Rajkumar Bharathi

Parampara

Rajkumar Bharathi is the great grandson of the Great Renaissance poet, Mahakavi Subramanya Bharathi, a poet laurete par excellence. Mahakavi Bharathi had a tremendous liking for singing and probably that wish, the Almighty granted in the form of his great grandson.

Initiation into Music

His mother, Smt.Lalitha Bharathi, initiated Rajkumar into music at a tender age of 5. later on, the great musician Sri.Valliyur Gurumurthi, the stalwart Dr.Balamuralikrishna and the musical maestro T.V.Gopalakrishnan, groomed him.

As a budding musician

As a youngster, Rajkumar has won innumerable awards and prizes in various competitions conducted by various premier Music Institutions. Awards include Inter Collegiate festivals, All India level competitions conducted by All India Radio, The Music Academy, Indian Fine Arts, Tamil Isai Sangam among others.

As a Professional

Rajkumar graduated as an Electronics and telecommunications engineer from the prestigious Guindy College of Engineering, Chennai, but turned to music as a full time career after a short stint as an engineer.

He has been giving Classical Carnatic music concerts all over India and abroad. He has traveled widely to USA, Canada, U.K. Gulf countries, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand.

Rajkumar has many cassettes and CDs to his credit, which has won him many acclaim. He has had the unique opportunity of rendering all the 18 chapters of “Srimad Bhagavd Gita’, in 4 volumes produced by Ramakrishna Math.

Versatility

Impelled by an urge for genuine music, Rajkumar endeavours to achieve musical versatility. - He was a member of the “Madras Youth Choir”, of the late music director Mr.M.B.Srinivasan.

He has sung in films – Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Sanskrit and Tulu and was the leading Indian singer along with Sharon Rose the widely respected Black American singer in the adventurous venture, the Asian Mafia – a daring interplay between Indian and Pop style singers.

Rajkumar does teaching workshops every summer for the London based Carnatic music students and has performed Jugalbandi concerts with Sri.Ramesh Narayan, Sri.Parameshwar Hegde and Sri.Sanjeev Abyangar. He also has performed in the prestigious Canadian `India Festival’ to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Indian Independence, in 1997.

Awards

He has won many awards like ‘Outstanding Young Person Award’, by the Rotary Club of South Madras.‘Sangeetha Gana Sudha Nidhi’ by Thyagaraja Samithi, Anantapur. ‘Sangeetha Sudhakara’, by his Holiness Sri Sringeri Sankaracharya, Sringeri Math. Asthana Vidwan of Shri Datta Peetham, Mysore and Sri Sringeri Math, Sringeri. `Gana Kala Bharathi’ by Hindu American Temple and Cultural Centre, NJ, USA. `Outstanding Young Musician Award’ by Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer trust, Madras. `Kalki Award’ for Young Musician, given by the Kalki Magazine, Madras. `Central Excise Award for Young Achiever’ by the Central Excise Department, Government of India. `Sahitya Priya’ Award given for clear diction and soulful singing, by Jankalyan Trust, Madras.

As a Composer

Rajkumar has donned the role of composer and music director and has been involved in composing music for Audio CD’s, thematic presentations, dance ballets and also for fusion projects. He also has
composed many Varnams, Thillanas and Padams especially for dance projects. As the great grand-son of the Poet Bharathi, he has tuned many of Bharathis lesser known compositions and presented them in the Clssical Carnatic forums. Nominated for the prestigious Lester Horton Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Composing Music for “Creation Myth”, a dance ballet for the UCLA Centre for Performing Arts (University of California, LA, USA) in 1995.

He has composed the title music and the background music for the teleserial `Ramana Oli’ depicting the life history of Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi. This was telecast in the Indian TV Channel for about 14 weeks.

Ballets and companies

Rangoli Fine Arts - LA, USA
Anubhava – Thematic fusion on emotions Creation Myth – East west fusion presentation Mustard Seeds – Tale from the life of Lord Buddha Punyakoti – Based on GOVINA HAADU, a folk tale from Karnataka, India Holy Geometry – Navagrahas and the sacred measurements Thulasi – the sacred plant goddess.www.rangoli.org

Angahara Dance Ensemble – LA, USA Panchatantra – Folk tales From Kerala – Based on the compositions of Maharaja Swathi Thirunal.www.ramadance.com

Indian Performing Arts, MA, USA Gotha - based on the life of Saint Andal. www.indianperformingarts.org

Srishti Dance Company – UK Holy Chakras – Thematic presentation about Shrichakra and the Yantras. www.srishti.co.uk

Vipanchi Dance School, India and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, London Kadirkama Kuravanji – Based on the compositions of the late Maha Vidwan Veeramani Iyer of Srilanka,www.vanifinearts.net

RASA Dance School, India Bharathi Kanda Sakthi – Based on Bharathi’s songs and spirit on Goddess Sakthi. Many Ballets based on the life and teachings of Shri. Ramana Maharishi.

Vaishnavi Dance Academy – TX, USA Kuttrala Kuravanji – based on Lord Muruga’s marriage to Valli.

SruthiLaya – TX, USA Great Kings of India – based on the famous Indian Warriors Vikramaditya, Ashoka and others.