Vellore G. Ramabhadran (4 August 1929 – 27 February 2012) was a Mridangam artiste 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 ...

, India. 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 in 2004.

Early years

Born in

Vellore Vellore (English: ), also spelt as Velur (), is a city and the administrative headquarters of Vellore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Palar River in the northeastern part of Tamil Nadu and is separ ...

, he showed interest 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 ...

even at an early age. His father '' Konnakol T. P. Gopalachari'', a musician himself, was running a Music Sabha in

. This sabha conducted competitions in Carnatic music among children. Maestros like Kancheepuram

Naina Pillai Naina may refer to: Films and music * ''Naina'' (1973 film) * ''Naina'' (2002 film) * ''Naina'' (2005 film) * "Naina" (Arijit Singh song), a song from the 2016 film ''Dangal'' People * Naina Yeltsina, widow of former Russian President Bori ...

Palghat Mani Iyer Palghat T. S. Mani Iyer (1912–1981), born Thiruvilvamalai Ramaswamy was one of the leading mridangists in the field of Carnatic music. He, along with his contemporaries Palani Subramaniam Pillai and Ramanathapuram C. S. Murugabhoopathy, are ...

and Pudukottai

Dakshinamurthy Pillai Dhakshinamoorthy Pillai (1875–1936), was a leading mridangam and kanjira artist who accompanied musicians in Carnatic music Carnatic music, known as or in the South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with Sout ...

judged competitors and awarded prizes.

M. S. Subbulakshmi Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi (16 September 1916 – 11 December 2004) was an Indian Carnatic singer from Madurai, Tamil Nadu. She was the first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour. She is ...

has given a concert in this Sabha in 1936Ramabhadran Interview
/ref>
Young Ramabhadran was fascinated by the music concerts and started learning Mridangam from his father at the age of eight.
During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

people living in Madras (presently,

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 ...

) evacuated the city and moved to interior towns and villages. In 1942, Thiruparkadal Srinivasa Iyengar moved from Chennai to Salem. It gave an opportunity for Ramabhadran to learn vocal music from him.
Ramabhadran moved to Chennai in 1950 and took residence at

Mylapore Mylapore, also spelt Mayilapur, is a neighbourhood in the central part of the city of Chennai, India. It is one of the oldest residential parts of the city. It is also called Tirumayilai. The locality is claimed to be the birthplace of the cel ...

Performances

In his first stage appearance, he accompanied

Madurai Mani Iyer Madurai Mani Iyer ( ta, மதுரை மணி ஐயர்; 25 October 1912 – 8 June 1968) was an Indian Carnatic music singer, who was famous for his unique style. He was one of the most highly celebrated carnatic vocalists during the fi ...

on the Mridangam. During the 1940s there were not many ''Sabha''s in Chennai. He accompanied Madurai Mani Iyer in concerts held at various temples throughout Tamil Nadu.
Ramabhadran has performed as an accompanying Mridangam artiste to Carnatic music doyens

Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar (19 May 1890 – 23 January 1967), popularly known as ''Ariyakudi'', was a Carnatic music vocalist, born in Ariyakudi, a town in the present-day Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu. Ariyakudi developed a unique style of ...

Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar a.k.a. Vaidyanatha Iyer (1 September 1896 – 16 October 1974) was a Carnatic music singer from Palakkad (state of Kerala, India). Known by his village name ''Chembai'', or simply as ''Bhagavatar'', he was born to ...

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. ...

Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer Semmangudi Radhakrishna Srinivasa Iyer (25 July 1908 – 31 October 2003) was an Indian Carnatic vocalist. He was the youngest recipient of the Sangeetha Kalanidhi awarded by the Music Academy in 1947, a distinction he holds to this day a ...

Musiri Subramania Iyer Musiri Subramania Iyer (9 April 1899 – 25 March 1975) was a Carnatic vocalist whose stage performing career spanned the 1920s to the 1940s. After retirement from the stage, he remained an iconic figure in Carnatic music as a dedicated teache ...

, G. N. Balasubramaniam, K.V.Narayanaswamy, M.Balamuralikrishna,

Maharajapuram Santhanam Maharajapuram Santhanam, (20 May 1928-24 June 1992) was an Indian Carnatic music vocalist. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1989. He was born in Sirunangur, a village in the state of Tamil Nadu. He followed the ...

, T. V. Sankaranarayanan, T. N. Seshagopalan, B. Rajam Iyer, P. S. Narayanaswamy and to Illustrious Instrumentalists like T. R. Mahalingam, N. Ramani,

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 ...

and T. N. Krishnan. He has also performed with North Indian Music artistes Zakir Hussein,

Alla Rakha Ustad Alla Rakha Qureshi (29 April 1919 – 3 February 2000), popularly known as Alla Rakha, was an Indian tabla player who specialized in Hindustani classical music. He was a frequent accompanist of sitar player Pandit Ravi Shankar and ...

