top of page
Varijashree Venugopal

VARIJASHREE VENUGOPAL
SINGER | FLAUTIST | COMPOSER | SONG WRITER | MUSIC EDUCATOR
 

ABOUT

Varijashree was widely recognised as a child prodigy who could identify 100 Carnatic ragas at the tender age of 18 months, and began performing Carnatic concerts at the age of 4. She was initially trained by her father, Flute Vidwan H.S. Venugopal and mother Rama Venugopal, Vidushi H. Geetha, Vidushi Vasantha Srinivasan, Vidwan D.S. Srivatsa and later under Gaanakalanidhi Vidwan Salem P. Sundaresan.

Coming from a rich background of an intricate classical form of music such as Carnatic music, Varijashree is one of the pioneering artists in applying the techniques, fundamentals, and the sound & soul of Indian singing in the global music context. Apart from being a singer, Varijashree is also a flautist, composer, a song writer, and a music educator.

As an artist of unique capabilities, Varijashree has been featured alongside and collaborated with few of the most notable musical personalities in the world such as Bobby McFerrin, Jacob Collier, Michael League (Snarky Puppy), Victor Wooten, Bèla Fleck, Hamilton de Holanda, Eddie Gomez, and more.

Varijashree's eponymous original music album “VARI” released in May 2024 on GroundUp Music, USA, produced by Grammy® Award Winning artist Michael League of Snarky Puppy is a conjunction of Indian music and Global music presented on the sonic platter of Indian classical and folk percussion.



 

COLLABORATIONS AND PERFORMANCES

  • Noreum Machi (New Age Korean music band), Seoul, feat TRAYAM

  • MAHABHARATA for Riccardo Nova, Milan

  • Victor Wooten’s TRYPNOTYX concert at BLUE NOTE Milano feat Dennis Chambers & 

Bob Franceschini

  • United Nations, GENEVA for Ricky Kej Ensemble

  • World Health Organisation, GENEVA for Ricky Kej Ensemble

  • Borneo Jazz Festival for Andy Peterson’s API Band

  • Guest performance with Bobby McFerrin at Victoria Hall, GENEVA

  • International Jazz Day at NCPA Mumbai with Louiz Banks

  • BFlat, Sardegna, Italy

  • Jazz at Palmgarten, Frankfurt, feat Max Clouth Clan

  • Jazz Mi, Milan, feat Trio BOBO

  • Festival de Campos do Jordão, Brazil, feat São Paulo Big Band

  • Re-Formers Fest, Russia, feat B C Manjunath

  • Jazz Ra, France, feat EYM Trio, 

  • GroundUp music fest, Miami,

  • Space of Mugam, Baku.



 

ALBUMS 

 

Melaragamalika

 

Vari


 

Singles :

 

  • DEVAMANOHARI

  • CLOUD 11

  • JAVALI & SHAYARI

  • MagaLu Janaki Reprise



 

FEATURES


 

  • TRYPNOTYX - Victor Wooten, Dennis Chambers, Bob Franceschini

  • BRIDGE - Christian Galvez, Fareed Haque, Sandeep Chowta

  • KAMALOKA - Max Clouth Clan

  • MAXIXE SAMBA GROOVE - Hamilton de Holanda

  • FUSION FISSION - Sandeep Chowta

  • DIVINE TIDES - Ricky Kej & Stewart Copeland

  • DJESSE vol 04 - Jacob Collier

  • MANZANARES - Hamilton de Holanda & C4 trio

  • DARSHAN DOSHI TRIO, and more.

 

 Talks & Masterclasses :

 

  • TEDx Bangalore MSRIT

  • LA VOCE ARTISTICA - World Vocal Conference at Ravenna, Italy

  • Carnatic music workshop at Wolverhampton University, UK

  • Carnatic music sharing session at Alberta University, Canada

  • Carnatic music workshop at Victor Wooten’s VIX CAMPS, Nashville

  • Jazz Ra, France

  • ‘Swara Tour’ for Paytm Insider, and more.




 

CROSS - CULTURAL VENTURES

 

Having trained in one of the strongest classical forms of music – Carnatic, Varijashree finds her own space and unique language by interspersing different genres of music and merging into various musical cultures, yet retaining the authencity of her musical roots. These cross cultural experiments have led to her work as a composer and song - writer spread across a variety of platforms such as Playback singing for Films, Tele soaps, Theatre productions, Short films, Albums, etc.

Varijashree’s journey as a seeker of new sounds and flavours of music has lead to her participation as part of performances, records, and music workshops with acclaimed artistes from all over the world.

 

Varijashree is one of the founder members of the popular South Asian contemporary cross-genre quartet ‘CHAKRAFONICS'.

