November 11, 2023

Dalits in Arts & Music

Aishwarya Nigam

Aishwarya Nigam

Birth name
Aishwarya Ranjan

Born
4 July 1989
Muzaffarpur, Bihar, India

Genres
Bollywood

Occupation(s)
Singer

Instruments
Vocals

Years active
2005 – present

Aishwarya Nigam (born 4 July 1989) is an Indian singer.He is best known as a playback singer in Hindi films, particularly for films like Dabangg. He has received several awards for the song "Munni Badnaam Hui" from Dabangg.

Early and family life

He was born in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. His mother Arti Ranjan works as lecturer in Mukherjee Seminary, Muzaffarpur while his father Mukesh Ranjan is a manager in Punjab National Bank.[3] He has done his schooling from Sun Shine Prep High School, Muzaffarpur.
Nigam has lived his childhood in New Colony Sherpur, Muzaffarpur.

Career

Aishwarya Nigam has participated in the Music competition Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Ek Main Aur Ek Tu 2006 for Zee TV. Nigam and Ujjaini Mukherjee were declared the winners on 24 June 2006. Nigam was one of the contestants of Jo Jeeta Wohi Superstar, a singing competition on Star Plus channel. He represented the Champions team. He was eliminated on 25 April 2008. Aishwarya was one of the contestants of music competition show IPL Rockstar on Colors TV channel. He was among the top three finalists of IPL Rockstar. He is much inspired from Sonu Nigam: that made him keep title as "Nigam".

He sang the title track of Kitani Mohabbat Hai for seasons I and II, a daily soap on NDTV imagine. He has worked with renowned music directors like Lalit Pandit, Anu Malik, Pritam, Sajid-Wajid, Shameer Tandon. He sang a song for the serial Dill Mill Gayye.

Aishwarya is fondly known for singing the famous item song "Munni Badnaam Hui" from Salman Khan starer Dabangg. He has sung "Maara re Sixer Maara Re Four" from the movie Ferrari Ki Sawaari, a movie by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The Hit Item number "Tere Mohalle" from the movie "Besharam" starring Ranbir Kapoor is also sung by Aishwarya Nigam.(Wikipedia)
Anu Anand
Anu Anand(Super Singer 8)

By Editor
-January 21, 2021

Anu Anand is a Playback Singer and Actor who is one of the contestants of Super Singer Season 8 conducted by Vijay Tv. She is also a former Vijay Tv Super Singer Junior contestants. In that season, she won a most expressive singer title award and finished her career as a top 10 contender.

Anu has sung some songs like Enakkaaga Poranthaayae and Onakkaga Poranthaenae, those songs are massive hits and liked by a lot of fans. The most important thing is she is a best friend of Bigg Boss Season 4 Fame Ajeeth. She has clicked so many photos with famous celebrities like Kamal Haasan, Rajni, Bharath, Sp Balasupramaniyam, etc
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Super Singer Anu Anand Wiki, Biography
Real Name Anu Anand
Nick Name Anu
Date of Birth 31 March 2000
Gender Female
Native Mannargudi, Thiruvarur
Current City Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Father Name Anand
Mother Name Aasha
Brother Manoj
School Leo Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Chennai.

Religion Hinduism
Hobbies Traveling

Early Life

Anu Anand was born on 31 March 2000 in Mannargudi, Thiruvarur. She is 20 years old as of 2021. Her father’s name is Anand and her mother’s name is Aasha. She has one elder brother named Manoj. She did her schooling at Leo Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Chennai.
Anu Anand Career

Anu Anand started her career as a singer in Vijay TV Junior Super Singer Season 3 and finished the season as a top 10 contender. In 2014, She has sung two songs for the Tamil film Pannaiyarum Padminiyum, directed by Arun Kumar. She has later sung Nanba Puthu Anbal songs for the 2019 film Karuthukal Pathivu Sei directed by Rahul Paramahamsa. She has also sung songs in Telugu films. Anu is now representing as a contestant in the Super Singer Season 8.

Songs

Enakkaaga Poranthaayae and Onakkaga Poranthaenae – Pannaiyarum Padminiyum

Shows
Junior Super Singer Season 3
Super Singer Season 8
Contact Details | Social Media Account

Details about Super Singer 8 Anu Anand Phone Number, House Address, Telephone Number, are not found.

Official Facebook Account – facebook.com/AnuAnandOfficial

Official Instagram Account –instagram.com/anuanand06

Official Twitter Account – Not Found
Latest Images, Photos, Picture

Here are the latest picture and Photos of Super Singer Anu Anand
Super Singer Junior 3

She is a best friend of Ajeeth
Bhavatharini
Bhavatharini
Born as Bhavatharini Raajaa
23 July 1976
Madras (now Chennai),
Tamil Nadu, India

Died 25 January 2024 (aged 47)

Occupation(s) Actress, Playback singer, musical director

Bhavatharini Raajaa, born on 23 July 1976 in Madras (now Chennai), Tamil Nadu, India, was a renowned singer and music composer. She was widely recognized for her contributions to the Indian music industry, particularly in the Tamil film industry.

Bhavatharini Raja made her debut as a singer for Raasaiya. Her song was a major hit. From then onward, she has sung in albums composed by her father and brothers.

Bhavatharini also lent her voice in songs composed by Deva and Sirpy.

In 2001, she won the National Award for the song Mayil Pola Ponnu Onnu in the movie Bharathi (the music director was her father).

Bhavatharini turned music director for the 2002 film Mitr, My Friend, directed by Revathi, starring Shobhana. She then forayed into the Telugu film industry with Avunaa. She also composed music for Phir Milenge, directed by Revathi, starring Shilpa Shetty, Abhishek Bachchan and Salman Khan. In June 2012, she was roped in to score the tunes for Vellachi, a village-based project.

Throughout her career, Bhavatharini garnered acclaim for her versatile singing style and her ability to bring emotion to her performances. She was not only a skilled playback singer but also a talented composer, contributing her musical talents to various film projects.

Her passion for music began at an early age, and she went on to establish herself as a prominent figure in the industry. Bhavatharini's work encompassed a variety of genres, showcasing her ability to adapt to different musical styles.

Personal life and death

Bhavatharini was married to an advertising executive, R. Sabariraj, son of S.N. Ramachandran. Ramachandran is a former journalist who went into publishing and started Kannan Advertising. Bhavatharani studied at Rosary Matric School in Chennai. This was followed by higher secondary school in Adarsh Vidyalaya, Peters Road, Chennai.

Bhavatharini died from stomach cancer on 25 January 2024, at the age of 47, while being treated for the disease in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka.
Bhimrao Panchale
From Wikipedia
Bhimrao Panchale
Born 30 March 1951 
Amravati, Maharashtra
Nationality Indian
Occupation Poet, lyricist, singer, composer
Years active 1972–present
Children 1

Bhimrao Panchale (Marathi: भीमराव पांचाळे; 30 March 1951) is a Marathi ghazal singer from the state of Maharashtra, India. He is known as Ghazal Nawaz (Prince of Ghazals) for his exposition of the ghazal and its adaptation to the Marathi language.

Career

After completing 8 years of training Bhimrao performed Sugam Sangeet in different parts of Maharashtra. He later began singing Urdu ghazal. He also sang Marathi ghazal to large audiences by conducting various mehfil in Maharashtra.
Bhimrao Panchale performing

Bhimrao gave his first concert in Marathi ghazal in 1972.

He was closely linked with Ghazalkar Ilahi Jamadar.

In 2011, a felicitation concert was held in Mumbai, on the occasion of 60th birthday.

Panchale has been awarded "Ekata kala Gaurav Puraskar" on 16th Jan 2016.
Chavara Parukutty Amma
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chavara Parukutty Amma
Chavara Parukutty Amma demonstrating a Kathakali mudra, 2011.
Born 12 February 1943
Chekkatu Kizhakkethil, Kerala, India
Died 7 February 2019 (aged 75)
Chavara, Kerala
Nationality Indian
Occupation Kathakali dancer and teacher

Works Kacha Devayani
Parent(s) N. Shankaran Achary
Naniyamma
Awards Kerala Kalamandalam Kalaratnam

Chavara Parukutty Amma (12 February 1943 – 7 February 2019) was an Indian artiste of the Kathakali dance drama. She was one of the few women exponents of this overwhelmingly male tradition. For her services to the art of Kerala, she was honoured with the Kerala Kalamandalam and the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi awards.

Life

Chavara Parukutty Amma was born to Naniyamma and N. Shankaran Achary, a goldsmith, at Chekkatu Kizhakkethil in Kerala, the youngest of their three children. She obtained an undergraduate degree in Economics from the Fatima Mata National College.

Trained as a classical dancer, she switched to Kathakali in her teenage years. Her first teacher was Muthupilakkadu Gopala Panikker.

Parukutty Amma had a daughter, Dhanya, who is also a dance artiste.

She died at Chavara near Kollam on 7 February 2019.

Career

Parukutty Amma's debut performance was at the age of 14, at the Kottankulangara Devi Temple at Chavara. At the time, women were hesitant in taking up the genre. The field of Kathakali has traditionally been dominated by men, who would play both male and female roles. She took on female roles mainly, but has portrayed male roles as well.

In her youth, Kathakali was of interest mainly to women of upper castes, who took a dilettante's approach to it. As the daughter of a goldsmith, Parukutty had to struggle for admission to a local dance school, Leelamani Nrithakalalayam. She was relegated to minor roles, and even when she began to perform major parts in the dance drama, having joined the Poruvazhi Sreekrishnavilasm Kaliyogam, her name would barely appear in festival brochures.

Parukutty Amma was fortunate in obtaining admission to a Kathakali institute; without credentials from the academy, other women were severely disadvantaged. Even she faced unfortunate odds in her career, scarcely being able to make a living from it.

Parukutty Amma's debut was with the dance drama Poothanamoksham in 1958, in the role of Lalita, the benevolent manifestation of the demoness Poothana who was sent by Kamsa to kill the baby Krishna. She then began training herself in male roles under Poruvazhi Gopala Pillai, the first presentation being of Bhima in Kalyanasaugandhikam.

Mankulam Vishnu Namboothiri, a Kathakali doyen, saw her performance and undertook her further training in every female role in Kathakali. Her essaying of the role of Devayani was particularly lauded for her command of nuance and emotion, as Devayani first beholds Kacha. Indeed, she often played the male role of Kacha as well.

In 2003, Parukutty Amma opened Kerala Natya Dhara, a school for dance at Sankaramangalam.

Parukutty Amma received the Kerala Kalamandalam and the Mathrubhumi Grihalakshmi awards.

A film on her life and achievements, Chavara Parukutty: Kathakaliyile Sthree Parvam, was produced by P.R. Sreekumar.
Devi Ajith

From Wikipedia
Devi Ajith
Born 28 March 1973 
Occupation Actress
Spouse(s) Ajith (1992-1997)
Children Nandana Ajith
Parent(s) V. Ramachandran Nair
S. Lalithambika Devi

Devi Ajith (born 28 March 1973) is an Indian actress, dancer and a television personality in the Malayalam film industry. She is known for her roles in Trivandrum Lodge and Immanuel. She is also seen in a short film named Virgin Road. Also runs a boutique in Trivandrum named Scarlet for the past 20 years.

Personal life

Born and brought up in Trivandrum, Kerala, she started her career with Asianet by anchoring Pattupetty. Daughter of professors V. Ramachandran Nair and S. Lalithambika Devi. Devi got married at the age of 19 to (Late) Ajith Kumar, producer of The Car and has a daughter, Nandana Ajith (b. 1993), who works as digital analyst in Fashionobi ; Milan, Italy. Her husband died in a car accident in 1997. She is remarried to Ashok Kumar Vasudevan since 22 November 2009. Her daughter got married in 2021.
Embar Kannan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kalaimamani Embar S. Kannan
Born 19 February 1975 

Embar S. Kannan is a violinist in the fields of Carnatic Music and Tamil Film Music. Trained in Carnatic as well as Western Classical methods, he is a Grade 'A top' artist of the All India Radio and is universally acclaimed as a soloist and an accompanist.

Carnatic music career

Born in a family of great musicians to Sangeetha Bhooshanam Sri Embar Sadagopan, Kannan took to playing the violin at the age of six. His initial training in Carnatic music was with Sri Subbanna Bhagavathar and Sri Vittal Ramamurthy. In 1986 he received a talent scholarship from the Government of India and earned a place under the mentorship of Kum.A. Kanyakumari. Shortly thereafter he received the Yuva Kala Bharathi from Bharat Kalachar and the ‘Best Violinist Award’ from the Madras Music Academy for eight consecutive years. Over the course of his Carnatic career he has accompanied many leading artists such as T. V. Sankaranarayanan, Trichur Ramachandran, T. N. Seshagopalan, Sudha Raghunathan, Kadri Gopalnath, P. Unnikrishnan, Bombay Jayashree and S. Sowmya. One of Kannan’s prodigal accomplishments was the introduction of the silent violin to Carnatic Music in 2001. In August 2006, he played the silent violin at Puttaparthi in the presence of Bhagawan Sri Satya Sai Baba with the musicians of the HeArtBeat Ensemble.

