Carnatic vocalist Sudha Raja to celebrate 60th birthday with students
Students and colleagues will gather at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan on November 1 to honour the musicologist and educator.
Carnatic vocalist, musicologist, and educator Sudha Raja will celebrate her 60th birthday at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan on November 1 at 11 AM, according to The Hindu.
Raja, who holds a doctorate in Indian music, has spent decades using music for community-building and education through her work with the Sargam Choir.
Her musical training began in Guntur before she moved to Chennai to study under her guru, Sulochana Pattabhiraman. She later joined M.B. Srinivasan’s Madras Youth Choir, which influenced her later work in choral music.
Raja has pioneered structured choral presentations in Carnatic music and has collaborated with artists in dance, cinema, and theatre. She has also worked to integrate music education into school curricula and has taught children with special needs for over a decade.
Students, including V.G. Lakshmy and Uthara Unnikrishnan, have credited her patience and storytelling for fostering their musical foundations. S.
Shanthi noted that the Akshayam Choir, a group of Bank of Baroda employees trained by Raja since 2004, has performed in Chennai and won a bronze medal at the Pearl Choir Games in Cincinnati.