Concert August 9, 2009

Shri. Sankaran Namboodiri Shri Prasad Mantraratnam, Violin Vasudevan Namboodiri (Mridangam)

When: Sunday, August 9, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Where: HCC Temple
8580 Hickory Creek Road Lenoir City, TN 37771
Adults/Children above 12: $ 20; Students $ 10 per person
Members free.
Tickets can be purchased at the door. For information on membership, or purchase of tickets, please contact:
Radhakrishnan: (865) 675-0118; Amit Vora (865) 531-0078

About the Artists:

Mr. M. K. Sankaran Namboothiri, son of Mr. Krishnan Namboothiri (a Kathakali Dancer and singer) and Mrs. Adithi Devi Antharjanom, was a child prodigy who has become a very successful and traditional professional in the Carnatic music world. Sankaran started learning music at the age of 10 with Sri. C. S. Narayanan Namboothiry; continued studies under great masters like Sri. T. V. Gopalakrishnan, Prof. Mavelikara R. Prabhakara Varma and Late Sri. Palghat K. V. Narayana swamy.Sankaran was the youngest ‘A’ grade vocalist with All India radio (AIR). He was honored by the Ministry of Human Resources and Development, Government of India with a scholarship (1990-1992) and with a Junior Fellowship from Department of Culture (1999-2000). Sankaran was also a lecturer of music at the Teacher’s College of Music run by Madras Music Academy and at the Swathi Kalakendra in Calicut, Kerala. Sankaran has traveled and performed in various countries such as Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Holland, Kenya, Kuwait, Qatar, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates and United States of America. For the last 25 years, he has published numerous audio cassettes and CDs on traditional Carnatic music, devotional songs on Ayyappa, Ganesha, etc. AIR-Chennai plays recordings of his concerts and CDs on a regular basis. Trivandrum Doordarshan and Podhigai channels have shown his classical music videos. Earlier Trivandrum Doordarshan telecast a documentary on Sankaran. In 1982, when he was 11 years old, Sankaran was privileged to perform in front of Mr. Zail Singh, the President of India. He considers it as one of the luckiest moment in his life. The praise and the prize he received from the President are still in his heart. Other memorable experiences he remembers from his public concerts include praises from Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna, introduction by Sri. T. V. Gopalakrishnan and the Ahsirvadham (blessings) he received from Sri. Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer at the Navarathri Mandapam at Trivandrum in 1991. He is also thankful to Dr. K. J. Yesudas for many of his most valuable and critical advices. Sankaran is also very proud of the many artists who have accompanied him such as Sri. T. N. Krishnan, Sr. Sikkil Bhaskaran, Sr. M. Chandrasekharan, and Kumari Kanyakumari on Violin and Dr. T. K. Murthy, Sri. Umayalpuram Sivaraman, Guruvayur Dorai, Sri. Mushnam Raja Rao, Late Sri. Tanjore Upendran, and Late Padmasree Mavelikkara Krishnan Kutty Nair on Mridangam. As a playback singer, he has sung for movies such as ‘Vadakkumnathan’, ‘Madhu Chandralekha’, ‘Kanaka Simhasanam’, ‘Suryan’, ‘Anchil Oral Arjunan’, ‘Romeo’, ‘Swarnam’, and ‘Nivedyam’. For ‘Nivedyam’, he received the Best Playback Singer Award from Gandhi Study Center, Doordarshan Kendra and Ragam Cultural Center in 2008.

Prasad Mantraratnam, from Huntsville, AL is originally from Warangal, Andhrapradesh in India. He is the disciple of Sri "Akella Mallikarjuna Sarma", a leading violinist in Andhrapradesh. Prasad has been a performing violinist both Solo & Accompaniment since 1989. He has performed at several sabhas and organizations widely within India and abroad as well as in All India Radio & TV. He has accompanied on violin for senior musicians like his Guru Sri Akella Mallikarjuna Sarma, Gottuvadyam Ravikiran, Nookala Chinna Satyanarayana, Puranam Purushottama Sastry, Hyderabad Brothers (Raghavachary &Seshachary), M.S. Sheela, Karlapalem Chandramouli, Manda Balarama Sarma, Bangalore S Shankar, Prapancham Sitaram, Sankaran Nambuthiry, Malladi Brothers and several others. Prasad has received scholarship from Indian HRD ministry in 1991 for advanced learning in Violin, which was awarded to about 8 persons in the field of Music. Prasad worked at ISRO satellite center, Bangalore, India for about 4 years and then joined Intergraph India (Hyderabad) where he worked for about 11 years before moving to Intergraph Corporation Headquarters at Huntsville AL in March 2008. Academically, Prasad has a Mech Engg degree from JNTU Hyderabad and a Masters degree in Computer Science from Illinois Institute Of Technology, Chicago.

Vasudevan Namboodiri is a senior disciple of Mridangam Vidwans Shri. Palghat Rajamani, Shri. Trichur C. Narendran and Prof. Velukutty Nair. He has accompanied various well known artists such as Shri. M. K. Sankaran Namboodiri, Veena S. Srinivasan (AIR, Madras), Prof. Nagamani Srinath, Dr. Sreevalsan J. Menon, Shri. Jayan of Jayavijaya, Dr. Nirmala Sundararajan etc.. For the last 3 years he is being invited to play in Cleveland aradhana concerts. He is also proficient on other percussion instruments such as Edakka, Ghatam and Kanjira. He has a Ph.D. from IIT Madras and is currently working with US EPA, Cicinnati.