Kadri Gopalnath worked as salesman, rolled beedis before fame came, recalls son

Coming from a poor family, the artiste, who was third among nine children, had to struggle for a living, says Manikanth Kadri, a well-known music director.

An old photograph of the late artiste inside his residence in Mangaluru.

There was a pall of gloom at Guru Nilaya, the house of saxophone maestro Kadri Gopalnath who passed away in the city early on Friday.

It is in this house in Padavinangady, off the busy airport road, that the maestro lived since 1981.

The closed puja room in the cellar of the house — the place where the maestro practised — and a photograph of the maestro playing the saxophone in the prayer hall stood testimony to the grief of his family members and the large number of his fans.

“My father finally lost the battle,” said his grief-stricken younger son Manikanth Kadri, a well-known music director.

Kadri Gopalnath was being treated for back pain for the last week, he said.

“On Thursday morning, he had discomfort and we immediately shifted him to the A.J. Hospital and Research Centre. All efforts were made to revive him, but in vain. He passed away following a cardiac arrest in the early hours of Friday,” he said.

Recalling the odds that Kadri Gopalnath faced in mastering the saxophone, Mr. Manikanth Kadri said that his father shifted to Mangaluru from his native Sajeepa Mooda village near Panemangaluru, Bantwal taluk, at the age of 15 where he developed a passion for the saxophone. “It was on the banks of the pond at Manjunatha temple in Kadri that he practised saxophone. He then retained Kadri in his name,” he said.

Coming from a poor family, Mr. Manikanth Kadri said, his father, who was the third among the nine children of Nagaswaram artiste Taniyappa and home-maker Tangamma, had to struggle to eke out a living in Mangaluru. While pursuing his passion for the saxophone, Kadri Gopalnath worked as a salesman and also rolled beedis, Mr. Manikanth Kadri recalled.

Patiently hearing visitors and also answering calls on his mobile phone, Mr. Manikanth Kadri was monitoring the arrival of his elder brother Guruprasad Kadri from Kuwait.

Procedural formalities have delayed the departure of Mr. Guruprasad Kadri in Kuwait where he works as an executive in a remittances and money exchange firm, he said.