Neyveli Santhanagopalan

Neyveli Santhana Gopalan (b. 1963) is a noted, respected Indian Carnatic vocalist.[1] He has distinguished himself with numerous concerts worldwide, and is the recipient of many awards from music associations in India and overseas. He is known for his traditional and purist styles of rendering ragas, musical compositions and swaras. Currently, Santhanagopalan acts as anchor for the Jaya TV program "SaRiGaMaPa".[2] He is one of the comparatively young amongst Carnatic vocal musicians and his style is distinguished by his adherence to strict raga interpretation, especially in his rigorous manodharma (creative interpretation) and raga sancharams (bringing out the essential elements or qualities of a raga). This quality of his is evident in his deep mastery of neravals and lack of ostentation in ragam-tanam-pallavis. As a consequence, he is often favorably compared by musical connoisseurs as following the more "purist" and academic vocal traditions of K. V. Narayanaswamy, Ramnad Krishnan and Nedunuri Krishnamurthy. His conformity and respect for the traditional approach to carnatic vocal music is equally evident in his orthodox manner of concert attire (the panchagacham and namam). Santhanagolpalan has been acknowledged as one of the most talented singers around, and his emphasis on purity of nada and tone, and his restrained and measured grasp of kritis is regarded well with the Carnatic musical fraternity. Being a thinking man's musician, his cerebral, methodical approach to raga delineation reflects his own growth in music. Santhanagopalan is also proficient in the Indian veena and percussion instruments, and has made contributions to the field of Carnatic musicology, aided by his being born into a musical family, and undergoing studentship and tutelage under such illustrious Carnatic musical vidwans such as Chembai Ananthamani Bhagavathar, Srirangam Ranganathan, and in particular a rigorous gurukulam under renowned Carnatic vocalist and Sangeetha Kalanidhi T.N.Seshagopalan.[3] Santhanagopalan is a recipient of the Vani Kala Sudhakara of the Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha, and has also received awards and felicitations from Bharat Kalachar, Kartik Fine Arts, Tyaga Brahma Gana Sabha, and the Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer Foundation. He is also the recipient of the title Vidhya Tapasvi from TAPAS Cultural Foundation in 2008. He is a regular and sought after performer during the December and January Madras "Music Season", and his concerts have consistently sold out in such prestigious venues as Madras Music Academy, Krishna Gana Sabha, Mylapore Fine Arts, and Narada Gana Sabha. He is, in addition, a Grade 'A' artist with All India Radio and Doordarshan. In addition, Santhanagopalan also regularly contributes to philanthropic causes as was evidenced by his collection from US Benefit concerts as part of the 2005 Tsunami Relief.