Radha P Namboodiri, 70, started her journey of Carnatic music holding the hands of T V Ramamurthy in 1960 in Bombay. And now, nearly 60 years later, she will be honoured as a pundit in the path that she chose for herself, with the Sangita Kala Acharya award
from the Music Academy on January 1.
A principal at the Shanmukhananda Fine Arts & Sangeetha Sabha Music School in Mumbai for a decade, the award came to her as a pleasant
surprise. Teaching for her is a way to pass on the tradition and style of her gurus to the next generation. “Maintaining the rich heritage and legacy of Carnatic music is immensely important,” says Namboodiri, who has composed music and been performing in the city during Margazhi until recently.
Coming from a family which was extremely zealous about music, Namboodiri realised her calling from a young age. On the advice of her sister’s music teacher, her parents started her music training, and there was no looking back. Born and educated in Bombay, her love for music brought her to Chennai, where she joined the Central College of Carnatic Music.
“I was exposed to music stalwarts like T Brinda, T K Govindrao and am fortunate that I was groomed in traditional Carnatic music,” she says. “Learning from Sangita Kalanidhi Semmangudi R Srinivasa and his disciple T M Thiagarajan further whetted my interest and I decided to take up music as a profession.” Despite the several years on stage and as a teacher, Namboodiri still retains in her performances the excitement she had as a debutant.
