Adarsh Shenoy K - Tabla Artist
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Gurus
Pandit Yogesh Samsi
Pt Yogesh Samsi was initiated into tabla by his father at the tender age of four, and later received guidance under Pandit H.Taranath Rao. However it was under the gifted tutelage of the legendary Ustad Alla Rakha that Yogesh ji received intense training for twenty three years and, matured into a fine young tabla player.
Yogesh ji has accompanied almost all the top ranking instrumentalists and vocalists and dancers of India, including Ustad Vilayat Khan, Pt Dinkar Kaikini, Pt Bhimsen Joshi, Pt Shivkumar Sharma, Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Pt Birju Maharaj. Apart from accompaniment Yogesh ji has performed numerous memorable solo performances in India and abroad. He has also had the privilege of accompanying his teacher Ustad Alla Rakha and his son the great maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain in their solo performances.
Besides performing Yogesh ji has a sound scholastic approach to the subject and has taken several successful workshops in world music centres in India, U.S.A, U.K, South Africa and Japan. He is also a highly respected teacher, creating a syllabus for learning tabla designed specifically for teachers in the West, an initiative which is sure to have great benefits for the advancement of tabla worldwide.
Pandit Rajgopal Kallurkar
If it had’t been for the call of the tabla, Pt. Kallurkar might have continued his family’s priestly vocation in Kallur, a little town in Raichur district of northern Karnataka. When he was 15, the beauty of the tabla captivated him, and led him to Dharwad. In that musically vibrant city, Pandit Girish Avte, professor of tabla, Karnataka College, laid a firm foundation for Pt. Kallurkar’s percussive imagination. Impressed by his devotion, the master threw open to him the secrets of tabla playing, both solo and accompaniment. Every year, Pt. Kallurkar honors Pandit Avte’s memory by organizing a concert.
Pt. Kallurkar did six – year music course from Karnatak University and earned the Sangeeta Ratna degree. During this period, he picked up the nuances of rhythm from some of the most revered names in Hindustani music. He then took up the Karnataka government’s tabla Vidwat exam, and won the first rank. His other academic achievements include a master’s degree in Sanskrit, and the Sangeetha Alankar degree from Gandharva Maha Mandal, Mumbai.
In 1986, Pt. Kallurkar’s musical quest took him to Hyderabad, where Ustad Sheikh Dawood Khan lived. The legendary tabla maestro accepted him as a disciple, and trained him rigorously for five years. Thanks to that stint, Pt. Kallurkar’s robust fingers acquired polish and subtlety.On his return to Dharwad, Pt. Kallurkar founded the Kallur Mahalakshmi Tabla Vidyalaya and become principal. He now teaches, and plays regularly on radio, television and on stage. Vocalists admire Pt. Kallurkar for his sensitive accompanying style. His solo performances are a fine blend of the scholar and the artiste in him. The Joy of tabla is Pt. Kallurkar’s solo album.
Pt. Kallurkar serves as a member of the Karnataka government’s music textbook committee. He is also on the panel of examiners for tabla exams conducted by the Karnataka State Music Education Board.
Pandit Nagaraj Rao Gaikwad
Pt.Nagaraj Rao Gaikwad (born 1958) our Tabla and Hindustani music teacher at NaVaRaSa has a repertoire of qualifications in music from Tabla Nisharad, Tabla Biwakar, Karnataka State Vidwath, Sangeetha Ratna, Sangeetha Visharad and Vidwath, Sangeetha Bivakar to Sangeetha Probar. He has played and accompanied noted singers for music institutions like Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan, Hindustan Kalakar Mandali, Sangeeth Krupa Kuteer, Shruthi, Devagiri Sangeetha Sabha and also Bangalore and Hyderabad Doordarshan.
He took his initial training in Tabla from his father Shri Shankar Rao Gaikwad. Later, he continued his learning under Late Nadayogi Veena Maharaj Swami D. R Parvatekar. He has taken advanced training under Pt. Sheshagiri Hangal. After many years of persevering, learning and concert experience, he has carved for himself a niche both as a sensitive accompanist and a delightful soloist. In his accompaniment to both vocalists and instrumentalists, he has endeared to the artistes he has accompanied and the discerning audience who graced the occasion.
