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A PERFECT COMPOSITION

A PERFECT COMPOSITION

Aparna Shivapura in conversation with this highly eligible torchbearer of the classical traditions, who moves ahead with innovation, a strong foundation and a mountain of talent to back her!

I can hear an earnestness, a sincerity and a certain urgency in her voice, as I speak to her about her calling in the world of music. A sincerity of purpose, to be as authentic and surrender to the ocean of the classical traditions and an urgency to deliver it to the next-gen with as exciting a prospect, as possible. I feel happy and excited to be with her alongside this journey as I hear about her ‘music-filled’ life!
Vijayashree performs with passion, perseverance and a continuous endeavor to do justice to the classical tradition and arts. But we can see her as a youth icon creating a change and positive movement with a clear objective of increasing Carnatic classical music adoption both by our youth and those unfamiliar with this genre of music. She has multiple elements and identities in her – one of the classical, the other of the contemporary world.  Its dual and different but comes from the same base, she says!
Call her a prodigy, I will, for at the young age of one and a half, she could recognize and identify 50 ragas and over 200 ragas when she just four! Immensely talented, I would like to call, for she has pursued this passion and internal love of music even academically and is aiming for a Masters in music! But what makes an ardent musician, a serious pursuer of this great classical art and a highly eligible torch bearer is when you hear about her views, her perspective, willingness to learn and the wonderful plans she has put aside to develop this art, in addition to fulfilling her own desire of residing in the world of music, always!
In the age of advanced technologies, an open and a well-connected digital world, Vijayshree has seized the moment of the changing times and adapted herself very well to several forms of music and art. This has I believe, helped and aided her transformation as an agile and versatile artist with an experience that begins and is founded on Carnatic classical music and extends to the great world of World music, Contemporary styles of music, Ghazals, Light Music and Playback singing in addition to being a flautist. And perhaps,  more.
And why not? This prodigy has an illustrious background, a great parentage and some great training and orientation from the great names of classical music. Vijayshree is the daughter of Vidwan Shri H S Venugopal and Smt T V Rama. One of the aspects she shares with me is the eternal gratitude to her parents and the exceptional support and backing of her father. She says, “He has taught me the importance of being a great human being first, never giving up your humility and has taught me to pursue this art with great dedication and commitment.” This is in fact, a good prescription for many parents who need to realize the importance of early investment of time, guidance and unconditional support from the family which can result in an unimagined success and future!
What is striking about this young lady is that she has already spent twenty and a half years of her life steeped in music! Wow, I say!  This kind of depth, involvement and time spent can give a serious musician a great advantage – of a solid foundation, a great ground to experiment and innovate, a whole new perspective and of course several new opportunities. Which is exactly what has happened in Vijayashree’s case. Its instinctual and intrinsic to her, as she sees, feels and recognizes music all around and inside her. Every moment, every day and every aspect of life is musical to me, she says.
Amongst some of her future plans and projects, she says, she has a long driven passion and word from her teachers to build her expertise in the kritis of the great saint Tyagaraja. And of course, there are several compositions she is creating herself, dappling with jazz and contemporary music and like is said, earlier, the list is endless including wanting to compose and deliver ancient poetry in contemporary styles. While it’s good to think of her as versatile, one must know, that delivering each nuance in each style, distinguishing each style and school of music is more challenging and complex than easy! Hours of practice, a highly disciplined mentoring and focused approach is what can deliver a good job! She is very grateful to ANANYA and Dr Raghavendra, its founder, for being supportive to her and many other such young artists who are seriously pursuing music, she says.
Vivadi ragas  and the entire group of ragas under it are some of my favorite ragas, she says. But to be a good singer, flutist or any other musician, and this applies to all pursuers, she says, it’s important to continuously practice, build in a self-discipline, go as much as you can into the depth so that at the end of it, you realize you have attempted a good performance if not achieved it, yet! One of my unforgettable performances was when I got to sing ghazals in front of the king of ghazal Ustad Ghulam Ali Khan sahab before one of his shows, she says! Such humility, I must say!
Through this forum, VIjayashree is grateful to Shri Praveen Rao who helped her and gave her a platform in Light music, World music and other cross genres of singing and playing the flute. It is due to him that she developed to be a recording session artist and he has constantly been a source of great support, musically and morally.  She is thankful to Sri Ramakrishna Ashram, all the great music Vidwans who have been giving me guidance and been a constant source of support by enhancing my concerts, to her fellow musicians for providing great support. She is grateful to organizations’ like Ananya, Gayan Samaj, who have been very supportive right from my childhood. She is also thankful to various musical and corporate companies who have encouraged me with awards and titles, increasing my responsibility as an artist. She would like to thank Vidwan Anoor Anantakrishna Sharma for having been a great source of support in my musical career, Pandit Pravin Godkhindi for having been giving me an insight to Hindustani raags and guiding me with Bansuri playing, Sri Anup Seelin and Sri Nagendra Prasad for giving me my first huge hit song in Kannada film industry, Sri V Manohar, Sri Vinay, Sri Neel, Sri K Kalyan for involving me in their musical projects and movies, Ustad Faiyaz Khan who has been a great source of inspiration, Padmashri Hariharan, Sri Siva Mani, Sri Rajesh Vaidya, Sri Leslie Lewis, Sri Suresh Peters, Sri Stephen Devassy, for being a great source of encouragement and for the wonderful collaborations and also to her friends, well-wishers, relatives, my kith and kin, for being part of my life every moment. She is also grateful to all my Gurus who have been shaping and molding me musically with so much care and unconditional love. She is also grateful to  Kannada film industry, the TV media, print media, connoisseurs, music and art festivals, Government cultural departments, AIR, sound studios, producers of my music albums and reality shows.
Every time she practices in silence or when she performs to a packed audience, she feels transported in time, like she belongs to a different place and time…such is the power of transformation, of rhythm and beats, of an eternal melody and of music. Reaching a position of fame, limelight, recognition and a huge fan following not to mention the several new opportunities coming her way, but yet, retaining the intrinsic focus on music and its path is the greater advantage that Vijayashree has built for herself, I must say. We wish this powerhouse of talent and energy the very best in all her endeavors and yes, we are very proud of you, Vijayashree!
PROFILE INFORMATION:
Varijashree began undergoing formal training in Carnatic music under Vidhushi H. Geetha at the age of 4. She has also been learning a few rare compositions from Vidhushi Vasantha Srinivasan and Vidwan D.S. Srivatsa. At present she has been learning higher music lessons under the tutelage of Gaanakalanidhi Vidwan Salem P. Sundaresan. She has also been undergoing flute training under her father Vid. H. S. Venugopal for the past 7 years.   Varijashree gave her first full-fledged performance at the age of 7, at the prestigious platform of Bangalore Gayana Samaj.  Varijashree has performed at many places all over India which include- Mysore, Shimoga, Hassan, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Salem, Karur, Chengam, Bhavani, Cochin, Rajmundry, Thirupati, etc,. She was also given the opportunity to perform at Ramakrishna Mission and Sharada Ashram, Sri Lanka, Colombo, in the year 2000, June. She had again been invited to Sri Lanka in the years 2001, October and 2003, May, to perform at Sri Ramakrishna Mission and at the World Hindu Conference, respectively. She has performed at many other places in Sri Lanka which include, Kandy, Tricomalee, Vavuniya, Baticola, etc,.
Varijashree was invited by the ‘Kinkini’ association, Kuwait chapter, in the year 2005, November, in order to offer tribute to Late Smt . M.S. Subbulakshmi. She has also been performing as a flautist, by accompanying her father, H S Venugopal in his flute concerts and playing solo flute concerts.
Varijashree has been rewarded with awards and titles by many institutions which include,

