The New Year at Nadabrahma Sangeeta Sabha, JLB Road, will kickstart with three concerts during the first week of January 2018. The first concert is on 3rd (Wednesday) at 6 pm. Padma Shri  awardee Violin legend Parur MSG Memorial Concert will be presented by veteran Sangeeta Kalanidhi T.V. Sankaranarayanan, sponsored by Vid. H.K. Narasimha Murthy in honour of his Guru.

Profile: Tiruvalangadu Vembu Iyer Sankaranarayanan, also known as TVS, born on March 7, 1945 at Mayiladuthurai, is a Karnatak vocalist known for his music that stems from the style of his late uncle-guru, Madurai Mani Iyer. Padma Bhushan Sankaranarayanan is noted for easily reaching the upper notes. He had intended to pursue a legal career before music gripped him. He has several albums to his credit. Sankaranarayanan is indeed an asset to Karnatak music world. Some of the awards he has been bestowed with are Madras Music Academy’s Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 2003, Padma Bhushan in 2003 and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1990.

He will be accompanied by H.N. Bhaskar on violin, Tumkur B. Ravishankar on mridanga and Sharath Kaushik on ghata.

Violin solo

On 6th (Saturday) at 6 pm, Bada Kishora Awardee Srikanth Radhakrishnan from Bengaluru will present a Violin solo concert accompanied by Nikshith Puiiur on mridanga and S. Manjunath on ghata. A Chartered Accountant by qualification, Srikanth, having keen interest in Music, has been performing both on violin and vocal. Brought up in Singapore, he has learnt music at SIFA from Mangalam Shankar, A.K. Karunakaran, N.R. Prashanth, Poorna Pragna Rao, K.Sivaraman and Srividya Sriram. After moving to Bengaluru, he learnt vocal under Neela Ramagopal and currently under S. Shankar. He has nurtured his violin under Charulatha Ramanujan, B. Raghuram and presently under Nalina Mohan. He has performed widely in Singapore and Bengaluru in many youth festivals and other major festivals both as a vocalist and violinist. He has won many awards and prizes. He is a B-Grade vocalist in AIR Bengaluru.

Smt. Rukmini Ammal and Sri Ramaswamy Iyengar Memorial Concert is sponsored by their children Madhuri Thathachari and Dr. R.Srinivasan.

Annual day

The annual day of Nadabrahma Sangeeta Sabha, celebrated as Dr. A.K. Gopalarajan Memorial Day, will be held on Jan. 7 at 5.30 pm. The event is sponsored by the Fraternity of Doctors. It is customary to award Nadabrahma and  Nada Kishora titles alongwith prize distribution for the winners of Nada Kishorotsava. This year Nadabrahma award is given to Vid. H.K. Narasimha Murthy. The cash award  is sponsored by Chitraveena N. Ravikiran in memory of his grandfather Gottuvadyam Narayana Iyengar and  Nada Kishora to Srikanth Radhakrishnan – 1st prize of Nada Kishorotsava 2017 and Best Violinist. Anjana P. Rao – 2nd prize, Kavana Hegde – 3rd prize, R.Sindhu – Consolation prize and Nikshit Puttur – Best Mridangist. The prizes are sponsored by Dr. K.V. Lakshmi Devi, K.V. Saralakumar and K.V. Umadevi in memory of their parents  K.V. Venkateshayya and Girijamma.

Violin Trio

This will be followed by a Grand Violin Trio by Vid. H. K. Narasimha Murthy, his son Vid.H.N. Bhaskar and grand-daughter Prithvi Bhaskar. They will be accompanied by Vid.G.S. Ramanujan on mridanga and Vid. G. Guruparasanna on khanjira.

Profile:  H.K. Narasimha Murthy is a senior and leading violinist hailing from Mysuru.  Regarded both as an extremely able performer and as a highly accomplished teacher,  Narasimha Murthy’s acumen was shaped by his training in the revered Parur School of Violin under Parur Sundaram Iyer and later from his illustrious sons  M.S. Anantharaman and the legendary  M.S. Gopalakrishnan. He also came under the influence of many great musicians of the day during his education at the Central College of Music, Madras, from where he obtained the degree of Sangeetha Vidwan. He has served  as Staff Artiste at AIR, Mysuru, for nearly four decades, earning its ‘A-Top’ grade.

Murthy has, throughout his career, enriched music concerts with his violin accompaniment.  He is a veritable bridge between the past and present generations of musicians having accompanied a long list of unforgettable stalwarts of yesteryear including Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, D.K. Pattamal,  D. K. Jayaraman,  Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna, K.J. Yesudas, T.V.Shankaranarayan and the Bombay Sisters, with whom he travelled across the globe. The lofty credentials of ‘HKN sir’, as he is popularly and respectfully known, continue to serve posterity, especially the Parur style of violin, through his dedicated teaching.

N. Bhaskar was first under the guidance of his parents Vidwan H.K. Narasimha Murthy and H.N. Rajalakshmi. Bhaskar later moved to Chennai to study music at the University of Madras and came under the wings of violin maestro Padma Shri Sangeetha Kalanidhi M.S. Gopalakrishnan. His melodious style has helped him accompany leading vocalists in the field. He has travelled widely and has received several awards. In the late nineties he was part of a popular music band called “Antaragni.”

Prithvi Bhaskar is the daughter of Bhaskar and Vidya Kuliyur, who is a creative yakshagana exponent. Prithvi  is very carefully nurtured by grand-parents HKN and Rajalakshmi.