For J.B. Keerthana Bharadwaj, music is everything. “Music is next to God; everything else is secondary,” says the Carnatic vocalist, who was in the city recently to perform at the ongoing Edapally Music Festival.
Hailing from a family of musicians her parents are veena exponents and her brother J.B. Sruthi Sagar, a well-known flautist Keerthana was initiated to the world of music at a tender age. For the past 18 years, she has been under the tutelage of Kalaimamani Dr. S. Sunder, whom she considers her inspiration. “I have accompanied my guru to various concerts and was lucky enough to have performed full-length Bhajagovindam with him. Not just him, all my gurus are my inspiration,” says the youngster, whose arangettam happened in 1999.
Since then, Keerthana’s mellifluous voice has been casting a magical spell on her audience during concerts. A devoted musician, her days start and end with music. At this young age, she has performed at all major sabhas in Chennai during the December Music Festival. Her thematic endowment concert on Shyama Sastri Kritis at the Music Academy was a notable one. “I gave a concert at Guruvayur Chembai Sangeetholsavam, which was one of my favourite performances,” Keerthana adds.
A regular performer at TV shows, she sang at the M.S. Subbulakshmi centenary celebrations in Chennai. For the past five years, she has been teaching Carnatic vocals through Skype. As an advice to young students, she says, “All budding musicians should follow their gurus. Their blessings are inevitable for the success of an artiste.”
A graduate in biotechnology and a post-graduate in music, Keerthana is an A-grade artist of All India Radio, and has been honoured for her dedication towards Carnatic music. She is the recipient of several awards, including the Thyagaraja Award (2012), Yuva Kala Bharathi (2015), M.S. Subbulakshmi Fellowship and Thambura Prize.
Her vocal concert in Kochi was accompanied by violinist Manjula Rajesh, Balakrishna Kammath on mridangam and Cochin Vinod Malliya on kanjira.
