Mysuru/Mysore: Sri Nadabrahma Sangeetha Sabha, JLB Road,  has organised two endowment Karnatak vocal concerts at its premises here this weekend on Mar. 7 and Mar. 8

On Mar. 7 (6 pm): Vid. C.K. Pavandeep, a disciple of Vid. T.V. Gopalakrishnan is going to present a Vocal concert with R. Achyut Rao on violin, R. Adamya on mridanga and C.A. Raghunandana Rao on ghata. The concert is an endowment programme in memory of Gunamba Nanjaraje Urs, sponsored by Harin Nanjaraje Urs. Most of the songs will be on Lord Krishna.

On Mar. 8 (6 pm): Reality show participants and playback singers, the Chilkunda Sisters — Lakshmi Nagaraj and Indu Nagaraj — will present a Vocal duet. The concert will have two distinct portions, where the first half will be classical based and the second half will be light music comprising Devaranamas, Vachanas and Bhajans.

 The duo will be accompanied by Anirudh Bharadwaj on violin, Keshava Dutt on mridanga and Vivek Bharadwaj on ghata.

The concert will be held in memory of Indiradevi Praphulla Chandra, sponsored by V. Praphullachandra.

Artistes’ Profiles

C.K. Pavandeep was initiated into music by his mother and later he started learning from Vidushi Nagavalli Nagaraj, moving forward to learn from Vidwan R.R. Keshavamurthy. The turning point in his training was when Vidwan Vidyabhushan took Pavandeep to Padma Bhushan Sangeetha Kalanidhi Dr. T.V. Gopalakrishan for advanced training.

Presently, Pavandeep is one of the senior disciples of Vid. T.V. Gopalakrishnan who has been performing all over the country and abroad.  

Lakshmi and Indu, hailing from a rich musical and academic lineage, were born at Chilkunda to H.S. Radha and C.A. Nagaraj. They started learning classical music at the tender age of two, under their grandmother late Vidushi C.S. Satyalakshmi, a great vocalist, violinist and a flautist. They then started training under their father Vidwan C.A. Nagaraj, renowned flautist and vocalist in Mysuru.

Lakshmi and Indu’s first concert was given at the age of 7 and 5 respectively. The first performance at Doordarshan as Chilkunda Sisters at the age of 9 and 7 respectively. 

They came to limelight through  various music reality shows like Confident Star Singer, Ede Tumbi Haduvenu etc. They won the show ‘Ede Thumbi Haduvenu’ in 2005 and 2006, which was hosted by Dr. S.P. Balasubramaniam.

The sisters are also successful playback singers in Kannada film industry. Their debut was  through the film ‘Meera Maadhava Raghava’ directed by T.N. Seetharam with Hamsalekha as the Music Director, in 2007.

They have also lent  their voice for numerous other films  and have shared stage with legends like Dr. S.P. Balasubramaniam, Dr. P. B. Srinivas, L.R. Eshwari, Hariharan and the new generation music directors like Arjun Janya, Harikrishna and so on.

Lakshmi is an A grade artiste of AIR Bengaluru and was adjudged Best Female Playback Singer for ‘Omkara Abhinaya Veda’ from the movie ‘ApthaRakshaka’.

Indu has sung more than 200 songs for films in South Indian languages including songs like Pyarge Aagbittaithe from Govindaya Namaha and Thraas Akkathi from Doddamane Huduga. She has also given live concerts at Sydney, Melbourne, Dubai, Quatar, Muscat and Singapore.