R K Shriramkumar belongs to a family of eminent Carnatic musicians who hail from Rudrapatna, a little village on the banks of the river Kaveri in Karnataka, South India. His grandfather Vidvan Shri R K Venkatarama Shastry, a veteran violinist, was one of the most respected musicians of the music fraternity.  His grand uncles Vidvan R K Narayanaswamy, Vidvan R K Ramanathan, Vidvan R K Srikantan, his uncles the ‘Rudrapatnam Brothers’, Vidvans R N Thyagarajan & R N Tharanathan, Vidvan R S Ramakanth, his aunts Vidushi Ratnamala Prakash and Vidushi R N Srilatha are all musicians of great repute.

Having had his initial lessons in violin playing from Vidushi Smt Savitri Satyamurthy, Shriramkumar was trained in vocal music and violin by his grandfather Shri R K Venkatarama Shastry. He later received guidance in violin from Vidvan Shri V V Subrahmanyam and in vocal music from Vidvan Shri D K Jayaraman.

Born in Chennai on…Read More

Remembering A Grandfather
By: R.K. Shriramkumar

The sun would be on the horizon, about to retire for the day. Much dust and enthusiastic tones of high frequencies would be generated on the streets with boys playing cricket. That was when he would bring me home, after a long walk from school (Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan), teaching me en route, verses from either the Vishnu Sahasranama or the Samkshepa Ramayana. That done, he would instruct my mother to give me a snack. And even before I could finish it, he would be ready with his violin constantly summoning me for the class…Read More