Ghatam Giridhar Udupa (born 17 November 1979) ( kn, ಘಟಂ ಗಿರಿಧರ್ ಉಡುಪ) is an Indian percussionist and a leading exponent of the
ghatam
The ghaṭam ( sa, घटं ''ghaṭaṁ'', kan, ಘಟ
''ghaṭah'', ta, கடம்
''ghatam'', te, ఘటం ''ghatam'', ml, ഘടം, ''ghatam'') is a percussion instrument used in various repertoires across India. It's a variant ...
.
[Namboodiripad, Narayan - ''A Potful Of Music'' in RAVE Magazine, November 2006, Issue 46. RNI No. KARENG/2002/8229] He is one of the members of Layatharanga, a team of Indian classical musicians who have embarked on the task of blending different forms of classical, folk and world music.
In 2015 he founded and has since served as the director of The Udupa Foundation, a registered charitable trust with the aim of promoting music, performing arts and culture.
Early life and tutelage
Udupa was born into a family of artists, and was exposed to music and literature from a very young age. He began his musical training at the age of four, under the guidance of his father and well known Mridangam artist Vidwan Ullur Nagendra Udupa. He ventured into the world of
Carnatic music
Carnatic music, known as or in the South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and Sri Lanka. It is ...
learning all the traditional percussion instruments (
mridangam, ghatam,
kanjira and
morsing
The morsing (also mukharshanku, mourching, morching or morchang; Sanskrit: दंत वाद्यन्तरात्मसत्रस्य, Telugu: మోర్సింగ్, Kannada: ಮೋರ್ಸಿಂಗ್, Rajasthani: मोर ...
), but it was the Ghatam that struck a chord with his musical personality.
[ He has since taken advanced lessons from Vidushi Ghatam Sukanya Ramgopal and Vidwan Ghatam V.Suresh mastering the finer aspects of the fingering techniques of the instrument.][
]
Education
Udupa holds a graduate degree in commerce
Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions directly and indirectly related to the exchange (buying and selling) of goods and services among two or more parties within local, regional, nation ...
from Bangalore University
Bangalore University (BU) is a public state university located in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. The university is a part of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) and affiliated by Univer ...
.
Performing career
For Carnatic music
Carnatic music, known as or in the South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and Sri Lanka. It is ...
Udupa performs primarily on the ghatam, but for other genres he incorporates varied South Indian percussion instruments into his performance, including mridangam, kanjira and morsing. He is also adept at rendering Konnakol, the vocal rendition of percussion syllables. He has accompanied artists of different styles of music such as Carnatic, fusion, and jazz, including Sarvashree Dr. L. Subramaniam, Dr. M.Balamuralikrishna, M. S. Gopalakrishnan
M.S. Gopalakrishnan, a.k.a. MSG, (10 June 1931 – 3 January 2013) was a violinist in the field of Carnatic music. He is commonly grouped with Lalgudi Jayaraman and T.N.Krishnan as part of the violin-trinity of Carnatic Music. He was awarded ...
, R. K. Srikantan, T. N. Krishnan, T. K. Murthy, Palghat Raghu, Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman
Umayalpuram Kasiviswanatha Sivaraman (born 17 December 1935) is an Indian musician and exponent of the Carnatic percussion instrument, the mridangam. He is a recipient of the Padma Vibhushan as well as the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.
Earl ...
, A.K.Palanivel, Ganesh and Kumaresh
Ganesh and Kumaresh are Indian duo of violin players who are a part of the Carnatic music (South India) fraternity. The brothers are known as modern contemporary artists in "Sastriya Sangitam". They were awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award fo ...
, Mysore Nagaraj & Mysore Manjunath
Mysore Manjunath (born in Mysore, India), is an Indian violinist. The son and disciple of violinist Prof. Mahadevappa, Manjunath performed his first concert at the age of eight in Mysore as a child prodigy storming in to the music world. Trai ...
, Mandolin Srinivas, Malladi Brother , N.Ramani, K. J. Yesudas, R. K. Padmanabha, T. V. Gopalakrishnan
Tripunithura Viswanathan Gopalakrishnan (born 11 June 1932 in Tripunithura, Kerala), known as TVG, is a Carnatic and Hindustani musician from Cochin, Kerala, India. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 2014.
Ea ...
, T.V. Sankaranarayanan, Madhurai T.N. Seshagopalan, Trichur V. Ramachandran, Dr. Jayanthi Kumaresh
Jayanthi Kumaresh is an Indian Veena musician. Jayanthi comes from a lineage of musicians who have been practising Carnatic music for six generations and started playing the Saraswati Veena at the age of 3. Her mother, Lalgudi Rajalakshmi, was h ...
, R.K. Suryanarayana,Bombay Jayashree and Sudha Raghunathan
Sudha Ragunathan is an Indian Carnatic vocalist, singer and composer. She was conferred the Kalaimamani award by the Government of Tamil Nadu in 1994, Padma Shri (2004) and Padma Bhushan (2015) by the Government of India, and Sangeetha Kalanidh ...
. He has undertaken several overseas musical tours, since 1998.[
]
Awards and accolades
*''Nadajyothi Puruskara'' from Nadajyothi Sri Thyagaraja Swamy Bhajana Sabha, Bangalore – March 2015
*Best ''Upa Pakka Vadhyam'' Award from The Music Academy, Chennai – Jan 2015
*''Madhura Murali Puraskar'' from the Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna at Chennai during his 82nd birthday celebration – 29 July 2012
*Lions International Award – 2011.
*''Asthana Vidwan'' of the Sri Matam of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam – 2010.
*''Yuva Laya Prathibhamani'' title – 2009
*Rotary Youth Award – 2008
*CMANA Award 2007 (Carnatic Music Association Of North America) by Percussive Arts Centre, Bangalore
*Conferred with title "Yuva Kala Bharathi" by Bharath Kalachar, Chennai – 2004.
*''Ananya Yuva Puraskara'' for the year 2002 as Best Percussionist of the year.
*Recipient of the prestigious Central Government Scholarship for Ghatam – 2002.
*''Aryabhata'' Award – 2000.
*First Prize at the National Level All India Radio Competition – 2000.
*Best Ghatam Artist Award from Gayana Samaja, Ganakala Parishat and Malleshwaram Sangeetha Sabha for the years 1992, 1996 and 1999 respectively.
*''Vijaya Kalashree'' title – 1997
*First Indian percussionist to perform and conduct workshop at the Krakow International Music festival – 2005.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Udupa, Ghatam
1980 births
Living people
Ghatam players
Indian percussionists
Musicians from Bangalore