The words of appreciation he has received from eminent artistes like Pt. D. B. Harindra Bharadwaj, Pt. Rama Rao, V. Naik, Pt. R. V. Seshadri gavai, Pt. V. M. Nagaraj, Pt. N.R. Rama Rao, Smt. Devaki Das and a host of others, and the praise bestowed on him by the press bear a testimony to his success. An enthusiastic teacher, he takes interest in training youngsters and has been teaching interested learners. He has the promise and potential of a good artiste and is sure to reach greater heights in the art of Tabla playing in the years to come. He has accompanied – Pt. Vasudeva Murthy (Violin), Pt. Sampath Kumar Acharya (Santoor), Ustaad Abdul Kareem Khan Puyatithi, Shri . P. Sudershan (Raga Darshini Instrument) to mention a few more names from a huge list of artistes.
Vidwan Anoor Anantha Krishna Sharma
Anoor R. Anantha Krishna Sharma was born in Bangalore, a city with rich cultural heritage, to a family of great musicians. He is considered as an eminent percussionist (Mridangam) in the whole of India. His great grandfather Vidwan late Subaraya Shastri and his grand father Vidwan late Anoor Shamanna were fine veena artists. His father Ganakala Bhushana Vidwan late Anoor S. Ramakrishna was a well-known violinist and an eminent teacher too in the Dept. of Music of Bangalore University.
He was initiated to learn Mridangam by Vidwan R. A. Rajagopal, who was a highly accomplished Mridangam / Ghatam artist and a senior staff of All India Radio, Bangalore. Drawing on his long concert career from an early age of fifteen and a number of significant encounters with other great musicians, Anantha Krishna Sharma is known for his own style.
As an accompanying artiste, he has performed with many renowned artistes such as
Dr. R.K.Srikantan, Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna, M. L. Vasantha Kumari, T. V. Gopalakrishnan, Dr. N. Ramani, K.S. Gopalakrishnan, B.N. Suresh, Violin Trio of H.V.Krishnamurthy, Anoor Ramakrishna, A. Veerabhadraiah, Lalgudi G. Jayaraman, M. S. Gopalakrisnan, Sudha Raghunathan, T. V. Shankaranarayana, Bombay Sisters, Madurai T. N. Sheshagopalan, Trichur V. Ramachandran, Dr. S.Ramanathan, Sanjay Subramanyam, Unnikrishna, T.M. Krishna, Maharajapuram Santanam, T. R. Subrahmanyam, Vijaysiva, Neyveli Santanagopalan, Rajkumar Bharathi, M.S. Sheela, R.K. Padmanabha, D.V. Nagarajan, Nagavalli Nagaraj, Usha Char (USA), Sukanya Prabhakar, Nagamani Srinath, S. Shankar, Bombay Jayashree, Charumathi Ramachandran, S. Sowmya, O. S. Thyagarajan, A. K. C. Natarajan, R.A. Ramamani, Prof. T.N. Krishnan, R.R. Keshavamurthy, Ganesh / Kumaresh, Mysore Nagaraj / Manjunath, T.R. Srinath, Dr. Doraiswamy Iyengar, Chitraveena Ravikiran, U. Srinivas, Kadri Gopalanath and many more.
BIO
Adarsh started his training in Tabla at the tender age of 8 under Sri Nagaraj Rao Gaikwad, who built in him a strong foundation of the basics of the Delhi and Ajrada Gharanas. Later he undertook training in the Faroukhabad style under Pandit Rajgopal Kallurkar from the year 1999. At present he is receiving advanced lessons from Pt. Yogesh Samsi of Mumbai. Adarsh was fortunate to be born in a music loving family to Sri Satish and Smt. Shwetha Shenoy, who took immense interest in grounding into him the importance of music at a very early age. Adarsh’s musical inclination was further strengthened by his elder brother Sri Abhijith Shenoy who is a very able Hindustani Classical Vocalist. Adarsh constantly accompanies his brother in all his concerts and the duo have given over 500 concerts together and carved a niche for them in the Hindustani Music Circuit.
Adarsh entered the concert arena at a very young age and has been the preferred choice for many vocalists and instrumentalists. He was one of the youngest Tabla players to be awarded with a B-High grade by the All India Radio, Bangalore at the age of 18. He has given many programs on the Radio and TV. Adarsh is also a recipient of many scholarships like the CCRT scholarship from the Govt. of India, scholarship from the State govt. of Karnataka and the Sursagar Scholarship. He was awarded the Best Junior Tabla Player award by the Sri Rama Seva Mandali, Fort High School.
