Sangeetha Acharya
Thiruvaiyaru
S R Krishnan
Srinivasa Raghava Krishnan is a Vedic scholar, Vãkgèyakãra, poet, lyricist, composer, journalist, a spiritual writer, a noveliist, an operatic playwright and until recently a Banker and an International Fiduciary for six decades.
Krishnan started training in (Indian) Karnataka Sangeetam, very young, under the tutelage of his father Gãna-Bhûshaņam Brahmasri Kumãramangalam Srinivãsa-Rãghavan, a Vãkgèyakãra of the 20th century (musician composer with ankitam or mudra, ‘RagaSri’). He also learned under other stalwarts who were contemporaries of his father, legendary musicians such as Sangeeta Kalãnidhîs Maharãjapuram Viswanãtha Iyer, Madurai Mani Iyer and GN Balasubramaniam. Krishnan has been performing since 1955 and has given numerous concerts in prestigious venues in India, Europe, Far East Asia, Great Britain, and the United States, accompanied by acclaimed instrumental musicians many of whom have been legends and in the field of Karnataka Sangeetam (aka Carnatic Music) world.
Krishnan was awarded the prestigeous title of ‘Sangeeta Acharya’ in 2008 by the Indian Fine Arts Academy, United States of America and also became the honoree of the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ for his 60-years contribution to the world of both systems of Indian Music.
The Legacy
Krishnan is a celebrated exponent of ‘Nãma Sankeertanam & Hari-Katha’, two of the hoary musical & spiritual traditions of India, which have been handed down to eminent disciples by great saints over the last ten centuries to the present day purveyors of this exalted tradition. Hailing from a family of Bhãgavatãs, Krishnan has performed this ancient and divine forms of musical presentation over six decades in hundreds of venues in four continents. His Gurus in this tradition include his father Brahmasri Kumãramangalam Srinivãsa-Rãghavan, Brahmasri Nãthamuni Nārāyaṇa Iyengãr, Bhãgavata-Sirómaņi Nārāyaṇa Sãstri, & Swãmi-Haridoss-Giri (popularly known as Guruji), a legendary name in this tradition with whom Krishnan had performed numerous Sankeertanams and “divya-dampati-vivahams’ since 1959.
Krishnan’s earliest Opera and musical compilation on Sri Rãmãyanam, titled “Sitãyãsc`aritam Mahat”, set to musical score by Sangeeta Kalãnidhî Mudikondan Venkatarama Iyer and Padma Bhûshaņ Musiri Subrahmanya Iyer and choreographed by Padma Bhûshaņ Dr. V. Raghavan, was acclaimed widely, and honored by Sir C.P Ramaswamy Iyer. A thespian since his collegiate years, Krishnan was invited to the prestigious National Festivals in Ujjain to play leading roles in many of Mahãkavi Kalidasa’s famed literary works. He has acted and directed a number of plays in several Indian languages and his theatrical expositions have won acclaim in the Indian news media and awards from the internationally acclaimed Educational Trust, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. Krishnan has written, composed, and set to music another traditional opera on the Lord of Sabarimala and has to his credit numerous music compositions in several languages including Sanskrit, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi. His music performances on Musical saints of India series has been popular and Krishnan has performed globally for numerous fund raisers for charitable causes, institutions, and divine missions. He has hundreds of live recordings and scores of his live recordings released in compact discs are now available, free, on-line, under audio section of this website and in two YouTube dedicated channels – Ragasri and GuruBhakti.
A disciple of His Holiness Jagadguru Kanchi Paramãchãrya
(68th Pontiff of the Adi Shankara Order)...
Krishnan continued training in the Vedas and scriptures in Sanskrit College, Madras, as part of a program conducted under the auspices of Paramãchãrya. Krishnan has been teaching Karnataka Sangeetam for more than 50 years in four continents and has a number of disciples in India, Europe, England and in the US, where he settled with his family in the 1980s. Krishnan’s prime disciples, Priya Krishnan Parameswaran, Harini Krishnan Vikas and Subhapriya Krishnan Srivatsan, known as ‘Krishnan sisters [aka California sisters]’ are acclaimed Carnatic musicians settled in the San Francisco Bay area, California. Krishnan’s siblings, Ragasri S. Lakshminarasimhan Smt. Bhooma-Narayanan, and Smt. Ramamani Ranganathan continue to pursue the hoary Sankeertana tradition for more than 50 years in India. Krishnan’s many interests include playing a number of musical instruments (Indian and Western), and an untiring quest into different systems of philosophy with emphasis on Vedanta.
Krishnan’s Wife Radha
a retired banker from the Reserve Bank of India, has been a musicologist. She was a famous mountaineer who climbed, in 1966, one of the peaks of Himalayas under training from Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, the record-holding pioneer to conquer the Summit at Mt. Everest in 1953 with Edmund Hillary. She was awarded the Silver Axe by the Chief of Army in 1966 for her feat as the pioneering woman mountaineer. Krishnan and Radha with their daughters (Priya, Harini and Subhapriya – aka Krishnan Sisters, the celebrity musicians) are involved in several philanthropic activities. Krishnan’s music performances have been fundraisers for Charities and Philanthropy and their recordings supplement the Krishnans’ support to various charities, Homes for the mentally and physically challenged and hospitals for the underprivileged.
A gold medalist from the renowned University of Madras, India, Krishnan had the distinction of becoming a Fellow of the Royal Chartered Institute of Bankers (London) and as a Fellow of the Institute of Financial Accountants (London) when he was in his early thirties. Krishnan has been a banker since 1965 and has held senior executive positions with several International Banks in Asia, Europe, Great Britain, and the United States, and has widely traveled the globe since 1978. He is the founder, CEO and Chairman of two well-known United States Fiduciary and Consulting corporations, which serve as Court-Appointed Fiduciaries at the nomination of several US Federal and State Agencies, Governmental Regulators, Banks, and some Foreign Governments. He also heads a boutique consulting firm as its founder and CEO. Krishnan currently serves as the Special Deputy Commissioner of the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation.