  • ‘Best person of the year’, in the year 1999, February, by the ‘Jai Anjaneya Kungfu Association’.
  • ‘Kempegowda State Award’ by the Bangalore Corporation, in the year 1999, March.
  • ‘Vidyaratan national award’ by Shubaram trust, in the year 1999, April.
  • ‘Pearl of Bangolore’ by the Jaycees’, in the year 2000, March.
  • The title ‘Gaanavinodini’ by the Sharada Ashram, Colombo, in the year 2000,  June.
  • ‘Ugadi Puraskar’ by the Madras Telugu Academy, in the year 2002, April,
  • ‘Ananya Naadajyoti Yuva Puraskar’, 2010,
  • ‘Ananya Pratibhe’, 2010, etc,.
 
Her various press and media reviews call her:  The Hindu - “Varijashree recognized 100 ragas when she was 4”, Deccan Herald - “Varijashree, the rising star”, The times of India - “Seven and a wonder”, Indian express - “Child prodigy Varijashree gives concert”, The island - “Varijashree is a rising star in the horizon of music”m The economic times - “Varijashree, a wannabe maestro”, The New Indian express - “Varijashree, the little singing wonder”, etc,.  Varijashree has performed for many TV and Radio channels which include, Udaya TV, Kaveri, Doordarshan, and Sri Lankan channels like Roopavahini, SLBC, Shakthi, etc,. Varijashree has music albums ‘Arpana’ and ‘Upasana’, and the recently released ‘Mela raga malika’, ‘Bidiru’ and ‘Kaayo enna gopala’ to her credit. She has scored music for the documentary film, ‘Ashtaavadhaana’ directed by Vid. Shataavadhani Dr.R.Ganesh and produced by Abhinaya Bharathi. Varijashree has recently gained popularity as the voice of the young Saint poetess “Helavanakatte Giriyamma”, a tele- serial featured on E-tv Kannada.
 

