Biography

Poly Varghese is an Indian classical instrumentalist based out of the capital city of Tamil Nadu, Chennai. He received training at the Kerala Kalamandalam Center in traditional arts. Poly is an expert mridangam player and pursued music from Viswa Bharati University, Santiniketan. He also learnt other instruments ranging from stringed to percussions. He developed an interest in Rabindra sangeet and Hindustani music, which made him specialize in playing Hindustani music on the electric guitar. He later got a chance to meet Pt Viswa Mohan Bhatt, a veteran veena player, which shifted his interest to Mohan Veena. Poly gave in his best to learn the instrument.  He performed at numerous concerts in India, the Gulf and Europe. Performances and Achievements: Played for Sugamana Ragangal telecast on Doordarshan, Chennai Arab Cultural Centre Sharjah, organized by the Government of Sharjah Adishakthi Ashram (headed by theatre exponent Veenapani Chawla), Pondicherry Centre for Experiencing Socio-Cultural Interaction, Madurai Performed at Vienna, Austria Performed at Graz, Austria Performed with gipsy musicians and renowned guitarist Andreas Glasner Invited by IIC, New Delhi, for Monsoon Music Festival Performed in ‘Mehfil’, at dhrupad musician Subendhu Gosh’s residence, New Delhi Did apprenticeship with south Indian music director, G. Devarajan Performed concert in Infinite at Santa Clara, CA, US (2015) Concerts at Austin tribe US, Sangeet Millennium Ensemble with Sarah Jane Hargis, Amie Maciszewski and Paul Klemperer (2015) Performed concert at University of Texas with Iranian musicians Ehsan Shafiee and Ehsan Matoori to support children of Nepal, Dallas (2015) Performed concert ‘Yoga in Motion’, in San Antonio, US – Mohan Veena and violin jugalbandhi with Carnatic violinist Swami Anand Nada Yogi (2015) Performed concert ‘Prakuthi’ at Wayanad Kerala Concert, Mohan Sangeeth Rath (2015) Performed concert at Epicenter, New Delhi, organized by India World Cultural Foundation (2015) Performed concerts in Chennai with Thavil maestro Valayapetti, Chennayil Thiruvayyar Festival (2015) Performed concert in India International Guitar Festival, Kolkata, with Jeff Peterson and Debashish Bhattacharya (2015) Performed concerts in Sultan Bin Ali Oasis Cultural Foundation Auditorium, Dubai (2014) Performed concert in Chembai Memorial Music Academy, Palakad, Kerala (2014) Performed concert in Chirag Cultural Center, Kerala (2014) Performed concert in Guan Spiritual Center, Hong Kong, with Chinese flautist Tam Po Shek (2014) Performed concerts in Hong Kong Cultural Center, Hong Kong (2014) Performed concert in Indian Association Auditorium Emirates of Sharjah, UAE (2014) Performed concert in Hala Hotel Emirates of Ajman, UAE (2014) Performed concert at Scholars India, Ras al-Khaimah, UAE (2014) Performed concert at Indian Embassy in Doha, Qatar (2014) Performed concert at Hamsadhwani Music Festival, Chennai (2014) Jugalbandhi with mandolin player Aravind Bhargav, Margazhi Festival, Chennai (2012) Solo performance at ‘Spaces’ Performance Center, Chennai (2012) Performed concert at Dubai Museum (2012) Performed concert on National Day at Burj Khalifa, Dubai (2012) Performed concert at India Festival by Government of India, Abu Dhabi (2012) Performed concert at Mozart Music Festival, Vienna (2011) Performed concert at India Social Center, Abudabi (2010) Doordarshan, Chennai (2007): Played 30 ragas in 30-day telecast during Sugamana Ragangal Played meditative music as stress therapy for several organisations and companies Awards and Recognition: Radio One Award for Young Hindustani Instrumentalist – 2012 Jeevan Atlas Award for ‘best music director’ for Malayalam movie ‘Kootilekku’ (2005) Government Recognition Award for Young Hindustani Instrumentalists of India (2013) Poly’s unique experiences and experiments in creating music has propelled him to develop a 40-strings three-neck guitar that he has named Poly string guitar’ (Bahu Thantri veena). He is well versed with English, Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam, and Oriya.