Chembai Puraskaram for T V Gopalakrishnan

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Chembai Puraskaram for T V Gopalakrishnan

Wednesday August 17 2005 11:03 IST

GURUVAYUR: The Chembai Puraskaram, instituted by Guruvayur Devaswom

this year in memory of the late Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, will

be presented to renowned Carnatic musician and mridangam maestro T V

Gopalakrishnan.

 

The news was disclosed by Devaswom Chairman K V Nambiar on Tuesday. A

five-member committee headed by Sangeetha Kulapathi V Dakshinamoorthy

and Devaswom member P N P Panicker selected T V Gopalakrishnan for

this coveted award.

 

The award comprises Rs 50,001, a golden locket of Guruvayurappan and

a citation. The award will be presented to Gopalakrishnan at the

inaugural function of Chembai Music Festival this year.

 

T V Gopalakrishnan was born in 1932 to Tripunithura Viswanatha

Bhagavathar and Meenakshi Ammal. He learned the basics of Carnatic

music from his father at a very young age and later became a disciple

of Chembai.

 

Goplakrishnan had regularly accompanied Chembai as a mridangam

maestro to Guruvayur during the ‘Ekadasi’ festival. After the

death of his Guru, Gopalakrishnan played a vital role in organising

the Chembai festival and continued, till the Devaswom took over the

festival last year, as a sub-committee member of the organising

committee.

 

Gopalakrishnan, who is also a maestro in violin, learned Hindustani

from Pandit Krishnanda and has performed at various stages in India

and abroad. Popularly known as TVG, Gopalakrishnan is also a visiting

professor of many music colleges in India and many foreign countries.

 

T V Ramani (violin) and T V Vasan (Ghatam) are his brothers. His

sister T V Saraswathi told this website’s paper publicationthat

Gopalakrishnan was lucky to sing along with Chemabai Bhagavathar at

the age of nine.

 

He is even now continuing the traditional concert at Poornathrayeesa

temple, Tripunithura, annually, after the death of his father. The

maestro is now in London and is expected back on Sunday.

 

Gopalakrishnan, who is settled in Chennai, is married to Radha and

has three children †" Viswnathan (UAE), Ramanathan (Saxophone), a

disciple of Kadri Gopalnath, and Aparna, a renowned dancer, now

settled in Switzerland.