On 14 July 2011, he played at a concert that was organised to raise funds for the Sankalp Trust, the open school and learning centre for special children, at the Mutha Venkata Subba Rao Concert Hall.

Film music career

Kannan received his Western Classical training from acclaimed music director, Diwaker master. Under him, Kannan entered the film industry with the movie Puli Pettra Pillai. Subsequently, he made himself an integral part of Maestro Ilaiyaraja's orchestra and with them, has played in numerous films and concerts around the world. In addition, he has played for other music directors; notably, Karthik Raja, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Vidyasagar, Sharath, A. R. Rahman and Deva.
Fazal Qureshi
From Wikipedia

Fazal Qureshi
Born 13 February 1961 
Origin Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Occupation(s) Tabla player
Instruments Tabla, Kanjira

Ustad Fazal Qureshi ( born 13 February 1961) is an Indian tabla player. Born to the tabla player Ustad Allah Rakha, under the guidance of his father/guru, with the inspiration drawn from his brother, Ustad Zakir Hussain, he has also become a tabla player. He has expanded his horizons by being involved with other styles of music of the world especially Jazz and Western classical music, and has performed with many well known Jazz musicians. For the last 16 years he has been associated with Mynta, his world music band based in Sweden. They have performed all over the world and have released six albums. He teaches tabla to students in the Ustad Alla Rakha Institute of Music near Shivaji Park, Dadar.,

Personal life

Fazal is married to Birwa, an interior designer from school of interior design, CEPT UNI, and a folk dancer. They have a daughter, Alia, who is studying ballet, and a son, Azann, who is learning piano.
Gitchandra Tongbra
From Wikipedia

Gitchandra Tongbra
Born 6 February 1916

Manipur, India
Died 3 June 1996 (aged 80)
Occupation Writer, teacher
Awards Padma Shri

Gitchandra Tongbra (6 February 1916 – 3 June 1996), popularly known as G. C. Tongbra, was an Indian satirist, poet, playwright and art academic from Imphal. Born on 6 February 1913 in the Indian state of Manipur, Tongbra was known for his socio-realistic plays such as Mani Manou (1962), Matric Pass (1964) and Upu Baksi (1972).

The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri in 1975. Four years later, he received the Sahitya Akademi Award for his play, Ngabongkhao, in 1978. The Ministry of Culture, Government of India, honoured his memories by staging a Tongbra Drama Festival under the aegis of Ougri Theatre Repertory Manipur on 24 April 2015 which consisted of four selected plays of the dramatist.
Geet Sagar
Singer


Geet Sagar is an Indian film Singer, who has worked predominantly in Bollywood. Geet has worked in popular movies like Chhichhore, Nautanki Saala. Geet's previous film to hit the theatres was Chhichhore in the year 2019.

Contestant Profile
Birth Date 24 February 1984
Hometown Gwalior, India


Geet Sagar (born 24 February 1984) is an Indian singer. He auditioned for Season 1 of X Factor India and made it all the way to the final as part of the Over 25s category mentored by Shreya Ghoshal.

Due to the eliminations of Manjeera Ganguly, Amit Jadhav and Kartar Singh Yadav, Sagar was the only act left in his category. He was crowned the winner defeating Seema Jha from the 16-24s category mentored by Sonu Nigam and Sajda Sisters from the Groups category mentored by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.(wikipedia)
Jasbir Jassi
From Wikipedia
Jasbir Jassi
Birth name Jasbir Singh Bains
Born 7 February 1970
Gurdaspur, Punjab, India
Occupation(s) Singer, actor, lyricist
Years active 1993–present
Associated acts


Jasbir Singh Bains (born 7 February 1970), better known by his stage name Jasbir Jassi, is an Indian singer, lyricist, performer and actor. As of 2016 he has released thirteen albums, his first pop album being Dil Le Gayee, released in 1998 with Times Music.

Early life

Bains, was born in Dalia Mirjanpur village, Gurdaspur, Punjab, India, to Sikh parents Ajit Singh and mother Prakash Kaur and brought up along with his two elder sisters. A first generation musician, he participated in musical plays such "Sadha Bugdu Bulo", and gave performances at the North Zone Cultural Centre.

Career

He started recording for Punjabi films including Passport and Zakhmi[citation needed] in the late 1980s. He also sang for remix albums such as Balle Balbiro Balle. His first album release was the 1993 low-profile Channa Ve Teri Channani. He appeared along with Charanjit Ahuja in the music video of "Channa ve Teri Channi". This was followed-up with a string of hit albums – 'Dil Le Gayee'(1998), 'Kudi Kudi'(1999), 'Nishani Pyar Di'(2001), 'Just Jassi'(2002), 'Mukhda Chann Varga'(2004) and 'Akh Mastani'(2007). Jassi - Back with a Bang is his latest album, featuring the songs "Mehndi" and title song "Bang". It was released on 16 July 2010 worldwide.

The title song Dil Le Gayee Kudi Gujarat Di of his second album was a commercial success. Kudi Kudi from his third album and Channo Da from Nishani Pyar Di also did extremely well.

He has performed in several countries, and has appeared on the NDTV Imagine's Dhoom Macha De. On the occasion of the 73rd Independence Day, Jassi and Punjabi singer Nobby Singh released a patriotic single track 'Azaadi - The Independence' dedicated to the country in August 2021.

Inspiration for Dil Le Gayee

In 1989 at a National Integration Camp in Himachal Pradesh for youth from border areas Jassi met his Gujarati kudi. The girl was from Bhuj in the Kutch area of Gujarat. She later married someone else, but Jassi traced her in 1998. In the same year, on way to Gwalior with Sham Bhuteja of Rohtak, when Jassi was feeling upset and depressed during the journey, and in a fit of emotion told Bhuteja, "dil le gayee kudi Gujarat di". He was inspired to compose the song after this line. 

Soundtracks

The latest soundtrack in which Jassi performed is Koka from Khandaani Shafakhana (2019) with Badshah and Dhvani Bhanushali. He also sang for Patiala House (2011), in which he performed "Laungda Lashkara with Mahalakshmi Iyer and Hard Kaur.[9] Other soundtrack in which he performed include Dobara (2004) in which he performed "Pyar Mere", Hope and a Little Sugar (2006) in which he performed "Mahiya" and Mel Karade Rabba (2010) in which he performed the titular song. In 2015, Jassi released a song Ranjha giving the song Sufi and pahari touch. In 2016, he released the new Sufi trance song ‘'O Laal Ni’' written by Baba Bulle Shah. In 2018, he made a comeback with his Song ‘'Tere Thumke’' written by Bhatti Bhariwala released under the Music Label TPZ Records.

Discography

According to Jassi's official website, he released thirteen albums:
YearAlbumLyricist1993 Channa Ve Teri Channani
1998 Dil Le Gayee
1999 Kudi Kudi
2001 Nishani Pyar Di
2002 Just Jassi
2004 Mukhda Chann Warga
2007 Akh Mastani
2010 Jassi - Back with a Bang
2011 Bhangra (with Ashok Masti and Jawad Ahmad)
2014 Saawan
2014 Shaheed Bhagat Singh
2014 Dhol
2015 Ranjha
2018 Tere Thumke Bhatti Bhariwala
2020 Tere Bina Gopi Sidhu
2020 Ik Sufna 
2020 Allah Noor Upaya

Acting career

In 2011, his first film in a lead role, 'Khushiyaan', was released. He was trained by N.K. Sharma and a few others. He has also appeared in some Punjabi films including Heer Ranjha.

 के. जमुना रानी

(wikipedia)


जमुना रानी
जन्म 17 मई 1938 
शैलियां पार्श्वगायक
व्यवसाय गायक
उपकरण गायक
सक्रिय वर्ष 1946-वर्तमान

के. जमुना रानी (जन्म 17 मई 1938 को आंध्र प्रदेश, भारत में ) एक भारतीय पार्श्व गायिका हैं, जिन्होंने तेलुगु , सिंहली , तमिल , कन्नड़ और मलयालम भाषाओं में 6,000 से अधिक गाने गाए हैं।

जीवन और कैरियर

रानी का जन्म के. वरदराजुलु और वायलिन वादक के. द्रोपथी के घर हुआ था।

उन्होंने पहली बार सात साल की उम्र में तेलुगु फिल्म त्यागय्या (1946) के लिए फिल्म में अपनी आवाज दी थी। तेरह साल की उम्र तक, रानी वलयापति और कल्याणी जैसी फिल्मों में मुख्य पात्रों के लिए गायन कर रही थीं । 1955 में तमिल फिल्म गुलेबकावली के असाइयुम एन नेसामम के साथ उनका हिट स्कोर था ।

जमुना रानी ने पहली बार 1953 में संगीतकार आनंद समरकून के निर्देशन में सुजाता के लिए श्रीलंकाई सिनेमा में गाना गाया था । बाद में उन्होंने वरदा कागेदा (1954), सेडा सुलंग (1955), मथालन (1955), सुरया (1957) और वाना मोहिनी (1958) में योगदान दिया। 'जीवन मे गमना संसारे' जिसे उन्होंने फिल्म ' सेडा सुलंग ' के लिए एएम राजा के साथ गाया था , श्रीलंका में सर्वकालिक पसंदीदा सिंहली सिनेमा गीतों में से एक है। 

1970 के दशक की शुरुआत में उनके कुछ गाने थे। एक अंतराल के बाद, वह नायकन (1987) और अन्नान एन्नाडा थम्बी एन्नाडा (1992) में तमिल गीतों में वापस आईं । 50 और 60 के दशक में उन्होंने पासामलार, तमिल और मुगा मनुसुलु तेलुगु आदि कई फिल्मों के लिए गाने गाए।

उन्होंने जिन संगीतकारों के लिए गाना गाया 

उन्होंने जी रामनाथन , केवी महादेवन , एस दक्षिणामूर्ति , एएम राजा , वेधा, वी. नागय्या , जेए रहमान, पेंड्याला नागेश्वर राव , टी. चलपति राव , आनंद समरकून , टीजी लिंगप्पा , विश्वनाथन-राममूर्ति , टीए कल्याणम, एमएस ज्ञानमणि के तहत काम किया। , एस. राजेश्वर राव , एस. हनुमंत राव , मास्टर वेणु , आर. सुदर्शनम, जीके वेंकटेश , वीटी राजगोपालन, वी. कुमार , टीआर पप्पा , एसवी वेंकटरमन , विजया भास्कर , घंटासला , कुन्नक्कुडी वैद्यनाथन , एसएम सुब्बैया नायडू , एसपी कोडंडापानी , वी. कुमार , भाई लक्ष्मणन, एमबी श्रीनिवासन , जी देवराजन , एमएस बाबूराज , इलैयाराजा और चंद्रबोस ।
जिन पार्श्वगायकों के साथ उन्होंने गाया [ संपादित करें ]

उन्होंने ज्यादातर टीएम सुंदरराजन , एएम राजा , सीरकाज़ी गोविंदराजन , एएल राघवन , पीबी श्रीनिवास और मोहिदीन बेग के साथ यादगार युगल गीत गाए । अन्य हैं घंटासला , थिरुचि लोगनाथन , जेपी चंद्रबाबू , एससी कृष्णन , धारापुरम सुंदरराजन, वीटी राजगोपालन, एचआर जोथिपाला , कामुकारा पुरूषोत्तमन , पी. कलिंगा राव और पीथापुरम नागेश्वर राव ।

उन्होंने महिला गायकों के साथ युगल गीत भी गाए, जिनमें विशेष रूप से पी. सुशीला , पी. लीला , एलआर ईश्वरी और जिक्की शामिल हैं । अन्य हैं एपी कोमला , एजी रत्नमाला , एस. जानकी , एमएल वसंतकुमारी , टीवी रत्नम , के. रानी , ​​स्वर्णलता , एमएस राजेश्वरी , सुलामंगलम राजलक्ष्मी , एलआर अंजलि, स्वर्णा और रेणुका ।
Kala (choreographer)
From Wikipedia

Kala
Born 25 April 1971
Chennai, India
Nationality Indian
Occupation Dance choreographer
reality television judge
Years active 1984–present
Spouse(s) Govindarajan (m.1997; div.1999)
Mahesh (m.2004 – present)
Children Vidyuth (b.2007)
Relatives Choreographer Jayanthi (Sister)
Choreographer Girija (Sister)
Choreographer Brindha (Sister)
Choreographer Raghuram (Brother-in-law)
Actor/Choreographer Gayathri Raghuram(niece)
Choreographer Prasanna Sujit (Nephew)
Actress Suja Raghuram (Niece)
Anchor Keerthi (Niece)

Kala is an Indian dance choreographer who has worked in all the regional film industries. She is the director of the Indian reality dance talent show, Maanada Mayilada – where she is one of the three judges. She was awarded the National Film Award for Best Choreography in 2000 for her folk dance sequences in the Malayalam film, Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal.

