Umayalpuram K Sivaraman (b. December 17, 1935) is one of the topmost mridangam artists of the day.


Early life

Umayalapuram K Sivaraman was born on December 17, 1935 to Dr P. Kasiviswanatha Iyer and Smt Kamalambal in the city of Tanjore. His father was a medical practitioner and an accomplished musician. Right from his childhood, Sivaraman practiced with the mridangam and mastered the art. He graduated in Arts and Law from the University of Madras before becoming a full-time mridangam artist.


Career

Right from his childhood, Sivaraman was initiated into Carnatic music and mridangam. His father, had with insight and intuition nurtured the inborn talents of his son and got him rightly initiated into mrudangam through the gurukula discipline under scholarly practitioners. Even at the age of three, it was inherent that Sivaraman had an inborn talent in him to produce music from objects around him and invented diverse "talas" thereby earning the praise and appreciation of his grandmother who gifted him a kanjira. As a boy of ten, Sivaraman had his ‘arangetram’ (first concert) and the debut was held in the precincts of Kalahastheeswaraswami temple in the temple town of Kumbakonam. By ten, he was recognized as a top-notch mridangam player.


References

* Umayalapuram K. Sivaraman's Homepage - http://www.geocities.com/usivaraman.geo/home.html

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