Biography

Ghatam Giridhar Udupa is a professional ghatam player based out of the IT capital of India, Bangalore. He is one of the leading Indian percussionists in today's time. He has been into music since the tender age of four. He was born into a family of literature and music, while rhythm flows in his blood. His initial guidance was under his father, Ullur Nagendra Udupa, who is a renowned mridangam player. Later, Giridhar Udupa started learning under Vidushi Ghatam Sukanya Ramgopal and Vidwan Ghatam V Suresh. Ghatam is an Indian claypot which produces sound on hitting with palm and fingers. He also plays other South Indian percussion instruments like Mridangam, Kanjira and Morsing. Played with: Sarvashree L Subramaniam M Balamuralikrishna MS Gopalkrishnan RK Srikantan TN Krishnan TK Murthy Palghat Raghu Umayalpuram K Sivaraman AK Palanivel Mysore Nagaraj & Manjunath Ganesh & Kumaresh Mandolin Srinivas N Ramani KJ Yesudas TV Gopalkrishnan TV Sankaranarayanan TN Seshagopalan Jayanthi Kumaresh RK Suryanarayana Kadri Gopalnath Sudha Raghunathan Aruna Sayeeram Apart from performing Carnatic music, Giridhar also performs in many other genres like Hindustani music, jazz, blues, fusion, flamenco, symphony orchestra, Latin music, DJ music, celtic music, world music, Arabic music, Japanese music, Talavadya (percussion ensemble) and Jugalbandhi. He has played at several international music festivals with popular Indian musicians like: Dr L Subramaniam Pandit Jasraj Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma Ustad Amjad Ali Khan Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt Ustad Sultan Khan Pandit Anindo Chatterjee Ustad Fazal Qureshi Pandit Birju Maharaj Sivamani Louis Banks Niladri Kumar Ustad Taufiq Qureshi Selva Ganesh Amit Heri Lucky Ali Kavita Krishnamurti Subramaniam Bikram Ghosh Rahul Sharma Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri Ranjit Barot He has also played with Western musicians: Larry Coryell George Brooks Ernie Watts John Kaizan Neptune Chico Freeman Kai Eckhardt Hubert Laws Corky Siegel Ivry Gitlis Airto Moreira Fritz Renold Lewis Pragasam Orchestras played with: Fairfax Symphony Orchestra (USA) Kwazulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra (South Africa) State Philharmonic Orchestra of Sibiu (Romania) Sinfonia Baltica (Poland) Leipzig Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra (Germany) Royal Symphony Orchestra of Oman He is also one of the founder members of 'Layatharanga', a team of Indian classical musicians who embark on making new waves of music by mixing various forms of classical, folk and world music. He has also teamed up with a Poland-based flamenco group called 'Indialucia' and the France-based celtic band 'Nasha'. International Venues Performed at: The Kennedy Centre (Washington DC) Royal Festival Hall (London) Wortham Centre (Houston) Millennium Park (Chicago) Music Academy – Chennai (India) Bangkok Jazz Festival (Bangkok) Miri International Jazz Festival (Malaysia) Ethno Port Poznan Festival (Poland) Lille 3000 (France) Northfolk International Festival (Seattle) The Fifth Cross-Culture – Warsaw Festival (Poland) Flamenco International Festival – Prague (Czech Republic) Swaralaya (Kuwait) Theatre de la Ville and Theatre Guimet – Paris (France) Theatre St Gilles (ReUnion Island) El Violin Festival – La Coruna (Spain) Java Jazz Festival – Jakarta (Indonesia) Rainforest World Music Festival – Sarawak(Malaysia) International Percussion Festival – Krakow (Poland) Countries Performed at: USA UK Canada South Africa Germany The Netherlands Belgium Spain Switzerland France Denmark Poland Czech Republic Luxembourg Romania Indonesia Mauritius Re Union Island Singapore Malaysia Bangkok Dubai Muscat Doha Sri Lanka Bahrain Kuwait Awards: Asthana Vidwan of the Sri Matam of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam (2010) Titled as 'Yuva Kala Bharati' by Bharath Kalachar, Chennai (2004) Titled as 'Vijaya Kalashree' (1997) Titled as 'Yuva Laya Prathibhamani' (2009) Won the Aryabhatta Award (2000) Recipient of Central Govt Scholarship for Ghatam (2002) Won numerous 'Best Percussionist' and 'Best Ghatam Player' titles