Career

A trained classical dancer, Kala, a school drop out, entered the film industry through the influence of her brother-in-law, the choreographer Raghuram. Making her debut as an assistant choreographer at the age of 12 in 1982, she got a break during the making of Punnagai Mannan in 1986 starring Kamal Haasan and Revathi, as director K. Balachander suggested Kala fill in for the busy Raghuram. She was then chosen again by Balachandar as the lead choreographer for Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal (1989).

She has since worked in over 4000 songs in various languages including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada, Oriya, Bengali, English, Italian and Japanese. She has referred to the "Kozhi Koovuthu Neramachu" song in Azhagan as one of her leading pieces of work and also referred actress Bhanupriya as her favorite dancer. She was handed the opportunity to choreograph the Miss World 1996 Beauty Pageant held at Bangalore for which she received a special award of excellence. Moreover, she notes that a stage event in Malaysia featuring Prashanth and seven heroines, propelled her into fame. She was awarded the National Film Award for Best Choreography in 2000 for her folk dance sequences in the Malayalam film, Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal. She became the first to start a cinematic dance school named Kala's Kalalaya which has five branches in Chennai. She manages it along with her sisters. Kala's merit is in popularising a peculiar dance form, cobbled together with borrowings from classical, Indian folk, bhangra and western steps. She also won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Choreographer for her work in Chandramukhi.

She has since gone to specialise in directing dance reality shows, notably Maanada Mayilada, which has finished nine seasons. She is currently judging dance reality show Odi Vilayadu Papa in Kalaignar TV.

Filmography

2005 ; Chandramukhi

Personal life

Kala was born into a family of seven girls and revealed that she was brought up in a one-room house during her childhood. An elder sister Jayanthi, first started dancing and acted as heroine in two films – Uthiripookkal and Poottatha Pookkal. Kala’s second sister Girija, learned Bharatanatyam at Kalakshetra; and went to work with choreographers Thangam and later Raghuram Master, whom she married later, and also become an independent choreographer. Kala was the sixth daughter, while Brinda, a leading choreographer, is her youngest sister.

One of her nephews, Prasanna Sujit, is also a film choreographer. One of her niece Master Gayathri Raghuram, daughter of late Raghuram Master and her sister Girija is also a choreographer and an actor. She has also introduced her another niece Keerthi, daughter of Jayanthi Master and wife of actor Shanthanu Baghyaraj, as an anchor in her dance reality show Manada Mayilada.

Kala was previously married to UAE based businessman, Govindarajan in 1997, who is the brother of actress Sneha. Kala had initially shifted to Dubai after her marriage but problems prompted her to return to Chennai and take up choreographing again. The pair got divorced in 1999, and soon after Kala and Brindha controversially made derogatory comments about Sneha's dancing ability to a magazine.

She married Mahesh in 2004. It was a love marriage. The couple has a son Vidyuth, born in 2007.

Television

YearShowRoleNotesChannel
Super Dancer Herself Judge Amrita TV (Malayalam)
2007 Super Dancer 2 Herself Judge Amrita TV (Malayalam)
Super Dancer JUNIOR Herself Judge Amrita TV (Malayalam)
2008 Odi Vilayadu Papa Herself Director/ Judge Kalaignar TV
2008–2013 Maanada Mayilada (1-8 seasons) Herself Director / Judge Kalaignar TV
2014 D 4 Dance (Season 1) Herself Judge Mazhavil Manorama (Malayalam)
K. P. Brahmanandan
From Wikipedia




K. P. Brahmanandan
കെ. പി. ബ്രഹ്മാനന്ദൻ
Born February 22, 1946
Kadakkavoor, Trivandrum, India
Died August 10, 2004 (aged 58)
Kadakkavoor, Trivandrum, India
Occupation(s) Singer
Years active 1969-2004

K. P. Brahmanandan (Malayalam:കെ. പി. ബ്രഹ്മാനന്ദൻ; 22 February 1946 – 10 August 2004) was a South Indian playback singer from Kerala. He sang more than 160 songs in Malayalam films.

Personal life

Brahmanandan was born in Kadakkavoor, which is located north of Trivandrum district in Kerala. His father was a pioneer in boat architecture. He was the third of eight children altogether. Brahmanandan was the father of Rakesh Brahmanandan, noted Malayalam singer.

Brahmanandan died at his home in Kadakkavoor on 10 August 2004, at the age of 58. He was a chronic diabetic and also suffered from various other health problems.

Awards

Brahmanandan has received All-India Radio Award In 1965, Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy award and Critics Award - 1999. But, still his fans say that he did not get enough recognition.

Career

He made his debut in cinema through `Kalli Chellamma' with the popular song, `Manathe kayalin... ' in 1969 under the baton of K. Raghavan. Before that, he had sung a few songs for All-India Radio, Thiruvananthapuram.

The hit songs he rendered included `Thamarapoo Naanichu... ' (Taxi Car), `Neela Niseethini' (CID Naseer), `Raga Tharangam' (Palazhi Mathanam), `Priyamullavale' (Thekkan Kaattu), `Thaaraka Rupini... ' (Saasthram Jayichu Manushyan Thottu), `Kshetramethennariyatha Theerthayatra... ' (Poojakkedukkaatha Pookkal), `Udayasooryan Namme Urakkan... ' (Nrittasaala), `Chandrikaa Charchithamam Raatriyodo' (Putrakameshti), `Kanavu Neythoru Kalpitha Kathayile... ' (Manyashree Viswamitran).The noted songs for famous Malayalam Director Bharathan's movies were "Maaleya Lepanam" for the movie "Eenam" and "Koovaram kili koodu" for the movie "Kattathe Kilikoodu".

Among those who honed his talent were composers such as V. Dakshinamurthy, M. K. Arjunan, A. T. Ummer and R. K. Shekhar.

He also sang for a dozen Tamil films, for composers such as Ilaiyaraja...Santha Kavigal for Tamil movie "Metti" from Director Mahendran and Shankar–Ganesh, and composed the music for two movies, `Malayathi Pennu' and `Kanni Nilaavu'.

"Brahmanandan Foundation", constituted in memory of Brahmanandan encourages projects that promote values in line with particular interests that are well informed, that have clearly defined goals, and that are innovative and risk-taking, while acknowledging traditional standards of excellence and responsibility to the music. The foundation has also constituted Brahmanandan memorial award, for excellence in Music.
M. Venkataraju
From Wikipedia



M. Venkataraju
Born
Mandapati Venkataraju
31 March 1916
Died 1969
Occupation Music director
Parent(s)

Rangamma (mother)
Relatives M. Ranga Rao (Brother)

M Venkataraju (1916-1969) was a music director/composer of Kannada cinema.

Filmography

List of films
Swarna Gowri (1962)
Thejaswini (1962)
Nanda Deepa (1963)
Madhu Nataraj
From Wikipedia


Madhu Nataraj
Born 24 February 1971

Occupation Dancer, choreographer, arts entrepreneur
Years active 1991 to present

Current group Natya institute of Kathak & Choreography Stem Dance Kampani
Dances Kathak Indian Contemporary dance
Website www.stemdancekampni.in

Madhu Nataraj (born 24 February 1971) is an Indian classical, contemporary dancer and choreographer who lives in Bangalore. She is the director of the Natya Institute of Kathak and Choreography and founded its performing wing STEM (Space.Time.Energy.Movement) Dance Kampni.

Early life

Nataraj was born on 21 February 1971 in Bangalore to M.S.Natarajan and Maya Rao, an Indian classical dancer.

Education

Nataraj did her B.Com from Mount Carmel College, Bangalore. She learnt dance at Natya Institute of Kathak and Choreography in Bangalore and also enrolled for a course in journalism at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.

Nataraj received her dance training in Kathak under her mother Maya Rao, aunt Chitra Venugopal and Munna Shukla.

Nataraj trained in contemporary dance from Karen Potter at the Jose Limon Centre, New York. She learnt under Karen Potter and Sara Pearson.

She has trained in folk and martial dances of India and studied Yoga using the B.K.S Iyengar technique.

As of 2018, she was pursuing a master's degree in Anthropology from Indira Gandhi Open University.

Career

In 1995, Nataraj set up the STEM (Space.Time.Energy. Movement) Dance Kampni which is the performing wing of Natya Institute of Kathak and Choreography. The dance company has performed globally, having traveled to 37 countries including the United States of America, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, UAE and Southeast Asia.It has made approximately 60 productions and more than 100 unique short sequences She is also the director of the Natya Institute of Kathak and Choreography.

Nataraj has performed in various dance festivals such as the Khajuraho Festival, Khajuraho; Purana Quila Festival, Delhi; Nritya Kriti organized by Sangeet Natak Akademi, Ahmedabad; Festival of Babylon; Kathak Mahotsav, Delhi, Lucknow and Canada and Kalanidhi International Dance Festival, Toronto.

She was a dance curator for the Under The Raintree women's cultural festival in 2017 and 2019.

Awards and Achievements

In 2010, Nataraj was awarded the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar of Sangeet Natak Akademi for her talent in the field of creative and experimental dance. She won the 50 young achievers of India today award. She also received the Mohan Khokar Award in 2011. She is a fellow of Ananta Aspen Centre's Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship.

Other interests

Nataraj enjoys reading and she writes on various topics ranging from dance to women's issues. She is also interested in textiles and travel.
Madhushree Narayan
From Wikipedia
Madhushree in 2015
Born 9 February 1999

Nationality Indian
Occupation Playback singer
Years active 2003 – present
Musical career
Genres


Instruments Vocals

Madhushree Narayan (born 4 February 1999) is a young Indian playback singer and a talented classical singer. She has received Kerala State Film Awards for Best Female Playback Singer in 2015 and 2019 and received Kerala Film Critics Award 2014.

Career

Madhushree has been singing from the age of three and began learning music formally from her father Pandit Ramesh Narayan under the tutelage of Padma Vibhusan Sangeet Martand Pandit Jasraj ji and later, she got the chance to learn from Pandit Jasraj ji himself and continuing. Presently, she is learning nuances and styles of Thumri from Pandit Ajay Pohankar.

Madhushree started her career as a singer when she was just four, making her debut in Malayalam for the movie 'Makalkku'. She also made her debut as a playback singer under her father's baton in the yet-to-be-released Tamil film Oduthalam in 2011. She also lent her voice for songs in Edavappathy, Ennu Ninte Moideen, Adaminte Makan Abu, Alif (2015 film), Makalkku, Ottamandaram , White Boys (2014), Paathi (2016) and sung the tracks of many compositions of her father's. Also, she made her Kannada debut in 2017 for the movie Urvi (film).

Madhushree's soulful rendition of the poem Aaru Vangum in Ottamandaram was much appreciated in the music circuits. Aaru Vangum was a duet with Vijay Yesudas.

Awards and honours

YearAward CategoryWork
Minon
(Wikipedia)
Minon
Minon at Wikisangamolsavam 2013
Born 12 February 2000 
Alappuzha, Kerala, India
Nationality Indian
Occupation
Years active 2012 – present
Parent(s)
John Baby
Mini John
Relatives Mintu John (sister)

Awards
Kerala State Film Critics Award, 2012

Minon John (born 12 February 2000) is an Indian actor and artist, from Kerala, who works in Malayalam films.

He won the National Film Award for Best Child Artist in 2012 for the Malayalam film 101 Chodyangal. It was directed by Sidhartha Siva and produced by Thomas Kottackakom. Minon also received the Kerala State Film Award for Best Child Artist and Kerala State Film Critics Award for the same role, in which he portrays a class five student.

Minon has held more than 80 painting exhibitions so far, all across India, and he has over 3,500 paintings to his credit.

Early life

Minon and his sister Mintu are trained painters by their artist parents, John Baby and Mini.
Mano (singer)
From Wikipedia

Mano
Background information
Birth name Nagoor Babu
Also known as Rockstar In Tamil Nadu
Born 26 October 1965 
Sattenapalli, Andhra Pradesh, India
Occupation(s) Singer, actor, producer, voice dubbing artist, music composer
Years active 1977–present

Nagoor Babu, known by his stage name Mano, is an Indian playback singer, voice-over artist, actor, producer, television anchor and composer. He is a recipient of several awards such as the Nandi Awards from the Government of Andhra Pradesh and Kalaimamani award from the Government of Tamil Nadu.

Mano has recorded more than 1,000 songs for film and private various Telugu, Tamil, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya and Hindi films. He has also performed for over 3000 live concerts across the continents. Notably, he has recorded 500 songs for music director Ilayaraja. Mano is also recognized for being as the full-fledged dubbing artist for Rajanikanth in Telugu from Muthu (1995) onwards.

