K. Bhaskaran, profile on music and music-related areas.

TRAINING AND BACKGROUND :

Born in a musical family, mother being an accomplished veena player, first dabbled in flute at 10 years of age, with family guidance, and later training in flute extensively under Mayavaram Saraswathi Ammal, and also mentored by several other music stalwarts and veterans.

SOME IMPORTANT PRIZES AND AWARDS :

• AIR Competition for Flute in 1977, First Prize
• Flute Award at Sri Krishna Gana Sabha 1979.
• TYME Award, 1990.
• Silver flute – Flute Mali award, The Music Academy Chennai 1991
• Instrumentalist award for flute, (Multiple awards) Music Academy Chennai, 2006 Festival.
• Title of ‘Asthana Vidwan of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam’, awarded by Sankara Mutt, Kanchipuram in 2006

SELECTED PERFORMANCES DETAILS

• First Public Sabha Concert, Mid year Music Festival Series, at Music Academy, Chennai Sep 1978, (debut cutcheri).
• Several Chennai December Festival Season performances between 1978 till date, in Music Academy, Indian Fine Arts Society, Nadopasana, Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Nada Inbam etc
• Special shows like IIT Chennai SARANG Festival Inaugural Classical concert, 2005, and fund-raiser for Udavum Karangal, Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai in May 2010.
• Shanmugananda Fine Arts, Mumbai May 2006, NCPA, Mumbai 1999.
• Several concerts in Music Associations and festivals in and outside Chennai in leading cultural centres in Nagpur, Pune, Mumbai, Trichy, Pondicherry, several places in Kerala and Andhra, Bangalore, Mysore and other centres in Karnataka, Spritual and Religious Festivals like Dussera, in Mysore Palace, Purathraeesa Temple, Cochin, Sringeri, Kanchi, Ahobilam, Art-of-living Festival, over thousand.
• Performed demos/concerts in USA in 1993-94, and in 2011.(Cultural groups, temples etc).
• Demonstrated nuances of Indian Classical Music in other countries, to special audiences- Middle East, Europe and USA.
• Srilanka Colombo,- invited performance, Saraswathi Hall, Dec 2011
• . Recent concerts Kanchi Temple Dussera Festival in 2012, IIT Special Cultural event for the students, ‘Demystifying Carnatic Music’ Sep 2012, Flute Mahan SarabaSastri Memorial Concert, at his memorial centre, Kumbakonam (2013) Interview as an expert with demo for DDPODIGAI, in the feature about yester-year flute maestro Dr T.Viswanathan, Apr 2013.

RECORDINGS

• CBS Records : Flute Melody, 1988. (company CBS has been sold now, so not in market )
• Sangeetha Tapes - ‘Flute’ – 2 volumes, 1991, currently marketed as BILVAMUSIC.
• AVM Audio, Flute, 1990
• T-Series Carnatic Classical Instrumental, flute.
• BILVAMUSIC – Winds of Peace, 2002, Pranaam, 2003, Winds of Rhythm, 2008. Winds of the Spirit, Winds of the Soul, 2009 , Winds of the Maestros 2011, Sleep Therapy 2011.

Radio, Television, Special features and interviews

• Performing in AIR (All India Radio)since 1978. South Zone Hook-ups 1985, 1989 onwards.
• AIR Invited audience concerts in Chennai, 1986 and 1988, Karaikal, Pndicherry, 1996, visiting artiste recordings in Nagpur, Bangalore, Mysore,l etc..
• AIR National Sangeeth Samelan concert - Oct 1997, Tiruchi, Nov 2000
• Invited member of Local Audition Board, Chennai, AIR, periodically from 1999 for two years, and also from 2008 for two years.
• AIR– invited to the panel of Judges for final competition for many years, including 1998, 2007, prelims in 2009, and served other events as chief guest, mentor, judge.
• National Program of Music AIR, Jul 2004, National Program of Music, DD, Oct 2008
• ‘Vannamanimalai’ interview in Radio, Chennai FM, on accomplishments in flute, and computer music, ‘Tagaval Neram’ – series about the flute, lecture-demo, Radio, Chennai A, Sep 2005, first-ever demo ‘Sankha vadyam’ (conch ) on TV, DD-Podigai in live program Sep 2007.
• Programs and Coverages over private channels like Sun/Surya/ WIN/SANKARA/AMRITHA

RESEARCH, INNOVATIONS, AND PRESS REPORT SAMPLES

• Junior Research Fellowship awardee for outstanding artistes - 1992 – 1994, for research in arts, ‘Fabrication of fibre-glass flute and research in other areas’ – Dept of Culture, India.
• Senior Research Fellowship awardee for one year 2002-2003, from Dept of Culture, in technology and arts, ‘ Mathematics in laya and pallavis’.
• Computer Generation of Kalpanaswaras – paper presented, Karrataka Gaakala Parishat Conference, Jan 1984, and paper on music and mathematics in Journal of Indian Musicological Society Journal, JIMS, Vol 25, Jan-Dec 1994.
• Several invited talks ‘MIND and MUSIC’ eg., Rotary East, 2011 Dec, Mudhra Seminar 1998.
• Featured in Wikipedia as one of the leading flutists of South Indian classical music.
• Worked with leading doctors on therapy project, and also produced a very successful flute music CD for sleep therapy, based on traditional ragas
• Collaborated with international artistes, in selected cross-cultural exchanges and performed with several top vidwans eg., Special tavil accompaniment of maestro Aridwaramangalam Sri A K Palanivel. Accompanied by several leading vidwans including Sri Vellore Ramabhadran, Sri Tanjore Upendran, Sri Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman, Guruvayur Sri Dorai, Sri Harishankar, Sri TVG, (on percussion) and Sri V. Thyagarajan, Smt T. Rukmini, Sri Tiruparkadal Veeraraghavan, Sri M. S. Anatharaman,Sri S. D Sridhar, Ms A. Kanyakumari, and others(violin).

“K. Bhaskaran, a young flutist gave undiluted musical joy” The Mail, Chennai Sep 1979 “…heartening to see a young adherant like Bhaskaran taking to the flute and mastering it competently”Subbudu, Indian Express, December 27 th 1981.”
“The flute obeyed his directions with striking promptitude. Bhaskaran was the consummate artiste’ – Indian Post, Mumbai, Jul 29, 1988, report on Concert at NCPA.
“Anyone sensitive to fine music could feel the freshness and vitality of K. Bhaskaran’s Hymavathy exploration for dikshitar’s ‘Madhurambikaayaam’ … veteran scholar and critic Sri K.S. Mahadevan Indian Express, Chennai Oct 18, 1998.
‘Beginning in the lower octave, the flautist carefully created a beautiful silhouette of the ragam without resorting to gimmicks. Bhaskaran's manobhavam steeped in deep classicism produced natural phrases. The way he developed the raga was like Sunil Gavaskar building his innings to reach the coveted three-figure mark’ …The Hindu, concert review 2006 ‘Sheer state-of-the-art music replete with dimensions of a praiseworthy order’ Ind Express, 2005 (several youtube, internet, and press reports links are also available)