Prince Rama Varma, a member of the Royal Family of Travancore, is a direct descendant of Maharaja Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma and Raja Ravi Varma. Born on the 13th of August 1968, Prince Varma fell in love with music in general and with the music of M.D.Ramanathan (In the Carnatic style) and Kishore Kumar  (In the universal style) in particular when he was still a toddler. He grew up listening to the music of the various great maestros who performed regularly at the Navarathri Mandapam in Thiruvavanthapuram and the constantly updated collection of LP records of Hindi Film Music from his father and sister.

He started formal lessons in music in 1982 from Prof. Vechoor Hariharasubramania Iyer, a senior disciple of Dr.Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, who continued to teach him until his demise in 1994. He also studied the Saraswathi Veena under Trivandrum R.Venkataraman for five years and later under Sangeetha Kalanidhi Prof K. S. Narayanaswamy. At present the Prince is undergoing training under Sangeethakalanidhi Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna and has gone on to become one of his foremost disciples. He has had the rare privilege of not only singing in unison with his legendary Guru but also of having Dr. Balamuralikrishna accompany him on the violin when he sang. In his rendering there is an irresistible combination of tenderness and melody. A post graduate in Commerce, Prince Varma started giving public concerts in 1990 mainly due to the encouragement and support he received from Prof.T.V.Gopalakrishnan who helped him to break free from the royal fetters and perform in public. He has a repertoire of Swathi compositions that is unmatched even by the great masters. From the rare Khamas Varna (Saa Vaama Rusha) to the popular Paahi Sreepathe (Hamsadhwani Keerthana), Varma adds a fresh touch of surprise and grandeur that has become his hallmark.

 

 Among his own favourite Swathi compositions is Aaj Aaaye Shyaam Mohan, the hindustani bhajan popularised by the great Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna in a rare shade of Pahadi. P. Ravikumar, an authority in Carnatic music and the author of a book on the eminent musician M.D. Ramanathan says: “Unlike the present generation, Rama Varma follows a slow tempo in his music, which is devoid of gimmicks. His idol is Ramanathan and it is no wonder that he follows a path of shuddh sangeeth. Certainly Rama Varma is the most exciting prospect to emerge from Kerala in Carnatic music in this period. More significantly, his talent on the veena is exemplary, taking music lovers to a soothing realm.”

Prince Varma has given concerts all over India and in other countries like USA, UK, France, Germany, Kuwait, Dubai and The Netherlands, to mention a few.  His first CD was released at The Queen Elizabeth Hall, London and he has performed at some of the most prestigious venues in Europe.

Fluent in Malayalam, English, Hindi, Tamil and French, Varma is well read and has traveled widely and uses inputs from walks of life other than music too to enrich his art. His music is noted for its strict adherence to tradition coupled with his own charming brand of creativity. He specializes in taking classes and giving lecture demonstrations about various aspects of music to much appreciation and delight from his students and members of the public. He believes in making his lectures entertaining and his concerts informative.

During the past decade he has proved himself to be an organizer of merit by organizing a week long festival of South Indian and NorthIndian Classical Music which is open to the public, at the palace of his ancestor Maharaja Swathi Thirunal in Trivandrum from the 6th till the 12th of January every year. The festival continues to attract a large number of listeners from various parts of the world year after year. He had the privilege of honoring two living legends, Shri Manna Dey who turned 85 and Dr. Balamuralikrishna who turned 75 in 2005, with concerts by the legends themselves that was held in Trivandrum in November 2005.

He proved his dynamism as an organizer and visionary yet again recently by spearheading the move to allow women inside the Navarathri Mandapam, both as performers and aslisteners too, breaking more than three centuries of that tradition. He handpicked octogenarian veteran Parasala Ponnammal to be the first woman to enter the Navarathri Mandapam, thus coaxing her out of a mostly retired life and reintroducing her glorious artistry to the music loving public of Kerala. He was invited to perform at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan by His Excellency The President of India, Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam who calls himself Prince Varma’s fan after listening to his CD, ‘Thaanam – The Pulse Of The Veena.’

His college address book describes him aptly as someone who “Entertains us with his classical music and less classical jokes.” He is striving to be a worthy descendent of his illustrious predecessor Maharaja Swathi Thirunal who is described as the “Prince among musicians and a Musician among princes”

 

Prof. K. Venkataramanan, Rtd. Prof. of Sri Swathi Thirunal Music College, Thiruvananthapuram

 

Prof. K. Venkataramanan born of Kannarayn Krishna Shastri and his wife Bhageerathi in Padubidri village of Udupi Jaluk on 04-02-1936 was a professor in the Swathi Jhirunal Sangeetha College and now at the age of 75 is residing in Thiruvananthapuram.

After completing his general primary education in Karnataka he shifted to Thiruvananthapuram to begin his early lessons in Carnatic Music. He had successfully completed his course in 1958, and obtained Ganabhushanam diploma and post diploma in Sangeetha Vidwan with 1st Class. He has been developing his talents in this art as primary disciple of the famous Vidwan Nellai T. V. Krishnamoorthy (retd. Principal afore­-said Sangeetha College). Son of the celebrated musical genius Sri Muthayya Bhagavatar. In 1966 he added a feather in his cap by receiving the presidential Award and Medal from the President Sri Rajendra Prassad by standing 1st in the music competition conducted under the auspices of All India Radio Thiruvananthapuram. He had a brilliant career as a music teacher in high school in Kerala Government Service during the year 1960-71. Then he got elevated to Sangeetha College in the year 1972. He had completed a meritorious and unbroken service for 31 years and was retired in 1991. He is renowned not only Kerala but also in Tamilnadu and Karnataka. In the meantime he had also received the blessings and awards from Jagadguru His Holiness Sri Sankaracharya of Sringeri. He is also honoured by Jagadguru His Holiness Sri Sankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam as ‘Asthana Vidwan’. He has to his credit brilliant musical concert by himself and along with Nellai T. V. Krishna Murthy. He is an artist appearing frequently in All India Radio and Dooradarshan.

 

 Another remarkable feature that deserves mention in this context is that he tuned about 200 ‘Krithis’ of Haridas Lakshminarayanappaya of Paavanja in South Karnataka in a well arranged system to convert it into Keerthanas. He had also given appropriate notations to the songs in Thulu prevalent in Karnataka. He has a wide circle of disciples and has been giving admirable perfor­mance in All India Radio, Thiruvananthapuram, Trissur, Kozhikode, Mangalore, Madras, New Delhi, Trichinapalli, Vijayawada, Hyderabad etc. He has also rendered music concert at Navarathri Mantapam, Thiruvanathapuram.

His family consists of wife, two sons and two daughters. Even in the evening of his life he is continuing his musical performances as a Tapasya. Besides teaching a number of disciple inculcating in them the beauty, depth and glory of this great art Carnatic Music.

Being the beloved disciples of this great guru we hereby render our heartfelt tributes at his feet.