Early life and background

Mano was born as Nagoor Babu in Tenali, Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. His father Rasool, was a musician in the All India Radio, Vijayawada division and his mother Shaheeda, was a popular Stage actress. Inspired heavily by his mother, Mano joined the stage theater and played many historical characters which also involved singing live songs in his own voice. He soon started taking formal training of carnatic classical music under the vocalist Nedunuri Krishnamurthy. Subsequently, he started his film acting career in the late 1970s and acted in about 40 movies as child artist. He featured as a supporting character in films such as Rangoon Rowdy.

Career

Mano has sung almost 30,000 songs for films and private in 15 languages such as Telugu, Tamil, Oriya, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi.

Early days and debut

While in 1977, Mano was shooting for a Telugu film for which the veteran M. S. Viswanathan was the music composer, it so happened that the original singer S. P. Balasubrahmanyam who was supposed to sing a song could not show up to the recording studio. Accidentally, Mano was asked to show his singing skills by the composer's assistant who was a good friend of Mano's father. Mano rendered a few of the Ghazal songs much to the appreciation of audience present there and the composer himself. From then on, Mano was signed by Viswanathan to sing few track songs upon which the main singer would sing in the final version. In 1982, Mano approached the famous composer Chakravarthy seeking a chance for his brother who was upcoming as a Tabla player. However, Chakravarthy insisted that he wanted an assistant like him to sing track songs. Mano, joined his troop and assisted for almost 2 years. In his tenure with Chakravarthy, Mano sang over 2000 tracks for almost all the leading singers.

Name change and association with Ilaiyaraaja

Before beginning his long standing career with Ilaiyaraaja, Nagoor Babu was rechristened as "Mano" to avoid clash of names with the already established singer Nagore E. M. Hanifa. The name was selected and christened by Ilaiyaraaja himself in his first song "Annae Annae nee enna sonnae" in the Tamil film Fazil's "Poo Vizhi vaasalilae" title song. Mano went on to record many memorable songs under the same composer for his Tamil and Telugu films. In 1987, Mano got a big break by singing popular songs for the film Enga Ooru Pattukkaran. The songs "Shenbagame Shenbagame" and "Madhura Marikozhundu Vasam" became instant hits among the listeners. However, he also faced criticism from the critics who dubbed that his voice was an absolute clone to S. P. Balasubrahmanyam.


Taking the criticism in his stride, Mano went on recording as many as 500 successful songs with Ilaiyaraaja and slowly branched out to sing for other Tamil composers as well. He recorded maximum number of duet songs with K. S. Chithra, Swarnalatha and S. Janaki. He simultaneously sang many hundreds of songs in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada film industries. His teaming up with Hamsalekha in Kannada produced many chart buster numbers which are considered evergreen. His few Malayalam, Hindi and Oriya songs also were well received.

Voice modulation and its success

The late 1980s saw Mano experimenting with his voice through some modulations and it indeed worked in his favor to silence his critics. In the 1988 Kamal-starrer Soorasamharam, he first experimented with his voice encouraged by his mentor Ilayaraja (who wanted him to sound different in the song - Vedhalam Vandhirukuthu). He took inspiration for that song from the evergreen RD Burman number Mehbooba Mehbooba from Sholay and the song went on to be a big hit and he was much appreciated for the voice modulation. He later followed the same style for some more songs especially those with Arabic tunes. In 1994, he was approached by A. R. Rahman to sing the duet song "Mukkabla" with Swarnalatha for the movie Kadhalan. Mano was asked to sing in a very different style by the composer and he took the R. D. Burman route and the Mukkala song went on to become a huge blockbuster which broke all the regional barriers and reached out to the entire country. He recorded the same song in the Telugu and Hindi versions which also were well received. Following this stupendous success in experimentation, many music directors cashed in his newfound fame and made him sing in the same style. Some of the songs he modulated his voice for are "Aye Shabba Aye Shabba" for Vidyasagar's Karna, "I Love You" and "Azhagiya Laila" for Sirpy's Ullathai Allitha and "Thillana Thillana" for Rahman's Muthu. He has also done a few semi-classical numbers such as Athma Varaiyo. He has also sung a few Hindi film songs for Gulshan Kumar in Aaya Sanam, Aaja Meri Jaan, Kasam Theri Kasam, and Chor Aur Chand.

Voice-over dubbing

The year 1995 also saw another face of Mano as the voice-over dubbing artist in the Telugu film industry. He dubbed his voice for almost all Rajinikanth starrers in Telugu. His voice became almost synonymous with Rajinikanth and was in great demand by all the directors and producers. He also dubbed his voice for Kamal Haasan in some movies in Telugu.He also dubbed for Akshay kumar in Galatta Kalyanam(Atrangi re).

Music composing and producing

Mano has worked as a music composer for the 2008 released Telugu film Sombheri. He got good response for his compositions. He also tried his hands on releasing Tamil film Azhagiya Tamil Magan (2007) as Mahaa Muduru in 2010 starring Vijay and Shriya Saran. The film, however, flopped at the box-office. He also produced two movies dubbed from Telugu to Tamil Madurai Thimiru and Kumaran Rajini Rasigan (dubbed versions of Yogi and Bujjigadu) under the studio name, "Lord Venkateswara Productions" and "Mano Media Entertainments" respectively.

Television works

Mano is hosting Manathodu Mano – a musical talk show in Jaya TV. He is also one of the permanent judging panel for Vijay TV's musical reality show Airtel Super Singer Junior along with Chitra and Malgudi Subha. He also co-judges the musical show Idea Super Singer on Maa TV. He also co-judges the musical show Sun Singer S6 (2019) with Karthik and Remya Nambesan. Since 2019, he co-judges popular Telugu television reality-comedy series Jabardasth and Extra Jabardasth alongside Roja. In 2021, he is one of the judges of Tamil reality-music show Rockstar.

Personal life

Mano is married to Jameela in 1985. They have three children. Shakir, Rafi, and Sofia. They both have made their debut in singing for the movie Kumaran Rajini Rasigan. The elder son Shakir is being introduced as a lead actor in a couple of Tamil films. Mano loves listening to ghazals by Mehdi Hassan and Ghulam Ali.
N. Ravikiran
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
N. Ravikiran
Background information
Born 12 February 1967 
Occupation(s) Instrumentalist, vocalist, musical composer
Instruments Chitravina
Years active 1969 – present

Narasimhan Ravikiran (born 12 February 1967) is an Indian slide instrumentalist, vocalist, composer, and orator, who created the concept of melharmony. He is the son of gottuvadhyam player Chitravina Narasimhan and the grandson of Narayan Iyengar, who was also a Carnatic musician.

Early life

Ravikiran was born in Mysore, Karnataka. He made his first appearance at the age of two, in April and again in August 1969, in Bangalore, and was interviewed by Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Pandit Ravi Shankar, M S Subbulakshmi and Flute T R Mahalingam. He also performed at the XLIII Madras Music Conference held at The Madras Music Academy in December 1969, and was awarded a scholarship from the academy. He was able to identify about 325 ragas (melodic scales) and 175 talas (rhythmic cycles) of Carnatic music. Ravi Shankar is said to have declared "If you don't believe in God, look at Ravikiran". Soon after, he was presented at leading institutions such as Shanmukhananda Fine Arts, Bombay and Tyagaraja Sabha, Coimbatore.

Following training under his father, Chitravina Narasimhan, Ravikiran debuted as a vocalist in 1972, when he was five years old, in Coimbatore.[citation needed] He performed at concerts in Madras, Mysore and Bangalore until he was 10. His recitals – often over two and a half hours – drew large audiences and won critical acclaim in the Indian media.

Career

Ravikiran also established himself as a string instrumentalist at an early age. In July 1985, he set a record with a 24-hour non-stop solo concert in Chennai. He won an exemption to perform professional concerts for Indian Radio and Television (Doordarshan) at age 12 and was invited to represent his country in Festivals of India in France (1985), Switzerland (1987), Germany (1992), Brazil (2012) and countries like Poland, Czech Republic, Austria and Yugoslavia (1997). He has performed extensively in major events and venues across the world including the Chicago World Music Festival, Theatre de la Ville Paris, Europalia Festival, Belgium, Millennium Festival (UK), Rudolstadt Festival, Germany, Masters of Indian Music, Budapest, Sadlers Wells & Tate Modern (UK), Esplanade Festival (Singapore), Oji Hall (Tokyo), Harborfront Festival, Canada, Cleveland Festival & Madison Festival (USA).

From 1986–96, Ravikiran trained with the vocalist T. Brinda. He is celebrated for exploring avenues of reviving classical values among the youth. He has performed with other artists and presented several innovative concerts including pure solos, duos with kanjira/ghatam/mridangam apart from conventional recitals with multiple accompanists and collaborations with piano, keyboard, guitar and other instruments.

He resumed his appearance as vocalist from 1999 and has since presented voice concerts for organizations in and outside India including the Cleveland Festival & the Chicago World Music Festival. His vocal albums include Genius at Work.

Ravikiran has introduced several technical innovations on the chitravina.

Composer

Ravikiran has created over 800 classical Indian and contemporary compositions to his credit. His Indian classical pieces include musical forms such as varnam, krti, javali, tillana and padam. He has created pieces in each of the 35-talas of Carnatic Music. as well as a 72-mela ragamalika geetam, a 13-part piece that spans over all the 72-parent ragas of Carnatic music in seven minutes.

He has created new ragas, including:
Veetavanam in honour of Ludwig van Beethoven
Mohini dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi
Choodamani, created at age two and named after his mother
Keshavapriya, Vaishnavi, Katyayani, Samapriya, Shivamanohari, and Andhakarini

Ravikiran has also set to music works of several azhwars, verses of Vedanta Desika, verses from ancient Tamil sangam literature, compositions of Purandara Dasa, D V Gundappa and a few contemporary composers.

In January 2016, Ravikiran composed music to 1330 tirukkural verses in 16 hours over 3 days at the International Institute of Tamil Studies, Taramani, Chennai.

Operas

Ravikiran has also written a number of operas which have been staged internationally.

Lakshmi Prabhavam
Savithri
Vinayaka Vaibhavam
Ramayana - Bala Kandam
Ramayana - Yuddha Kandam
Mahabharata (Karna Shapatam and Geetopadesham)
The Almighty Trinity, a production composed entirely in Telugu, highlighting the harmonious interactions between Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.
Panchakriya
Panchali Shapatam
Melharmony

Ravikiran is known for his concept of melharmony, which explores Western style harmony anchored on (Eastern style) melodic rules of evolved systems such as the raga system of Indian music. Melharmony is regarded as a " a contemporary musical movement"  with an aim to unify music systems of the world by taking into cognisance the rules and aesthetics of all fused systems in any given collaboration. Ravikiran introduced this award-winning concept during his collaboration with artists of the BBC Philharmonic, at the Millennium Festival, UK in Oct 2000.

Melharmony concerts with major orchestras like Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra's have attracted audiences of 45,000 people at times. The concept has inspired critical discussion among scholars in international conferences including Society for Music Theory Conference, Boston (2005) and Melody, Harmony, Melharmony conference, Houston (2014). Melharmony shows with School Orchestras have enabled middle and high school children in the West glean insights into how harmony can be centered on sophisticated rules of melody.

Ravikiran has also melharmonically rearranged and showcased the works of the great Masters in the twin-Composer series of festivals - OVK-Bach, Tyagaraja-Mozart and Dikshitar-Beethoven since 2013.

Collaborations

Ravikiran has created music for Western Classical Symphony Orchestras, Chamber Orchestras, String Quartets as well as Caprices for solo violins. He has collaborated with top-draw artistes of various genres such as Taj Mahal, Larry Coryell, Martin Simpson, George Brooks, Simon Phillips, Roland van Campenhout and orchestras such as BBC Philharmonic, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Goettingen Quintet, Germany, Apollo Chamber Players, Houston, Middleton Community Symphony Orchestra and Sacramento Symphony.


Philanthropy and advocacy
Arts educator

Ravikiran, renowned for his vast repertoire has trained numerous disciples all over the world, many of whom are award-winning performers and teachers. Several of his students are also major contributors in other arenas. His disciples span a cross section of vocalists, violinists as well as exponents of flute, guitar, veena, keyboard in addition to the chitravina.[He has performed and written about the 18th century composer Oothukkadu Venkata Kavi.

Planet Symphony

Ravikiran initiated the Planet Symphony Global Art-Science-Social Environmental initiative to raise awareness of the precarious climate crisis. Within weeks the organisation had a global membership of over 2300 from 65 countries including prominent musicians, scientists, journalists, NGOs and citizens and students from other walks of life. A mammoth Global production, “Climatrix Symphony — Planet Anthem” was released for climate action in which hundreds of Grammy and other international award-winning exponents and students of Classical, Jazz, Carnatic, Hindustan, folk and film music collectively recorded on a dazzling array of 50 instruments and shared their concerns with world leaders through an open letter.The Planet Symphony also came up with original perspectives including Roof Greening as a means to attract and regulate rain in many regions. Their Climate literacy programs have won much acclaim all around  as also their concept of Smart Planet which Ravikiran explained was to drive home the point that “The need of the hour is to be environmentally smart and not only electronically smart.” 

