Vocalist Sudha Ragunathan and violinist A. Kanyakumari, disciples of the late vocalist, M.L. Vasanthakumari (MLV), are among those who have been selected for Padma awards.
Sudha Ragunathan, a recipient of Padma Shri, has been selected for Padma Bhushan, while Ms. Kanyakumari has been conferred Padma Shri. “I am not able to express my feeling. I feel like floating in the air,” Ms. Ragunathan, one of the youngest recipients of the Sangita Kalanidhi award of the Music Academy, told The Hindu . She said awards always made her more responsible and prepared her for the next phase of her career as musician. “I dedicate the award to my mother and teacher Choodamani, gurus B.V. Raman, B.V. Lakshmanan and MLV amma,” said Ms. Ragunathan, who was under the tutelage of MLV for 13 years and accompanied her in many concerts.
Ms. Kanyakumari, a native of Andhra Pradesh, had her initial training under Ivaturi Vijayeswara Rao, before came under the tutelage of noted violinist M. Chandrasekaran. “I became a student of MLV in 1971 and was with her for 19 years,” said Ms. Kanyakumari, who had also created new ragas.
“I created seven ragas under the title Saptadri , seven names of Lord Venkateswara of Tirupati and used Annamacharya’s compositions to give expression to them,” said Ms. Kanyakumari, who is senior to Ms. Ragunathan in the MLV school of music.
Her other raga creations include Mahalakshmi, Tirumurti and Bharat , a raga created on the occasion of the golden jubilee celebrations of Independence. Besides giving solo concerts, she has teamed up with saxophonist Kadri Gopalnath and thavil player Haridwaramangalam A.K. Palanivel and their concerts have caught the imagination of the Carnatic rasikas and layman alike.
Civil servant P.V. Rajaraman will get Padma Shri award. The 72-year-old Rajaraman was the topper in the 1967 batch of the IAS and will be remembered for his four and half years as Finance Secretary.
R. Vasudevan, another civil servant would be conferred the award posthumously.
