Vidushi Vasanthamadhavi
Vid. Vasanthamadhavi started learning music at the age of 5 under the expert tutelage of Vid. SreenivasaRaghavachar and Vid.Gopalakrishna. She later obtained advanced training from Ganakalasindhu Sri D. Subbaramaiah.
Vid. Vasanthamadhavi is a multi faceted personality. She is a performer, composer, musicologist, organiser and teacher par excellence. She has made tremendous contributions to several areas of Karnatic Music.
Vasanthamadhavi has performed extensively throughout India. She has given concerts under the auspices of prestigious sabhas such as The Bangalore Gayana Samaja, Malleshwaram Sangeeta Sabha and others. She has been an artist of AIR Bangalore and Bangalore Doordarshan for several decades now. She is also an approved composer of AIR. She is a staunch follower of tradition and authenticity in rendering musical compositions. Alapana, Neraval and Taana singing are her areas of expertise with due emphasis on the usage of Gamakas and Raga Bhava. She has been honored with the title "Kalaradhana Shree" from Aaradhana Music Trust and honored by several Music institutions for her noble services in the Fine Arts field. In her trip to the U.S in 2000, she performed for CMANA in New Jersey, USA. Again in 2004, she gave several concerts, conducted workshops on various musical subjects and gave lecture demonstrations. She has several CDs and cassettes to her credit.
Vasanthamadhavi has established and is the Managing Trustee of Sri. D. Subbaramaiah Fine Arts Trust. She is the first successful lady organizer. The Trust is doing an excellent job in promoting Fine Arts in all its forms and encouraging students of Music in particular by giving them scholarships to attain higher standards. The Trust has set its own syllabus which is followed by several reputed teachers and students in the field. The successful candidates following this syllabus are awarded the title Sangita Koustubha and the Gurus who train these awardees are honored once in three years as Koustubha Acharya.
As the founder and principal of “Ragasree College of Music”, Vasanthamadhavi is training and encouraging a good number of talented and promising students. Every year Prathibha Utsav is celebrated, at which new talented young artists trained by her are introduced to the performing field. Several students from neighboring states and foreign countries are seeking guidance from her in Vocal and instrumental Music. Scores of her disciples have carved a niche for themselves as good performing artists in the Music world.
Vasanthamadhavi has conducted several workshops in Saint Thyagaraja’s Pancharatna kritis, Muthuswamy Dikshitar’s Kamalamba Navavarana Keerthanas, Abhayamba Navavarana Kritis, Swathi Thirunal’s Navarathri Kritis, Sri Jayachamaraja Wodeyar’s Kritis, Rare Javalis and Tillanas, rare compositions of various Haridasas, Panchalinga Kshetra kritis, Melaragamalika, to name a few. Her workshops have been very successful and popular.
Vid. Vasanthamadhavi has a Kovida degree in Sanskrit and is a prolific composer. She has composed in Sanskrit, Kannada and Telugu. Her most significant compositions are the Navagraha kritis and Ashtadikpalaka kritis. The Ashtadikpalaka kritis have been composed for the very first time in music history. Set in different vibhaktis, these kritis give an insight to the Vedic descriptions of the ashtadikpalakas and have been acclaimed as superb compositions by learned scholars. Likewise, the latest set of kritis in praise of the Saptha Rishis and Agastya are a treasure contributed to the music world.
“Sri Venkateshwara Navaratna Maalika” is a set of nine kritis in praise of Lord Venkateshwara in very rare ragas and set in different Vibhaktis. She has composed several Varnas, Tillanas and Navasandhi kritis for Bharatanatyam. She has set to raga several hundred Dasa kritis, sharana vachanas and many shlokas of Adi Shankaracharya, which have been sung and used by both vocalists and dancers alike. A musical opera on Lord Ganesha is also penned by her.
More than forty five Ragas are made use of in the musical opera “Dharegilida Gandharva” written by her, based on the life of Bhairavi KempeGouda, who was a disciple of the great Patnam Subrahmanya Iyer along with Mysore Vasudeva Acharya.
Vid. Vasanthamadhavi has studied the “Shastra” aspect of carnatic music in great detail. She has written an exhaustive article on Janya Raagas for the website induslive.com. She has been associated with Bharata Bharati Sangeetha Seva Pratishtana to bring out an encyclopedic work on Sri Thyagaraja titled “Sri Thyagaraja Yoga Vaibhavam”. She is the editor-in-chief and compiler for "Sri Shyama Vaggeya Vaibhavam". Serving on the committee formed by the Directorate of Text books, she is authoring books for Senior and Vidwat curriculums. She is also an examiner for proficiency grade in Music conducted by the Government of Karnataka.
She has authored the book “Theory Of music”, which details all aspects of classical carnatic Music, useful both for students and teachers. She has penned scores and scores of articles, published in periodicals and magazines.
She has conducted many demonstrative programs including Jatiswara-Swarajati, Evolution of alapana, Tillanas and Javalis, Sri. Thyagaraja’s compositions in praise of deities other than Rama, special aspects in compositions of Sri. Muthuswamy Dikshitar, to name a few. She is currently a member on the film preview committee of Doordarshan.
Vasanthamadhavi’s Navagraha Kritis give an insight to Raga Lakshana, Laya, Bhava and Sahitya.
- The Times of India
The unique “Ashta Dikpalaka Kritis” composed by the renowned musician Vasanthamadhavi constitute a treasure to our music field. Their intrinsic musical quality is of an admirable order.
- Bhavana’s News Letter
With brisk, well-knitted swaraprastharas, detailed raga alapana and Neraval with insight to the ragabhava coupled with perfect control over laya, Vid. Vasanthamadhavi scintillated her audience.
- The Hindu