Ambassador of Culture

An active champion of culture, Ravikiran has performed extensively in both urban and rural schools & colleges across various countries. At age 20, he organised a symbolic non-stop 72-hour (which extended to almost 75 hours) concert for "world peace and prosperity" that brought together the who's who of Carnatic music. He has also presented concerts for Social Harmony to highlight the unifying powers of art.

Rural Music Education Projects

In 2006, Ravikiran pioneered an initiative for Rural Children in India with the largest music camp of its kind for over 31,000 children in Tamil Nadu, India for the Indian Government's Sarva Shiksha Abhyan Besides he has mentored several performers from diverse communities.

Music in Schools & Universities in USA and India

A lobbyist for cultural renaissance in India, he was invited to provide syllabuses for Music Education in Schools in India for Grades I – VIII. In 2013, he introduced Indian music through Melharmonic creations for Middle and High School level orchestras in School Districts in USA such as Middleton & Sun Prairie, WI. A summer course on Melharmony was introduced at the Eastman School of Music in 2015, by Ravikiran and renowned American Composer-Musician Prof. Robert Morris.

He has introduced Carnatic music in several countries such as Slovakia, Croatia and Slovenia.

Ravikiran's concerts have raised substantial funds for disaster relief including Hurricane Katrina, Tsunami of 2004 as well as for educational, health and cultural initiative.

Musicians Covid Relief Fund

Ravikiran set up the Musicians' Covid Relief Fund in 2020 to help numerous artists who were severely impacted by the pandemic. He got together Grammy and other Award winning celebrities from Indian and Western Classical, Jazz and other systems to play fundraisers to support artists in distress through concerts such as the Dikshitar-Beethoven Melharmony Festival.

Other contributions

Some of Ravikiran's other contributions include:
Introducing Indian music in a number of schools in India and USA
Pioneering Twin Composer Celebrations such as Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi-J S Bach Festival and Tyagaraja-Mozart Festival in cities such as Madison and Chicago, USA
Pioneering a vocal instrumental melodic ensemble, Vintage Virtuosos and a series of albums titled "Celestial Ragas".
Introducing the portable, bright toned, 20-stringed slide instrument, Nava-chitravina
Pioneering the use of teflon-slides in world music
New perspectives on millennia old concepts such as "22 shrutis"
Dance augmentation for instrumental concerts with dancer Smitha Madhav
Introducing Tamil compositions to North Indian dance forms like Kathak & Odissi

Author

Ravikiran has authored several sought after books on Carnatic Music including
Appreciating Carnatic Music
Perfecting Carnatic Music Level I and II
Life and Contributions of Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi
Saptaratnas and Navavaranams of Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi
Inaiyatra innishai (The incomparable music)

He has also penned a number of articles in leading Journals and Dailies.

Awards
International

The Millenium Festival Award, UK - 2000
The New Age Voice Finalist Award, USA - 2001

National & State:

Kalaimamani (Tamil Nadu State Award) – 1985
Star of India (Wisdom International) – 1985
Kumar Gandharva Samman (Madhya Pradesh State Award) – 1996

Artistic

Nada Sudharnava – 1980
Sangeeta Choodamani, Krishna Gana Sabha
Vadya Ratnakara - Austin India Fine Arts
Isai Peroli - Kartik Fine Arts
Nada Sudharnava – 1980
Sangeeta Kala Sarathy, Dec 2013 (Parthasarathy Swami Sabha), Chennai
Lifetime Achievement Award, Dayananda Ashram, India
Chitravina Kala Praveena, Federation of Sabhas, Chennai
Sangeetha Kalanidhi, The Music Academy, Madras, 2017

Sexual harassment allegations

In connection with the Me Too movement, multiple claims that Ravikiran participated in workplace harassment of his students and subordinates surfaced. Ravikiran, in an interview with the India Times and on his Facebook account, strongly denied the allegations. Following these allegations, the Madras Music Academy dropped his concerts in the December Season 2018 music festival, along with six other musicians also accused. The Deccan Chronicle reported that a committee constituted by the Federation of City Sabhas in October 2018 did not receive complaints of sexual harassment from any performing artists. Ravikiran asserted that he has a "clean track record" and "substantial proof" of his innocence.
Narendra Singh Negi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Narendra Singh Negi
Born 12 August 1949 

Occupation Folk singer, composer

Narendra Singh Negi (born 12 August 1949), also referred as "Garh ratan" is one of the most prominent folk singers, composer and a poet of the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand. His work in the field of music is an inspiration for all the upcoming singers of Uttarakhand.

Background

Negi was born in Pauri town in Pauri Garhwal District (Uttarakhand) where he also completed his schooling. For graduation he moved to Rampur with his cousin Ajit Singh Negi who taught him Tabla. From his childhood he was fond of listening to traditional folk singers in various cultural events. He wrote and composed his first song in 1974 after getting inspired by the hard work done by his mother and other women of the town.

Music career

Negi started his music career by releasing "Garhwali Geetmala". These Geetmalas were in 10 different parts. As these Garhwali Geetmalas were from different companies he was finding it difficult to manage them. So he finally switched to releasing his cassettes by giving them separate titles. His first album came with the title called "Burans". He has sung over 1,000 songs.

He has written songs on love, sorrow, historic events, social, political and environment issue. He has sung in every genre of singing popular in Uttarakhand like "Jagar", "Mangal", "Basanti", "Khuder", "Chhopati", Chounphula and Jhumeila. He has sung in different local languages like Garhwali, Kumaoni, Jaunsari prevailing in the state.

He has also given his voice in Garhwali movies such as Chakrachal, Gharjawai, and Meri Ganga Holi Ta Maima Aali. Bollywood singers including Udit Narayan, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, Poornima, Suresh Wadkar, Anuradha Paudwal, Jaspal also sang in Garhwali films under his music direction. He also sang with fellow Garhwali enthusiast Madhuri Barthwal.
Piraisoodan
From Wikipedia


Piraisoodan
Born February 6, 1956

Died 8 October 2021 (aged 65)
Occupation actor, poet, dialogue writer
Years active 1980-2021

Piraisoodan (6 February 1956 – 8 October 2021) was a Tamil poet and lyricist.

He won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Lyricist for his songs in movies like Thayagam, En Rasavin Manasile and Neeyum Naanum in 1996, 1991 and 2010 respectively. He wrote ‘Jagam Pughazum’, a Carnatic song that sums up the life of Thyagaraja.

He was conferred the title "Kavi Nyaani" by the late music director M.S.Viswanathan. He is notable for his eloquent literary speeches and for his ability to complete a song in few minutes. In a television reality program called "Vanampadi" he explained the meaning and intricate nuances of various Tamil film songs that won him accolades and place him as the best analyser and critic for Tamil film songs.

He was conferred a Doctorate in literature by the University Of Jerusalem.

Personal life

Piraisoodan was born and brought up in Nannilam, a small panchayat town in Tiruvarur district in Tamil Nadu. Piraisoodan has nine siblings - seven brothers and two sisters. One of them is R. Madhi, a cinematographer who also works in the Tamil film industry. Piraisoodan has a daughter and son Dhayanandh Piraisoodan, a music director who also works in the film industry. He made his debut as lyricist with Sirai (1985).

Death

He died on 8 October 2021 at the age of 65.
Pupul Bhuyan
Wikipedia)

Pupul Bhuyan
Born
Other names Payal Bhuyan
Occupation(s) (Odia) actress, TV presenter
Years active 2012 - present
Spouse Deep Thadani
Parent(s) BataKrishna Bhuyan (father)
Baijayantimala Bhuyan (mother)
Awards Rupanagara Mahanagara Award for Best Female Debut
Opera Mrs India Global 2018

Pupul Bhuyan (Odia pronunciation: [pupulɔ bʱujaː̃]) is an Indian actress, television presenter, and model who has mostly appeared in Odia films, telefilms, daily shops, and reality shows. She started her film career in Ollywood in 2013 through the 1st Odia 3D film Kaunri Kanya along with Kavya Keeran. In 2018, she was crowned as the winner at Opera Mrs. India Global pageant.

Early life

She was born at Sainkul village of Keonjhar district of Odisha to BataKrishna Bhuyan and Baijayantimala Bhuyan. She is a graduate from the Buxi Jagabandhu Bidyadhar College, Bhubaneswar. In 2016, she married Deep Thadani.

Career

Bhuyan started her career as a stage presenter and then hosted some solo television shows like E-News, Apananka Pasand, etc. Later she started hosting reality shows like SaReGaMaPa little Champs, Swara Odishara, Mun bi Heroine Hebi, etc.

In 2013, she debuted in Odia film industry in a lead role through the first Odia 3D film, Kaunri Kanya directed by Somya Ranjan Sahu. Later she played some character roles in Odia movies like Blackmail, Bidyarana, etc. In 2023, she started in Niyati by S3 Movies.

Apart from anchoring and acting, she is active in modeling. In 2018, she had participated the Opera Mrs. India Global pageant and won that.[ Apart from the crown, she had won the best ramp walk award in the semifinal. In 2022 she was featured on the cover photo an Odia magazine, Shubhapallaba. Before that, in 2016, she was featured on Kadambini magazine.

Filmography

2013 Kaunri Kanya Odia Anusaya Debuted in Ollywood
2018 Blackmail Odia
2022 Bidyarana Odia 
Niyati Sadhana
Filming Anubhav- a loverboy Barsha
Tu Mo Kamjori
Ajati

Television

TitleChanelNote
Nannda Putuli Manjari TV Odia dailyshop
E-News OTV Presenter
E-Gossip OTV
Tele Trvel OTV
The Review Show MBC TV
Ama Rosei Ghara Tarang TV
Jita Odisha Jiea Tarang TV
Apananka Pasand ETV Odia
Swara Odishara Sarthak TV
Mun bi Heroine Hebi Sarthak TV
SaReGaMaPa Little Champs Sarthak TV
P. C. Sorcar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Protul Chandra Sorcar
P. C. Sorcar
Born 23 February 1913

Died 6 January 1971 (aged 57)
Nationality Indian
Occupation Magician
Spouse(s) Basanti Devi

Protul Chandra Sorcar (23 February 1913 – 6 January 1971) was an Indian magician. He was an internationally active magician throughout the 1950s and 1960s, performing his Indrajal show before live audiences and on television. Sorcar died of a heart attack at the age of 57 in Asahikawa, Hokkaidō, Japan, on 6 January 1971, where he was performing.

Career

Sorcar became famous in the mid-1930s, when he performed shows in Kolkata and also in Japan and several other countries. Among other routines, he performed a Floating Lady routine featuring aerial suspension in 1964.[3] Ganapati Chakraborty was his mentor.

His self-appointed title was 'TW'sGM' - The World's Greatest Magician.

Personal life

Sorcar was married to Basanti Devi. They were the parents of the animator, director and laserist Manick Sorcar and magicians P. C. Sorcar Jr. and P. C. Sorcar, Young.

Awards

Jadusamrat P.C. Sorcar Sarani The Government of India has named a major street in Calcutta after him
Padma Shri (the Lotus), awarded by the President of India on 26 January 1964
The Sphinx (Oscar of Magic), US, 1946 and 1954
The Royal MedallionGerman Magic Circle

Postage stamp
Sorcar on a 2010 stamp of India

On 23 February 2010, India Post issued a commemorative stamp to honour him.

Publications

Magic for You (1966)
More Magic for You (1965)
History of Magic (1970)
Indian Magic (1983)

Pillavalu Gajapathy Krishnaveni


Pillavalu Gajapathy Krishnaveni, more famously known as Jikki, was an Indian playback singer from Andhra Pradesh. She sang around 10,000 songs in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, and Sinhalese languages. Wikipedia

Born: 3 November 1935, Chennai

Died: 16 August 2004, Chennai

Spouse: A. M. Rajah

Full name: P. G. Krishnaveni

Instrument(s): Vocalist

 Ravinder Grewal


A well-known Punjabi actor and musician is Ravinder Grewal. His birthday is on March 28th, 1977. Village Gujjarwal, near Ludhiana, Punjab, is where he was born. He made his musical debut with the song “Naal Nack Lei,” but his first film, “Raula Pai Gaya,” was released in 2013. The release was made under the banner of his own production company. Ravinder Grewal also featured in the 2015 legal comedy Judge Singh LLB. Punjabi, Bhangra, romantic, and hip-hop are among his categories.

Ravinder Grewal is an Indian cinema singer best known for his work in Bollywood. In 2009, Ravinder’s previous movie, Munde U.K. de, was released in theatres. He has a tremendous fan base not just in India but also internationally. His fans include children, teenagers, housewives, and even the elderly. His perseverance, dedication, and love for his profession have earned him industry recognition.


Ravinder Grewal has sung so many hit songs and among them the most viewed on YouTube is PU vs Lovely this song was launched 6 years back and as of 2021 it has 15 Million views this song was recorded and published by Tedi Pag records and notably Ravinder Grewal worked in so many song with this label.

