Prodigy turned musical genius, ‘Chitraveena’ N. Ravikiran is to perform at Raaga’s annual Lalitha V. Murthy Memorial concert at 6 pm on Saturday (Jan. 12) at Nadabrahma Sangeetha Sabha, JLB Road. This is a tribute to the late wife of Kalasevarathna K.V. Murthy, who, along with her husband, had been benevolent hosts to many artistes of repute.

Sangeetha Kalanidhi Ravikiran, son and disciple of Vid. Chitraveena Narasimhan, is a reputed slide instrumentalist (chitraveena/gottuvadyam), vocalist, composer, teacher and author. A prolific creator in the dance arena with numerous operas staged in different parts of the globe by leading performers like Dr. Vyjayanthimala Bali, Pt. Birju Maharaj, Ravikiran has also performed with greats like Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, U. Srinivas, T. Brinda, R.K. Srikantan, N. Ramani, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and others. He has collaborated with top artistes of various genres such as Taj Mahal, Larry Coryell, Martin Simpson and orchestras like BBC Philharmonic.

As an innovator, his contributions include introducing the portable bright toned 20 stringed slide instrument Nava-Chitraveena, pioneering use of Teflon slides in world music, resurrecting and championing the works of legendary composer Oothukadu Venkata Kavi, dance augmentation for instrumental concerts with dancer Smitha Madhav, concepts such as seamless korvais and so on.

On Saturday, he is being accompanied by Vidu. Akkarai Subhalakshmi on violin, Vid. B.C. Manjunath on mridanga and Vid. Giridhar Udupa on ghata.

Prior to the concert, a talk on Healthy Living through Ayurveda and Yoga, by Dr. N.V. Krishnamurthy, Director, Prajna Kuteera, will take place from 5.30 pm. The concert is sponsored by  K.V. Murthy. —Veena Arun Kumar