Wednesday 23 May 2012

Sangeetha Ratna Shri. N.P. Ramaswamy (Pensketch)


Shri. N.P. Ramaswamy Sir, is one of the most famous carnatic vocalists in India. Shri. Ramaswamy has been in the field of music for the last 60 years and has performed across the country. He has authored several articles and papers relating to music and has penned three books too. He studied up to his tenth standard in T.D. High School, Kochi and higher education in Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam. Shri. Ramaswamy is an MSc in Applied Chemistry – Pharmaceutical Science

Shri. Ramaswamy’s repertoire includes over 1,500 compositions which include 24 krithis and 16 varnam. He is the best-known music teacher in the state and has groomed many famous musicians. He is top grade singer in AIR for more than 50 years and conducted thousands of concerts. He has very large circle of disciples and music lovers.

Shri. Ramaswamy Sir, is the recipient of the gold medal for Carnatic music from Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam. He has also won the Sangeetha Ratna, Sangeetha Poornasree awards, the Kerala state award and Sangeetha Thilakam award. Please visit his official website : npramaswami.com/

I met this great personality in a strange occasion. On 04/12/2009, my friend Shri. Dinesh R Shenoy (a great artist) told me to assist him to take some photos of NPR and told that maybe it was his first photo session. (some of the photos can be seen in my album : https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.254274304603773.71520.100000636154417&type=3). From then on we met regularly. I don’t know what he had seen in me to appreciate my “talents”. I even written and submitted about 10 devotional poems in Tamil !! Within two days, he called me. At my surprise one of poems was already composed. He directed one of his disciples to sing. It was like a ‘Keerthana’ and I was totally thrilled. After that he directed me to make these as an album and release. But because of limited resources or financial problems, I have sidelined it.

The great Ramaswamy Sir turned 80 years. He specially invited me to participate and take snaps of the celebration held on 27th and 28th August 2011 (some of the photos can be seen in my album : https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.254275701270300.71523.100000636154417&type=3). He even took his precious time to invite me to attend Lunch held on 19/05/2012 in connection with the Sadabhishekam celebration.

Thank you Ramaswamy Sir for all the blessings.