She is popular for her rare ability to scat Jazz compositions using Indian Sargam system (solfege), which she calls ‘CARNATIC SCAT SINGING’, which has gained her a lot of appreciation from music lovers from all over the world.

 

TELEVISION & FILM


 

Varijashree has hosted a unique musical - lyrical TV reality show 'Hrudaya geethe barede neenu', produced by Kannada TV channel, ‘Kasturi’.

 

Varijashree gained popularity as the voice of the young Saint poetess “Helavanakatte Giriyamma”, a tele- serial featured on E-tv Kannada, by singing around 300 Daasarapadas under the direction of Sri Praveen D Rao. 

She was also on the panel of judges on ‘Haadu Karnataka’, a singing reality show on Colors Kannada.




 

FILMS :

 

  • ’Darling darling' from MADARANGI (composed by Anoop Seelin)

  • 'Enla boddade' from ROSE (composed by Anoop Seelin)

  • 'Nakalu maadabedi' from BHAGYARAJ (composed by Anoop Seelin)

  • 'Run Run Run' from RUN ANTHONY (composed by Kadri Manikanth)

  • ‘Yaare nee chature’ from TAGARU (composed by Charan Raj)

  • ‘Oye Kamali’ from KALBETTADA DARODEKORARU (composed by Anoop Seelin)

  • ‘Bande Bande’ from 2ND HALF (composed by Chethan Sosca)

  • ‘Naa Praanam’ from MEHBOOBA (composed by Sandeep Chowta), 

  • ‘Paayum theeye’ from POR (composed by Sanjith Hegde) and more.




 

TELEVISION SOAPS :

 

  • Sangeetha (music by Varijashree Venugopal)

  • Kulavadhu (music by Praveen D Rao)

  • Chittehejje (music by Praveen D Rao)

  • Lakshmi baaramma (music by Praveen D Rao)

  • Love lavike (music by Praveen D Rao)

  • Hosa baaLige nee jotheyade (music by Praveen D Rao)

  • Deepavu ninnade (music by Pravin  Godkhindi)

  • Magalu Janaki (music by Praveen D Rao)




 

AS A COMPOSER

 

Varijashree has scored music for the documentary film ‘Ashtaavadhaana’ directed by Shataavadhani Dr.R.Ganesh, short films 'Chiguru' and 'Little Treasures' directed by Karthik and Vivek Aaraga. 

 

She has composed music for theatre productions which include Eve Ensler's 'Necessary Targets' directed by Sri Prakash Belawadi, ‘Gathi’, ‘Ateeta’, and ‘Ucchishta’ directed by Sri Sethuram, 'Treadmill' directed by Sri Nitish (in which she also played a lead role). She has composed original music scores for albums 'Laasya', 'Sambhrama', ‘Vandanam’, and TV soap title tracks for 'Sangeetha', 'Mangalyam Tantunanena', ‘Yugaanthara’, etc,.


 

AWARDS


 

• ‘Kempegowda State Award’ by the Bangalore Corporation, in the year 1999, March.

 

• ‘Vidyaratan national award’ by Shubaram trust, in the year 1999, April.

 

• ‘Pearl of Bangalore’ by the Jaycees’, in the year 2000, March.

 

• The title ‘Gaanavinodini’ by the Sharada Ashram, Colombo, in the year 2000,  June.

 

• ‘Ugadi Puraskar’ by the Madras Telugu Academy, in the year 2002, April,

 

‘Ananya Naadajyoti Yuva Puraskar’, 2010, 

 

KiMA best vocalist for album ‘Bidiru’, 2013,

 

Mirchi music best vocalist for ‘Enla Boddade’, 2014, and more.



 

KALAARNAVA

 

Varijashree curates KALAARNAVA, an annual day-long Music-Dance-Art festival along with her father Vidwan H S Venugopal who heads GOKULAM SCHOOL OF MUSIC, a 40 year old flute school that currently trains around 150 students in Bangalore.

[A country as diverse as India is symbolized by the plurality of its culture, heritage, music and art. GOKULAM SCHOOL OF MUSIC, led by Vid H S Venugopal, a senior Carnatic flautist, is an institution which breathes music and adorns art, and has nurtured few of the most gifted talents of our country. This magnanimous centre for learning conceived KALAARNAVA – ‘Kala’ (art) ‘Arnava’ (ocean) – An ocean of art. Kalaarnava was an initiative with the sole intention of propagating music & art which eventually culminated into a beautiful festival celebrating divine music & art across the country. Since then, Kalaarnava has added considerably to the scope and range of music & art and has ventured into a unique celebration charging spiritual fervour into music and creating phenomenal artistic masterpieces for over a decade now.

bottom of page