Sreevidhya Chandramouli (Portland) is a tenth-generation descendant from the illustrious Karaikudi Vina Tradition of South India. In the last three decades, she has contributed to the musical tapestry in Oregon through universities and private teaching. She often selects students to reside with her to learn the art in depth. Many of the students learn to perform and teach as they advance their careers in various fields. Through her own solo and group performances with her family, she brings the grandeur of the tradition to her community.
Bio
Sreevidhya Chandramouli learned the art of Vina playing from her mother Rajeswari Padmanabhan (grand-daughter of the legendary Karaikudi Subbarama Iyer). Sreevidhya later pursued advanced vocal training from Vairamangalam Lakshmi Narayanan and Suguna Varadachari as well as a music degree in Indian Music from University of Madras. She moved to the United States in the late 1980s with her husband Chandramouli Narayanan, a ninth-generation descendent, when her husband came to Portland for employment. She then embarked on the study of ethnomusicology at the University of Washington. Sreevidhya has served as artist-in-residence at the University of Washington and University of Oregon and briefly served as adjunct faculty at the University of Oregon. She has been teaching in the Pacific Northwest for more than three decades preserving the subtle aesthetics and purity of the Karaikudi Vina tradition. Sreevidhya is a composer and watercolor painter adding both lyrical and visual imagery to the music.
With the support of her family, she conducts summer camps in music and Integrative Learning music, yoga, poetry, story narration, math, and painting for children of different age groups in her home setting. Besides music, she teaches Vina building and maintenance. Her students explore the poetry in musical compositions, language, and meaning to develop the cultural context to the relevance of the practice. She is a founding member of the non-profit organization Dhvani which is dedicated to the education, preservation, and dissemination of art forms of India.
