Musical Anecdotes----44
44. Shri.T.M.Krishna ( Jan 22, 1976….)
T. M. Krishna, is a Carnatic vocalist, belonging to a family of music connoisseurs,He was exposed to classical music at an early age. He was born in Chennai . His father was a businessman in the automobile industry and his mother founded several educational institutions, most recently a school for tribal children (Vidyavanam).
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Krishna's guru was B. Seetharama Sharma who taught him when he was only six years old. He had his schooling in an institution founded and run by the J. Krishnamurti Foundation which influenced his perceptions and outlook towards life. He holds a B.A. degree in Economics from Vivekananda College .Through his years at school and university, music remained central to him and before turning twenty he launched into his career as a full-time vocalist .His wife Sangeetha Sivakumar is also a Carnatic musician, The couple have two daughters Arya and Anantha, and the family lives in Mylapore .
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Krishna's mother was a graduate in carnatic music His grand uncle T.T.Krishnamachari (former Indian finance minister and an industrialist) was one of the founding members of the Madras Music Academy . After studying under B. Seetharama Sharma, Krishna was trained by Chengalpet Ranganathan . He also received advanced training from Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer more than seven years.
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Krishna's first concert was at the age of 12, at the Spirit of Youth series organized by The Music Academy, Madras. He has travelled widely in India and abroad and given over 2000 concerts all over the world, performing regularly in major international music festivals. He has performed at prestigious venues including the Kennedy Centre, Theatre de la Ville, The Esplanade, Sydney Opera House, Chowdiah Hall in Bangalore, and the Music Academy, Madras. His global concerts include performances in USA , Canada, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and Austria. Muscat, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai.He has performed extensively in Singapore and Malaysia Australia and New Zealand. He held concerts in war-torn Sri Lanka.
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Krishna has collaborated with a number of artists, including other renowned Carnatic musicians, as well as artists across genres and art forms.
"Saayujya ', was a production in which T.M. Krishna rendered Carnatic concerts along with classical dance renderings by eminent Bharatanatyam exponent Priyadarsini Govind. These complementary renditions were presented at the Kennedy Centre in Washington D.C. and New Jersey in 2012. He presented two concerts in the simultaneous and supportive system of jugalbandi or "twosome" concerts with the renowned Hindustani musician Ustad Rashid Khan in Pune and Bangalore. as part of major music festivals.
"Aikya" a concert with the eminent singer Sudha Raghunathan, presented a 'musical journey into the concept of duality', exploring its presence at various levels.
In collaboration with the distinguished vocalist Bombay Jayashri, he undertook a number of concerts around the world, the first one being held at the official residence of the President of India, Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi,
At the Pablo Casals Festival, Prades, France, he collaborated with eminent instrumentalists Chitravina N. Ravikiran and Patri Satish Kumar and gave a performance of vocal music in an old chapel while a versatile western quartet comprising David Grimal on the violin, Georges Lambert on the flute, Michel Lethiec on the clarinet and Andre Martin on the oboe, and the well-known Catalan singer Ferran Savall, represented Catalan music.
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He has received numerous awards and titles from various institutions around the world. A few are given below.Best Lecture Demonstration Award and – Best Outstanding Vocalist – The Music Academy ; Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puruskar Award - Sangeet Natak Akademi; Kalki Krishnamurthy Award Youth Award for Excellence; Honorific - Sangeetha Kala Bharathi; Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar award from The Music Academy, Madras.
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Over the past 15 years T.M.Krishna has devoted time to imparting knowledge and practice in Carnatic music. Today, many of his students participate in top music competitions and performing as soloists on the concert platform.
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Krishna with Bombay Jayashri along with innovation coach R. Sridhar of IDEAS-RS conceived, created and conducted a "Creativity Workshop' designed for senior managers, professionals and entrepreneurs of leading companies. Bombay Jayashri and Krishna wrote about extending the lessons from the lives of great musicians to corporate professionals. Five qualities that set apart the yesteryear artists from many others in the field were related to business challenges that senior executives face regularly and were presented in a new and innovative way to help unleash business creativity. The workshop was presented on a number of occasions at different venues across India and abroad.
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Krishna wrote a book "A Southern Music – The Karnatik Story" and it was released by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen and Chairman of Kalakshetra, Gopalkrishna Gandhi. It discusses the philosophy, aesthetics, sociology and history of Carnatic music. The book is published by Harper Collins. Bombay Jayashri, T.M. Krishna and Mythili Chandrasekhar published the first-ever coffee table book on Carnatic Music . The book entitled " The Voices Within" is a labour of love and pays tributes to seven Carnatic music maestros. The first copy of the book was received by the former President of India, Abdul Kalam at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. This book was later translated in Tamil and published by Ananda VIkatan Publications. A third book "Professor P. Sambamoorthy" is a Commemorative volume containing brief life sketch and several unpublished and some speeches delivered at various conferences brought out on the occasion of the birth centenary of P. Sambamoorthy, a musicologist, teacher, researcher.
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As a composer TM Krishna has assisted his guru Sri Seetharama Sharma in numerous compositions done by him--to name a few, musical operas like The Ramayana , orchestra presentations and choir presentations. He has also bagged the honor of composing and conducting orchestra of the Singapore Fine Arts Society during his tour at Singapore. This programme has been supported by a grant from the National Arts Council of Singapore and it was titled "On a Classical Trail." He has also conducted much research work in the field of Carnatic music. On respective aspects of Carnatic music and its history, he has given numerous lecture demonstrations at highly esteemed institutions. He is pursuing research for the enhancement of Carnatic music, on audio archiving the "Sangeetha Sampradaya Pradarshini ", a musical treatise of very great importance.
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He is the co-founder of "Jnanarnava Trust". It is an organization that is devoted to the research, documentation and archival of the ancient traditions in Carnatic music. With TM Krishna's initiation "Kalachara Marumalarchi", an organization has been founded that is dedicated to the 'revival of cultural activities in the interior towns and villages of Tamil Nadu, India and to rejuvenate the function of the temples as cultural hubs'. It also works on the issues like women's empowerment, family planning, self-help groups, AIDS, and others."Sumanasa Foundation" is an organization aiming at promoting upcoming Carnatic musicians in and around rural areas . TM Krishna is a founder member of this. This organization also aims at promoting 'talented, underprivileged youngsters and provides them an opportunity to further develop their skills by providing them with the necessary assistance'.
TM Krishna served as the president of the 'Youth Association for Classical Music' (YACM). During that period he has conducted many lecture-demonstrations in over 100 schools (100,000 children between ages of 12 and 17) in Chennai, India, amongst other innovative and far-reaching projects.
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