Carnatic Vocal By Dr R Ganesh: Events in Hyderabad

REVIEW FOR CARNATIC VOCAL BY DR...

He has more titles than he has given concerts. Okay, that's exaggeration, but it's hard to count either of those, anyway. This weekend, he's making it harder.

Sri Chandrasekharendra Sangeeta Educational Society is organising a Carnatic vocal recital by Dr R Ganesh this Saturday at the Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Matham in Skandagiri. He will be accompanied by R Dinakar on the violin, Burra Sriram on the mridangam and T P Balasubramanyam on the ghatam.

Dr R Ganesh belongs to the lineage of great composers like Kavikunjara Bharathi and Koteeswara Iyer, and is the only composer to have composed krithis in all the 72 Melakartha ragas. Dr Ganesh started training in Carnatic vocal music at the age of 14 from P Mahalinga Iyer of Thanjavur, and later on from Vidwan Thirukkarugavoor G Srinivasaraghavan.

He also had advanced training through the traditional Gurukulavasa system from the Great Maestro Padmasri Sangita Kalanidhi Late Maharajapuram Santhanam for six years. Currently, he is under the training of Vidwan O S Thiagarajan, and is also learning Veena from Vainika Vidwamsini Ranganayaki Rajagopalan of the great Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer School.

He had the privilege of accompanying Maharajapuram Santhanam as vocal support in almost all his concerts in India from August 1987 till June 1992. After the demise of his guru in 1992, he has been giving individual music concerts throughout India. He performed in the presence of Satya Sai Baba at Prashanthi Nilayam, on the eve of the latter's 70th birthday celebrations in November 1995. He is a graded artiste in the All India Radio and in Doordarshan, Chennai.

He is a recipient of numerous awards and titles like the Maharajapuram Memorial Prize, the G R Chari Memorial Prize, Sangitha Chinthamani, Yuva Kala Bharathi, the Nataraja Iyer Memorial Award, the Young Male Vocalist Award by The Music Academy, the Best Vocalist Award in the Sub-Senior Category by The Indian Fine Arts Society, the Gnana Sangeetha Mani title by Guhashri Swamigal Satsangam, the Isai Arasar and the Youth Excellence Award for Vocals by the Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer Trust.

Dr Ganesh has performed with some of the eminent accompanists like Dr T K Murthy, Umayalpuram Sivaraman, Vellore Ramabhadran, Thiruvaroor Bhakthavatsalam, V Thiagarajan, Nagai Muralidharan, T Rukmini, and Sikkil Baskaran. He has performed in concerts in various places of India, and also in South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore & Dubai. He is also a Registered Veterinary Practitioner.

Sri Chandrasekharendra Sangeeta Educational Society was founded in 2000, with the objective of imparting and spreading Carnatic vocal music to all ages of music lovers. It was established by S Chandrasekhar, a renowned vocalist, who has a diploma in Carnatic vocal and teaches about 50 students, both young and old. Every Sunday, he also teaches Annamacharya Keertanas from 3pm to 5pm, free of cost to anyone eager to learn.

The society also organises various music concerts of local upcoming and established artistes, and renowned classical musicians from Chennai. On the occasion of its anniversary in January 2007, a festival of Satguru Sri Thyagaraja Swamy is being organised from 24th to 28th January, with highly talented musicians from AP and Chennai performing.

For further details, please contact the society at 2780-5161, 93910-11704 or 98661-87955.