You can always feel the essence of Punjab in Grewal’s song as he himself is eternally attached to his roots he never forget to include Punjab in his songs Like his song The Truckers which was released 2 years back and has 5.8 Million whooping views by now is also related to jatt life and their desi feels which was loved by millions of people.

You can find Grewal’s song in almost every genre be it Romantic, Punjabi/Desi, Emotional or Devotional and without a doubt he did very well in all of them.

One such emotional song was Dollar where he has shown the relation between son and father and the sacrifices of father for their children to send them foreign for studies it was beautiful song released 3 years ago with label Tedi Pag Records again and it again was loved by millions of people particularly 2.8 Million.

His latest song was Jawani 1984 to 2001 again with Tedi Pag Records Label this song has depicted the major change that has came in today’s generation especially dedicated sikh youngsters who got involved into Drugs and other misleading things which have spoiled them terribly where as in previous times it wasn’t this like such. This song has shown the reality of people and the change that has came since 1984 to 2021.

This one is the latest song of Ravinder Grewal which was premiered on 7th of September 2021. And till now it has 800K views along with 82K likes and 8K comments in response people have agreed with the facts that has spilled by Ravinder Grewal in this song.

This is the reason Grewal stands out of any other artists and singer because he never worked for views but for the betterment of society. You can always get a message after watching his song for a good.

Not just songs Ravinder Grewal has also done various movies that too comedy movies so this depicts how versatile he is as an actor and artist. His movies are Phir Raul ape gaya – 2008, Raula Pai Gaya – 2012, Yaar Velly – 2014, Judge Singh LLB – 2015 , Nikka Zaildar 2- 2017, Dangar Doctor Jelly – 2017 , 15 lakh kadon Aauga – 2019 & Gidarh Singhi – 2019.

So here you can see that it almost been a decade since Ravinder Grewal has been in a Punjabi entertainment Industry and it has been remarkable indeed.

Real Name Ravinder Grewal
Profession Singer, Model, Actor
Date of Birth 28 March, 1977
Height 5’ 8”
Weight 75 kg
Birth Place Village Gujjarwal, District Ludhiana, Punjab, India
Family Father- Not Known
Mother- Not Known
Brother- Not Known
Sister- Not Known
Marital Status Not Known
Nationality Indian
Religion Sikh
Debut Singing Debut: Naal Nach Lei

Film Debut: Raula Pai Gaya (2013)
Net Worth $4.8 billion
https://www.sikhheros.com/biography/biography-of-punjabi-singer-ravinder-grewal/
Surinder Kaur
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Surinder Kaur
Background information
Birth name Surinder Kaur
Also known as Nightingale of Punjab
Born 25 November 1929
Died 14 June 2006 (aged 76)
Genres
Occupation(s)
Singer
songwriter
Years active 1943–2006
Associated acts Parkash Kaur (sister), Dolly Guleria (daughter) Sunaini Sharma ( granddaughter) Rhea (great- granddaughter)

Surinder Kaur (25 November 1929 – 14 June 2006) was an Indian singer and songwriter. While she mainly sang Punjabi folk songs, where she is credited for pioneering and popularising the genre, Kaur also recorded songs as a playback singer for Hindi films between 1948 and 1952. For her contributions to punjabi music, she earned the sobriquet Nightingale of Punjab, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1984, and the Padma Shri in 2006.

In a career spanning nearly six decades, her repertoire included Punjabi Sufi Kafis of Bulleh Shah and verses by contemporary poets like Nand Lal Noorpuri, Amrita Pritam, Mohan Singh and Shiv Kumar Batalvi giving memorable songs like, "Maavan 'te dheean", "Jutti kasuri", "Madhaniyan", "Ehna akhiyan 'ch pavan kiven kajra" and "Ghaman di raat". In time her wedding songs, most notably "Lathe di chadar", "Suhe ve cheere waleya" and "Kaala doria", have become an indelible part of the Punjabi culture.

Kaur was married to Joginder Singh Sodhi, a professor at the Delhi University. The couple had three daughters, the eldest of whom is also a Punjabi folk singer. Kaur died in New Jersey in 2006 following a prolonged illness.

Early life

Surinder Kaur was born to a Punjabi Sikh family in Lahore, the capital of the Punjab in British India. She was the sister of Parkash Kaur and the mother of Dolly Guleria, both noted Punjabi singers. She had three daughters of which Dolly is the eldest. She was influenced by Renu Rajan, a prominent figure in punjabi folk music.

Career

Surinder Kaur made her professional debut with a live performance on Lahore Radio in August 1943, and the following year on 31 August 1943, she and her elder sister, Parkash Kaur cut their first duet, "maavan 'te dheean ral baithian", for the HMV label, emerging as superstars across the Indian subcontinent.

Following the Partition of India in 1947, Kaur and her parents relocated to Ghaziabad, Delhi. In 1948, she married Professor Joginder Singh Sodhi, a lecturer in Punjabi literature at Delhi University. Recognising her talent, Kaur's husband became her support system, and soon she started a career as a playback singer in Hindi film industry in Bombay, introduced by music director, Ghulam Haider. Under him she sang three songs in the 1948 film Shaheed, including Badnam Na Ho Jaye Mohabbat Ka Fasaana, Aanaa Hai Tho Aajaao and Taqdeer ki aandhi…hum kahaan aur thum kahaan. However, her interest was in stage performances and reviving Punjabi folk songs, and she eventually moved back to Delhi in 1952.

In the decades to follow, she got married, after the 1947 partition of old British Punjab, in 1948. Her husband continued to guide her singing career. "He was the one who made me a star," she later recalled. "He chose all the lyrics I sang and we both collaborated on compositions." Together Kaur and Sodhi arranged for her to sing such Punjabi folk classics as Chan Kithe Guzari Aai Raat, Lathe Di Chadar, Shonkan Mele Di, and Gori Diyan Jhanjran and Sarke-Sarke Jandiye Mutiare. These songs were written by various well-known Punjabi poets but made popular by the singer Surinder Kaur. The couple also served as the public face of the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA), an arm of the Indian Communist party in Punjab, spreading messages of peace and love to the most remote villages of East Punjab. She also travelled to many parts of the world performing Punjabi folk songs, gaining rapid popularity.

In all, Kaur recorded more than 200,000 songs, including duets with Asa Singh Mastana, Karnail Gill, Harcharan Grewal, Rangila Jatt, and Didar Sandhu. Although her life and collaboration with Sodhi was cut short upon the educator's death in 1976, she continued the family's creative tradition via duets with their daughter and other disciples. Her daughter, Rupinder Kaur Guleria, better known as Dolly Guleria and granddaughter Sunaini Sharma, culminating in the 1995 LP, 'Surinder Kaur – The Three Generations'.

Awards and recognition

She was conferred the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Punjabi Folk Music in 1984, by the Sangeet Natak Academi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance and Theatre, the Millennium Punjabi Singer award, and Padma Shri award in 2006 for her contribution in Arts. The Guru Nanak Dev University conferred on her a doctorate degree in the year 2002.

Illness and death

Towards the later part of her life, wanting to get close to her mitti (her soil), Surinder Kaur settled in Panchkula in 2004, with an aim to construct a house in Zirakpur, near Chandigarh. Subsequently, on 22 December 2005, she suffered a heart attack and was admitted to General Hospital, Panchkula. Later, however, she recovered and personally went to Delhi to receive the coveted Padma Shri Award in January 2006. It is another matter that she was painfully aware of the events that delayed the honour for so long, despite her unparalleled contribution to Punjabi music. But even when she received the award, she was regretful that the nomination for the same had come from Haryana and not Punjab, India for which she worked tirelessly for over five decades.

In 2006, a prolonged illness prompted her to seek treatment in the United States. She died in a New Jersey hospital on 14 June 2006 at the age of 77. She was survived by three daughters, the eldest, singer Dolly Guleria who lives in Panchkula, followed by Nandini Singh and Pramodini Jaggi, both settled in New Jersey. Upon her death, the Prime minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh described her as "the nightingale of Punjab", and "a legend in Punjabi folk music and popular music and a trend-setter in Punjabi melody." and added, "I hope that her immortal voice will motivate other artists to practice the right Punjabi folk music tradition".

Legacy

A Doordarshan documentary titled, Punjab Di Koyal (Nightingale of Punjab), on the life and works of Surinder Kaur was released in 2006. It later won the Doordarshan National Award. There is also book named as Overcome and Become written by Preet Inder Dhillon about the five women of Punjab, the first one is Surinder only.
Samir Mondal
From Wikipedia
Samir Mondal
সমীর মণ্ডল
Samir Mondal at his studio in Mumbai
Born 13 March 1952 

Nationality  Indian

Samir Mondal (Bengali: সমীর মণ্ডল) (born 13 March 1952) is an Indian watercolour painter.[2] His main contribution to Indian art of modern times is a continual revival of watercolour painting.

Early life and education

Born in Balti, a small village in North 24 Parganas district, West Bengal, Mondal graduated in fine arts from the Government College of Art & Craft, Kolkata in 1975. Thereafter he went to Germany for higher studies.

Personal life

He married to Madhumita in 1980. They have two children, Somak and Sohini. He lives and works in Goregaon West, Mumbai.

Career

Mondal started his solo career in 1980, and after a brief stay in Bangalore, settled in Bombay (now Mumbai). Here by 1987, he was illustrating political cartoons in water colour for noted magazine Illustrated Weekly of India.

Over the past four decades he has done solo and group exhibitions in India and abroad. These include, National Art exhibition of Lalit Kala Akademi (Delhi), ‘Freedom of Expression’ and ‘Tribute to Mother Teresa’ by RPG Enterprises, 100 Years of Indian Cinema, People for Animals, ‘Art with a Heart’ at National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, ‘Celebrations-97’ at Napa Art Gallery, Nepal, ‘Confluence’ at Art Connoisseur Gallery, London and Gallery Asiana, New York in collaboration with Gallery Sumukha, Bangalore. .Another exhibition titled "6x10" featuring his 60 paintings of flowers, held at the Jamaat Art Gallery in Colaba, Mumbai.
Monsoon
Mother Teresa

Another notable work includes painting for the 2007 Hindi film, Taare Zameen Par, Mondal painted two watercolour paintings which characters Ishaan and Nikumbh, played by Darsheel Safary and Aamir Khan respectively

Awards

Awards: 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974 Government College of Art & Craft, Kolkata
Awards: 1978, 1983 Best Painting Award 'All India' – Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata
Awards: 1979, 1983 West Bengal State Academy, Kolkata
Award: 1986 AIFACS all India Exhibition, New Delhi 
Award: 1995 A.P.Council of Artists, Hyderabad
Sahithi
From Wikipedia


Sahiti G
Birth name Sahithi Galidevara
Born 12 February 1987 
Origin Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh, India
Genres Filmi
Occupation(s) Singer
Years active 2008–present

Sahiti G (born 12 February 1987) is an Indian playback singer. She has recorded several songs in Telugu both in movies and albums.

Career

She won the regional version of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa – Voice of Youth by Zee Telugu in 2008
She was one of the 12 finalists in the first season of Sony TV's singing reality show X Factor India (2011)
Sulochana Chavan
(Wikipedia)
Sulochana Chavan
Born
Sulochana Kadam
13 March 1933 
Nationality Indian
Occupation Singer

Sulochana Kadam, known as Sulochana Chavan is an Indian singer, known for her lavanis in Marathi. Amongst various others, her famous lavanis include "Tuzhya Usala Laagal Kolha", "Padarawarti Jartaricha" both from film Malhari Martand (1965), "Solaawa Varees Dhokyacha", "Kasa Kay Patil Bara Hay Ka?" both from film Sawaal Majha Aika! (1964). She has also recorded Hindi film and album songs.Her Hindi famous songs include "Chori Chori Aag Si Dil Mein lagake","Ulfat jisay kehtay hai. jeenay ka sahaara hai", "woh aaye hain dil ko karar aa gaya hai".

Career

Sulochana started her career at a very early age. While she was still 6–7 years old, she used to be part of local dramas playing role of Krishna in garbas. She then started acting in Gujarati theatre. She took lessons in Urdu language and also worked in Hindi-Urdu plays. She also worked in some Punjabi and Tamil films. She was introduced to the music director Shyambabu Pathak by makeup artist Shubam Dandekar. She then started going to V. Shantaram's Rajkamal Studios with her mother to take lessons in singing. At the age of 11, Chavan started singing professionally. She was credited as K. Sulochana after her maiden surname Kadam.

Her first lavani was "Naav Gaav Kashyala Pustat? Aaho Me Aahe Kolhapurchi, Mala Ho Mhantat Lavangi Mirchi" for the film Rangalya Raatri Asha where the music was composed by Vasant Pawar and the lyrics were penned by Jagdish Khebudkar. Chavan later went on to sing many lavanis through Marathi and Hindi films as well as doing stage performances.

Personal life

Sulochana Kadam was born on 13 March 1933 in Mumbai. She married S. Chavan, director of the film Kalgitura whereupon she came to be known as Sulochana Chavan. She credits her husband for teaching her basics of pronunciation and stress.

