Artists Biographies

:: Sujatha Srinivasan 

"MY passion for Bharatanatyam continues to take me on an interesting artistic journey," said Sujatha Srinivasan, well-known dancer from Chennai. Twenty-three years of committed work, has won this dynamic young dancer an enviable place in the cultural scenario. Rarely does one comes across a combination of the three-fold approach - geetam (vocal music), vaadyam (instrument) and nrityam (dance) - in a Bharatanatyam dancer. 

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:: Sangeetha Kalanidhi Sri T.N.Seshagopalan 

Seshagopalan has an enviable voice along with musical skills, but they are not in isolation. He is a cerebral musician and the proof of that is his music that seems to be the product of a highly trained mind. And he owes that training to his guru Ramanathapuram C. S. Sankara Sivam, foremost disciple of the famous musician, composer and Harikatha exponent, Harikesanallur Muthaiah Bhagavatar. 

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:: Gayathri Venkataraghavan 

Gayatri Venkataraghavan, a rising star among top-notch musicians of the younger generation, has all the ingredients of an accomplished singer. In her aesthetically gratifying concert, under the aegis of Rajalakshmi Fine Arts, Coimbatore, Gayatri commenced her kutcheri with "Paamara Paalini." "Vande Vasudevam" in Sri Ragam followed by an enlivening swara passage was impressive. 

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:: Maharajapuram Ramachandran 

Maharajapuram Ramachandran is the inheritor of a prolific musical legacy bequeathed by his grandfather Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer and father Maharajapuram Santhanam. Hindolam blew in as a strong gust, bracing and robust, rather than as a delicate breeze. The alapana had a central focus and component elements fused to form a cohesive whole. 

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:: Savita Narasimhan

Savita Narasimhan is one of the most talented artistes of her generation. Born to a family of music connoisseurs, Savita began learning Carnatic music from Sankara Sarma. She also had the privilege of training under Rama Ravi and O V Subramaniam, besides learning Tiruppugazh from A S Raghavan. Since 1995, she has been under the tutelage of Chitravina N Ravikiran. 

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:: Ganesh Kumaresh

The trendy Ganesh-Kumaresh's ensemble turned out to be the star performance of the South Indian Cultural Association's (Sica) annual festival. It was a sure hit with the youth who have an ear for music. Articulate, savvy and succinct, the duo, violinists by profession, chose to present a thematic composition that ran for close two hours without a moment of boredom. 

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:: Ananda Shankar Jayanth

Saint Thyagaraja's kritis are an enchanting music opus and when strung together to form the Ramayana, they are engrossing. They can narrate the story of Rama and Sita, beset with a range of sentiments (moods or rasa in classical dance parlance), which are at once life-like and worthy of adaptation to stage. 

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:: Sri Unni Krishnan

Born on 9th July 1966 to Sri.K.Radhakrishnan (Director, Kesari Kuteeram Pvt. Ltd., Manufacturers of Ayurvedic Propreitory Medicines) and Dr.Harini Radhakrishnan (Ayurvedic Physician). Married to Priya, a Bharathanatyam and Mohiniyattam dancer. Blessed with a son Vasudev Krishna on the 27th May 1997. 

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:: Carnatica Brothers

Grandsons of the legendary Gottuvadyam Narayana Iyengar, Shashikiran & Ganesh are cousins who perform as a Vocal Duo - the 'Carnatica Brothers' 

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:: Smt. Suguna Purushottaman

Suguna's formal vocal lessons began with Mannargudi Ramamurti Iyer, and veena with Lalitabai. J. Lalita trained her for technical examinations in theory. This interest was to be fanned later by Professor Sambamoorthy so that, today Suguna Purushothaman's lakshya is matched by her lakshana wealth. 

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:: Shashank & Party

Shashank had an enthusiastic collaborator in the violinist, Mysore M. Nagaraj, who adopted his perspective for viewing the raga's course, albeit with more reliance placed on technique than instinct. The kriti was merely a prop for the flurry of kalpanaswara sallies, and interestingly it was here that Shashank chose to exploit the possibilities of instrumental technique thereby moving away from the vocal style thus far in evidence.