Ramakrishnan Murthy (born 22 December 1989) is a Carnatic Music vocalist from India. He regularly performs in the annual Madras Music Season besides being featured in music festivals world over that focus on Indian Classical music. He is an A-grade artist of the All India Radio and Doordarshan, Chennai.
Early life and tutelage
Ramakrishnan Murthy began his Carnatic music training from Smt. Padma Kutty in Irvine in 1997. In 2001, he began to take advanced lessons from veteran violin artist Delhi P. Sunder Rajan. Ramakrishnan also spent brief periods of time learning from Vairamangalam Lakshmi Narayanan, CR Vaidyanathan, Vaikom Jayachandran and Chengleput Ranganathan.G. Swaminathan. "Artists are highly sensitive", The Hindu Chennai, 28 August 2014. He is currently under the tutelage of R. K. Shriramkumar.
Education
Ramakrishnan Murthy is an Informatics graduate from the University of California, Irvine.
Concert career
In June 2011, after completing his undergraduate education, Ramakrishnan moved to Chennai permanently and began pursuing Carnatic music full time.Srinivas Ramanujam. "Is Carnatic music a viable career", The Times of India Chennai, 24 February 2012. He has, since, performed regularly in Indian and international music festivals and famous sabhas, including the Madras Music Academy and has been accompanied by virtually all the notable names in the field of music today.N. Jayalakshmi. "Sound of Music Hits a High", Deccan Chronicle Chennai.
Ramakrishnan has also done playback singing for films, debuting with the song "Nalla Nanban" under composer Harris Jayaraj for Shankar's 2012 film Nanban.
Style and influences
His wise sense of aesthetics, his alignment to pitch(shruthi shuddham), enunciation of words, the clarity of his gamakas and his patanthara are often appreciated by critics.K. Ganapathi. "Treading the classical path", The Hindu Thiruvananthapuram, 27 May 2014.
The influence of Ramnad Krishnan, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, and K. V. Narayanaswamy has been observed in his music.P.N.V. Ram. "Nuanced rendition", Sruti Blogspot Chennai, 31 Dec 2011.
Awards and titles
Sangeet Natak Akademi Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar, 2024 Yagnaraman Award of Excellence, Shri Krishna Gana Sabha, 2016"Yagnaraman July Fest", Sruti Blogspot Chennai, 8 July 2016. Kalki Krishnamurthy Memorial Award, Kalki Krishnamurthy Trust, Chennai, 2014 Shanmukha Sangeetha Shironmani title from Shanmukhananda Fine Arts and Sangeetha Sabha, Mumbai, 2013. Outstanding Vocalist, Madras Music Academy, 2011-2014 Yogam Nagaswamy Endowment Prize for Best Senior Vocalist, Madras Music Academy, 2016, 2025 Asthana Vidvan, Sringeri Sharada Peetham, 2017 Senior Outstanding Concert Award, Madras Music Academy, 2017, 2024 Senior Outstanding Vocalist, Madras Music Academy, 2019 Isai Peroli title from Kartik Fine Arts, Chennai "Titles conferred on dancer, Carnatic vocalist" The Hindu Chennai, 02 December 2019.
References