Vocalist RK Padmanabha turns 75

As Vocalist RK Padmanabha turns 75 this week, we take a look at his achievements from over the years

Stepping into RK Padmanabha’s home is akin to entering a museum for music. Books, albums, instruments and sound systems share space with photos and awards the maestro has received over the years. “I wanted a sacred space to savour music. My practice sessions and bonding with students happens here with the blessings of Maa Saraswati,” says the Carnatic vocalist.

A Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee, Padmanabha or RKP as he is affectionately known in music circles, turns 75 this week. His enviable range defies his age and at smaller concert venues, he rarely uses a mic, say senior students who travel with him.

Born in 1949, it has been 70 years since RKP began singing. “I was born in Rudrapatna, a small village on the banks of River Cauvery in the Arkalgud taluk of Hassan district in Karnataka; it holds the record of producing the most Carnatic musicians in the country. I was not born into a musical family, but Rudrapatna’s soil and air permeate musical tarangas (waves) that birthed melody in me,” he says.

By the time he was five, RKP says he had already heard the top musicians of the time at Ranga-Geete (music theatre). He credits his deep range to this initial exposure where open throated singing was encouraged. “I even took up enacting Karna’s role when I had to sing Kumara Vyasa’s poems during training sessions under the iconic Gamaki, Vasantha Lakshamma,” he recalls.

He goes on to explain how scholar-veteran RV Srikantaiah, a genius, would enthrall connoisseurs with vintage Carnatic classical melodies informally on the streets of Rudrapatna. 

Veterans of classical music who visited Rudrapatna during music festivals, sang in temples, at 100-pillared massive bungalows, and on the banks of the Cauvery. “It was customary to have concerts at every celebration. I was mesmerised by music vidwans, their silk clothes and their body language while they sang. As a six-year-old, I remember waiting for hours to steal a glimpse of Violin Chowdiah — I was in awe of his personality and musical aura,” says RKP, who pursued his higher studies in academics and music, in Mysore. 

He eventually enrolled at Violin Chowdiah’s Ayyanar College of Music in Mysore, to begin his formal training in Carnatic music. As a teenager, RKP made his way to Bengaluru and completed his B.Sc from Vijaya College. He represented Karnataka in Ball Badminton and soon bagged a job at SBI.