Awards and honours

Chavan is conferred the title of "Lavanisamradhni" (Queen of Lavani) for her singing contribution to the art genre. The title is conferred by the notable Marathi littérateur Pralhad Keshav Atre. She was honoured with the Lata Mangeshkar Award for the year 2010 instituted by Government of Maharashtra In 2012, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award was conferred to her.

Other awards

2007 – Lokshahir Patthe Bapurao Puraskar instituted by Pune Municipal Corporation
2009 – Ram Kadam Puraskar was
2011 – "Lavani Kalavant Puraskaar" presented by Sahakarmaharshi Shankarrao Mohite-Patil Samiti she was awarded with Padma Shri by the Government of India
av

Savitha Sastry

 Wikipedia

Savitha Sastry
Sastry performing Yudh at the Music Academy Chennai (2013)
Born
Savitha Subramaniam
11 December 1969 

Hyderabad, India
Alma mater Stella Maris College, Chennai
Occupation Bharatanatyam choreographer and dancer
Years active 1981 – present
Spouse AK Srikanth

Savitha Sastry (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian dancer and choreographer best known as an exponent of Bharatanatyam. She is known to experiment with the format of traditional Bharatanatyam by using the techniques of Bharatanatyam to showcase theme-based productions based on novel stories, not based on Indian mythology or religion. Her innovations have been described as 'path breaking' by critics. and she is considered to be a 'renaissance architect' who 'holds the distinction of being the dancer to have brought out a revolution in the way Bharatanatyam is presented after Rukmini Devi Arundale'.

Early life and education

Savitha Subramaniam was born in Hyderabad, and later lived in Mumbai before her family relocated to their home town of Chennai. She started her training in Bharatanatyam under the tutelage of Guru Mahalingam Pillai at the Sri Rajarajeswari Bharatha Natya Kala Mandir in Mumbai, and later with Adyar K Lakshman and the Dhananjayans in Chennai. She did her schooling at the P.S Senior Secondary School in Chennai, and her graduation from Stella Maris College.

In 1986, she featured as the lead dancer in the Tamil film Ananda Tandavam, a production of her Guru Adyar K Lakshman. She pursued her master's degree in the United States, where she majored in neuroscience.

Bharatanatyam

Through the 1980s, 1990s and the first decade of the millennium, Sastry had performed mostly traditional repertoires of Bharatanatyam. She produced and choreographed a few full length presentations such as Krishna: The Supreme Mystic and Purushartha during this phase.

She is credited to have a high degree of technical proficiency in her kinetics of the dance form in being able to deliver it with the grace and technique demanded of Bharatanatyam performers. Sydney-based critic Hamsa Venkat referred to "Savitha's crisp nritta (pure dance), clean lines and flawless aramandi was a breath of fresh air, and truly inspirational for students of dance." The Audition Panel of the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival described her dancing with the words "Moves like a temple sculpture come to life".

Notable productions

By 2009, Sastry departed from performing traditional margams (the traditional order in which classical dance is performed), and started her work on theme based productions. Sastry is noted for the use of contemporary and original story lines in her performances and her portrayal of multiple characters as a solo performer in them, which is a marked departure from the traditional Bharatanatyam theme of the nayika (the heroine) pining for love or pieces based on Bhakti (devotion) alone. Some of her notable productions include Music Within (2010), Soul Cages (2012), The Prophet: Destiny. Divinity. Doubt and Chains: Love Stories of Shadows (2015).
Sastry performing Chains: Love Stories of Shadows at NCPA Mumbai (2015)

Sastry has been critically lauded not only for her technique, but also for her innovations in the art form to take it to a wider audience. A profile story in the Times of India reported "(Savitha) has merged contemporary content with the centuries old dance form to create a unique niche"

Critic Fozia Yasin of the Asian Age notes that Sastry "aims to bring about a renaissance in the traditional art form by marrying the aesthetics of Bharatanatyam with the power of an intelligent and novel story-line." Critic Nonika Singh of The Tribune wrote, "Knocking down pigeonholes as she breaks free, she hopes to inspire more and more aspiring dancers to soar along, in the vast expanse of tradition minus the baggage of restrictive thinking!" Critic Yamini Walia of the Afternoon Despatch & Courier reports that "her path breaking work has been recognised as a renaissance by critics and audiences all over the world."

All her productions have been based on short stories by her husband, AK Srikanth, and the soundtrack for the productions have been composed by Rajkumar Bharathi, the great grandson of the veteran poet Subramania Bharathi. These have been performed in the Indian Subcontinent, Australia, South East Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the Americas, and the productions have met with critical and popular acclaim. Another hallmark of Sastry's presentations is a Q & A session that she and Srikanth have with the audience at the end of the performance where the audience discuss the presentation with the performer and writer. Critic Lakshmi Ramakrishna of the Hindu praised this teamwork with the words "The husband – wife duo has struck a chord with audiences in conveying deeply philosophical thoughts with striking simplicity, élan and elegance"

She has been labeled the "Dancing Storyteller" by the popular press following these productions.

Digital productions

Since 2018, Sastry and AK Srikanth have been releasing their productions on free to stream digital platforms to take their work to a world audience. They also produce short classical dance videos that narrate a unique story, on the same lines of popular music videos. The short films have been nominated in over 50 film festivals across the world.

Their first release, The Descent was based on the story of a fallen superstar, and dealt with themes of depression. The film was awarded the Best Short Film 2019 at the Calcutta International Cult Film Festival, The Top Shorts Awards, the Near Nazareth Festival and the Best Global Short. It was also nominated at the John Abraham International Short Film Festival, the 5th Jaipur Film World 2021, Venice Film Awards, Cannes Short Film Festival, FilmFest by Rogue Dancer, Open Window International Film Challenge, Conceptsion International Film Awards, Mumbai 9th Indian Cine Festival 2021, the 11th Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival 2021, Florence Film Awards, and the First Time Filmmaker Sessions.

2020 and 2021 saw Srikanth and Savitha releasing their much acclaimed Colors Trilogy. The series of three films was based on the colors of the Indian National Flag - Green, White and Saffron. The stories juxtaposed the ideals behind these colors as envisaged by the Founding Fathers of Indian independence, with the lives of women in modern day India. The first part of the trilogy, Colors: Green is said to have been inspired by the life of Srikanth's mother. The second part - White is a biographical account of the story of her shift from traditional Bharatanatyam to the theme based productions she is famous for. The concluding part Saffron is a dystopian premise that portrays a prison that houses women that are deemed more successful than their men.

The series was hugely acclaimed, with Critics in Business Standard reporting "Writer AK Srikanth's story, while here as a short film, comes to life as it was written. And it is that much richer as an experience for all." DNA reported "The story is a befitting tribute to the strength and courage of a woman" 

Beyond the Rains, the short film based on AK Srikanth's short story The Girl in the Bubble was released on Valentine's Eve in 2022. The film is said to be structured like a Haiku, and is noted for its delicate portrayal of the emotion of love. In June 2022, Savitha and Srikanth released their short film Dvija to critical acclaim. Dvija is based on a short story by Srikanth titled The Shrine, and was inspired by Ueda Akinari's Harusame Monogatari. The release of this film coincided with ten years of their production company.

September 2022 saw the release of 'Arangetram', a humorous take on the aspirations of the Indian middle class and their dreams. Critic Monika Monalisa of the Indian Express called the film "a breezy family entertainer, a genre that is hard to come by these days" A review by ANI commented that "While this short film enters around the character played by Savitha, every supporting actor also has quirks and eccentricities that makes the whole characterisation believable, and yet joyous." The review went on to add that "This short film is a throwback to the cinema of breezy comedies by stalwarts such as Amol Palekar, Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee."

 Shilpi Raj

शिल्पी राज जीवन परिचय


जीवन परिचय
व्यवसाय सिंगर
शारीरिक संरचना
लम्बाई (लगभग) से० मी०- 161 मी०- 1.61
फीट इन्च- 5’ 3”
आँखों का रंग भूरा
बालों का रंग काला

करियर

डेब्यू भोजपुरी म्यूजिक एल्बम: "भुकुर भुकुर" (2017)
व्यक्तिगत जीवन

जन्मतिथि 25 मार्च 2002 (सोमवार)

जन्मस्थान देवरिया, भाटपार रानी, ​​उत्तर प्रदेश, भारत
राशि मेष (Aries)

गृहनगर देवरिया, भाटपार रानी, ​​उत्तर प्रदेश, भारत
स्कूल/विद्यालय दसवीं तक की पढ़ाई देवरिया के एक सरकारी स्कूल से और बारहवीं की पढ़ाई छपरा (सिवान) से की
आहार मांसाहारी 
प्रेम संबन्ध एवं अन्य जानकारियां
वैवाहिक स्थिति अविवाहित
बॉयफ्रेंड ज्ञात नहीं
परिवार
भाई/बहन शिल्पी राज की तीन बहन और एक भाई है।
पसंदीदा चीजें
भोजन पकौड़े

शिल्पी राज से जुड़ी कुछ रोचक जानकारियाँ

शिल्पी राज एक भारतीय सिंगर हैं जो भोजपुरी म्यूजिक एल्बम में काम करने के लिए जानी जाती हैं।
उनका जन्म उत्तर प्रदेश के देवरिया जिले के भाटपारानी के एक गरीब परिवार में हुआ था।
उन्हें बचपन से ही संगीत में काफी दलचस्पी थी। जिसके चलते उन्होंने पढ़ाई के दौरान ही सिंगिंग में जाने का मन बना लिया था और वह स्कूल में होने वाले प्रोग्राम में बढ़चढ़ कर भाग लिया करती थी।

शिल्पी राज ने पहली बार अपने गांव में होने वाले एक छोटे से प्रोग्राम में गाया था जिसके बाद उनके गांव के कुछ लोगों ने उन्हें सिंगिंग में जाने के लिए प्रेरित किया। गांव के छोटे-मोटे क्रायक्रम में शो करने के बाद उनका मन सिंगिंग की ओर बढ़ता गया। फिर उन्होंने सिंगिंग में ही अपना करियर बनाने का फैसला किया। 10वीं तक की पढ़ाई अपने गांव के स्कूल से करने के बाद शिल्पी अपने भाई के करीबी दोस्त विवेक के साथ पटना चली गयीं जहाँ पर वह अपनी 12 वीं क्लास की पढ़ाई करने लगी। पढ़ाई करने के साथ ही साथ उन्होंने सिंगिंग का अभ्यास किया।

शिल्पी राज ने अपने संगीत की ट्रेनिंग सिवान के रामनंद स्वामी से लिया।

उन्होंने अपने भोजपुरी सिंगिंग करियर की शुरुआत वर्ष 2017 के भोजपुरी सांग “भुकुर भुकुर लाइट बारेम करेजऊ” में समीर सावन के साथ की।

इस सांग से पॉपुलरटी मिलने के बाद शिल्पी राज ने कभी भी पीछे मुड़कर नहीं देखा और उन्होंने एक के बाद एक भोजपुरी हिट सांग में अपनी आवाज दी। जिसमें वर्ष 2019 का भोजपुरी सांग ‘जहर खा के मर जाइब हो’, ‘लइका पहिलका हा’ (2020), ‘नीली नीली अखियां’ (2020), ‘दू हाजरा लेके आजा स्टेज पा” (2020), ’10 गो यार’ (2020), ‘सहेलिया नु रे’ (2020), ‘छोटी तोहरा चोटी से चोट लगता’ (2020) ‘हायेलोजन परोजन में बार देबू का’ (2020), ‘भतार तोहार रोवत होइ’, (2021), ‘अपनी तो जैसे तैसे’ (2021), ‘आवा लिख के देदी पन्ना पर’ (2021), और ‘जानू जा सही’ (2021) जैसे गीत शामिल हैं।
Sarosh Sami
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Sarosh Sami Khatib credited as Sarosh Sami or Sarosh Khatib, is an Indian singer who is known for his music album ‘Hey Ya’ (2005) released by Universal Music. Sarosh is a trained tabla player from the Sangeet Mahabharti Institute. The Institute was founded by the Late Pandit Nikhil Ghosh. He started his career as a tabla player and then started singing.Born 21 February 1964.

Discography

Tishnagi (2010) (Album Details)

Tishnagi contains 8 tracks.
Tishnagi
Rubaru
Tum Ho
Tapish -Tapish
Sun le
Janaa Kya
Aasmaani
Forever Green

Forever Green

The Forever Green anthem was created for an awareness campaign titled - Do We Really Think Green. The campaign was run with the Mayor of Mumbai - Smt Shraddha Jadhav, with a free sapling distribution drive carried out across the city through colleges, schools and churches. Sarosh Sami sang the anthem live at the Mayoral Bungalow along with the then Indian Idol finalists - Sreeram Chandra, Bhoomi Trivedi, Rakesh Maini & Swaroop Khan. The campaign was also recognized by United Nations Environment Programme on World Environment Day. The music for the anthem is given by the music composer Lalit Pundit.
Tanusree Shankar
(Wikipedia)
Tanushree Shankar
Tanushree Shankar at Rashtrapati Bhavan during investiture ceremony
Born 16 March 1956
Occupation dancer and choreographer
Spouse(s) Ananda Shankar

Tanushree Shankar (birth: 16 March 1956) is an Indian dancer and choreographer. She is based in Kolkata, India. She was a leading dancer of the Ananda Shankar Centre for Performing Arts in the 1970s and 1980s. She also acted in various films, like The Namesake.

