2002
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US born Spanish
dancer - choreographer - critic Nala Najan, originally named Roberto Rivera,
passed away on January 7, 2002 at 4.30pm local time in a New York hospital
when doctors decided to remove all life-support systems after multiple
organ failure. Nala was buried on Friday, Jan 25 at 2 pm in a cemetery
maintained in Westchester (just north of NYC -- trees, grass, sky) by the
Actor's Fund. A pandit from the Queens Hindu Temple chanted as the body
was lowered in the ground. |
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Peter Hoffman, husband
of Bharatanatyam guru Sharada Hoffman, passed away on March 19, 2002 at
Chennai. |
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Vocalist / composer
Jahnavi Jayaprakash passed away in Bangalore on April 27, 2002 at the age
of 52. |
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Young Bharatanatyam
dancer Harini Koushica passed away in the USA on May 17, 2002 at the age
of 23. |
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Susheel Jhaveri, husband
of Darshana Jhaveri, passed away in Mumbai on 28th May 2002 of a heart
attack. |
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Rajalakshmi Santhanam,
musician and writer, passed away in Chennai on June 15, 2002 at the age
of 76. |
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K Venkatalakshamma,
exponent of the Mysore style of Bharatanatyam, passed away on July 3, 2002
at her place of birth Tandya - Tangali, in the Kadur district of Mysore
state (Karnataka), India. A condolence meeting was held on July 11th at
the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bangalore. |
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Velou Mourugane, 49,
of Indian Embassy, France and 'Triveni' Cultural Organisation, passed away
in the early hours of 25th July 2002 at Paris. The cremation took place
at Pondicherry. 'Triveni', a cultural organisation in Paris was started
by two youngsters, Velou Mourugane and Mohan Delamourde , in the early
eighties. Between them, Velou and Mohan have promoted Indian classical
/ folk dance and music in every nook and corner of France. Many leading
artistes of today have been presented in several cities, towns and festivals
in France through Triveni - Chitra Visweswaran , Narasimhachari and Vasanthalakshmi,
Sudha Raghunathan, Sashank , Kadri Gopalnath, Sridhar and Anuradha
Sridhar and the Manganiars, to name a few. Velou's and Mohan's selfless
service to Indian dance and music has done much to put them on the cultural
map of France. |
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B V Karanth, noted septuagenarian
director, actor and musician of modern Indian theatre and Hindi and Kannada
new wave cinema, passed away in Bangalore, India, on September 1, 2002
after a prolonged illness. |
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T Viswanathan,
Adjunct Professor of Music, passed away on the morning of Tuesday September
10, 2002. Professor Viswanathan had been a member of the Wesleyan faculty
for 27 years. Viswa, as he was known to all, was born in 1927 into one
of the most illustrious music and dance families of South India and was
one of India's most noted and respected musicians. His grandmother, Veena
Dhanammal, was considered to be one of the finest veena players of her
century. His sister, T Balasaraswati, was regarded as one of the greatest
exponent of Bharatanatyam. |
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S C Gandhi, proprietor of Kalpana
Art Recording, the earliest studio in Chennai to record music for dance,
passed away on October 13, 2002. He was 84. |
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Kathak dancer and choreographer
Vinod Chopra passed away in Bhopal on October 26, 2002 at the age of 74.
Chopra was a disciple of Pt.Sundar Prasad. He was well versed in Odissi
and Bharatanatyam and also learnt Kathakali from Kerala Kalamandalam. He
has done dance direction for more than 50 films. |
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Music director Mahesh
Mahadevan passed away in Chennai on October 29, 2002. He was the husband
of Chennai based writer and critic Chitra Mahesh, and brother of dancer
Priya Murle. |
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Veteran Bharatanatyam
guru and vidwan T K Mahalingam Pillai, Director of the Sri Rajarajeswari
Bharatha Natya Kala Mandir, passed away on December 6, 2002 in Mumbai.
The world of fine arts lost a great Vidwan, an exemplary guru and a true
rasika. |
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N Ramachandran, Secretary
of Indian Fine Arts Society passed away on December 10, 2002 at Chennai.
He was 77. He held the post in the society, one of the oldest sabhas, for
over three decades. He also wrote several short stories. |
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N Pattabhi Raman, Editor-in-Chief
who was also the Managing Trustee of the Sruti Foundation and Director-General
of SAMUDRI, passed away in Chennai in the early hours (3 am) of 23rd December,
2002 after a brief illness. He was 70. The last rites were performed in
the Arya Samaj tradition, as was his wish. His last journey from Alapana
(his home and heart of Sruti) began at 10 am and his mortal remains confined
to the red heat of the electric crematorium around 10.30 am.
With a Ph.D. in Economics
from the New School for Social Research in New York, Pattabhi Raman had
a wide-ranging career in the United States for about 25 years - as government
official, consultant, journalist and international civil servant. He served
the United Nations Development Programme from 1966 to 1980. After his return
to India, he launched Sruti (English monthly devoted to Indian music and
dance) magazine in 1983 and went on to establish the Subbalakshmi - Sadasivam
Music and Dance Research Institute (SAMUDRI), as a wing of the Sruti Foundation
in February 1999. He was its first director-general. |
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