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Aparna Shivapura in conversation with this highly eligible torchbearer of the classical traditions, who moves ahead with innovation, a strong foundation and a mountain of talent to back her!

I can hear an earnestness, a sincerity and a certain urgency in her voice, as I speak to her about her calling in the world of music. A sincerity of purpose, to be as authentic and surrender to the ocean of the classical traditions and an urgency to deliver it to the next-gen with as exciting a prospect, as possible. I feel happy and excited to be with her alongside this journey as I hear about her ‘music-filled’ life!
Vijayashree performs with passion, perseverance and a continuous endeavor to do justice to the classical tradition and arts. But we can see her as a youth icon creating a change and positive movement with a clear objective of increasing Carnatic classical music adoption both by our youth and those unfamiliar with this genre of music. She has multiple elements and identities in her – one of the classical, the other of the contemporary world.  Its dual and different but comes from the same base, she says!
Call her a prodigy, I will, for at the young age of one and a half, she could recognize and identify 50 ragas and over 200 ragas when she just four! Immensely talented, I would like to call, for she has pursued this passion and internal love of music even academically and is aiming for a Masters in music! But what makes an ardent musician, a serious pursuer of this great classical art and a highly eligible torch bearer is when you hear about her views, her perspective, willingness to learn and the wonderful plans she has put aside to develop this art, in addition to fulfilling her own desire of residing in the world of music, always!
In the age of advanced technologies, an open and a well-connected digital world, Vijayshree has seized the moment of the changing times and adapted herself very well to several forms of music and art. This has I believe, helped and aided her transformation as an agile and versatile artist with an experience that begins and is founded on Carnatic classical music and extends to the great world of World music, Contemporary styles of music, Ghazals, Light Music and Playback singing in addition to being a flautist. And perhaps,  more.
And why not? This prodigy has an illustrious background, a great parentage and some great training and orientation from the great names of classical music. Vijayshree is the daughter of Vidwan Shri H S Venugopal and Smt T V Rama. One of the aspects she shares with me is the eternal gratitude to her parents and the exceptional support and backing of her father. She says, “He has taught me the importance of being a great human being first, never giving up your humility and has taught me to pursue this art with great dedication and commitment.” This is in fact, a good prescription for many parents who need to realize the importance of early investment of time, guidance and unconditional support from the family which can result in an unimagined success and future!
What is striking about this young lady is that she has already spent twenty and a half years of her life steeped in music! Wow, I say!  This kind of depth, involvement and time spent can give a serious musician a great advantage – of a solid foundation, a great ground to experiment and innovate, a whole new perspective and of course several new opportunities. Which is exactly what has happened in Vijayashree’s case. Its instinctual and intrinsic to her, as she sees, feels and recognizes music all around and inside her. Every moment, every day and every aspect of life is musical to me, she says.
Amongst some of her future plans and projects, she says, she has a long driven passion and word from her teachers to build her expertise in the kritis of the great saint Tyagaraja. And of course, there are several compositions she is creating herself, dappling with jazz and contemporary music and like is said, earlier, the list is endless including wanting to compose and deliver ancient poetry in contemporary styles. While it’s good to think of her as versatile, one must know, that delivering each nuance in each style, distinguishing each style and school of music is more challenging and complex than easy! Hours of practice, a highly disciplined mentoring and focused approach is what can deliver a good job! She is very grateful to ANANYA and Dr Raghavendra, its founder, for being supportive to her and many other such young artists who are seriously pursuing music, she says.
Vivadi ragas  and the entire group of ragas under it are some of my favorite ragas, she says. But to be a good singer, flutist or any other musician, and this applies to all pursuers, she says, it’s important to continuously practice, build in a self-discipline, go as much as you can into the depth so that at the end of it, you realize you have attempted a good performance if not achieved it, yet! One of my unforgettable performances was when I got to sing ghazals in front of the king of ghazal Ustad Ghulam Ali Khan sahab before one of his shows, she says! Such humility, I must say!
Through this forum, VIjayashree is grateful to Shri Praveen Rao who helped her and gave her a platform in Light music, World music and other cross genres of singing and playing the flute. It is due to him that she developed to be a recording session artist and he has constantly been a source of great support, musically and morally.  She is thankful to Sri Ramakrishna Ashram, all the great music Vidwans who have been giving me guidance and been a constant source of support by enhancing my concerts, to her fellow musicians for providing great support. She is grateful to organizations’ like Ananya, Gayan Samaj, who have been very supportive right from my childhood. She is also thankful to various musical and corporate companies who have encouraged me with awards and titles, increasing my responsibility as an artist. She would like to thank Vidwan Anoor Anantakrishna Sharma for having been a great source of support in my musical career, Pandit Pravin Godkhindi for having been giving me an insight to Hindustani raags and guiding me with Bansuri playing, Sri Anup Seelin and Sri Nagendra Prasad for giving me my first huge hit song in Kannada film industry, Sri V Manohar, Sri Vinay, Sri Neel, Sri K Kalyan for involving me in their musical projects and movies, Ustad Faiyaz Khan who has been a great source of inspiration, Padmashri Hariharan, Sri Siva Mani, Sri Rajesh Vaidya, Sri Leslie Lewis, Sri Suresh Peters, Sri Stephen Devassy, for being a great source of encouragement and for the wonderful collaborations and also to her friends, well-wishers, relatives, my kith and kin, for being part of my life every moment. She is also grateful to all my Gurus who have been shaping and molding me musically with so much care and unconditional love. She is also grateful to  Kannada film industry, the TV media, print media, connoisseurs, music and art festivals, Government cultural departments, AIR, sound studios, producers of my music albums and reality shows.
Every time she practices in silence or when she performs to a packed audience, she feels transported in time, like she belongs to a different place and time…such is the power of transformation, of rhythm and beats, of an eternal melody and of music. Reaching a position of fame, limelight, recognition and a huge fan following not to mention the several new opportunities coming her way, but yet, retaining the intrinsic focus on music and its path is the greater advantage that Vijayashree has built for herself, I must say. We wish this powerhouse of talent and energy the very best in all her endeavors and yes, we are very proud of you, Vijayashree!
PROFILE INFORMATION:
Varijashree began undergoing formal training in Carnatic music under Vidhushi H. Geetha at the age of 4. She has also been learning a few rare compositions from Vidhushi Vasantha Srinivasan and Vidwan D.S. Srivatsa. At present she has been learning higher music lessons under the tutelage of Gaanakalanidhi Vidwan Salem P. Sundaresan. She has also been undergoing flute training under her father Vid. H. S. Venugopal for the past 7 years.   Varijashree gave her first full-fledged performance at the age of 7, at the prestigious platform of Bangalore Gayana Samaj.  Varijashree has performed at many places all over India which include- Mysore, Shimoga, Hassan, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Salem, Karur, Chengam, Bhavani, Cochin, Rajmundry, Thirupati, etc,. She was also given the opportunity to perform at Ramakrishna Mission and Sharada Ashram, Sri Lanka, Colombo, in the year 2000, June. She had again been invited to Sri Lanka in the years 2001, October and 2003, May, to perform at Sri Ramakrishna Mission and at the World Hindu Conference, respectively. She has performed at many other places in Sri Lanka which include, Kandy, Tricomalee, Vavuniya, Baticola, etc,.
Varijashree was invited by the ‘Kinkini’ association, Kuwait chapter, in the year 2005, November, in order to offer tribute to Late Smt . M.S. Subbulakshmi. She has also been performing as a flautist, by accompanying her father, H S Venugopal in his flute concerts and playing solo flute concerts.
Varijashree has been rewarded with awards and titles by many institutions which include,

