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R.Visweswaran hails from a family of musicians.
He is nephew of the legendary Carnatic musician, the late
Sri G.N.Balasubramaniam, popularly known as GNB.
A Chartered Accountant by education, Visweswaran gave up
his profession to pursue his saadhana in music. Multidisciplinary
in his musical skills, he is one of the seniormost disciples
of the Santoor maestro Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma. He has the
rare distinction of being the only South Indian to play the
Kashmiri Santoor, in a professional capacity. A graded artiste
of All India Radio and an empanelled artiste of the Indian
Council for Cultural Relations, he has performed extensively
all over India and abroad on the santoor. He has to his credit
several noteworthy concerts all around India. At an international
level, his concerts at South Bank Kufa gallery & Bhavan
Centre, London and his participation in the International
Jazz Festival at Rouen and the Montelimar Festival deserve
special mention. On the occasion of the celebrations of the
fiftieth year of India’s Independence, he was delegated
by the ICCR to present Santoor concerts as part of the official
presentations at the House of World Cultures, Berlin and several
other cities of Germany. His interaction with musicians of
international repute, such as John Kaizen Neptune, Shakuhachi
flautist of Japan and Terry Allen of USA has culminated in
the form of albums.
He is also a Carnatic Vaineeka and a vocalist-composer of
no mean repute. Married to the celebrated Bharatanatyam dancer
Padma Shri Smt Chitra Visweswaran, his vocal accompaniment
and music compositions for her dance have contributed considerably
to the richness and aesthetic sensitivity of the dance presentation.
In this capacity he has toured all over the world covering
all major festivals in India and innumerable cities abroad.
In this context, he has received direct guidance in the dance-compositions
of Sri Lalgudi G Jayaraman, from violin maestro himself. In
addition he has had specialised training in Padam singing
from Smt T Muktha, cousin of the late legendry dancer, Smt
T Balasaraswathi. He has also had the privilege of working
on composer Annamacharya’s Kritis under none other than
Smt.M.S.Subbalakshmi
Visweswaran’s prowess as a Carnatic vocalist composer
is no less. In addition to presenting Hindustani music on
the santoor, he has also presented Carnatic vocal concerts.
His appearance as a Carnatic vocalist, at Salt Lake City,
Kolkata at a concert arranged by the Eastern Zonal Cultural
Centre in association with the Odissi Research Academy, Bhubaneswar,
in juxtaposition to Ustad Rashid Khan’s Hindustani,
deserves special mention. This multi dimensional musician
who has studied Saraswati Veena has the unique qualification
of a licentiate in teaching in Western Classical Guitar from
Trinity College, London to which is harnessed his self taught
studies on Flamenco Guitar.
Visweswaran has appeared on BBC Television, SBC(Singapore)
and several other television channels in India and abroad.
Prior to his active performance career he worked with stalwart
film music directors, such as, R.D.Burman, Laxmikant Pyarelal,
Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Rajesh Roshan, M.S.Viswanathan and
Ilayaraja amongst others. Even today , time permitting, he
lends his instrumental and vocal skills on exclusive occasions
to music directors such as A. R. Rehman.
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