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Vidwan R. Paramashivan is an accomplished musician with a multitude talent repertoire. He has explored the whole gamut of music like Carnatic Classical Music, Theatre, Cinema, Gamakam, South Indian Classical Dance, Light Music and his contribution in these areas as a vocalist, instrumentalist, actor, Music Director and accompanist from past seven decades is exemplary. He hails from Mysore, the capital of the erstwhile Mysore state and also the cultural capital of south India known for its opulent cultural diversity in various arts like Music, Dance, and Theatre. A noteworthy observation is that he still continues to perform at the age of 78.

Carnatic Classical Music Training:
His classical music training started at a very tender age of 4 years from the harmonium exponent Master Shivappa of Chamundeshwari Drama Company, Mysore. Under this guru he learnt fundamentals of carnatic classical music and had rigorous training in voice culturing. He then came under the tutelage of the court musician of Mysore Palace Dr. B. Devendrappa, the Doyen of Bidaram Krishnappa tradition of Mysore. It is here that he inculcated the tradition of his GURU with all rigor and reverence. He mastered the art of singing, and also various instruments like Veena, Violin and Harmonium etc. He imbibed various unique traits of the Mysore style like singing swaraalapanam in three kaalams, strict adherence to Laya and manodharma in singing krithis. Even at this age, his ability to explore 3 and half octaves speaks volumes about his proficiency in singing. At a very young age of 19, in 1952, he passed the proficiency examination (also called Vidwat Pariksha) in vocal music. Later he also passed exams in Veena and Violin.

Noteworthy Performances:
At the age of 10 he substituted the great south Indian classical musician Late M. S. Subbulakshmi in Chennai for 2 hrs. Spell bound by the performance of this young boy, the director of Chennai All India Radio beckoned him to perform in the classical genre for AIR Chennai in 1943, at the age of 12. His visits to Chennai as a singer in AIR continued up till Karnataka state had an AIR station of its own. After the commencement of All India Radio in Karnataka, he continued his performance at AIR Mysore, Bangalore, Dharwad and also performed for doordarshan in Bangalore, Hyderabad as a singer, Music Director and accompanist on Harmonium, Violin and Keyboard.

Then he performed at prestigious concerts like Hanuma Jayanthi concerts for over 20 years in Mysore, accompanied his Guru Dr.B.Devendrappa at Ramanavami concerts, Bangalore and other prime concerts on Vocal, Harmonium and Violin. At the same time he also learnt Hindustani classical vocal under Pt. Madhav Bhat of Udupi.

Experience in cinema:
His experience in the Kannada cine field started way back in 1940 in the movie “Subhadra” directed by Dr. Gubbi Veeranna in which he enacted the role of gopalaka (Krishna’s associate) and also rendered a few songs as a playback singer. In 1944 his contributions to the movies like Bharathi, Krishnaleela (in a comedy role of makarand, krishna’s best friend) and Ramadas as an actor, playback singer, asst music director to Mr. P. Kalinga Rao, asst editor and an asst director K V Iyer is commendable. In 1956 he worked as an associate music director with the famous Kannada music director G. K. Venkatesh in the movie “Jagajyothi Basaveshwara” and “Devadasi”.

Experience in Theater and Drama:
His association with the drama field started concomitantly with his music training at the age of 4. During 1935 he started his drama career from “Chamundeshwari drama Company”. During 1941 he worked under “Classic Comedian K. Hirannaiya Mithra Mandali”. He continued to serve the theater arts field under “Sheshakala Mandali” during 1944, “M. V. Subbaiah Naidu Company” from 1952 -1956. In 1957 he joined Master Hirannaiya Company”, “Dr. Rajkumar Chalanachitra Kalavidara Sangha” in 1958, “Gubbi Company” in 1960 and “R. Nagaratnamma’s Sthree Nataka Mandali”.

As a Music director in the Dance field:
Vidwan R. Paramashivan has composed music, played veena, violin and keyboard to more than 20 classical Dance Ballets ever since 1970. The prominent ones like “Yesu Kristha (Jesus Christ)”, “Buddha Jyothi”, “Seetha Parinaya”, “Basaweshwara” and others have been widely appreciated for their blend of both Carnatic and Hindustani music in the soul stirring compositions. His prior knowledge of Hindustani music came handy to him to blend both the styles of music and generate mellifluous sequences of melodies.

Experience as a Gamaki:
Gamakam forms one of the classical variant styles of carnatic music in which the songs composed to a particular miter is sung without rhythm. This requires an unimitable knowledge of the ragas to be able to summarize the crux of any ragam within a short span of time. He composed music for all the Gamaka poems of karna and sang the same in the Gamaka play “Kunthi - Karna Samvaada” written by Gamaki B. S. S. Kaushik and performed all over places like Bharthiya Vidya Bhavan Bangalore, Chennai, Madikeri and was successful in winning the hearts of audience.

Light Music Field as an Accompanist:
He has accompanied great light music artists like the “king of light music in Karnataka P. Kalinga Rao”, H.K Narayan, Shyamala Jagirdar, Shivamogga Subbanna, Sulochana Venkatesh, B. S. Vijayaraghavan, Ratnamala prakash, Kasthoori Shankar and other senior artists on harmonium, Violin and Keyboard on All India Radio and Doordarshan.

Audio Tapes and CDs released:
Directed music, sang drama songs and accompanied on harmonium for audio tapes & CDs released from the Kannada & Culture Department on Rangageethegalu (Drama Songs) and other tapes like Rangavaibhava, Shri Krishna Garudi, Raja Vikrama, Buddha Jyothi and others.

Recent Release: Retrospective of his career:
8 set of CDs in MP3 format comprising 875 old drama songs along with a book incorporating 1500 songs. He directed and alone sang 450 songs. Forty two singers from Cine and Drama industry contributed towards this mega project, representing singers from 1930s to 2010.

Accolades and Awards:
His consummate and pioneering contributions in the field of Theater and Drama music was recognized by the Sangeetha Nataka Academy at the national level and conferred him the “National Award of Kendra Sangeetha Nataka Academy” of 2005-2006 by the Hon. President of India Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.

He was awarded the prestigious “Suvarna Karnataka Rajyothsava Award” for the year 2005-2006 by the state of Karnataka.

He was conferred the title “Sangeetha Kala Jyothi” by the pontiff of Mysore Parakala Mutt in the year 1981.

He was awarded the first prize; “Veena Krishnamachar Award” in music competition conducted under the aegis of Gayana Samaja, Bangalore by Begum Parween sultana and was lauded for his scintillating performance.

He was also conferred the title “KalaKovida” by the Hombaale Prathibha Ranga of Bangalore for his contributions in light music genre, in 2004.

Few Online References:
http://www.kannadastore.com/product_info.php?products_id=3901
http://www.pics4news.com/events/5042/State_Level_Musical_Function.html
http://archive.deccanherald.com/Deccanherald/oct92006/arts1818272006108.asp
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/53251/metrolife-city.html

http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/23/stories/2010022360160200.htm
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2007/11/24/stories/2007112461740400.htm
http://www.kutcheribuzz.com/news/20060922/gayanasamaja.asp
http://www.apnadesi.net/2010/02/varadaraju-awards.html
http://sify.com/movies/kannada/fullstory.php?id=14571882&cid=13319495

Mr. Paramashivan's contact Address:
C/o Ms Smita Paramashivan,
300 Weeping Willow Dr, Apt J
Lynchburg, Virginia,24501
(Smitha Paramashivan: Cell: 4344260244
E-mail:smithashivan@gmail.com)

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