The Karnataka Ganakala Parishat ( R K Padmanabha is its President ) will honour three leading Carnatic music artistes at its forthcoming music festival in Bangalore (Sept.13 to 17).
They are violinist S. Seshagiri Rao and the vocalists who call themselves the Saralaya Sisters.
Here is a profile of the artistes to be honoured.
S Seshagiri Rao was born in Bangalore in 1944 in a family of musicians. He started learning violin at the age of 12 under the able guidance of his father, late Sri Venkata Subba Rao. In a musical career spanning 45 years he has accompanied all artistes of Carnatic music, past and present. The artistes include stalwarts like Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, Dr. Semmungudi Srinivasa Iyer, Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna, Dr. R. K. Srikanthan, Chintanapalli Ramachandra Rao, K .V. Narayanaswamy, D. K. Jayaraman. He has also accompanied several flute maestros such as T. R. Mahalingam, Dr. N. Ramani, S. P. Natarajan. He also had the privilege of accompanying M S Subbalakshmi, D. K. Pattamal, M. L. Vasanthakumari, Radha - Jayalakshmi & others several times.
He retired from All India Radio, Bangalore as a A1 grade artiste after serving the organization for 28 years. He has participated in several Radio Sangeeth Sammelans and National Programme of Music – both AIR & Doordarshan, both as a solo artiste and also as an accompanying violinist.
He has been honored with a lot of awards and titles. To name a few – Best Violinist by the Music Academy, Chennai, Kalajyothi – Title from Nadajyothi Sri Thygarajaswamy Bhajan Sabha, Malleswaram, Bangalore in the Silver Jubilee celebrations during 1990 and Ananya Puraskara in 2001 for excellent services to music.
He will be President of the 37th Music Conference which will be held in Bangalore from 13th to 17th September 2006 & will be conferred with the title Ganakalabhushana with a cash award of Rs 10,000/- & a Gold medal.
Saralaya Sisters
Kavitha and Triveni, popularly known as the Saralaya Sisters were born into a great sangeetha parampara that enjoyed the patronage of Tanjore rajas on their father's side and with their mother herself being an eloquent Bharatanatyam dancer, music was a natural choice for the siblings. They have also given a number of dance programmes under the guidance of their mother.
Both have a Senior Grade in Carnatic Music (Vocal) with distinction . Kavitha has a Master's Degree in Mass Communication and has done a dissertation titled 'Communication Potential of Classical Carnatic Music', while Triveni has a Master's Degree in Classical Music.
They were groomed initially under the late S. P. Natarajan a flutist of high repute and S. Vijayalakshmi. They are being trained by Sangeetha Kalacharya Seethalakshmi Venkatesan, a disciple of late Semmangudi Srinivas Iyer and Tanjore Shankar Iyer, for the past 19 years.
Kavitha & Triveni have over 1000 concerts to their credit.
The Sisters have been recognised and honoured with several prizes and awards. These include Bangalore Gayana Samaja - Annual Music Conference 1988 concert Competition and The Music Academy, Chennai - 1992 - Ambujam Krishnan Award for Best Main Musician - Spirit of Youth series.
They are graded artists of AIR and Doordarshan.
Kavitha and Triveni have been instrumental in organizing concerts, lec-dems and annual festivals for young artists called Yuvath Sangeetha Sourabha for over 10 years. They have brought out multimedia presentations on Muthuswamy Dikshitar and present day veteran artists, along with Ganakalashree H.K. Venkatram.
They have brought out the Thyagaraja Vachanamritha, a volume of 300 Thygaraja Kritis with translation, along with H.K. Venkatram.
They have brought out a multimedia CD on Thygaraja Pancharathna Krithis.
