As part of its 9-day 40th Annual Cultural Festival of Music, Dance & Drama at the Keyes High School campus from 23rd November to 1st December, Kalasagaram is organising concerts by eminent musicians such as saxophonist Dr. Kadri Gopalnath, vocalists Sudha Raghunathan, the Priya Sisters, Trichur V Ramachandran and T V Sankaranarayanan, and flautist Dr. N Ramani, and two Tamil dramas Vaasthu Vasu and Plastic Kadavul by United Visuals from Chennai.
Today, the 6th day, Trichur V Ramachandran will be presenting a Carnatic vocal recital. He will be supported by M A Sundareswaran on the violin, Umayalpuram Mali on the mridangam, P Srinivasa Gopalan on the morsing and Adambakkam K Shankar on the ghatam.
Trichur V Ramachandran had his initial musical training under Varkala Subramania Bhagavathar and Tirupunithura R Krishna Ayyar. He made his debut in 1954 at the age of 14, and gave his first recital over radio at the age of 19 in 1959.
He had his Gurukulavasa for 5 years under Late G N Balasubramaniam from 1960 to 1965, fully imbibing the letter and spirit of the GNB style. During this period, Ramachandran used to accompany GNB in all his public performances in different parts of India. After GNB's death in 1965, Ramachandran underwent intensive training under Dr. M L Vasanthakumari for two years from 1965 to 1967, as a recipient of the Government Of India's Cultural Scholarship.
Very soon, Ramachandran established himself as a top-ranking vocalist in the field of Carnatic music. Early in his career, he had the distinction of having top violinists like T N Krishnan and Lalgudi Jayaraman as his accompaniments. Likewise, he had the good fortune of having great mridangam players like Palghat Mani Iyer and Palani Subramania Pillai as his accompanying percussionists.
With his rich improvisation, the happy blending of his own style with the 'bani' of his great master GNB and his majestic voice, Ramachandran always keeps the audience spellbound and absorbed. He has performed in all the important venues in India, and has also travelled many countries of Europe and Asia.
Kalasagaram is a South-Indian cultural association situated in the East Nehru Nagar of East Marredpally, and has been organising Carnatic music concerts for the last 40 years. The concerts are usually held in the Keyes High School campus at the open-air theater. The singers are generally from outside Hyderabad, usually amateurs and upcoming artistes, and quite competent. Kalasagaram also occasionally stages South-Indian classical dances and Tamil plays.
The entry is by invitations for members, and by season passes of Rs. 400, Rs. 300 & Rs. 200 per head and daily passes of Rs. 100, Rs. 50 and Rs. 25 per head for others. Please contact V Rajagopal, General Secretary of Kalasagaram, at 2773-1775 for further details.