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2002

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.

Peter Hoffman, husband of Bharatanatyam guru Sharada Hoffman, passed away on March 19, 2002 at Chennai.

Vocalist / composer Jahnavi Jayaprakash passed away in Bangalore on April 27, 2002 at the age of 52.

Young Bharatanatyam dancer Harini Koushica passed away in the USA on May 17, 2002 at the age of 23.

Susheel Jhaveri, husband of Darshana Jhaveri, passed away in Mumbai on 28th May 2002 of a heart attack.

Rajalakshmi Santhanam, musician and writer, passed away in Chennai on June 15, 2002 at the age of 76.

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.

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.

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.

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.


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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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