Neyveli Santhanagopalan (born 1963) is an Indian Carnatic vocalist and teacher. He was awarded the

Madras Music Academy Madras Music Academy is one of the earliest established music academies in South India. Before the concept of infrastructure was introduced to India in the early 1920s, it was a gathering for elite musicians simply called (and is still more ...

's Sangeetha Kalanidhi for the year 2020. He has learned from masters such as Shri Thanjavur Sankara Iyer, Shri Maharajapuram Santhanam, and Shri TN Seshagopalan. He has distinguished himself with numerous concerts worldwide, and is the recipient of several awards in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and overseas. He is known for his traditional and purist style of rendering

ragas A ''raga'' or ''raag'' (; also ''raaga'' or ''ragam''; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradition, and as a ...

, musical compositions and

swaras Svara or swara (Devanagari: स्वर, generally pronounced as ''swar'') is a Sanskrit word that connotes simultaneously a breath, a vowel, the sound of a musical note corresponding to its name, and the successive steps of the octave or '' ...

. Currently, Santhanagopalan anchors for the

Jaya TV Jaya TV HD is a Tamil language satellite television channel based in Chennai, India. Jaya TV HD is also broadcast to the expatriate Tamil community via various media partnerships. Hemant Sahai of HSA had Jaya TV HD as his first client. Jaya TV ...

program "SaRiGaMaPa". His daughter Sriranjani is an upcoming vocalist. He is a sought-after teacher, and his daughter Sriranjani helps him in teaching several students.

Style

Santhanagopalan's style is distinguished by his adherence to strict raga interpretation, especially in his rigorous manodharma (creative interpretation) and raga sancharams (bringing out the essential elements or qualities of a raga). His conformity and respect for the traditional approach to carnatic vocal music is often reflected by the orthodox nature of his concert attire (the panchagacham and namam). Santhanagopalan has been acknowledged for his emphasis on purity of nada and tone, and his restrained and measured grasp of kritis is regarded well with the Carnatic musical fraternity. Being a thinking man's musician, his cerebral, methodical approach to raga delineation reflects his own growth in music. He is a regular and sought-after performer during the December and January Madras "Music Season", and his concerts have consistently sold out in such prestigious venues as

, Krishna Gana Sabha, Mylapore Fine Arts, and Narada Gana Sabha. He is also a Grade 'A Top' artist with

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All ...

and Doordarshan.

Awards

Santhanagopalan is a recipient of the Vani Kala Sudhakara of the Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha. He has also received awards and felicitations from Bharat Kalachar, Kartik Fine Arts and the

Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer ( ta, மகாராஜபுரம் விசுவநாதையர்; 1896–1970) was one of the great Indian Carnatic vocalists. He won several awards including Sangeetha Kalanidhi and Sangeetha Bhupathy. ...

Foundation. He received the title "Vidhya Tapasvi" by TAPAS Cultural Foundation in 2008 and was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2014. He is a recipient of the Sangeetha Kalanidhi award for the year 2020 by The

Other interests

Santhanagopalan is also proficient in the Indian

veena The ''veena'', also spelled ''vina'' ( sa, वीणा IAST: vīṇā), comprises various chordophone instruments from the Indian subcontinent. Ancient musical instruments evolved into many variations, such as lutes, zithers and arched harps ...

and percussion instruments. He has made contributions to the field of Carnatic musicology. In addition, Santhanagopalan also regularly contributes to philanthropic causes as was evidenced by his collection from US Benefit concerts as part of the 2005 Tsunami Relief.

References

External links

Official websiteProfile at Lakshmansruthi.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santhanagopalan, Neyveli Male Carnatic singers Carnatic singers Living people 1963 births Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award