The Rudrapatnam Brothers are an Indian Carnatic vocal duo, consisting of brothers R. N. Thyagarajan and Dr. R. N. Tharanathan. The brothers come from a family of musicians from Rudrapatna village off the Kaveri banks in Arkalgud Thaluk of Hassan district in the southwest Indian state of Karnataka. Vocalist Tiger Varadachariar, on seeing the musical atmosphere there, once claimed that "Rudrapatnam is the Thanjavur of Karnataka". Music, Veda adhyayana, and studying Sanskrit were integral parts of their family tradition.
In 2018, they were honored as the first Carnatic Vocal duo to receive the "Padma Sri," the third-highest civilian award in India, from the Government of India.
Their musical journey spans more than sixty years with thousands of concerts and with hundreds of sishyas around the globe.
Early life and career They are grandsons of R. K. Krishna Sastry, a musician, Harikatha exponent, playwright and a Sanskrit and Kannada scholar. They are sons of R. K. Narayana Swamy, a disciple of Musiri Subramania Iyer, the doyen of Carnatic music. Their uncles are R. K. Venkatarama Sastry, R. K. Ramanathan and Sangita Kalanidhi Padma Bhushan Dr. R. K. Srikantan. Ace violinist Sangita Kalanidhi R. K. Shriramkumar is the nephew of the duo.
They were initiated into Carnatic music and trained by their father and Sastry, the famous violinist and disciple of Sangita Kalanidhi Mysore T. Chowdiah.
Education Thyagarajan earned a M.Sc. in mathematics and worked as a lecturer in mathematics for several years before joining All India Radio in 1976. He was the Assistant Director, Chennai Doordarshan Kendra and retired as Deputy Director, Doordarshan Kendra, Bangalore in 2003.
Tharanathan earned a M.Sc. and Ph.D. in organic chemistry and was a Chemistry Lecturer and retired as Additional Director, Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition in Central Food Technological Research Institute (C.F.T.R.I), Mysore. He was a visiting professor and Fellow at Max Planck Society, Germany and a recipient of Alexander Von Humboldt Fellowship. He has visited Germany several times and worked on research projects.
Musical career One review saw the brothers as deeply influenced by their predecessors, describing their music as adhering to the tradition of Carnatic music. They claim influences from Sri Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Sri G.N.Balasubramaniam (GNB), Sri Ramnad Krishnan and Sri Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman.
They claim the tradition of Saint Thyagaraja Swamy Sishya Parampara in more than one way. Musiri, their guru’s guru belongs to the sishya lineage of Manambuchaavadi Venkatasubbayyar. Sastry was a sishya of Veena Subbanna who was part of the Walajapet sishya parampara and sishya of Mysore Sadasiva Rao.
They emphasize the music of Nayaki, Varali, Begada, Mukhari, Sahana, Madhyamavathi and Thodi.
Concerts They began their concert career in 1956 and since then performed regularly around the world. They have given performances across India accompanied by artists such as Lalgudi Jayaraman, M. S. Gopalakrishnan, V.V. Subramanyam, M. Chandrasekaran, Ramanathapuram C. S. Murugabhoopathy, T. K. Murthy, Palghat R. Raghu, Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman, Vellore Ramabhadran, Karaikudi Mani, V. Kamalakar Rao, Trichy Sankaran, Srimushnam V. Raja Rao, K.S. Manjunathan, G. Harishankar and T. H. Vinayakaram.
In 2016, the Rudrapatnam Brothers received the coveted Sangeet Natak Academy Award from the honourable President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee. In 2017, the brothers received prestigious "Sangita Kala Acharya" Award from the Madras Music Academy.
Awards Year Title Given by 1961, 1963, 1964 & 1965 AIR Music Competitions in Carnatic classical and Light classical Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, the then president of India. The Brothers won the prizes individually in consecutive years in Classical and Light Music categories.1979 Gana Sudhakara Karnataka Sangeetha Nrithya Academy 1992 - Karnataka State Rajyotsava Award1995 Ganakala Thilaka Carnatic Music Society, Goa1999 Musiri Subramanya Iyer Neraval Singing, Music Academy, Chennai1999 Felicitations Bharat Cultural Integration Committee, Chennai2000 T.S.Sabhesh Iyer and K.Ponnaiah Pillai Music Academy, Chennai2002 Felicitations Maharajapuram Santhanam Foundation, Chennai2003 Sangeetha Kala Tapaswi Vaggeyakara Aradhanotsava Samithi, Mysore2003 Karnataka Kalashree Karanataka Sangeetha Nrithya Academy, Bengaluru2005 Thyagaraja Prashasti Bengaluru Nagarathnamma Trust2005 Sangeetha Vidhyanidhi President(s) of the 12th Music Conference, JSS Sangeetha Sabha2006 Artists of the Year Bengaluru Gayana Samaja2006 Gayaka Kala Bhooshana Shri Thyagaraja Gana Sabha Trust, Bengaluru2007 Swaralaya Shrunga Suswaralya College of Music, Bengaluru2008 Swaramurthy V.N.Rao Memorial National Award Bengaluru2008 Asthana Vidwan Shri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham2011 Kalajyothi Nadajyothi Shri Thyagaraja Bajana Sabha, Bengaluru2014 Gana Varidhi M A Narasimhachar Music Foundation, Bengaluru 2015 Sangeet Natak Academy Award Central Sangeet Natak Academy, New Delhi 2016 Sangeetha Kala Acharya Award Madras Music Academy, Chennai 2017 Sangeetha Kala Rathna Award Bengaluru Gayana Samaja, Bengaluru2018 Padma Sri Government of India
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