About the
Artists
Palghat Ramprasad
Palghat Dr. Ramprasad, the grandson of
the legendary Mridangam player Palghat Mani
Iyer started learning music from a very young
age from his father Sri T.R.Rajaram.
RamPrasad’s entry into the concert platform
was in the year 1988 in Youth Association for
Classical Musical popularly known as YACM in
Chennai, when he was less than 8 years old. He
won the “Best Artist” of the series. From then
on, he has been regularly performing concerts
in and out of India in the last 28 years.
Ramprasad aims at adhering to the
traditional classical style with more emphasis
on “Neraval” singing, which according to his
Grandfather is the test of a true vocalist. In
this regard Ramprasad has had the rarest of
blessings to get first hand information
through his father and his uncle T.R.Rajamani
about Sri Mani Iyer’s view on carnatic music
and how a concert should be performed.
Legends and senior vidwans such as
“Sangeetha Kalanidhi” Sri T.K.Murthy,
“Sangeetha Kalanidhi” Late Sri Palghat Raghu,
Sangeetha Kalanidhi Sri T.V.Gopalkrishnan,
“Sangeetha Kalanidhi” Sri Umayalpuram
Sivaraman, “Sangeetha Kalanidhi” Sri
Ramabadhran, Sri Trichy Sankaran, Sri
M.S.Anantharaman, and Sri Sikkil Bhaskaran, to
name a few, have accompanied Ramprasad.
Awards / Accolades : Ramprasad is an
“A” grade artist in All India Radio (AIR) and
performs regularly on all the leading
television channels. He teaches music to
students in India and abroad, and all his
students are performing artists themselves in
their own right. Ram also conducts vocal
classes through a school that he has created,
known as “Palghat Mani Iyer School of Music”
in Mylapore, Chennai. Dr Ramprasad works as a
senior economist at Athena Infonomics, India
and is a visiting post doctoral fellow at The
Harvard School of Public Health. In the
academic front, Ramprasad completed his Ph.D.
in economics from the University of Georgia.
He holds a Bachelors’ degree in commerce, a
Masters Degree in Economics, in which he was
awarded 7 gold medals and holds the record for
the highest marks scored
Trivandrum N Sampath
Sampath Narayan a.k.a. Trivandrum N.
Sampath's dexterity on the violin makes him one
of the most sought-after accompanists on the
Carnatic concert circuit in Kerala. He has had
the privilege of accompanying many senior
musicians such as T.V. Sankaranarayanan, O.S.
Thyagarajan, T.V. Gopalakrishnan, Mathangi
Satyamoorthy, Parassala Ponnammal, Sreevalsan J.
Menon, Trichur V. Ramachandran, and Ravikiran,
to name a few. Sampath believes in building
knowledge through listening and believes that
the key to excelling as a violinist lies in
constantly updating and expanding one's
repertoire of ragas and compositions.
Sampath is at present an A grade artiste
of All India Radio, and is also studying for a
doctorate at his alma mater, Sree Swati Tirunal
Government College of Music, Thiruvananthapuram,
where he is researching on Tygaraja kritis in
raga Thodi.
Trichur C
Narendran
Born in a family of musicians and
scholars, Narendran was initiated into an early
training in Mridangam by Sri Kongorppilly
Parameswaran Namboodiri who spotted his talent
during a dance rehearsal at an annual family get
together at Manakkulam Palace, and started
teaching Narendran the basics of Mridangam when
he was just seven. It was David Bhagavathar of
Kunnamkulam who instilled in him the interest in
music and inspired him to seriously take up the
Mridangam. Later it was Sri E P Narayana
Pisharodi and Koduvayur Radhakrishnan who
trained him further. Narendran had the rarest
privileges to be one of the early disciples of
Palghat R Raghu in 1973. It
was the scholarship awarded by the Government of
India that provided the fecundity for him to
learn the finer and the most intricate
techniques of mridangam playing from Mridangam
Maestro Padmashri.
It was at the age of 17 that he won the
first prize in All India Radio Music
Competition. Since then, Trichur Narendran
has won numerous awards & accolades
including Maharajapuram Santhanam Foundation
Meritorious Award (1999), Asthana Vidwan of
Kanchi Mutt (2001), Layavadhya Chatura by Anna
Nagar Music Circle Trust & Sadguru Sangita
Vidyalaya (2010), Laya Kalavipanchi from Dr
Balamuralikrishna (2011), Dasa Kalaratna by Shri
Purandaradaasar Trust, Chennai (2015), and
Kalaseva Niratha from Tyagaraja Vidwath Samajam
(2017)
Trichur Narendran moved to Chennai in
1973. He taught Mridangam at San Diego
State University USA as a Visiting Professor
from 1984 - 1986. He was on the staff of
All India Radio from 1992 - 2011. He has
since retired and settled down in Chennai.
(Biography
sourced from wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichur_C._Narendran)
Vaikom
Gopalakrishnan
CBorn in Vaikom, Kerala, South India,
Gopalakrishnan started learning Mridangam and
Ghatam from his father Ramaswamy Iyer. Sensing
limited opportunity in Vaikom, his father arranged
for his move to Mumbai. Here he had advanced
training from Karaikudi R Chandramouli in
Mumbai.
Soon he started accompanying all the vidwans from
Chennai who came to perform in Mumbai.
Starting in 1972 he became a permenant part of K J
Yesudas' ensemble. He had a rare opportunity
to accompany K J Yesudas at Sabarimala Temple in
April 2012 when K J Yesudas was conferrred the
Harivasaram Award by the Kerala Government.
He has travelled extensively to USA, Dubai, and
other countries. As a seasoned Mridangam
player, Vaikom Gopalakrishnan has provided
accompaniment for several Bharatanatyam
performances. He also active in film music
circles and has worked with leading film music
composers.
Among the numerous awards he has won include
Kalaimamani (Govt of Tamilnadu), Sangeetamani
(Narada Gana Sabha), and Laya Vidyadhara (Irai
Pani Mandram). He is also an Ashthana Vidwan
at Kanchipuram. Presently he is working as a Grade
"A Top" artiste at All India Radio Chennai.
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