T. V. Gopalakrishnan


Tripunithura Viswanathan Gopalakrishnan, known as TVG, is a Carnatic and Hindustani musician from Cochin, Kerala, India. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 2014.

Early years

Gopalakrishnan was born on 11 June 1932 into a family of musicians with a history spanning over two centuries. His father, T.G. Viswanatha Bhagavathar, was a court musician for the Cochin Royal Family and a professor of music at the S.K.V. College in Thrissur. Gopalakrishnan was the eldest child of his parents, who totally had nine siblings. started playing the mridangam at the age of four and had his arangetram at the Cochin palace at the age of six. He is a disciple of Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar.
Gopalakrishnan is married to Radha. The couple have 3 children – two sons named Viswanath, Ramanathan, and one daughter named Aparna Raghavan. Ramanathan is a leading saxophone artist who is also a disciple of Kadri Gopalnath. The popular violinist T.V. Ramani and ghatam exponent T. V. Vasan were his siblings.

Career

He is a musician who is equally proficient in both Carnatic and Hindustani vocals, mridangam and violin. TVG has toured with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, John Handy, Ravi Shankar, and Ustad Alla Rakha. He has also collaborated with drummer/composer Franklin Kiermyer, Don Peake, Seigfried Kutterer and Carola Grey.
Gopalakrishnan was given the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1990. He has been awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in the year 2012.
In 2018, he was awarded a doctorate by Bharatidasan University for his research on the topic "Layathwam in Carnatic music".

Discography

This is an incomplete list of releases. The release dates are also not always indicative of the original release date of the associated record.
In his career spanning over five decades, many honours and awards have been bestowed on Gopalakrishnan. These include: