Carnatic Vocal By Sreevalsan J Menon

The Vignana Samithi is organising the Annual Thyagaraja Aradhana Music Festival, from 27th January to 2nd February, at the Anand Nagar Community Hall, Khairatabad. The week-long festival will feature both senior and junior artistes performing daily.

Today, the last day, Dr. Sreevalsan J Menon will sing some Thyagaraya kritis. He will be supported by Dwaram Satyanarayana Rao on the violin, V V Ramana Murthy on the mridangam and P V Ramana Murthy on the ghatam.

Dr. Menon is a Carnatic vocalist and agricultural scientist. He earned his doctorate through research on the social impact of rubber cultivation. After initial training under Rajalakshmi Krishnan (disciple of Chembai) and T V Ramani at Thrissur, he started a special relationship with Padmasri Neyyattinkara Vasudevan 13 years ago, and went on to become his favourite disciple.

An A-grade artist of All-India Radio and Doordarshan, Sreevalsan has composed several albums for Manorama Music including Krishna, a musical reflection, and Monsoon Anuraga. He has given vocal concerts on tour in USA, Canada and UAE. He has also given Carnatic vocal performances and lecture demonstrations throughout India, the Middle East, USA, and Canada. Currently he works as Assistant Professor at the agricultural university in Thrissur.

The Vignana Samithi, which is in its 31st year of existence, tries to propagate and spread music by organising music concerts every month. It provides a platform for upcoming artistes by giving opportunities and at the same time getting senior artistes to perform and conduct workshops. Many senior artistes have performed for the organisation, including Dr. Balamurali Krishna, the Malladi Brothers, the Hyderabad Brothers and Sankaranarayanan.

Please contact Suri Venkateswarlu, Secretary of the Vignana Samithi, at 2339-8743/2330-4253 for further details.