Amjad Ali Khan Ustad Amjad Ali Khan (born 9 October 1945) is an Indian classical ''sarod'' player, best known for his clear and fast ekhara taans. Khan was born into a classical musical family and has performed internationally since the 1960s. He was awar ...

and

Hariprasad Chaurasia Hariprasad Chaurasia (born 1 July 1938) is an Indian music director and classical flautist, who plays the bansuri, in the Hindustani classical tradition. Early life Chaurasia was born in Allahabad (1938) (officially called Prayagraj) in the I ...

Concerts abroad

Ramabhadran went to United States for the first time in 1962 with

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 ...

maestro

S. Balachander Sundaram Balachander (18 January 1927 – 13 April 1990) was an Indian veena player and filmmaker. He directed, produced, and also composed music for a few of his films. Balachander was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1982. He died of a hear ...

, N. Ramani, and Umayalapuram K Sivaraman. They performed in many cities and universities from coast to coast.
He performed in the Festivals of India held in the U.K., USA and U.S.S.R.

Unforgettable experience

Ramabhadran recalls performing a concert for the prisoners in the Palayamkottai Central Prison in 1948 is an unforgettable experience. He accompanied

M. M. Dandapani Desikar M M Dandapani Desikar (August 27, 1908 – June 26, 1972) was a Carnatic vocalist, actor and composer. 'Isai Arasu' Dandapani Desikar was born in Tiruchengattangudi, near Nannilam in Madras Presidency. He got training from Manicka Desikar and K ...

in that concert.
Likewise a remarkable experience for him was the receiving of Sangeetha Choodamani award from the top Mridandam Vidwan Palghat Mani Iyer in 1975. The award was accorded by the Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai.

His thoughts

Ramabhadran opines that Mridangam is an accompanying instrument and it should not interrupt the main artiste. The Mridangam artiste can show his skill during the few minutes he/she is given for "Thani Avarthanam" (Solo interludes).

Performance in Tamil film

Ramabhadran accompanied K. J. Yesudas on the mridangan for the song "Mari, mari, ninne" in the Tamil film '' Sindhu Bhairavi'' produced by K. Balachandar. The film scene shows actor Sivakumar as the singer and

Delhi Ganesh Delhi Ganesh is an Indian actor who mostly acts in supporting roles in Tamil cinema and serials. He has acted in more than 400 films from 1976 to present. Before films, he was a member of the Delhi-based theatre troupe, ''Dakshina Bharata Natak ...

as the mridangam artiste.

Awards and honours

Sangeetha Choodamani Sangeetha Choodamani ( ta, சங்கீத சூடாமணி) is an award bestowed on selected carnatic musicians by Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai (India) every year. The Sabha conducts a music festival called ''Gokulashtami Sangeetha Ut ...

, 1975 by Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai * Sangeetha Kalanidhi, 2004 by Music Academy, Chennai * Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, 1991 by

Sangeet Natak Akademi Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in English) is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India. History It was set up by the Indian education ministry on 31 May 1952 and ...

Sangeetha Kalasikhamani Sangeetha Kalasikhamani or Sangita Kalasikhamani (Sanskrit: saṅgītakalāśikhāmaṇi) (sangeetha = music, kala = art, sikhamaṇi = A gem of a diadem or crest) is the title awarded yearly to an expert Carnatic music Carnatic music, kno ...

, 1998 by The Indian Fine Arts Society, Chennai *

Sangeet Natak Akademi Tagore Ratna Sangeet Natak Akademi Tagore Ratna and Sangeet Natak Akademi Tagore Puraskar were given at special events organised by Sangeet Natak Akademi in *Kolkata – Sangeet Natak Akademi Tagore Samman on 25 April 2012 *Chennai – Sangeet Natak Akademi ...

, 2012 by

Death

Vellore G. Ramabhadran died on 27 February 2012, aged 82.Mridangam exponent dead
/ref>

Disciples

Vellore Ramabhadran has trained many mridangam players. His three most senior disciples are Prakash Rao, currently residing in New Jersey, USA, and Ramesh Srinivasan, currently residing in California, USA, and Anantha Kulathupuzha, currently residing in Trivandhapuram KERALA.

References

External links

# # {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramabhadran, Vellore G. 1929 births 2012 deaths Mridangam players Sangeetha Kalanidhi recipients 20th-century Indian musicians 20th-century drummers Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award