User:Praskmr/Vankayala Venkata Ramana Murthy

Subject of my article is Vankayala Venkata Ramana Murthy

‘Mridanga Ratna’ ‘Nadopasaka’ Vankayala Venkata Ramana Murthy

Sri Ramana Murthy is serving as “Top Grade, Grade-I” Mridangam Staff artist of All India Radio Visakhapatnam, for last 24 years.

Family background:

Born to a humble family of Musicians from 4 generations. His great grandfather Sri Vankayala Balarama Bhookta was the pioneer of the most famous "TOORPU Bhaagavatam". His father 'Kala Ratna-Hamsa Awardee 'Mridanga Kala Tapasvi' Sri. Vankayala Narasimham (Retd. Top Grade artist from AIR) is a legendary Musician and his Guru who also produced 4 top grade renowned Mridangists in India. He's known for his teaching abilities. Vidwan Ramana Murthy is the blessed one to have born into a family which has all the qualities to provide a world class Mridangist like himself. His dedication towards music and respect towards his Guru (his father) has nurtured him in a manner that he played his first ever concert at the tender age of 8. Sri. Ramana Murthy has believed in developing the art than just follow the common norm of any middle class family in India by only focusing in having a secure 9-5 job. His academics should not go unnoticed. He's a Graduate in Chemistry and Diploma (Hons) in Mridangam. I remember his words which always enchant in my ears about how well he managed his education along with his first love Mridangam. "I had a concert in Calcutta which I didn't want to miss and it was during my final graduation examinations and I used to take the upper berth while travelling and study in the travel time for the exam which I had the next day". Such was the dedication which Vidwan Ramana Murthy possessed. Having interacted with his disciples who are many in Visakhapatnam, US and Bangalore, there are many more such stories which they have to share and how he motivated them to balance academics as well as develop the art of playing Mridangam. His techniques which have been taught by his Guru Sri Vankayala Narasimham is still noted as one of the best ways to teach Mridangam. Lucky are those disciples of the Vidwan through whom the art of playing Mridangam has been cascaded in a very systematic manner. His family consists of his Father, Mother, Wife and two lovely children. His wife, Smt. Meena Vankayala,is a "B-High" grade artist AIR - Doordarshan, a noted Veena (Carnatic Classical Instrumental) artist in Andhra Pradesh who again is presently being trained by Vidushi. Mallapragada Jogulamba (A veneran leading musician) and the Gurus who have instilled this art in her in the initial stages were C H Venkata Sastry and M V Manikyam. Sri. Ramana Murthy's son Anil Sri Sudhakrishna, again is lucky to learn the art of playing Mridangam under his father Shi Ramana Murthy as well as under the constant guidance of his grandfather The Legendary Sangeetha Kala Sagara holder "Kala Ratna-Hamsa Awardee" Sri. Vankayala Narasimham. Shri Ramana Murthy's daughter Vankayala Sarani is a performing artist and a B Graded artist from AIR-Doordarshan in Violin & Vocal under the tutelage of Shri. M S N Murthy.

Shri Vankayala Venkata Ramana Murthy also holds the credit of following in the footsteps of his Legendary Father & Guru by sharing knowledge through teaching the art of playing Mridangam to various students. His achievements and other credits are as under:

Achievements of Sri Vankayala Ramana Murthy

•Gave first Performance at the age of 8 years •Won Gold medal-First prize,in AIR annual National music competitions in 1981 and became graded artist of AIR. •Awarded TOP GRADE,at an young age, in Mridangam,in 2007 •Participated in many National programmes ,Sangeet Sammelan concerts,South zone hook-up concerts,O.B.concerts of both AIR and Doordarshan •He is an extensive performer for more than three and half decades with all the top Indian classical musicians of both Karnatak and Hindustani styles as well as Jazz groups. •Accompanied most of the famous and leading artists of yester,present and younger generations SarvaSri,

R.K.Venkatarama Sastry and Sethuraman,  R.K.Srikanthan, Dr.S.Ramanathan, Dr.Mangalampalli  Balamurali Krishna, Dr.Nedunuri Krishna       murthy,  Dr.NookalaChina Satyanarayana,D.K.Pattammal, Smt. Arundhati   Sarcar, Kum Srirangam Gopalaratnam,  Dr.Emani Sankara Sastry, Dr.Mysore Doraiswami Iyengar,  Dr.Chitti Babu, Dr.N.Ramani, Flute Maestro Shashank,  M.S.Gopalakrishnan, Dr.L.Subramaniam, T.N.Seshagopalan, T.M.Krishna, Smt. Bombay Jayashri, P.Unnikrishnan, Abhishek Raghuram, Sandeep Narayan,  Mandolin Srnivas, Chitra Veena Ravikiran etc… for last 4 decades.

•Accompanied veteran Hindustani musicians like Pt.Jasraj, Pt.Hariprasad Chourasia,Amzad Ali khan,Ustad Sultan Khan etc… •Participated in many Jugalbandi,Western, Orchestral Symphonys and Fusion concerts •Conducted percussion ensembles and fusion concerts with western musicians. •"Layaalayam" is a unique percussion album to his credit,created with high Percussion technicalities blended with aesthetic sense, is again his specialty, based on compositions of different Vaggeyakaras is conceived and successfully conducted  by Sri. Ramana Murthy,in both TV and Public performances, won huge appreciation from press as well as public.

