the CompMusic project instituted by the prestigious European Research Council, developing computational methodologies for analysis, archival and retrieval of Indian art music. His research has resulted in many publications in various academic international conferences and journals. Vignesh is also an integral part of many initiatives like Svanubhava, Urur Olcott Kuppam Vizha, Carnatic Music in Chennai’s Public Schools to name a few.
R K Shriramkumar belongs to a family of eminent Carnatic musicians who hail from Rudrapatna, a little village on the banks of the river Kaveri in Karnataka, South India. His grandfather Vidvan Shri R K Venkatarama Shastry, a veteran violinist, was one of the most respected musicians of the music fraternity. His grand uncles Vidvan R K Narayanaswamy, Vidvan R K Ramanathan, Vidvan R K Srikantan, his uncles the ‘Rudrapatnam Brothers’, Vidvans R N Thyagarajan & R N Tharanathan,Vidvan R S Ramakanth, his aunts Vidushi Ratnamala Prakash and Vidushi R N Srilatha are all musicians of great repute.
Having had his initial lessons in violin playing from Vidushi Smt Savitri Satyamurthy, Shriramkumar was trained in vocal music and violin by his grandfather Shri R K Venkatarama Shastry. He later received guidance in violin from Vidvan Shri V V Subrahmanyam and in vocal music from Vidvan Shri D K Jayaraman. Born in Chennai on 4th October 1966 to Smt Kusuma Krishnamurthy and Shri R V Krishnamurthy, Shriramkumar began his concert career in 1981, performing his debut concert with Vidvan N. Vijay Siva on the auspicious day of Shankara Jayanti, and has since carved a niche for himself gaining much proficiency, acclaim, stature and popularity amongst musicians and music lovers alike. His skills were further honed through the association and learning he gained by accompanying the doyens of Carnatic music like Vidvan Shri Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Vidushi Smt. M S Subbulakshmi, Vidushi Smt. D K Pattammal, Vidvan Shri D K Jayaraman, Vidvan Shri Palghat K V Narayanaswamy, Vidushi Smt. T Brinda and Vidushi Smt. T Mukta, and others.
Son of the famous music composer Shri L.Krishnan, Arun Prakash learned the art of playing mridangam from Ramanathapuram M.N.Kandaswamy Pillai from the age of 9. Arun started playing in concerts from the age of 11. He has given performances all over the world. His playing style is incredibly musical and he enhances the music to a different level altogether. His presence of mind and his composing skills merge together to give a different dimension to the kritiniraval and swara that is rendered on stage. He has won several awards and prizes. Arun has composed numerous pallavis sung by many musicians and he can be easily called “The thoughful” musician.
Guruprasad was born to the Ghatam Vidwan Shri K. Nagaraja Rao and Smt Kallammal. He had his initial training under his father and later had gurukulam under Ghatam Maestro Shri T.H. Vikku Vinayakram who made him play many thala vadhya concerts and in turn removed fear of the stage at an early age. Subsequently, he joined Shri V. Suresh, another prominent Ghatam Vidwan, as a sishya and learned Shri Kodhandarama Iyer fingering technique for playing the Ghatam. His quest for learning further, advanced mathematics of Carnatic music, brought him into the able tutelage of Laya Chudaroli Madurai Shri T. Srinivasan. Under his guidance, Guruprasad picked up many concepts for simplifying intricate mathematics of Thala Vadhya. Performances He gave his debut performance at the age of 16. Till now he has accompanied all the established artists in their respective fields of Carnatic music.
