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Tamil Saivam Singers
Dr. Sirkali Govindarajan, the great singer with the golden voice, is respected by millions all around the globe as a maestro of Indian Classical, Devotional and Film music, with an excellent voice range and tonal purity. His ringing voice, rendering the songs with expression and expertise, with clear pronounciation of the language, and with classicism intact, was his speciality.
He is regarded as an embodiment of humility and an excellent humanitarian among his contemporaries. His film songs carried a speciality of its own, which are cherished by his fans popularly as "Sirkali's songs", even today! This 'principled singer' has thousands of songs which add honour to Indian music.
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T M Sounarajan
Parents: Meenatchi Iyengar, Venkatammaal.
Date of Birth: 24.03.1923
Plce of Birth: Madurai, Tamilnadu.
First song : Jupiter's 'KRISHNA VIJAYAM' - 1946, Direction: Sunderlal Natkarni, Music: Subbiah Naidu.
He has written many devotional number on Lord Muruga which is popular even today.
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Smt.M.S.Subbulakshmi (b. 16-Sept-1916)
There isn't a music fan alive who hasn't heard of M.S.Subbulakshmi, or MS, as she is popularly known. She gave her first recital at the tender age of 10, when she was asked to sing at the wedding of a Saurashtra friend of the family in Madurai.
Her seeming effortlessness of her music is rooted in technical mastery, ceaseless practice, restraint and constant self apprisal. Though she is over 80, she can still hit the gandhara of the upper register and make you soar with her. Such fidelity to the pitch and resonance are the result of breath control, perfect diction and phenomenal concentration. No other artiste has been as successful in blending the intutive and the reflective elements of art.
MS is the first woman recipient of the 'Sangita Kalanidhi' title and the first one to popularise Carnatic music in North India and in the West at prestigious venues (Edinburgh Festival and the UN). Her admirers are from all walks of life - national and international leaders, fellow artistes and other celebrities. On one celebrated occasion, Mahatma Gandhi requested her to sing his favourite bhajan for him.
MS has won many awards and accolades. The latest in the long line is the Bharat Ratna, India's highest award to its citizen.
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Bombay Sisters
Born at Trisoor, Kerala to Smt. Mukthambal and Sri. N. Chidambaram Iyer, the sisters were brought up in Bombay, where their father was working as Electrical Engineer in the Western Railway.
Smt. Saroja and Smt. Lalitha had their education in the S.I.E.S. Matunga, passed their intermediate privately from Bhopal, M.P. and completed their graduation from the Delhi University by correspondence.
During this period the sisters had their early initiation in Carnatic Music, first from their elder sister, Smt. Sethu Mahadevan and later from Sr. H.A.S. Mani (popularly known as Chellamani Baghavathar). At this period the sisters participated in many competitions and won many prizes and laurels. This induced them to apply for the Government of India Cultural Scholarship for higher studies. As luck would have it, both the sisters got the scholarship, one after the other, which in turn brought them to Madras for higher studies in Carnatic Music from the then Central College of Carnatic Music, Adyar, under the direct tutelage of late Sri. Musiri Subramania Iyer, who was then the Principal of the College.
After passing out of the College with the title "SANGEETHA VIDWAN", they continued their training in Carnatic Music from Sri. T.K. Govinda Rao, who remains the primary disciple of Sri. Musiri Iyer. Till this day the training from Sri. Govinda Rao continues.The sisters started their concert career from 1963, and have been progressing
steadily and steeply, step by step by giving performances in all the sabhas in
our country, all music festivals, A.I.R. National Programmes, and Sangeetha
Sammelans, in Doordarshan and private satellite channels. The sisters are
classified as "TOP GRADE" Artists by A.I.R.
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P. Susheela. The very name would evoke memories of many a number rendered in her rich, reverberating and resonant voice to the fans of South Indian movies, be it Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada or even Sinhalese. With her mellifluous voice she has breathed life into thousands of lyrics, bringing out the right emotion lying under each word and making the song waft straight into the listener's heart.
Susheela was born in 1935 in Vijayanagaram in a music-loving family. Her father P.Mukunda Rama Rao was a famous criminal lawyer, and her mother was Seshavataram .
