ABOuT
Vivek Sadasivam is a Carnatic classical music singer, hailing from the Shishya parampara of the Saint composer Nadajyothi Muthuswamy Dikshitar, who was one of the ‘Trinity’ of Carnatic classical music composers. Vivek’s great-grandfather Kallidaikurichi A Ananthakrishna Iyer was the prime disciple of Ambi Dikshitar, the great-grand nephew of Muthuswami Dikshitar.
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Vivek’s journey in Carnatic music began with him learning from his grandfather vainika vidwan A Anantharaman Iyer and grand-aunt A Champakavalli in Calcutta from when he was 3 years old. He benefitted immensely from the fact that music was a family art and had the chance to learn from all his family members. His father Anantharaman Sadasivam and mother Revathi Sadasivam who are accomplished musicians, nurtured the love for Carnatic music in him from a young age. Being in the Dikshitar school of music, Vivek had the opportunity to learn several of Dikshitar’s compositions at a young age.
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The love for music steadily grew in Vivek over the years. After moving to Bangalore, he was briefly under the tutelage of Vidushi P Ramaa, after which he began to learn under Vidwan Rudrapatnam Thyagarajan of the ‘Rudrapatnam Brothers’. In 2009, he won second place in the All India Radio national competition and was awarded the President’s Award and a B grade. Motivated by this and concert opportunities from prestigious organisations, he took to music more passionately. He received recogintions such as the ‘Tiger Varadachari’ prize from the Malleswaram Sangeetha Sabha, and the title ‘Nadakishora’ from Nadabrahma Sangeetha Sabha, Mysore. Around this time, he also developed a love for the mridangam and learnt the basics from Vidwan Arjunan. He underwent voice training lessons from Pt. Nagaraj Rao Havaldar in the Hindustani style. He had also started performing in various parts of India, and across most Carnatic music hubs in South India such as Chennai, Bangalore, Mysore and various parts of Kerala.
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After taking music up full time, he split his time between Chennai and Bangalore. He started learning from Vidwan Sanjay Subrahmanyan, and was able to add to and embellish his already fast-growing repertoire. He was also guided by violin maestro Dr L Subramaniam on various aspects of performance. Vivek had his first overseas music tour in the US. Subsequently he also performed in Singapore, Russia and Malaysia. In India, Vivek had started being a regular performer at the Chennai December Music Season, having performed at the Madras Music Academy since 2016, and at Narada Gana Sabha, Krishna Gana Sabha, Mylapore Fine Arts, Naada Inbam and others.
He has won the ‘Best Individual Performance’, ‘Best Concert’, ‘Best Pallavi Singing’ and 'Sub-Senior Best Vocalist' from the Music Academy. He was awarded the M S Subbulakshmi Fellowship in Music by Shanmukhananda Sabha, Mumbai, ‘Pratibhakankshi’ by Sri Rama Seva Mandali, Bangalore, the ‘Raga Laya Pratibha’ Award from Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira, Bangalore, the ‘Ananya Yuva Puraskara’ by Ananya Sabhangana, Bangalore, the 'Yuva Purandara Award' from Indiranagar Sangeetha Sabha, Bangalore, the ‘Maharajapuram Santhanam Endowment Prize’ from Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai, the ‘Ananya-Nadajyoti Kala Prathibha Puraskara’ from Ananya and Nadajyoti and several others. Currently, he is an ‘A’ grade artiste of the All India Radio and Doordarshan, and an empanelled artiste of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR).
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Some unique events Vivek has been part of are the Amaravati Global Music Festival, World Festival of Youth and Sport in Russia where he represented India as part of the delegation, Naad Bhed, a music show organised by SPICMACAY and DD (where he was the finalist), the Gaj Mahotsav organised by the Wildlife Trust of India and 'Akhanda-Kaveri' - a heritage tour with historian V Sriram. He has also conducted music workshops for SPICMACAY and other institutions. He also collaborated with storyteller and artist Vinay Varanasi to bring together the art forms music, storytelling and visual art bringing to light the country’s puranas, itihasas and sahitya in a way that is accessible to everyone. In addition, he has also collaborated with dancers of repute such as Shijith N Parvathy, Praveen Kumar and Ramaa Venugopalan. Vivek has also been a regular feature at the Thiruvaiyaru Thyagaraja Aradhana for the last 10 years.
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Vivek has a Master's of Performing Arts (MPA) degree from LGCE and Jain University, where he stood first in his class. He was Creative Director at Subramaniam Academy of Performing Arts (SaPa) for 5 years, a role in which he was responsible for the creation of content and curriculum linked to the academy and schools all over the country, affecting lives of more than 50,000 children. Apart from music, Vivek has great passion for fitness, travelling, sports, gastronomy and boardgames!