T. N. Seshagopalan Biography 
Madurai Thirumalai Nambi Seshagopalan, popularly called T. N. Seshagopalan is a noted Carnatic singer and musician. He is a harikatha exponent and also plays veena and harmonium. His first music teacher was his own mother, and he later studied under Sri Ramanathapuram C. S. Sankarasivan. He has also played lead role in 1983 Tamil movie, "Thodi Raagam" and the movie was produced by him. Indian government honoured him with Padma Bhushan 2004. Sangeetha Kalasikhamani, by The Indian Fine arts Society, Chennai in 2000, Sangeetha Kalanidhi 2006 by Madras Music Academy and Kalaimamani by Tamil Nadu Government in 1984 are the major honours received by him. He was also awarded with Musician of the Year 1999-2000 by Sangeet Natak Akademi.
Seshagopalan was born in Nagapattinam in 1948. His musical journey began in 1955 under the tutelage of his mother. Later it was carried forward by Ramanathapuram C.S. Sankarasivan, who laid his foundation of music. After a degree in science from Madras University he took a degree in music from Madurai Kamaraj University. After studies, he joined as a music professor in the same institution. Among his music instruments, he learnt harmonium first followed by Veena. He had a short stint on keyboard too. Apart from his vast knowledge of music, he is prolific in Sanskrit, Tamil, and Telugu languages.
Seshagopalan is not just technically proficient, but is also graceful in his presentation. With his enchanting and vibrant voice, he is noted for his own elegant thillanas, bhajans, namavalis and abhangs. He has good hold over North Indian ragas as well. In 1984 he was invited to sing at the Adelaide International Festival in Australia and in 1987, he served as India’s cultural ambassador to Russia. As a performer he has performed in many foreign countries and has participated in several jugalbandhis.
Published: N/A
Updated: May 11, 2014
