Sukanya Ramgopal is an Indian carnatic musician from

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

. She is best known as the first woman

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 ...

player in

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 ...

. She is also proficient in carnatic vocal,

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

, mridangam and

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 ...

. She received several awards including Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Karnataka Sangeeta Nritya Academy Award and awards from Madras Music Academy, Chennai.

Biography

Sukanya Ramgopal was born on 13 June 1957, at Mayiladuthurai in Tamil Nadu, as the fifth child of Subramaniam and Ranganayaki. She is granddaughter of Tamil scholar U. V. Swaminatha Iyer. She studied at a

Montessori The Montessori method of education involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing real-world skills. It emphasizes indepen ...

school near her house and later at N K Tirumalachariar National Girls' High School. After completing a

pre-university course The Pre-University Course or Pre-Degree Course (PUC or PDC) is an 2-year Senior Secondary Course under the 10+2 education system after Class 10th (SSLC, SSC) and the PUC commonly refers to Class 11th and Class 12th and called as 1st PUC (1st Year ...

from Ethiraj College, Chennai, Sukanya did her under-graduation BSc in mathematics from Justice Basheer Ahmed Sayeed College for Women, Chennai. Sukanya grew up in Thyagaraja Vilasam in the old Triplicane area of

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. She listened to music from an early age, loving percussion then already. Sukanya and her sister Bhanumati were first sent to take Carnatic vocal lessons under Thazhakudi Ayyasaami Iyer. Later, she was sent to learn the violin at the music school Shree Jaya Ganesha Tala Vadya Vidyalaya near her home, set up by the family of the ghatam exponent

Vikku Vinayakram Thetakudi Harihara Vinayakram (born 11 August 1942), also known as Vikku Vinayakram, is an Indian percussionist. He is also known as the God of ''ghatam''. He plays Carnatic music with the ''ghatam'', an earthen pot, and is credited with popula ...

. Her violin masters were Dhanapalan and Vikku's brother T. H. Gurumoorthy. Vinayakram's father T. H. Harihara Sharma noticed that Sukanya was more interested in mridangam class there. He secretly taught her mridangam. But soon she was attracted to the ghatam and learned ghatam from Vinayakram and his father. Her Guru Vinayakram, who at first said, 'This instrument is very difficult for a girl', seeing her dedication and prowess, agreed to teach her. She is equally talented in Konnakol (vocal percussion). She is an 'A-top' artist of

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 ...

Personal life

Sukanya's husband Ramgopal is an engineer. After marriage, she moved to Bengaluru, Karnataka.

Music career

Sukanya Ramgopal is best known as the first woman

player in

. She has performed ghatam with famous Carnatic musicians like

Lalgudi Jayaraman Lalgudi Gopala Iyer Jayaraman (17 September 1930 – 22 April 2013) was an Indian Carnatic violinist, vocalist and composer. He is commonly grouped with M.S. Gopalakrishnan and T.N.Krishnan as part of the violin-trinity of Carnatic Mus ...

, M. Balamuralikrishna,

Palghat R. Raghu Palghat R. Raghu (9 January 1928 – 2 June 2009) was a Carnatic musician and percussionist. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 2007. Early life Palghat Ramaswamy Raghu was born in Rangoon, Burma (now Myanma ...

etc. She is also proficient in carnatic vocal, violin, mridangam and veena. ''Ghata Tharang'' is a unique concept conceived by Sukanya, in 1992. In ''Ghata Tarang'', she play 6 - 7 ghatams of different shruthis, thereby creating melody on a percussion instrument. She performed the Shankarabharanam raga with 8 ghatams and Sriranjini raga with 7 ghatams. That is the first time, a percussion instrument comes as the main part of a Carnatic concert. She leads an all-female instrumental group, the ''Sthree Thaal Tarang'', which includes ghatam, violin, veena, morsing and mridangam. The group constantly showcases new and veteran women percussionists of the country. She also runs ''Sri Vikku Vinayakram School for Ghatam'' in Bengaluru. She founded ''Sunaadam Charitable Trust'', for teaching and popularizing the ghatam. Sukanya wrote a book on ghatam titled ''Sunaadam, The Vikku Bani of Ghatam Playing''. She was also featured in the book ''The Singer and the Song: Conversation with Women Musicians'' by C. S. Lakshmi, published by Kali for Woman in 2000.

Awards and honors

* Sangeet Natak Akademi Award 2014 * Karnataka Sangeeta Nritya Academy Award, 1982 *Ananya Puraskara 2015 by Ananya Cultural Academy, Bangalore *DEVI award 2015 from Indian Express *Best Senior Ghatam Artist Award from

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 ...

, 2007 *T. T. K. Award 2017 from Madras Music Academy *Award from Narada Gaana Sabha, Chennai, 1990 *Raaga Tharangini Award from Dr.Semmangudi Srinivasaier, 2000 *Putaachaar Award from Percussive Arts Centre Bangalore, 2001 *Best Artist of the Year Award from Bangalore Gayana Samaja, 2009 *She was felicitated by the Ayyanar College of Music, Bangalore, 2008

Titles received

Sukanya has also received several titles like ''Vani Kala Nipuna'' (meaning:Speech and art expert) by Sri Tyaga Brahma Gana Sabha, ''Laya Kala Nidhi'' (meaning:treasure in rhythm and art) by Bhandup Fine Arts Society, Mumbai, ''Layakala Prathibhamani'' (meaning:rhythmic art genius) by Percussive Arts Centre, Bangalore, ''Naada Laya Samragni'' (meaning:queen of tone and rhythm) from Sree Ramakrishna Bhajana Sabha, Bangalore and ''Laya Vadya Chathura'' (meaning:Rhythmic musical elegance) from Anna Nagar Music Circle Trust and Sadguru Sangeetha Vidyalaya.

References

External links

Interview with Ghatam Sukanya Ramgopal, India’s first woman Ghatam player
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sukanya, Ramgopal 1957 births Living people Ghatam players Mridangam players Indian percussionists Women percussionists Carnatic violinists Indian violinists Indian women violinists Carnatic instrumentalists Indian women classical musicians Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Indian Tamil people Women Carnatic singers Carnatic singers Indian women classical singers 21st-century Indian singers 21st-century Indian women singers Women musicians from Tamil Nadu Singers from Tamil Nadu People from Mayiladuthurai district