Adarsh has won various Tabla competitions at the school and college levels and was the winner of the Rotary Club music instrumental competitions for 4 years in a row during his school days. He has represented the Bangalore University at the south zone university competitions and was selected to represent the south zone at the nationals. He also been part of the Jain College Group Song team which has been the All India Champion at the National Level Group Song Competition organized by the Bharat Vikas Parishad. Adarsh has completed his Vidwath exam in Tabla from the Karnataka State Board and Sangeet Alankar from the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya Mandal of Maharashtra, all in high distinction. He is currently pursuing another Music course under the Khairagarh University. He was recently awarded All India 2nd Rank in his Sangeet Alankar exam.
Adarsh’s keen interest in innovation led him to foray into the fields of carnatic music and fusion music as well. He is currently undertaking training in the Carnatic talaa system under Vidwan Sri Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma, a very senior and respected Mridangam Artist from Bangalore. Adarsh is now a regular performer in various Taala vaadyas and ensembles and has been part of various groups like Laya Lahari, Layatharanga, Indo Canadian Band Lehera, Mangal Dhwani, RARE, Nandi Taala Vaadya, Karnataka School of Percussion etc to name a few. He has also successfully ventured into Fusion music and is the Founder member of a classical instrumental fusion band called Vidyouth, which comprises of young musicians from the Hindustani, Carnatic and Western forms of Music. He is part of fusion bands like The Prakash Sontakke Group, The Karthik Mani Group and others.
Adarsh has given many performances and has accompanied artists like Pt. Narsimhalu Wadavatti, Pt. Parmeshwar Hegde, Pt. Nandakishore Muley, Pt.Prakash Sontakke, Pt. Milind Date, Pramod Gaikwad, Pt.Prabhat Kumar, Pt. Santosh Nahar, Dr. Jayanth Kumar Das etc to name a few. He has also performed alongside prominent Carnatic Musicians like Vidwan Sriram Parasuram & Anuradha Sriram, Vidushi Aruna Sairam, Sri Yella Venkateshwara rao, Sri Shashank Subramanium, Mysore Manjunath and Nagaraj, Vidwan Bangalore V.Praveen, Vidushi Kanyakumari, Vidwan Sri N Amrit etc.
Adarsh is aslo the accompanist of choice for the younger generation of Hindustani Musicians like Sameer Rao, Suhas Mitra, Apratim Majumdar, Subranil Sarkar and many others. He has also been part of many jugalbandi concerts and has given Tabla solo recitals as well. Adarsh’s keen sense of rhythm and dexterity has been appreciated by connoisseurs of music, apart from young and old audiences alike. He has played alongside western musicians like Mike Herting, Mathias Shriefel & Peter Kroll Ploeger and some jazz and rock musicians like Amit Heri, Keith Peters, Bruce Lee Mani, Darshan Doshi, Manoj George & Rhzude in fusion shows.
Adarsh has performed at various prestigious platforms across the country and abroad, and has also extensively performed in most cities of Karnataka. Some of his performances include:
· Pt Bhimsen Joshi’s house at Pune in 1996.
· Sawai Gandharva Festival, Kundgol.
· Kannada Sangha, Mumbai.
· Hampi Utsav, Hampi.
· Puttaraj Gavai Punyatithi, Chennai.
· Sursagar, Bangalore.
· Devanandan Ubhaykar Smriti, Bangalore.
· Sri Rama Seva Mandali, Fort High School, Bangalore.
· Sangeet Sankalp, Bangalore.
· Doordarshan 25th Anniversary celebration at Gulbarga.
· Bangalore Habba.
· Mysore Dussehra.
· Chennai Marghari Utsava.
· Vishwa Kannada Sammelana, Belgaum
· Kadamba Utsava, Banavasi
· UAE Kannada Koota, Dubai
· The Royal Library, Copenhagen, Denmark
· Gyeonju World Traditional Wind Instrument festival, Korea
· IBM Conference, Kathamandu, Nepal
He has also performed at Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Coimbatore, Kasargod, Baroda, Kolhapur, Hassan, Manipal, Goa, Belgaum, Gulbarga etc to name a few.
Adarsh is a commerce graduate from Sri Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain College and holds a PGDBA in Finance from Bangalore University. He has also completed his MBA in Finance from ICFAI Business School Bangalore with High Merit and is a scholarship holder from both the above said institutes.
Adarsh is an avid chess player and has won many inter school and inter college chess competitions. Inspired by his Guruji Adarsh has taken up teaching, and conducts weekly Tabla Classes for aspiring young students and working professionals. He is currently working at Hewlett Packard as a Analytics Consultant.
