Carnatic singers Vidwan R.N. Thyagarajan and Vidwan R.N. Tharanathan were honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar 2016. The Rudrapatnam brothers received the award from President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday. The duo are the only two from Karnataka among the 11 eminent musicians who were awarded this year.
Thyagarajan, who has a masters in Mathematics, and Tharanathan, who has a PhD in chemistry, completed 60 years as musicians this year and have held more than 2,500 concerts.
The duo are purists and are known for their rendition of rare raagas, a gift they inherited from their musical lineage. Their roots can be traced to four generations of Veda and Naada practitioners from Rudrapatna village in Hassan district. They are sons and disciples of R.K. Narayanaswamy and were trained under their uncle and Vidwan R.K.Venkatarama Shastry.
