The Team

 

Guru Prasanna Kasthuri – Artistic Director of Soorya Performing Arts, St. Louis, MO presents Bhakti Patha, a danc, music and Harikatha combination,  with his wife Vidushi Seema Kasthuri on Vocal accompanied by Guru Pulikeshi Kasthuri (India) on Nattuvangam;  Vidwan Hemanth Kumar Bangalore (India) on Violin; Vidwan Ramesh Ramalingappa (India) on Mrudangam and Vidwan Jayaprakash Kakkopurath (India) on Flute.

 

Pulikeshi Kasthuri

As A dancer

Pulikeshi had his initial training under Smt.Lalitha Srinivsan, later from Smt Narmada and rigorous training in all aspects of dance from his brother Prasanna Kasthuri. A recipient of the govt. of India scholarship, he has also been trained under Smt Ranjani Ganesan, an alumni of Kalakshetra. He holds a Masters degree in dance from the Bangalore University. He has undergone training in martial arts of Manipur from Sri Sonar Chand and Sri Khilton Nongmaiten, Kalaripayattu from Sri Anil Kumar, Kerala, Abhinaya from T K Mahalingam Pillai and Kathak from Smt.Maya Rao.

As a Nattuvangist

Gifted with a magical voice, Pulikeshi with his stronghold on Laya (Rhythm) and his perfect pronunciation has been acclaimed as the best Nattuvangist of Bangalore and has been invited by all popular dancers of South India to accompany them on dance performances. Pulikeshi has undergone training in nattuvangam from his brother Prasanna Kasthuri and later learnt the intricacies from B R Sheshadri (Kanna), a well known mrudangist. Some of the artists with whom he has worked are Vani Ganapathy, Pratibha Prahlad, Shridhars, Vyjayanthi Kashi, Indira Kadambi, Ranjani Ganesan, Vivek Kinra (New Zealand), Malani KrishnaMurthy (California, USA), Lakshmi GopalaSwamy, Poornima Ashok and many more. His workshops in nattuvangam have been popular and the number of students attending his workshop is growing every season. He has conducted 5 workshops in Bangalore, San Antonio and St.Louis. Pulikeshi has conducted nattuvangam to arangetrams in Nashik & Bangalore, which is a unique and honourable invitation from teachers to conduct nattuvangam for their disciples.

As a Choreographer

Pulikeshi holds a choreography degree from the Natya Institute of Kathak and choreography, Bangalore University under the tutelage of Guru Maya Rao. He has choreographed ballets like Bakasura Vadha, Kirataarjuniya, Raghava Vyayoga, Matadaana, and Usha Parinaya and has assisted his brother in choreographic works like Subhadra Parinaya, Maheswari Vamshothpathi, Bali Moksha and Ashta Nayakaru.

International tours

As a member of "Tribhang" he visited England, France and Switzerland. Along with Maya Rao he visited the Middle East. As a Nattuvangist he has traveled Djibouti, Ethiopia, Russia, Europe and USA.

Dance festivals

He has participated in dance festivals like the Soorya dance festival, Soorya festival, Nitya Nruthya, National Jamboree 93, Natyotsava-96, EFCEP 98, Swarna Bharathi 98, Kanagal Festival, Golden Celebrations of Keshava Nruthya Shala Bangalore, Mysore Dasara celebrations, Sangeeth Nataka Academy festival in Bangalore 2002, Eka Aneka, etc.

As a dance teacher

Pulikeshi teaches dance at Kenshri International School and at Shanthala Arts academy, Bangalore. He also conducts classes in nattuvangam to deserving students.

Awards and Felicitations

Pulikeshi has been awarded by Aryabhata award as the best Nattuvanar of decade.

 

Seema Kasthuri

Seema Kasthuri is an accomplished singer with a charming voice. She has undergone Carnatic Music training for over 10 years under Vidwan K.R Venkatesh. She has completed her Senior level board exams in Karnataka. Seema has accompanied Guru. Venkatesh in several concerts held in many places of state of Karnataka. Seema has taken active participation in most of the music productions from Sharada Vidyalaya under guru Venkatesh that was produced for All India Radio. She has also given concerts in Devotional Music and light music. Later, she is pursued her education studentship with Chintalapalli Krishnamurthy.

Seema is an active dancer by herself; she performs with the productions of Soorya Dance Company. Seema has provided vocal support to classical dance drama productions. She composed music for "OM Ganesha" - a classical dance drama on lord Ganeshji's story.  Seema's album "Sri Lola" - a collection of Daasa literature songs is released in India in November 2002.

At present, Seema is taking advanced training in Carnatic music from Nagamani Srinath and Hindustani Music from Ustad Imrat Khan. 

Seema performs frequently. Her performances in Hindu Temple of St. Louis, Indian Association of Greater Springfield in 2005; in ANANYA - Bangalore in 2006 gave her high accolades.

Seema accompanied many of arangetram functions of Soorya Performing Arts in 2006, 2007. Her recent role as RADHA in - "CALL OF THE FLUTE" - the first ever dance musical of USA got the attention of classical music and classical dance lovers evenly.

