R Vedavalli
Born in Mannargudi, Tamil Nadu, to Sri. Ramaswami Iyengar and Padmasani Ammal, her talent for music was identified early by Sangita Kalanidhi Srirangam Iyengar, who bought the five-year-old a harmonium and got her started on vocal lessons. The family shifted to Madras in a few years' time and Vedavalli came under the tutelage of Sangita Kalanidhi Mudicondan Venkatarama Iyer. From early in life, Vedavalli won several awards & prizes in prestigious competitions including All India Radio's first prize for Classical Music and Light Classical Music, awarded by the President of India. She was a Central Government scholarship awardee and thus specialised in Padams and Javalis with Smt. Mukta and in Pallavi with Shri Mudicondan himself. Although she had been giving performances since childhood, it was Sri. Ariyakudi who advised her to turn 'professional' when he heard her sing as a 18-year-old girl. Since then, there has been no looking back for this gifted performer, who is today an 'A-top' graded artiste. She has travelled the length and breadth of India, giving concerts and lecture-demonstrations, as also in North America, South-East Asia, the Far East and the Gulf. Smt. Vedavalli served in the Teachers' College of Music of the Madras Music Academy for several years, before becoming a Professor of Vocal Music in the Government College of Music, Adyar. She has thus shared her deep knowledge and extensive repertoire with numerous students at these institutions, apart from training some privately. Among her disciples today are accomplished performers, researchers, teachers and writers. Smt. Vedavalli is also an expert veena player, and has a good command of languages such as Sanskrit, Telugu and Kannada, apart from her mother tongue, Tamil, which helps her sing with artha bhava. Smt. Vedavalli lives in Chennai with her husband Sri. D. R. Santhanam and daughter Kum. Sushruti. URL: http://www.geocities.com/vienna/8896 by Chitra Vasudevan |
