Chitravina Narasimhan (born 1941) is a

gottuvadhyam The chitravina ( sa, चित्रवीणा) (also known as chitra veena, chitraveena, chitra vina, hanumad vina, or mahanataka vina) is a 20 or 21-string fretless lute-style veena in Carnatic music. Around the late 19th and early 20th ce ...

player from India. He is the father of renowned

chitravina The chitravina ( sa, चित्रवीणा) (also known as chitra veena, chitraveena, chitra vina, hanumad vina, or mahanataka vina) is a 20 or 21-string fretless lute-style veena in Carnatic music. Around the late 19th and early 20th ce ...

player

N. Ravikiran Narasimhan Ravikiran (born 12 February 1967) is an Indian slide instrumentalist, vocalist, composer, and orator, who created the concept of melharmony. He is the son of gottuvadhyam player Chitravina Narasimhan and the grandson of Narayan Iye ...

Early life

He was born in 1941 in Mysore, Karnataka in a family of musicians. His father

Gottuvadhyam Narayan Iyengar The chitravina ( sa, चित्रवीणा) (also known as chitra veena, chitraveena, chitra vina, hanumad vina, or mahanataka vina) is a 20 or 21-string fretless lute-style veena in Carnatic music. Around the late 19th and early 20th ce ...

, who was also his teacher was a renowned Gottuvadhyam player in South India.

Career

After learning from his father he continued his training in Gottuvadhyam under several musicians such as T. Brinda, G.N Balabsuramaniam, Budaloor Krishnamurthi Shastri and Musiri Subramaniam Iyer. Narasimhan performed extensively across India and won acclaim from many stalwarts of Indian music including such as Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Allauddin Khan (mentor of sitarist Ravishankar), Flute Mali, M. Balalmuralikrishna, and Veena S. Balachander. His musical achievements were also appreciated by Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi, and President Dr. Radhakrishnan, besides a number of films and cultural personalities.

Family and students

He has three children. All of them are renowned musicians - sons N. Ravikiran, K N Shashikiran, daughter Kiranavali Vidyasankar. Narasimhan’s nephew Chitravina Ganesh was also mentored by him from childhood. His other students include vocalist T K Ramachandran, Vanitha Suresh, Veena Sambasivam and Girijashankar Sundaresan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chitravina, Narasimhan 1941 births Chitravina players Carnatic musicians Living people