Tanushree Shankar now leads the Tanushree Shankar Dance Company. She has evolved her own modern idiom by marrying traditional Indian dances with modern western ballet expressions. She has been inspired by her lineage as much by the folk and regional dance forms of India. She has drawn extensively from rich local Indian traditions such as the "Thang-ta" (Manipuri Sword dance).

She travels with her troupe extensively around the world. Her last notable productions include Uttaran (Upliftment of the soul) and Chirantan (The eternal) which is based on Rabindranath Tagore's music.

Family

Tanusree Shankar was born in Calcutta, her father was a doctor in Indian Army. Her husband, the late Ananda Shankar, was a music composer who experimented with fusion music. He was the son of dancers Pandit Uday Shankar and Amala Shankar and the nephew of the sitar maestro Ravi Shankar. she has a daughter Sreenanda Shankar.

Awards

Umapathy Kandasamy
From Wikipedia


Sikkal Umapathy Kandasamy (21 February 1950 – 4 April 2017) was an Indian Carnatic musician, Nadaswaram maestro, vocalist. He was popularly known as "Nadaswara vidwan". Tamil Nadu government awarded "Rajarathina" in 2008 by Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M.Karunanidhi (29 January 2008).

Personal life

Sikkal Umapathy was born in Chidambaram and brought up in Sikkal, Nagapattinam. His father and grandfather were both carnatic musicians, Nadaswaram. He married Lalitha and had three sons and one daughter.

Career

Umapathy received his musical training from his grandfather and had his advanced training from Kalaimamani Kizhvelur N.G. Ganesan. He started giving his nadaswaram concerts from his age 12. He was served for many famous temples in and around nagapattinam including Sikkal singaravelan temple. He was popularly called as "Sikkal umapathy". His unique style of nadaswaram attracted everyone and became more popular in Tamilnadau. His popularity reaches outside countries and he also served for many temples in Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.

He was made Nadaswaram player in the temple Karumari amman, Thiruverkadu. Sikkal Umapathy took a number of younger nadaswaram players as his accompanists. He was also worked in Tamil Nadu Music school, Erode for seven years
Udhai Mazu
Udhai/Udai Mazumdar
Background information
Born March 28, 1970
Origin India
Occupation(s) Musician and composer
Instruments Tabla

Udhai Mazumdar (born March 28, 1970) is an Indian tabla player, music producer and composer.

Early life

Mazumdar was born in Allahabad, and started learning tabla and Hindustani vocals at the age of seven. In 1981, he became a disciple of Kaviraj Ashutosh Bhattacharya.

In 1988, Mazumdar went to Delhi and became the disciple of the sitar maestro Ravi Shankar. He lived and learned with him in the age-old tradition of "Guru Shiyha Parampara" (Living with the teacher).

Career

Mazumdar has performed for the Royal Families of Britain and Sweden. He has accompanied Ravi Shankar on occasions. Udai made his presence felt while performing with Zakir Hussain on the eve of the 75th birthday celebration of Ravi Shankar. Udai has broadcast on Radio DRS in Switzerland, BBC TV and Radio France. He has toured extensively across the globe: Durgalal Festival Delhi, The Saptak Festival Ahmedabad, Vasantahabba Festival Bengaluru, International Folk Festival Hungary, Drum Festival Germany, World Music Festival Rome, International Festival for Chernobyl Victims Minsk, festivals for contemporary music in Mongolia, Odessa, Vietnam, Indonesia, etc.

More recently[specify] he created a musical based on the 11th century epic Geet Govind by Jayadev, called Geet Govinda – The eternal love song of Krishna, Kabir Tulsi and Us, Singing Strings and Bhaskar - The Rising for which he has also composed and recorded the original music score.

Personal life

Mazumdar was born in a family of musicians. His father, Partho Sarathy Mazumdar, is among the first generation of guitarists in Indian classical music. Udhai is married to Filomena Bianculli. Together, they have one son, Jay Mazumdar and one daughter, Isha Mazumdar.

Mazumdar composes music and teaches students in Basel, Switzerland and New Delhi, India. Some of these performers include Namrrta Raai,Bhaskar Das, Rohan Dasgupta, Piu nandi, and Rupesh Pathak.

Discography
Ravi Shankar, Bikram Ghosh, Udai Mazumdar
Ibaadat - Love is Worship (2014)
Bhaskar - The Rising (2013)
Singing Strings" (2012)
Kabir Tulsi and Us (2011)
Rising (2010) - Derek Gripper & Udhai Mazumdar
Geet Govind (2009)
Echoes from India - Gaurav Mazumdar & Udhai Mazumdar
Fulfilment - Shubhendra Rao & Udhai Mazumdar
Walk on (Tatajan)
After a concert in Jakarta, Indonesia where Pandit Udhai Mazumdar lead musicians from around the world
Reverberation – Kamala Bose & Udhai Mazumdar
The Bamboo Flute in the Wind of Rhythm - Rakesh Chaurasia & Udhai Mazumdar
Shabotinski Stenimals (1996)
Journey - an elaborate Ragamala
Shankar Ragamala
Musik der Welt Bern
V. G. Jog
V. G. Jog
Born
Vishnu Govind Jog
14 February 1922

Died 31 January 2004 (aged 81)

Occupation violinist

Vishnu Govind Jog, better known as V. G. Jog (22 February 1922 – 31 January 2004), was an Indian violinist. He was the foremost exponent of the violin in the Hindustani music tradition in the 20th century, and is credited for introducing this instrument into Hindustani music.

Early life

Born in Mumbai in 1922, he received his early training from S. C. Athavale and the late Ganpat Rao Purohit. At a very young age, he rubbed shoulders with all-time greats at the Bhatkhande College of Music, Lucknow, in the 1930s — the first great attempt at institutionalising traditional music instruction. Jog began his training at the age of twelve and was subsequently trained by some of the finest musicians of India, like Ustad Allauddin Khan and Pandit S. N. Ratanjankar. Sri Lanka's Pandith W.D. Amaradeva studied under Jog.

Career

Jog earned a master's degree in music from Bhatkhande Music Institute in Lucknow in 1944 and went on to teach there. He also taught at the Ali Akbar College of Music. He was a disciple of Baba Allauddin Khan. He performed and recorded with many of the greatest Hindustani musicians of the 20th century (including Bismillah Khan) and toured the world. He frequently performed for All India Radio's Calcutta division.

His book 'Behala Shiksha', published in 1944, is recognized as a major piece of authoritative literature on the subject. He joined All India Radio in 1953 and served as music producer. He had made successful tours to foreign countries and issued many LP and EP gramophone records of both solo performances and jugalbandi with sangeet maestros. He toured extensively both in India and abroad, significantly in East Africa, Nepal, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom, France, the United States, and West Germany. In 1985, he performed to great acclaim under the auspices of the Festival of India in the United States

He received many honors from various cultural institutions, including the Padma Bhushan in 1983 by the president of India Sangeet Natak Academy award in 1980. By the time he retired he had risen to deputy chief producer, All India Radio.

Style[Trained in the Gwalior, Agra and Bakhale gharanas, Jog evolved his own characteristic style, which was a blend of gayaki and gatkari, noted for purity of melody and tradition, a formidable layakari ability, dignity, crispness and easy musical communication. He often enlightened audiences according to their taste with lighter themes and folk tunes, flowing with lilting and sparkling grace. His virtuosity, mastery of ragas and uncanny realisation of space and time in the construction and knowledge of rhythm are his hallmarks.

Jog, whose name is almost synonymous with the violin in Hindustani classical music, was a performer with the unique distinction of having occupied the top rungs of the classical musicians' hierarchy with three consecutive generations of performers. His career as a highly active and successful performer spanned almost five decades. An unassuming person of infinite charm, he was also regarded as an incomparable accompanist.[citation needed] His duets with Ustad Bismillah Khan met with spectacular successes in India and abroad. He had a remarkable ability to sense the pulse and mood of his audiences.

Personal life

Beginning in 1999, he suffered from Parkinson's disease, and also suffered from respiratory problems in his later years. After prolonged illness Pandit Jog died on 31 Jan 2004 in South Calcutta. Every year on the 31 January a concert is held in Kolkata by Swarsadhana, an organisation founded in his memory by his disciple Pallab Bandyopadhyay.

Awards and Honours

Rajya Natak Award by West Bengal Government,
Bhuwalka Puraskar,
Hafiz Ali Khan award.
Vazhakkunnam
From Wikipedia


Vazhakkunnam
Born 8 February 1903
Died 9 February 1983 (aged 80)
Other names Professor Vazhakkunnam
Occupation
Spouse(s) K. C. Anujathi Thampuratty

Children
K. C. Aravindakshan Raja
K. C. Thulasidas Raja
K. C. Sumathy

Parent(s)
Raman Atithiripad
Arya Pathanaadi

Vazhakkunnam Neelakandan Namboothiri (8 February 1903 – 9 February 1983), better known as Professor Vazhakkunnam was an Indian performing magician and illusionist from the south Indian state of Kerala. He was one of the earliest practitioners of the art of magic in India and the pioneer of the art in Kerala, which earned him the moniker, "the Father of Magic in Kerala". He is credited with popularising the art form in his home state.

Biography

Neelakandan Namboothiri was born on 8 February 1903 (Makaram 26, 1078 on Makyeeryam nakshatra as per Malayalam calendar) in Vaazhakunnath Mana in Thiruvegappura, near Pattambi, in Palakkad district of the south Indian state of Kerala to Raman Atithiripad, a witty Brahmin popularly known as Vaazhakkunnam Ateeri and Arya Pathanaadi, as their fourth son. His early schooling included Othu (study of vedas) after which his elder brother, Vasudevan Namboothiri, himself known as a Bhagavata scholar, taught him Sanskrit and he learned English under the tutelage of Pattambi Narayana Iyer. He developed a liking to magic at an early age when he watched a local magician by name, Mundaya Eachara Varier, performing at his home. Later, he also developed a fascination for elephants and this led him to study Matanga Lila, a Sanskrit treatise about elephants, under Kochunni Thampuran of Kodungallur Kovilakam. It was here he chanced upon a magic performance of Pallatheri Nambyathan Namboodiri and the young Neelakandan, with his teacher's permission, started learning magic under Pallatheri. Later, he learned the Bullet trick and Hair trick from a magician named Baker.

Vazhakunnam was married to K. C. Anujathi Thampuratty of Kottakkal Kovilakam and the couple had two sons, Aravindakshan Raja and Thulasidas Raja and a daughter, Sumathy. He died on 9 February 1983, a day after his 80th birthday, survived by his three children. His wife had predeceased him in 1980.

Career and legacy

Once Vazhakunnam tricked a ticket examiner of a Coimbatore bound train into believing all the passengers were traveling without tickets and all the tickets found in the examiner's pocket. An apocryphal story about Vazhakunnam.

Vazhakkunnam, though he used to perform mesmerism and hypnotism occasionally, was more keen on performing impromptu magic such as Cheppum Panthum, a trick using small cups and balls. He was one of the first performing magicians in Kerala and his contribution in developing the art form earned him the title, the Father of Magic in Kerala. His early performances were amidst small gatherings at homes and his first public performance on a stage was in 1940.

One of the main contributions of Vazhakunnam is his students; he taught several of which students such as R. K. Malayath, who would later tutor Paryanampatta Kunchunny Nambudiripad, Joy Oliver, K. P. Krishnan Bhattathiripad, Kuttiyadi Nanu, K. S. Manoharan, K. J. Nair and Vadakkeppad Parameswaran, Raghavan went on to become known magicians in their own rights. The Magic Academy set up by Gopinath Muthukad, together with Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Akademi holds annual magic competition at Thalassery, which has been named Vazhakunnam Memorial State-level Magic Competitions after Vazhakunnam. Several poets such as Vallathol Narayana Menon, Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer and Kunjunni Mash have written poems, praising him. Ramana, the dutch magician and mentalist, has established a school of magic named after Vazhakunnam under the name, The Vazhakunnam Namboothiri Academy of Magical Sciences. Vazhakunnam Yugami is an all India annual magic competition organized in memory of Vazhakunnam.

Documentary on Vazhakunnam

Gopinath Muthukad's Magic Academy has made a 12-minute documentary on the life and art of Vazhakunnam, which has an introduction by O. N. V. Kurup and the magician's children, K. C. Thulasidas, and K. C. Sumathi talk about their father
on

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