Padmavathy Ananthagopalan is a classical musician and veena maestro from India, in the Carnatic Music genre. She also plays the mridangam and the nagaswaram. She has seven decades of experience in playing the veena. She hails from a family of accomplished musicians that include maestro Lalgudi Jayaraman and her ancestors are direct disciples of Saint Thyagaraja. She is known for her own unique "gayaki" style. She is huge advocate for the guru-shishya tradition. She has been the guru for numerous artists like Jayanthi Kumaresh and Usha Rajagopalan. She is also the founder of the Sri Satguru Sangitamusic school and has over 25 years of active teaching service through the institution.
Padmavathy was initiated into music when she was five by her father Lalgudi Gopala Iyer. She learnt the nuances of playing the veena from him. Her first performance was at the age of twelve. Her ancestors are the direct disciples of one of the greatest composers of Carnatic Music, Saint Thyagaraja. Padmavathy's spouse Ananthagopalan is also a veena and violin exponent. Ananthagopalan teaches playing these instruments to students. Her elder brother was the late violin maestro, vocalist and composer Padma Bhushan Lalgudi G. Jayaraman. Her younger sisters Lalgudi Rajalakshmi and Lalgudi Srimathi Brahmanandam are also violinists.
Career
Padmavathy plays the veena in the "gayaki" style wherein she delivers the nuances in the musical instrument like in the vocal rendition. Vidhwan S Balachander was a huge influence on her and she considered him to be her "Manaseeka" guru. She observed all the stalwarts and eventually came up with her own unique style wherein every swara is given its due in a raaga. She is an 'A' grade artist and who features regularly in All India Radio and popular Television networks. She has set to tune and Sanskrit works such as Lalita Sahasranamam, Saundaryalahari, Mooka panchasati for the benefit of her students. She has numerous international performances and tours to her credit. Since 1990 she has toured the United Kingdom, the United States, Malaysia and Singapore. In some of these tours she has been accompanied by Jayanthi Kumaresh. She is currently focused on creating more talented veena artists and working towards greater acceptance of veena performances in sabhas that other musical instruments and vocal performances currently enjoy.
Books
She authored and published two books Shadjam and Rishabam in collaboration with the Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society for students of music. She has also authored a book for the beginners in Carnatic Music titled Abhyasa Manjari.
Gurukulam
Padmavathy is a highly respected teacher. Her students are spread across the globe and are successful performers of the veena, the violin and vocal forms. She is a big advocate of the gurkula approach for learning music. She has been teacher to numerous students and many have benefitted from the gurukul form of residential learning. Jayanthi Kumaresh, her niece and student for over 22 years is a veena exponent. Usha Rajagopalan, a violinist is her student. Maalavika Sundar, an upcoming classical and light music singer is her student for over 20 years.
Design and Maintenance
Padmavathy has over 30 veenas in her possession. She is very conversant with the technical nuances of the construct of the instruments and maintains them on her own. She has also made changes to the traditional methods of fixing string and replacing the frets. She has also designed a portable veena that can be dismantled and carried in a knapsack the help of Natesa Achary. This is a helpful innovation as transporting the veena is a huge challenge for artists and is often seen as an impediment for locations where they artists can perform.
Sri Satguru Sangita Vidyalaya
Based on the suggestion given by vidhwan S Balachander, she established a school exclusively for music in 1988 known as Sri Sadguru Sangita Vidyalaya at Anna Nagar. She has trained more than a thousand students over the last 25 years. Students at the school go through a seven-year course that covers music theory as well.
