Mysore/Mysuru: Renowned Karnatak vocalist Dr. Gowri Kuppuswamy, who was residing with her son Dr. M. Hariharan at his flat in Jayalakshmipuram, passed away this morning following brief illness at a private hospital in city. She was 92.

She leaves behind her daughter Dr. Radhika Prabhakar, a Pathologist in Singapore, son- in-law Dr. K.S. Prabhakar, a Nephrologist at Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, son Dr. M. Hariharan (who retired as Special Officer, Government of Pondicherry), daughter-in-law V.S. Rama, a former student of Gowri Kuppuswamy, grandchildren Aparna Prabhakar and Madhurambika and a host of relatives and friends. Her husband Kuppuswamy had passed away at the age of 87 on Oct. 1, 2010.

Last rites will be held at Chirashanthidhama in Gokulam tomorrow after her daughter and granddaughter arrive from Singapore.

Born on Aug. 3, 1931 to R. Natesan and Balakujam couple in Pudukkottai district, Tamil Nadu, Gowri had an inclination towards music as a child. It was her upbringing at her maternal grandparents’ home in Pudukkottai that naturally ingrained music in her.

Gowri got married to Kuppuswamy on June 3, 1946 at Pudukkottai when Kuppuswamy was working as a scientist in Bengaluru, before he got a job in the newly founded Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysuru, in 1950.

For over 50 years, Gowri Kuppuswamy has enthralled music buffs on radio as she regularly performed from Mysuru, Dharwad, Madras and Pondicherry Stations of All India Radio (AIR) besides performing on TV from Tashkent (USSR), Singapore and Trivandrum.

Dr. Gowri Kuppuswamy was awarded Ph.D degree for her thesis ‘A Comparative Study of the Scales of Karnatak and Western Music’ by Arizona University, USA, way back in 1982 and was conferred Hon. Doctorate by Karnataka State Dr. Gangubai Hangal University for Music and Performing Arts, Mysuru, on March 7, 2017. She was recently chosen for the one-time Sangeet Natak Akademi Amrit Award-2022 (Karnatak Music) which she was to receive from the President of India.

[Star of Mysore had published her interview titled ‘Timeless melodies of a living legend Gowri Kuppuswamy’ on March 8, 2023.]