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Carnatic singer Sudha Raghunathan gets Padma Bhushan
Chennai, Jan 25
Popular Carnatic composer and
vocalist Sudha Raghunathan was Sunday named for the Padma Bhushan on the
eve of the 66th Republic Day.
Raghunathan will get the award for her contribution to art and music over the last three decades.
Born
in a Tamil Brahmin family in Bangalore in 1977, she was initially
trained in Carnatic music by her mother, a music teacher, from the age
of three.
Later, she trained under B.V Lakshman and M.L Vasantha Kumari (MLV), whose student she remained for 13 years.
At
20 years of age, Raghunathan was singing about 20 concerts per month.
Although pushed into music at a very young age, she had always dreamt of
becoming a doctor but it was a government scholarship for music that
changed her mind.
Her introduction to concerts began with accompanying MLV on the tanpura.
She
has performed in India as well as abroad over the years and has been
performing at the Madras Music Season since 1990 in memory of her guru
MLV, who passed away that year.
In 2004, she was conferred the Padma Shri. She is also the recipient of Sangita Kalanidhi and Kalamamani awards.
She is married and has two children.