R.K.Srikantan - A Brief Introduction

Sri Srikantan was born in 1920 to a distinguished traditional family of musicians of Rudrapatnam in Hassan District in Karnataka which is situated on the banks of river Cauvery.He is the youngest son of late Sri Krishnasastry who was a great scholar in Sanskrit and Kannada, a noted poet, a versatile artist and also a Harikatha vidwan.His grandfather Sri Narayanappa of Bettadapura was also a great musician and a close friend of Sri Veena Seshanna of Mysore.After taking lessons of music from his father at a tender age and later from his illustrious brother Sri R.K.Venkataramasastry - a leading violinist and a disciple of T.Chowdaiah - he came under the influence of all leading musicians of yore from the south.The noteworthy features of Sri Srikantan's music are his sruthi suddham, clear cut pronunciation of the sahityam and his bhava-laden krithi renditions.He has been particularly instrumental in popularizing the Devaranamas of all Haridasas especially Purandaradasa. The point to note here is his strict adherence to the rakthi ragas - the ragas which are the life and soul of Carnatic Music. All the Devaranamas tuned by him are in the time honored ragas like Todi, Bhairavi, Mohana, Kalyani, Dhanyasi, etc.Sri Srikantan belongs to the shishya parampara of Thyagaraja himself :
Thyagaraja Walajapet
Venkataramana Bhagavathar
Mysore Sadasiva Rao
Veena Seshanna
R.K.Venkatarama Sastry
R.K.Srikantan.
His pure paataantharams are a treat to the ears.Sri Srikantan is a guru of a very high repute.
A strict taskmaster that he is, he refuses to accept any thing less than 100% from his shishyas !!
He has also been a recipient of many awards and titles including the much coveted Sangeetha Kalanidhi.Sri Srikantan belongs to a near extinct breed of Carnatic musicians who strive and achieve perfection within the time honoured bounds of tradition or sampradaayam.