Kadri Gopalnath, Age, Death, Wife, Children, Family, Biography & More

Bio/Wiki
Profession	Saxophonist
Physical Stats & More
Eye Colour	Black
Hair Colour	Black (semi bald)
Career
Debut	Live Performance: All India Radio, Mangaluru, 1978 [1] Commercial Performance: Jazz Festival Bombay, 1980
Awards, Honours, Achievements	1996: Karnataka Kalashree 1998: Tamil Nadu State Award-Kalaimamani 1998: Karnataka Rajyotsava Award 2004: Padman shri by the Government Of India. 2004: Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Carnatic Music - Instrumental (Saxophone) 2013: Sangeetha Kalasikhamani award by The Indian Fine arts Society, Chennai. 2018: Kamban Pugazh award by All Ceylon Kamban Society, Sri Lanka. Other awards include: Saxophone Charkravarthy, Saxophone Samrat, Ganakala Shree, Nadapasana Brahma, Sunada Prakashika, Nada Kalarathna, Nada Kalanidhi, Sangeetha Vadya Rathna
Discography	1985: Sri Thyagaraja's Utsava Sampradaya Krithis on Saxophone 1994: Jugalbandi: Classical Confluence 1995: A Tribute to Adolphe Sax 1997: Saxophone Indian Style 1999: Southern Brothers 2000: Gem Tones 2006: Dream Journey, Vol. 1, Dream Journey, Vol. 2 2006: Pranamamyaham 2007: Sri Tyagaraja Pancharatna Kritis
Personal Life
Date of Birth	6 December 1949
Birthplace	Bantwal taluk, Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka, India
Date of Death	11 October 2019
Place of Death	Mangalore, Karnataka, India
Age (at the time of death)	69 Years
Death Cause	Cardiac arrest
Zodiac sign	Sagittarius
Nationality	Indian
Hometown	Mangalore, Karnataka, India
School	Sharadha High School, Pane, Mangalore.
College/University	Received an honorary doctorate from Bangalore University in 2004. [2]
Educational Qualification	S.S.L.C. (10th Std.) [3]
Family
Wife/Spouse	Sarojini
Children	Son: Manikanth Kadri Son: Guruprasad Kadri Daughter: Ambika Mohan
Parents	Father: Thaniappa Mother: Gangamma
Siblings	Brother(s): Chandranath, Ganeshnath Rameshnath Sister(s): Radha, Parvathy, Saradha, Shyamala

Some Lesser Known Facts About Kadri Gopalnath

• Born in 1949 in Jogi community in Mangalore, Kadri Gopalnath learned the traditional instrument, Nagaswaram: the Indian equivalent of the clarinet from his father Thaniappa. Saxophone fascinated him after hearing it at Mysore palace band set. His father encouraged him to learn the instrument under the band’s saxophonist Lakshmi Narasimhaiah.

• N. Gopalakrishna Iyer of Kalaniketan, Mangalore taught him how to play carnatic music on saxophone which helped him to become one of the pioneers in carnatic music.

• Later in Madras, Gopalnath met with the vocalist and mridangist guru Tripunithura Viswanathan Gopalakrishnan a.k.a T.V. Gopalkrishnan, who identified the youngster’s potential and tutored him.

• It took him 20 years to master the instrument. To suit his western saxophone for Indian classcial music, Gopalnath modified his instrument himself.

K. Balachander , Kadri Gopalnath and A.R. Rehman

• In 1980, a Californian musician John Handy heard him play at the Bombay Jazz Festival and invited him to join in the US. As a result, Gopalnath was able to blend carnatic music with jazz.

• Gopalnath was the first ever carnatic artist to be invited by the BBC promenade concert in 1994, in the Royal Albert Hall at London.

• He is the epitome of a true musician as he has used various techniques to blend and innovate carnatic music and compose unique renditions of Hamsadhwani, Pantuvarali, Kalyana, Vasantha and Brinshavani Ragas.

• His commercial collaborations have been very fruitful and widely renowned and he has worked with international artists like James Newton and American Saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa. Gopalnath recorded two albums with them – Southern Brothers(1999) and Kinsmen(2008).

• Film director K. Balachander wanted Gopalnath to play saxophone for his Tamil film “Duet”. A.R. Rehman composed the background score for the film in which Gopalnath did all the saxophonic instrumentation in rag Kalyanavasantam which was very well received and he became popular after that.

K. Balachander’s film Duet for which Gopalnath played saxophone.

• Gopalnath is known for his unconventional technique of integrating compositions of classical musicians from India like Thyagaraja to western composers like Beethoven on the Saxophone.

• He was very well received when he performed at the Jazz Festival in Prague, The Berlin Jazz Festival, The International Cervantino Festival in Mexico and The Music Hall Festival in Paris.