Neelakanta or Nilakanta (Neel - blue; Kanta - throat) means Lord Shiva. ---- Neelakanta is also name of some Indians:

G. Neelakanta Reddy is a National Award winning Indian Telugu film director.

Nilakantha Somayaji (1444–1544), was a major Indian mathematician and astronomer of the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics and was a student of Damodara

K. A. Nilakanta Sastri (1892–1975), was an Indian historian and Dravidologist.

Nilakanta Sri Ram was a freemason, theosophist and president of the Theosophical Society Adyar

T. N. Srinivasan or Thirukodikaval Nilakanta Srinivasan, Professor of Economics at Yale University.

Name	Nithyasree Mahadevan
Background	solo_singer
Born	August 25, 1973
Origin	Thiruvaiyaru, Tamil Nadu, India
Occupation	Singer
Years active	1987 - Present
Genre	Carnatic music - Indian Classical Music and Playback singing
Label	HMV, EMI, RPG, AVM Audio, Inreco, Vani, Amutham Inc., Charsur Digital Workshop, Carnatica, Rajalakshmi Audio etc.

Dr. Nithyasree Mahadevan, (born August 25, 1973) also previously referred to as S. Nithyashri, is an eminent Carnatic musician and playback singer for film songs in many Indian languages. Nithyasree's paternal grandmother, D. K. Pattammal, and her granduncle, D. K. Jayaraman, were prominent Carnatic vocalists who were established disciples of Ambi Dikshithar, Papanasam Sivan, Muthiah Bhagavathar, and others. Nithyasree's maternal grandfather was the prominent mridangam maestro, Palghat Mani Iyer.

Nithyashree has performed in all major sabhas in India and has presented her concerts in many destinations around the world. She has received multiple awards and honours, and has released more than 100 commercial albums.

Early life

Nithyasree was born to Lalitha Sivakumar and I. Sivakumar. Her paternal grandmother was the Carnatic vocalist D. K. Pattammal, while her maternal grandfather was the mridangam maestro, Palghat Mani Iyer. Her granduncle was the Carnatic vocalist, D. K. Jayaraman.

Her mother, Lalitha Sivakumar, was her first guru (teacher).

Music career

Touring

Nithyashree has performed in all major sabhas all over India and has presented her concerts in the United States of America, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Germany, France, Singapore, Malaysia and various other destinations throughout the world. "Isai Paeroli" by Kartik Fine Arts in 2001, and various other prestigious awards such as ", "Padma Sadhana" (2004), and "Naada Kovida" (2006). She has received "Best Concert Award" from The Music Academy during the music festivals a couple of times and has also performed for the "Sangeeth Natak Academy" twice in their International Music Festivals in Bombay and Hyderabad. She has also received the "Best Promising Artiste" from "Mohanam" Music Club, and made a thematic album of compositions popularising the raga Mohanam. She was awarded a doctorate degree from Sathyabama university of Jeppiar in Chennai in late 2007.

Performances

Nithyashree's first Carnatic performance was for the Youth Association For Classical Music on 10 August 1987. The concert lasted 1 hour, and was scheduled between 6:00pm and 7:00pm. Prominent Carnatic musicians that were present at the concert, included D. K. Pattammal, D. K. Jayaraman, Vijay Siva, R. K. Sriramkumar, as well as the chief guest at that concert, K. V. Narayanaswamy.

She has given numerous concerts consisting of only patriotic songs to commemorate the 50th year of Indian Independence, a few with D. K. Pattammal before her grandmother stopped performing in public.

D. K. Jayaraman and D. K. Pattammal were known for singing and popularising the compositions of Papanasam Sivan, having learnt them directly from the composer himself. Nithyashree has continued this tradition. She has also given a lecture demonstration in Coimbatore for Manoranjitham on "Papanasam Sivan - A Legend", and made two special thematic albums that solely contained his compositions.

Like D. K. Pattammal, Nithyashree has also popularised compositions of Gopalakrishna Bharathi. She presented a paper on the Life and Contribution of Gopalakrishna Bharathi for the Music Department of PSG College, Coimbatore. Her two thematic albums that solely consisted of his compositions have been very popular, both online and offline.

Nithyashree's commanding, high-pitched voice is well suited to various genres of music including Carnatic music, devotional music, as well as patriotic and popular songs.

Playback singing

Nithyashree's introduction to Tamil playback singing came when A.R. Rahman called her to Panchathan Recording Inn, in Chennai, for a voice test sometime in the 1990's. The output from her visit was used for the song Kannodu Kanbarellam in the movie "Jeans" starring Aishwarya Rai. This became particularly popular, along with Minsara Kanna from "Padayappa", Sowkiyama Kannae from "Sangamam", and Manmatha Vasam from "Parthale Paravasam".

Some of her other songs include Kumbakonam Sandhayile from "New", Oru Nadhi Oru Pournami from "Samurai (film)", Kana Kaangiren from "Ananda Thandavam" as well as Thaai Thindra Mannae from the film "Aayirathil Oruvan".

She also successfully branched out to Telugu and Kannada playback singing, with songs such as Ra Ra... from "Apthamitra".

Personal life

Nithyashree and her husband, Mahadevan, have two daughters, Tanujasree and Tejasree.

Notes

References

Musical Nirvana biography

Category:Living people Category:Performers of Hindu music Category:Carnatic singers Category:Carnatic musicians Category:1973 births