Mavelikkara Prabhakara Varma

ragam-talam · Post by **ragam-talam** » 21 Jun 2008, 05:24

A senior musician from Kerala. See the writeup below:
http://kerala4u.in/156/personalities/ma ... oted-music
He is 77. But this makes no difference to his phenomenal musical prowess. Ask any thing about classical music. His adrenalin starts to flow with new vigor. That is Mavelikkara Prabhakara Varma â€“the recipient of Swati Puraskaram -2005 instituted by the Government of Kerala. This maestro was in the city recently. In an interview he talks about his passion for music, how he miserably failed in studies and later became a Post Graduate, and about his disciples.

Prabhakara Varma hails from Mavelikkara Kottaram where his formative years were marked by an unbridled passion for music. Born in 1928 to Chandra Prabha [daughter of Kerala Panini A. R Raja Raja Varma] and Rama Varma of Kilimanoor Palace, Prabahkaranâ€™s inspiration for music stemmed from the songs rendered by his maternal aunt Bhageerathi. The swaras and her tonal quality enthralled him. His thoughts were saturated with musical notes and obviously he was below average in his studies. â€˜I always failâ€

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 21 Jun 2008, 06:20

ragam-talam - with humility in his smile, what a great maestro! Thanks for taking the time to do the write-up.

kmrasika · Post by **kmrasika** » 24 Jun 2008, 05:55

I understand prabhAkara varma notated some compositions of tulasIvanam rAmacandran nAyar.

tharunthilak · Post by **tharunthilak** » 25 Sep 2009, 11:41

Late Prof. Mavelikara Prabhakara Varma - He was an encyclopedia of Carnatic Music. He was former principal of RLV College of Music, Tripunithura, Kerala.

ambika.sundaram · Post by **ambika.sundaram** » 25 Sep 2009, 14:20

I have heard of this great man. I think he is member of the Travancore Royal family. Young maestro Sankaran Namboodiri is one of his desciples.

sreekumar · Post by **sreekumar** » 25 Sep 2009, 18:33

I think many great artists from Kerala never got into the hall of fame just because they decided to stay in Kerala ! How many of our vidwans get invited to Chennai for concerts !

tharunthilak · Post by **tharunthilak** » 25 Sep 2009, 21:24

You are very correct sreekumar. These maestros were not that famous in the Chennai music world just because of the reason that they stayed in Kerala. The list includes Prof. Mavelikara Prabhakara Varma, Prof. Mavelikara Velukkutty Nair, Neyyattinkara Vasudevan, Prof. Parassala Ponnammal, B Sasikumar (Violin), etc.