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At the feet of the master
 Neyveli Santhanagopalan, who is a disciple of Padma Bhushan Madurai
T N Seshagopalan, is a leading Carnatic musician today. He has made it a habit to sing either a Tamil song or a Tiruppugazh in his concerts.
"My father used to sing while on the swing and my mother used to do so while cooking... Their songs used to reverberate in my ears, which sowed the seed of interest in music... My parents were the ones who kindled my interest and I drew inspiration from them..." says
Santhanagopalan.
Since his father was staying in Neyveli due to official reasons, his childhood was spent there, which was why the word 'Neyveli' stuck to his name. When he was four years old, he used to listen to Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar's 'Vatapi Ganapathim' and repeat it in exactly the same manner. Observing this talent of their son, his parents arranged for him to learn music from Chembai Ananthamani (Chembai Vaidyanathar's nephew) when he was eight years old.
He underwent vigorous training under his guru for five years. His practice session used to start at 4 a.m. and sometimes used to continue till 10 p.m. It should be mentioned that he was given money as an incentive for his music by his school.
His guru Chembai Ananthamani sent him to Sreerangam Ranganathan to learn various dimensions of music, which enabled Santhanagopalan to learn a host of
keerthanas.
It is important to mention that his arangetram took place when he was nine, at the Kerala Samaj, with his guru accompanying him on the
thambura.
"I listened to T N Seshagopalan (TNS) once and was mesmerised by his music. Going to his concerts became a regular feature from then on. I was studying in Chennai then and Seshagopalan was in Madurai. I used to learn from him whenever he visited Chennai. At one stage, I decided to stay with him and learn music like in a gurukula. I learnt from him for four years i.e., from 1983 to 1986. I was able to learn various dimensions and even minor details of Carnatic music during that period..." reminsces
Santhanagopalan.
 He wrote the BSRB examination, instigated by TNS, and was selected for the job in SBI (Mambazhapattu). But Santhanagopalan was firm in his commitment to music. Like for sports, Enfield Viswanathan alloted a job for him in Madurai under the music quota.
"Gurukulavasam makes music fill not only on our mind but also flow in our very blood. One who becomes a professional musician, can learn numerous aspects by undergoing gurukulavasam. One can imbibe several special factors that a guru is known for, by staying with him. Through this, in future, one can excel as a teacher also,"
Santhanagopalan.
He excels not only in vocal music but also in playing the veena and
mridangam!
His vast experience on stage in India and abroad propelled him to start a school for music. His 'Sree Chandrasekara Gurupriya' teaches music in the traditional way. The students from his school who are hogging the limelight now are many. Sreeram Parthasarathy, Srividya Venkatachalam, Chinmaya sisters, Nandini Ramamurthy, Hemamalini Sreenivas and Ajay Nambudri are all his students.
"With Kanchi Periyavar's blessings, this school was started to spread his religious teachings... As he had said music should be taught not for monetary benefits but to spread devotion, we make our students sing at temples and teach music to poor students for free...I feel that God has conveyed the message through Periyavar that religion be spread through music," says Santhanagopalan about his school, oozing emotion.
Recently, he has started teaching music via Internet and take Carnatic music to a global level.
 "Daily in the mornings, Jaya TV telecasts a 'Teaching music' programme for 10 minutes. Indiamusic Info, who had viewed this programme of mine, requested me to teach music via Internet. That's how it started..." explains Santhanagopalan, the reason for his teaching music via Internet.
He has been asked to give a concert by ITC in north India, which is an annual feature. Apart from this, Sree Bala Periyavar called him to Kasi Banares and made him sing
Muthuswamy Dikshithar's songs. He was given the oppurtunity to sing ragas like Dhulkalandhi, Ameerkalyani, Yaman Kalyani, and Raamakavi that were brought by Dikshithar from Kasi who had stayed there for five years.
"Through Bala Periyavar I have started Bala Paadam in music," says
Santhanagopalan.
He expresses his views on Tamil music saying that he was involved in it right from the beginning. "My concerts have never ended without rendering
Tamil songs. Every year, I have been singing Tamil songs in 'Arunagirinadhar Thiruvizha' at Vadapalani temple."
He has compartmentalised each year into two: The first 6 months are spent on learning new aspects in music, and the next 6, for giving concerts.
Recently, he released a CD called 'The Listener's Choice' in which he has explained in detail about 'Panchamadhanga' krithi in Malari
ragam.
He is the proud owner of many titles - 'Iasi Peroli', 'Vani Kala
Sudhakara', 'Yuvakala Bharathi', ' Kanchi Aasthana Vidhwan', 'Sringeri Aasthana
Vidhwan'.
He says with conviction that his main intention is to take the message to the younger generation that music and our culture are inter-related.
K
T Sri
Translated by Radha N
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