By Dr. T.S.Sathyavathi
Saturday, November 19, 2022 | 4:30 PM
Dr T.S.Sathyavathi is a multifaceted personality- Carnatic vocalist, Guru and Sanskrit scholar with special training in mridangam and musicology. Sanskrit and music have been inseparable twins in the life of Dr Sathyavathi. She trained under the legendary Sangeethakalanidhi Padmabhushan Dr. RK Srikantan. She is a graded artist of All India Radio and Doordarshan. She has given concerts in esteemed sabhas in India and abroad. Her lecture demonstrations on the contribution of the various composers in Carnatic music have received wide acclaim. She has conducted numerous teaching workshops highlighting key composers. She is also a composer and tunesmith. She has composed and presented Ragamalika-Talavadhana-Pallavi’s and has also composed music for famous dance dramas like the Gitagovidam and Abhijnanashakuntalam. She is the recipient of numerous awards from prestigious sabhas all over India including the Karnataka Ganakala Parishat, Music Academy Madras, Shanmukhananda Sabha (Mumbai), Swathi Thirunal Sangeetha Sabha (Trivandrum) to name a few. Dr. Sathyavathi has trained several students who are graded performers of All India Radio. More information on her accomplishments can be found on her website tssathyavathi.com
Mathur R Srinidhi is a disciple of Vid. Sangeetha Vidya sagara R.R.Keshavamurthy and Vid.R.N.Tyagarajan He is an ‘A’ grade artist of All India Radio and Doordarshan. He holds a MSc degree in Biotechnology and a masters in music from Madras University. He was awarded the Ananya Yuva Puraskar in 2013 from Ananya Bangalore and ‘ Lalitha Kala Suma’ from Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira in Bangalore. He has accompanied stalwart vidwans like Rudrapatnam Brothers, Dr. Balamurali Krishna, Nedanuri Krishnamurthy, Sudha Raghunathan, T.V.Gopalakrishnan, T.N.Seshagopalan, Late T.V.Sankaranarayanan, Late N.Ramani, Late Mandolin Srinivas, Shashank Subramanyam, Malladi brothers, Trichur V Ramachandran, Ranjani Gayatri and other artists. He has performed in well known sabhas in India and around the world including the US and Europe.
K U Jayachandra Rao
Sukanya Ramgopal is one of the frontline musicians of India and the first woman ghatam artist of the country. Over the past 50 years, she has mastered the art of playing the ghatam in Carnatic music. She began training in the mridangam at the age of 12 and has also learnt the violin, however, it was the ghatam that was her true calling. Under the able guidance of Sri Harihara Sharma and later under his son, ghatam maestro Sri Vikku Vinayakram, Sukanya trained rigorously on the ghatam. Over the last four decades, Sukanya has mastered the unique ghatam fingering techniques and is today considered the torchbearer of the Vikku baani of ghatam playing. She is also a proficient performer on the Konnakol (vocal percussion).
The GhataTharang (multi-ghatam) is a unique idea conceptualized by Sukanya. Her commitment to breaking new ground has inspired her to play the GhataTharang with 6 – 7 ghatams of different shruthis, thereby creating melody on a percussion instrument. Sukanya is an ‘A Top’ grade artist of the All India Radio and is empanelled by the ICCR in the ‘outstanding artist’ category. She received the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar for the year 2014. Sukanya also leads an all-women’s instrumental ensemble called Sthree Thaal Tharang and is the author of the first textbook for ghatam learning titled Sunaadam: The Vikku baani of Ghatam Playing.