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K. V. Prasad
Indian percussionist (born 1958) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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K. V. Prasad (born May 4, 1958) is an Indian percussionist from Kerala. He mainly plays Mridangam. He received many awards and honors including the Kalaimamani from Government of Tamil Nadu in 2000, the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award from Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, Government of Kerala in 2010, and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Mridangam from Sangeet Natak Akademi, Government of India in 2012. He now lives in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
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Biography
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K. V. Prasad was born on 4 May 1958 in Ernakulam, Kerala.[1] As a child, whenever he went to the Ernakulam Shiva Temple, with his father Krishna Iyer, who was known locally as 'Castrol Krishna Iyer', Prasad would play the Chenda in the temple. One day, Marar, the staff artist at the temple, who observed his interest on this percussion instrument, asked his father to train him in some percussion instrument.[2] Father accepted that, but decided to teach him the Mridangam instead of the Chenda.[3]
Prasad, who started studying Mridangam under Narayana Iyer, later undergone advance training from Parassala Ravi, Principal of the Swathi Thirunal College of Music, Thiruvananthapuram for 15 years, and also from maestro T. K. Murthy.[4][5] He follows the Thanjavur style of Mridangam playing.[1] Later, he learned the Chenda from Tripunithura Kala Nilayam and the Carnatic vocal music for 12 years under Ottapalam Mahadeva Iyer of the Kerala Fine Arts Hall.[3][2] He is also trained in other percussion instruments like Edakka, Tabla, western drums and Conga drums.[3]
Prasad graduated in botany from Sacred Heart College, Kochi in 1978.[5][2]
Personal life
Prasad is married to Usha, a musician who has a doctorate in music, and they have two children, Krishna Kishor, a percussionist and member of the Carnatic fusion band Zinx, and Krupaa Lakshmi a dancer and musician.[6] He currently lives in his house 'Arunodayam' in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.[2]
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Career
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Immediately after graduating in 1978, Prasad joined All India Radio's Kozhikode station as a staff artist.[2] An 'A Top Rank' Mridangam artist at All India Radio, Chennai, he joined All India Radio, Chennai as a staff artist (instrumentalist) in 1984, and retired from there on May 31, 2018, after 34 years of service.[4]
The playing that gives importance to 'gumki' (type of finger stroke on left side of the Mridangam), following and imitating different banis (unique style of singing in Carnatic music) of different singers while accompanying them, the tonal quality acquired from recording experience in AIR, the traditional purity of the soft, gentle music, and the lack of superficiality - these are the qualities of his Mridangam playing that pointed out by many including music critic Subbudu.[2]
Prasad has played the mridangam in concerts by many prominent figures, including Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, D. K. Pattammal, M. S. Subbulakshmi, Chitti Babu, K. V. Narayanaswamy, Nedunuri Krishnamurthy, T. N. Seshagopalan, K. J. Yesudas, U. Srinivas, N. Ravikiran, Kadri Gopalnath, D. K. Jayaraman, T. Brinda, T. Muktha, S. Balachander, M. L. Vasanthakumari, M. Balamuralikrishna, Lalgudi Jayaraman, N. Ramani, T. V. Sankaranarayanan, T. N. Seshagopalan, U. Srinivas, Zakir Hussain, G. Harishankar and T. H. Vinayakaram.[1][3] He has performed with them at many venues and festivals both inside and outside the country and has performed in countries including Russia, Holland, Hungary, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, Malaysia, Australia, UK, USA and the Gulf countries.[5] He was one among who performed at the United Nations Assembly Hall on October 2, 2016, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of M.S. Subbulakshmi's concert at UN General Assembly in 1966.[7]
Prasad worked with M. S. Subbulakshmi for about 15 years. Subbakshmi, who had seen his performance on All India Radio, invited him to play the mridangam in her concerts. Prasad then joined her until Subbulakshmi stopped performing publicly.[6] In 1987, he got the opportunity to represent India along with Subbulakshmi at the Indian Festival held in Moscow.[8] Prasad accompanied Kadri Goalnath since Gopalnath was a junior artist.[9] Prasad has also played the mridangam in Yesudas' concerts for 40 years.[8]
Prasad has worked in more than 500 films in various South Indian languages and has worked with many well-known music directors including Johnson, Vidyasagar, Ilaiyaraaja, K. Chakravarthy, B. A. Chidambaranath, Vidyadharan and Raveendran.[5][2] He has also acted in one Tamil cinema, Oru Naal Oru Kanavu, directed by Fazil.[5]
Prasad also has many commercial recordings in his credit.[1]
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Awards and honors
During his high school studies and later during his undergraduate and graduate studies at Sacred Heart College, Thevara, he won first prize in mridangam playing in the state youth festivals from 1971 to 1978.[2] He also won the gold medal in the youth festival organized by the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi at that time.[2] In 1978, Prasad was part of the 128-member Indian team at the World Festival of Youth and Students held in Havana, Cuba.[2] There he played Western drums, mridangam, tabla and chenda.[5]
K.V. Prasad received the All India Radio Prize in 1974, the Kalaimamani title by the Tamil Nadu Eyal Isai Nataka Manram, Government of Tamil Nadu in 2000, the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award from Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, Government of Kerala in 2010, the Vani Kala Sudhakara conferred by the Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha, Chennai in 2011 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Mridangam from Sangeet Natak Akademi, Government of India in 2012.[4] He was made Asthana Vidwan of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham shrine in 2001.[1]
References
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