 

Ramesh Ramalingappa -  (Mrudangist)

Ramesh Ramalingappa, with  more than 3500 performances, is a master Mrudangist.  He is the student of legendary percussion master Vasudeva Rao. Ramesh is versatile percussionist who can play more than 5 instruments.  He holds a rank in Vidwath Exams and has awarded prestigeous Ananya Yuva Puraskar.  He has accompanied major classical musicians and dancers since 1980's.  He was a major figure in Indian Dance music festivals such as Hampi Dance Festival, Mysore International Music Festival, The Royal Kadamba festival of dance and music and others.  He is an “A” graded artist from All India Radio - the National Radio station of India. He has accompanied famous musicians such as  TV Gopalakrsihna, MS Gopalakrishna, NaivKalaskeli Santhana Gopalana, TV Shankaranarayana, RK Surya Narayana and others.  With his team Nandi Talavadya academy, he has toured European countries such as Holland, Germany and other countries.   Ramesh is a highly sought after mrudangam player in classical music dance and recording industry of Bangalore, India.

 

Jayaprakash Kakkopurath (Flutist)

Jayaprakash Kannur is an experienced bamboo flutist from Kerala, India. He started his career early 70's with great Kalamandalam group of Kerala.  With an invaluable training under Guru CR Panikkar achar, he began his career accompanying dancers in professional productions.  He has worked with dancers such as Vasundhara Doraiswamy, Kalamandala Leelamma, Kalamandal Latha, Srijith Krishna. He has produced major CDs such as  Hare rama, Shivoham, Muthappa Charitham.  He has participated in many festivals such as Gururvayur Chembai Sangethotsavam, Lasya Festival, Calicut; World Performing Arts Festival, New Delhi;  Bhopal Arts Academy, Madhya Paradesh; Kalakendra, Hyderabad. He has performed in key venues such as Narada Ganasabha, Brahma Gana sabha in Chennai and Bangalore which are called the cultural capitals of India. He was awarded Krishna Geetika Award from Chilamboli academy of arts in Tiruvangada, Kerala.

 

HEMANTH KUMAR Bangalore (Violinist)

Born in a musical family, Hemanth was attracted to music at a very early age of 6.  Initially he was taught instrumental music, Carnatic violin by his father himself, Sri Revanaradhya.  Along with academic studies, Hemanth learnt his higher studies in music under the able guidance of Sri. Anoor S. Ramakrishna.  By the time he completed his proficiency in violin, Hemanth had successfully bagged a B high audition in AIR along with a lot of prizes from numerous organizations.  He was one of the rarest students who received central government scholarship for 14 years.

Hemanth travelled all over India and also abroad like U.S.A., France and Holland several times to play violin and received loads of appreciation from art lovers all around.

With a great passion towards music, Hemanth chose to be a music director.  He has scored music to thousands of songs for dance dramas, light music, devotional, folk basic programs. Hemanth’s is one of the most sought after names in the small screen of Kannada and Tamil.  Hemanth has composed music for more than 2000 title scores for various T.V. channels like DD, Udaya, ETV, Kasturi, Zee kannanda, Suvarna, TV9 etc.,

   T.V. Titles                                                                                               Directors

Moodala Mane                                                                 Vyshaali Kasaravalli

Jeevanmukhi                                                                                     T.S. Nagaabharana

Sankranti                                                                                             T.S. Nagaabharana

Kannugalu                                                                                           T.S. Nagaabharana

Gelathi                                                                                                 T.S. Nagaabharana

Premakathegalu                                                                               P.H.Vishwanath

Tirukana kanasu                                                                               P.H.Vishwanath

Akku                                                                                                      H.R.Bhargava

Mandaara                                                                                           K.V.Jairam

Ponnamane(Kodava)                                                                     A.T.Raghu

Anna Basavanna                                                                               Srinivas Prabhu

Athige                                                                                                   Bhagwan

Nakshatra Meenu                                                                           Jo Simon

Mahaanadi                                                                                         M.S.Rajashekhar

Banjegondu tottilu                                                                          Koodlu Ramakrishna

Muttina Torana                                                                 Vyshaali Kasaravalli

Katakateya Kathegalu                                                                    Shivaanand

Punarjanma                                                                                       Sudhakar Bhandari

Kasturi Nivaasa                                                                 Ashok Naidu

Popular Panchaali(Tamil)                                                              Ravi Kishore

 

Hemanth has scored music to many documentary movies of very popular directors for various organizations and Government bodies.  All his music needs are met in his own state –of-art audio studio, ‘Sri Ganesh Audio Hut’.  Having own studio has immensely helped Hemanth to express his ideas in a very creative way. Hemanth has worked as a music director to many Kannada films.  Some of them are:

       Movies                                                                                               Director

Hubballi                                                                                                Om Prakash Rao

Olave                                                                                                    P.H.Vishwanath

Mahashakti Maaye                                                                         Pugilindi

Seetanjaneya                                                                    Boodal Krishnamurthy

Toss (Tamil)                                                                                        Arjun

Jadi Male(Kodava)                                                                           Vishu

Apart from being a music director, Hemanth has also worked in direction department to a few documentaries like Sangeeth Bharathi, Swara Madhurya, Surakshita Ganigaarikeya haadiyalli, Belagavi – A jewel in the crown of Karnataka, Sankalpa etc.,

Hemanth Kumar along with his wife Padma Hemanth runs an organisation called ‘Sangeeth Bharathi Institute of Arts’ founded by his father.  The artist couples teach music and dance to aspiring students here.  Many of their students are professionals today performing all over the world. Sangeeth Bharathi has produced a number of programs, worked towards title songs choreography, conducted workshops on dance and music.  Sangeeth Bharathi presents stage shows, skits, theatre plays on management concepts which are very relevant in present corporate world.