  • ‘Best person of the year’, in the year 1999, February, by the ‘Jai Anjaneya Kungfu Association’.
  • ‘Kempegowda State Award’ by the Bangalore Corporation, in the year 1999, March.
  • ‘Vidyaratan national award’ by Shubaram trust, in the year 1999, April.
  • ‘Pearl of Bangolore’ by the Jaycees’, in the year 2000, March.
  • The title ‘Gaanavinodini’ by the Sharada Ashram, Colombo, in the year 2000,  June.
  • ‘Ugadi Puraskar’ by the Madras Telugu Academy, in the year 2002, April,
  • ‘Ananya Naadajyoti Yuva Puraskar’, 2010,
  • ‘Ananya Pratibhe’, 2010, etc,.
 
Her various press and media reviews call her:  The Hindu - “Varijashree recognized 100 ragas when she was 4”, Deccan Herald - “Varijashree, the rising star”, The times of India - “Seven and a wonder”, Indian express - “Child prodigy Varijashree gives concert”, The island - “Varijashree is a rising star in the horizon of music”m The economic times - “Varijashree, a wannabe maestro”, The New Indian express - “Varijashree, the little singing wonder”, etc,.  Varijashree has performed for many TV and Radio channels which include, Udaya TV, Kaveri, Doordarshan, and Sri Lankan channels like Roopavahini, SLBC, Shakthi, etc,. Varijashree has music albums ‘Arpana’ and ‘Upasana’, and the recently released ‘Mela raga malika’, ‘Bidiru’ and ‘Kaayo enna gopala’ to her credit. She has scored music for the documentary film, ‘Ashtaavadhaana’ directed by Vid. Shataavadhani Dr.R.Ganesh and produced by Abhinaya Bharathi. Varijashree has recently gained popularity as the voice of the young Saint poetess “Helavanakatte Giriyamma”, a tele- serial featured on E-tv Kannada.