Mridangam By Dr. Yella Venkateswara Rao: Events in Hyderabad

REVIEW FOR MRIDANGAM BY DR. YELLA...

Mridangam maestro Dr. Yella Venkateswara Rao will be performing a mridangam recital this Sunday evening, the 16th day of the All India Crafts Mela at the Shilparamam.

Born in 1947, Dr. Yella was a child prodigy who gave his maiden concert at the age of 7, even before any formal training in mridangam. Noticing his talent and interest, his adopted father Yella Somanna, the mridangam maestro and disciple of late T S Palghat Mani Iyer, taught him the art, and he has gone on to become one of the most renowned performers of the instrument.

Dr. Yella has accompanied a galaxy of top Carnatic vocal singers, including Chambai Vaidyanadha Bhagavathar, Semmangudi Srinivas Iyer, G N Balasubrahmanyam, M S Subbulakshmi, D K Pattamammal, T R Mahalingam, Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu, Eemani Sankara Sastry, Balachandar, S P Balasubrahmanyam and T N Krishnan. He has elevated the status of the mridangam from a mere accompaniment for vocal music or for instruments like violin, veena and sitar, to that of an independent instrument with a place of its own on the music firmament.

He is known for his various innovative experiments, that include playing many mridangams at the same time - Mridangam trio, Pancha Mridangam, Laya Chitram, Nava Mridanga concerts and Shodasa Mridanga Sammelanas. He has even made it to the Guinness Book Of World Records by playing the mridangam non-stop for 30 hours, in the 'Mridanga Maha Yagnam'.

Please contact the venue at 2310-0455 for further details.