Carnatic Vocal By Sudha Raghunathan: Events in Hyderabad

REVIEW FOR CARNATIC VOCAL BY SUDHA...

Kalasagaram's 42nd Annual Festival of Music, Dance & Drama is on at Keyes High School, from 28th November to 6th December.

The 4th day of the festival will have Sudha Raghunathan performing a Carnatic vocal recital. She will be accompanied by Embar S Kannan on the violin, Neyveli Skandasubrahmanian on the mridangam, R Raman on the morsing and Sundar Kumar on the kanjira.

Sudha inherited an interest in music from her mother, Choodamani, and started her formal training at the age of 9. Later, she learnt from T V Viswanathan and B V Lakshman for a brief period. She came under the tutelage of the illustrious Padmabhushan and Sangeetha Kalanidhi, Dr. M L Vasantha Kumari, in 1977, when she also won a Govt. of India Scholarship given to young artistes for advanced training in music. With Dr. M L V's encouragement, Sudha pursued music as a career, and also provided vocal support to the maestro for a decade. She is considered Dr. M L V's 'vaarisu' by music lovers.

Sudha Raghunathan is a top-ranking artiste of the All-India Radio in Chennai, and performs regularly on AIR and Doordharshan. She has performed at concerts in all the major cities of India, besides undertaking concert tours all over the world. She has won over 250 awards and prizes, and some of them are - the Kalaimamani from the Govt. of Tamil Nadu (1993), the Padmasri from the Govt. of India (2004), the Sangeetha Kalasagara (2003), the Sangeetha Choodamani from Sri Krishna Gana Sabha (1997), and the Isai Peroli and the VST Award for excellence from Karthik Fine Arts.

The schedule of the 9-day festival is as follows:

28th November

5:00pm - Nadaswaram By D A Ramulu & Party

6:00pm - Felicitations & Conferring Of The Title "Sangeetha Kalasagara" On Dr. Nookala Chinnasatyanarayana, G J R Krishnan and V Kamalakara Rao

6:30pm - Vocal Recital By Dr. Nookala Chinnasatyanarayana

29th November

5:30pm - Prize Distribution To Winners Of Annual Music & Dance Competitions

6:30pm - Bharatanatyam By Priyadarshini Govind

30th November

6:30pm - Violin Duet By Lalgudi G J R Krishnan & Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi

1st December

6:30pm - Carnatic Vocal By Sudha Raghunathan

2nd December

6:30pm - Carnatic Vocal By Neyveli Santhana Gopalan

3rd December

6:30pm - Carnatic Vocal By Malladi Brothers

4th December

6:30pm - Fusion Music By Rajesh Vaidya & Party

5th December

6:30pm - Tamil Comedy Play Meesai Aanalum Manaivi

6th December

6:30pm - Tamil Comedy Play Chocolate Krishna

Kalasagaram is a south-Indian cultural association situated in the East Nehru Nagar of East Marredpally, and has been organising Carnatic music concerts for more than 35 years now. The concerts are usually held in the Keyes High School campus in the open-air theatre. 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 to this cultural festival is by daily donor passes of Rs. 100, Rs. 50 & Rs. 25 per head. Season passes are also available for Rs. 400, Rs. 300 & Rs. 200 per head. Please contact V Rajagopal, General Secretary of Kalasagaram, at 2773-1775 for further details.