World Tour Concerts with:

•‘Padmavibhushan’ Dr.SriMangalampalli Balamuralikrishna (Vocal) •‘Padmabhushan’ Dr.Sri L.Subramaniam (Violin) •Sri Shashank (Flute) •Dr.Bombay Jayashri (Vocal) and •Jugalbandi concerts with Ustad Shahid Parvez(sitar Maestro),Pandit Purbayan chatterji(sitar) etc…

Performances and Appearances:

•Played Mridangam in Geneva UN,with ‘Flute Maestro’ Sri Shashank,in 1997 •Accompanied Padmabhushan. ‘Violin Chakravarthi’  Dr.L.Subramaniam on Mridangam in 2011 in the presence of the Secretary General Mr.Ban-ki-Moon and  ambassadors of nearly 80 countries as guests in UNO, Washington. •Performed in Symphonies and fusion music composed and Conducted by Violin Chakravarthi ‘Padmabhushan’ Dr. Sri L.Subramaniam, with world famous symphony groups. •Participated in concert,in the first ever South Indian classical concert organized By Opera Theatre Concert Hall, Sydney,Australia With Dr.Bombay Jayashree in 2013 •Composed orchestral music ‘Neelagiri Express’ and’Bay of Bengal’ and performed with famous Austrian and German Musicians like Helmut Gruber,Georg dieganhardt,Dr.Rudi Renger,in Austria,Germany,France. This project was supported by Cultural Ministry of Austria. The same programme was performed in India,supported by Embassy of Austria and ICCR. •Adjudged for ‘PAADAALANI Vundi’ program ,conducted by Sri S.P.Balasubrahmanyam in MAA TV. •Performed ‘Tala Vadya Kuchcheri’ with Veteran Tabla Vidwan Pandit Tanmoy Bose,in Raja Rani Festival,organized by Government of Orissa in January,2014. •Performing in prestigious 72 episodes ‘Raga Ravali’ of SVBC-TTD Channel,based on 72 Melakarta raga system. •Serving as subject expert member(Music)-Board of Studies of Andhra University for last 4 years. •Conducted Lec-dem for M.A.(Music) students of Andhra University •Conducted Lec-dems and Work-shops on Tala System,forMusic students in many music institutions in Kerala,recently. •Performed in Cennaiyl Thiruvayyuru of Laxman Sruthi in Chennai,in Dec,2013 •Performed in Web cast of Annual Music festival of ‘Mudhra’ in Chennai, in Dec,2013 •Performed in Web cast of  Music festival of ‘Charsur’ with Sri O.S.Thyagarajan in Chennai, in Dec,2013 •Performed in Web cast of Annual Music festival of Karthic Fine Arts with ‘Flute Maestro’Sri Shashank,in Dec,2013 •Performed ‘Moodu Taraala Mridangam’(Mridangam Artists of Three Generations),with My father, my brother’s son and my son, in World Telugu Conference,2012,held in Tirupathi •Performed in many Opera theatres in the world.

Awards and Recognitions:

•Awarded ‘Best Senior Mridanga Vidwan’ by The Madras Music Academy, for December season, 2011 •Awarded ‘Best Mridangam accompanying Artist’by Sri Krishna Gana Sabha,Chennai. •Awarded ‘Best Young Professional’ by The Rotary International. •Awarded’Durvasula Bhagavanlu’gold medal. •Awarded ‘Kalavani’ annual puraskaram •Trained Many students and one of the students (Sri Prasanna Kumar) won First prize, in AIR annual National music competitions. •Honoured with ‘Asthana vidwan’ by Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham •He is recipient of many awards and titles like ‘Mridanga Ratna’ ‘Nadopasaka’ ‘Mridanga Marthanda’

Performed in films like Sakhi (Music Directed by the Legendary A. R. Rehman) etc.. and in many Doordarshan and TV documentaries

Publications:

•Easthetics in art of Mridangam-A percussion expression’ is in final stage and ready for publication. •Collaborated with Telugu association of Vancouver,Canada on a Project ‘ evolution and role of percussion instruments in Indian "Folklure" •Easy method to teach Shatakams for present Generation by applying different Rhythmic patterns.

CDs & Albums:

Carnatic Music

With Dr. Sri M.Balamurali Krishna (Vocal) Dr. Sri L.Subramaniam (Violin) Smt Arundhati Sarcar (Vocal) Sri O.S.Thyagarajan (Vocal) Sri Shashank (Flute) Malladi Brothers (Vocal) Dr.Pantula Rama (Vocal) Sri Abhishek Raghuram Sri Sandeep Narayan Smt M.Jogulamba (Veena) Dr.T.Padmini

Fusion Music

Bay Of Bengal Neelgiri Express Expressiveness Expressive India He is known for his melodic and instantly appealing presentation. Sri. Ramana Murthy adopted the techniques of Pakhawaz and evolved a new approach of accompaniment and dedicated to keep the Carnatic music in its high, pure and traditional standards.