Sudha Ragunathan

Sudha Ragunathan is an Indian Carnatic vocalist, singer and composer.

Sudha Ragunathan (née Sudha Venkatraman) was born in Chennai on 30 April 1956 and later shifted to Bangalore.

She did her schooling in Good Shepherd Convent, Chennai.

She studied at Ethiraj College, and obtained a postgraduate degree in economics.

Sudha Ragunathan received her initial training in Carnatic music from her mother V. Choodamani.

From the age of three, she began to learn bhajans, Hindu devotional songs.

Her tutelage continued under B. V. Lakshman.

In 1977, she received an Indian government scholarship to study music under a doyenne of Carnatic music, Dr. M.L Vasantha Kumari, whose student she remained for thirteen years.

Trained under Dr. ML Vasanthakumari in the gurukula style, it involved considerable amounts of listening to the teacher and other practitioners to absorb their style and oeuvre.

Part of her duties involved the accompaniment on the tanpura of her teacher during concerts, and also accompanying her during concerts.

In her own words, "A period of 13 years from 1977 to 1990, a phase of complete absorption and internalisation! There was no teaching in a formal atmosphere. We learnt while being with her during the katcheris (concerts). We would record her singing in our minds and then replay it while learning the intricacies. It was a very challenging and different experience and as I had begun learning very early from her, my mind was like a sponge and absorbed whatever I heard".

Ragunathan has performed at the Madras Music Season every year since 1990, the year in which her guru Dr. ML Vasanthakumari died.

She is considered one of India's leading Carnatic performers.

She was conferred the Kalaimamani award by the Government of Tamil Nadu in 1994, Padma Shri (2004) and Padma Bhushan (2015) by the Government of India, and Sangeetha Kalanidhi by Madras Music Academy in 2013.

Ragunathan is known for her charitable works, and launched the Samudhaaya Foundation in 1999, of which she is the founder and managing trustee.

The foundation has assisted the underprivileged in the areas of child healthcare, infrastructural aid for homes, and heart surgeries for children.

The foundation has raised funds for victims of the Gujarat earthquake and cyclone relief in Orissa.

In 2013 she was awarded the Sangita Kalanidhi of the Madras Music Academy.

As of January 2015, she was preparing to debut in Kollywood as a music director with the upcoming Tamil film Thanneer, based on a novel published in 2009 by Ashoka Mitran.

She was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian honor, in January 2015.

On 2 October 2016, the United Nations released a stamp to honour India's Carnatic music artist Bharat Ratna Dr.M S Subbulakshmi.

This stamp was presented to Raghunathan to honour her performance at the United Nations on 2 October 2016.

Ragunathan has performed and collaborated with other artists all over the world.

She has performed at the United Nations and the Théâtre de la Ville, Paris.

She performed at the Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Centre, at New York Broadway to commemorate 50 years of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.

She is the only Indian vocalist to have participated in the Global Vocal Meeting organized by the Burghof, an Academy of Music and Arts at Lorrach, Germany and produced by Stimmen Voices International Vocal Festival.

Ragunathan has also performed as a playback singer in Tamil cinema.

She got her first break as a playback singer under Illayaraja in the movie Ivan, performing the song "Enna Enna Sethai".

Besides the Carnatic repertoire, Raghunathan has also explored the world music scene, in particular fusion music.

Following Carnatic musicians, Ragunathan has also taught the tradition to her students.

She launched her own school, Sudhaarnava Academy for Musical Excellence, on the day of Vijayadashami in 2017.

The school has a faculty of her students along with Ragunathan herself and has conducted lec demonstrations and workshops in many venues across the globe.

She is married and has two children.