R Venkataraman (31 August 19385 January 2010) was a classical musician and

veena The ''veena'', also spelled ''vina'' ( IAST: vīṇā), is any of various chordophone instruments from the Indian subcontinent. Ancient musical instruments evolved into many variations, such as lutes, zithers and arched harps.

player from

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, in the

Carnatic Music Carnatic music (known as or in the Dravidian languages) is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and southern Odisha. It is o ...

genre. He was one member of a veena-violin-venu trio whose other members were Lalgudi G Jayaraman and

N. Ramani Natesan Ramani (15 October 1934 – 9 October 2015), commonly known as N. Ramani or N. Flute Ramani, was an Indian Carnatic flautist. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1996. Ramani is also credited with introducing ...

Early days and personal life

Venkataraman started his training in vocal music when he was four years old, under the guidance of his father Rama Subba Sastri. He started his veena lessons when he was eight under Lakshmi G. Krishnan. Venkataraman went on to become a student of

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 Januar ...

K. S. Narayanaswamy K. S. Narayanaswamy, (full name Koduvayur Sivarama Iyer Narayanaswamy; 27 September 1914 – 1999) was a Carnatic veena exponent of the Thanjavur style, in which nuances and subtleties are given more importance over rhythm based acrobatics.

. He later developed his vocal music skills under the guidance of

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 ...

and C. S. Krishna Iyer.

Career

Venkataraman's career spanned five decades. During the years 1965 to 1968, he was part of the famous Veena-Venu-Violin trio concerts along with Lalgudi G. Jayaraman and

Tours

Venkataraman has toured extensively between the years 2001 and 2005. Some of his performances have been in

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among other countries. In addition to is performances he was well known for his lecture demonstrations.

Students

He has been the guru for numerous students for the veena and vocal performances. Some of his prominent students are

Prince Rama Varma Aswathi Thirunal Rama Varma (born 13 August 1968), known colloquially as Prince Rama Varma, is an Indian classical musician and a member of the erstwhile Royal Family of Travancore. He is a Carnatic vocalist as well as an exponent of the Sara ...

(vocal and veena), Sesha Nambirajan (veena), Iyer Brothers (veena), Seetha Balakrishnan (veena) and Sugandha Kalamegam. (vocal).

Awards & felicitations

Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award is an award given by the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, an autonomous organisation for the encouragement, preservation, and documentation of the performing arts of Kerala, set up by the Department of Cultu ...

for 1982 * "''Shanmukha Vadivu''" award by the Music Academy (1990) * "''Chellapally Ranga Rao''" award by the Music Academy (1990) * Honored by the Semmangudi Sreenivasa Iyer trust (1999) * "''Sangita Kala Acharya''" title conferred by the Music Academy (2009)

Death

The maestro and his daughter, Jayasree, died in a car accident at Ulundurpet on 5 January 2010. Their car was on a bridge on the national highway.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Venkataraman, Trivandrum R Saraswati veena players 1938 births 2010 deaths 20th-century Indian musicians Recipients of the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award