It was in 1950 that music director Pendyala Nageswara Rao was looking for new talent and approached the All India Radio with a request to refer to him the good singers who used to participate in their programmes. And the radio station sent five persons to him. Susheela was selected after necessary audition tests Susheela has continued her stunning career for over 50 years now, with a reputed 25,000 songs sung in all the languages of South India
She was awarded the National Award five times (1969- uyaru manidan, 1971 savale samali, 1977 – Sirisiri Muvva, 1982 – Meghasandesam, 1983 – M.L.A Edukondalu). She won several State awards, from Andhra Pradesh (1977,1978,1982,1983,1989), Tamil Nadu, Kerala. She was given lifetime achievement awards from the Andhra Pradesh Govt (Raghupaty Venkayya award, 2004), the Tamil Nadu Govt (Bharati Daasan award, Kalaimamani award,1991), Kerala (Kamukara award) and from several popular magazines like Filmfare, Screen, Cinema Express etc; She has an honorary doctorate from Andhra University, awarded at Washington by the North American Alumni Association. She has also won several other awards too numerous to mention.
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Everyone still remembers her as "Avvayyar", the epic-character she played in several movies and made it her trademark. She was endowed with a very high-pitched, crisp and weighty voice that could effortlessly traverse three octaves. Her expression and pronunciation were crystal clear and exuded the bhava and rasa of the song.
Her immortal songs included Pazhaniappa (Ragamalika), Tanittirundu vazhum (Todi) and Vennir anindadenna (Shanmukhapriya)..B. Sundarambal (1908 - 1980) was perhaps the most well-known lady Tamil stage artist of the early part of the last century.
She had a strong, ringing voice which, even with her high pitch or sruti, could with facility traverse the tara sthayi without sounding strained. It was her music which brought her fame on the stage. Her husband and fellow stage actor Kittappa was perhaps even more famous for his music. Apart from being a stage actor, Sundarambal was also a successful cine artist.
For her early film 'Nandanar', KBS received a fee of one lakh rupees and is said to be the first artist to have received such a high fee. Her film 'Avvayyar', produced by S.S. Vasan, was a great success. |
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P.Unnikrishnan
Initiated in Carnatic Music at age of 12 by V.L . Seshadri, Unnikrishnan was inspired by Sangita Kalanidhi Dr. S. Ramanathan who shaped him into a competent and complete Artiste of aesthetic and technical excellence. He now receives guidance from Savitri Satyamurthy and Calcutta Krishnamurthy. He has also acquired "Veenai Dhanammal Bani" from Sangita Kalanidhi T. Brinda and T.Viswanathan.
He is the recipient of many Honours and Awards which include "Kalaimamani" from the Govt. of Tamilnadu, 'Best Raaga' award from Music Academy, 'Yuvakala Bharati' from Bharat Kalachar.
He has rendered concerts in all prestigious Sabhas in the country. His audio cassettes are most popular among rasikas. He is 'A' grade Artiste in AIR Simultaneously, his fame blazed in the film world as a play back singer for his renderings in two Tamil Films. 'Kaadalan' and Pavitra' which earned him the 'National Award' for 1994.
He has made extensive concert tours to USA, South Africa, UAE, Australia and New Zealand.
A B.Com graduate with Post graduate diploma in personnel Management, he is also a keen Sportsman. His passionate cricketing skills as Wicket keeper-Batsman were sacrificed at the Altar of Carnatic Music - no Regrets!
Shri P.Unnikrishnan will be the proud recipient of the prestigious 'ISAI PEROLI' Award instituted by Kartik Fine Arts for the year 1998.
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S. P. Balasubramanium
Balu was born on June 4, 1946, in Konetampet, then in Andhra Pradesh, now in Tamil Nadu. His father, Sri. S.P. Sambhamurthy was a fine musician and an excellent exponent of "Harikatha" (a fine art form of entertainment combined with music and story telling).
Blessed with an adorable voice and impeccable musical skills, SPB was never trained to be a singer. A young, Telugu-speaking lad from Andhra Pradesh, like any other boy his age was studying to pursue a career in Engineering. He had a natural flair for singing and participated in most of the singing contests from college.In one such contest, was spotted by his mentor the late, Sri. S.P. Kodandapani.
Balu won the first prize and walked out with his first break to sing in the film "SRI SRI SRI MARYADA RAMANNA" in 1966. Thus began a legendary career which became history.
So far, Balu has sung over a record 36,000 plus songs in a span of 39 years, in all languages which include several albums of contemporary Indian music, private albums for devotional songs and movies. It is amazing to see the ease with which Balu can render his voice for any language namely, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, Tulu, Oriya, Assamese and Punjabi
He even received the best dubbing artiste award for ANNAMAYYA for lending his
voice to Suman, who played Lord Balaji in the movie.
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Mahanathi Shobana
Shobana acted in the award winner Mahanadhi as Kamal’s daughter. She stopped acting with that one film. She is a famous carnatic singer who sang a song in Mahanadhi too. She has sung more than a 100 devotional songs. |
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Anuradha Sreeram |
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Chitra |
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Sulamangalam Sisters |
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Bangalore Ramaniammal
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