Smt. Rugmini Gopalakrishnan-Veena Program-Part 1/9-Sharanu Siddhivinayaka- Nata

Smt. Rugmini Gopalakrishnan Veena concert Doordarshan (DD) Program- 2009. Sharanu Siddhivinayaka- Nata Raga- Misrachapu Tala- Purandaradasa Kriti S. RUGMINI GOPALAKRISHNAN BIOGRAPHY -Srimati Rugmini Gopalakrishan is a celebrated veena artist, teacher and performer. Her life has been an exemplification of devotion for the cause of Carnatic music in general and the veena in particular, with a long and distinguished career that continues to rise up to this day. Smt. Rugmini Gopalakrishan was born in the year 1936 and hails from one of India's illustrious musical families. She is the granddaughter of the great poet, scholar and vidwan Gayakashikhamani Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar (1877-1945) and was the founding father and first principal of the Swati Thirunal College of Music in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Is it any wonder that the music that courses through the veins of this musical family found its continuity blossoming in the form of a young girl named Rugmini Gopalakrishnan? She first attended the Swati Thirunal College of Music as a student, and then later served as Professor and Head of the Department of Music in the same college from 1957 to 1986, a position she assumed at only eighteen years of age. She went on to serve as Principal at Chembai Memorial Government Music College in Palghat from 1987 to 1990. Smt. Rugmini Gopalakrishnan began her preliminary training in music under her uncle, also a revered Carnatic musician in her family, Sri Nellai T.V. Krishnamoorthy, prior to receiving The Government of India Cultural Scholarship to undertake deeper studies in Carnatic music on the veena with the legendary Vidwan Veena K.S. Narayanaswamy. In 1954, at the age of 17, Smt. Rugmini Gopalakrishan won The President Award from the first President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, at the first All India Radio (AIR) Competition for Veena. In later years, AIR bestowed upon her the prestigious title A-Top Grade Artist, broadcasting her recurrent veena recitals to innumerable listeners for an astonishing 56 years. Smt. Rugmini Gopalakrishnan's service to the cause of music, India and its culture is splendid and deserves special mention. She has molded countless students from base clay into beautiful forms with her touch. Garlanded and ornamented with numerous honors and awards, Rugmini Gopalakrishnan is one of the most sought-after performers and highly respected teachers of Carnatic music in all of India. Smt. Rugmini Gopalakrishnan currently lives in Thiruvananthapuram with her husband and family and maintains a busy schedule as a music instructor, lecturer, and performing artist at radio, television, and stage concerts, residing in the place she has earned in history as one of the great Saraswati Veena Vainikas of our time.