“The King of Pot Music” - RAVE MAGAZINE
Synonymous with the ghatam, world-renowned percussionist Ghatam Giridhar Udupa is one of the most loved names in the field of music. With three decades of musical journey enriched by collaborations with eminent artists across the world, concert visits to more than fifty countries and numerous accolades and awards, Udupa today stands as a true global icon, an ambassador of world music, and a pioneering exponent of Carnatic Classical Music.
His journey started at the age of 4, when he took to percussions under the mentorship of his father Vidwan Ullur Nagendra Udupa and later under Vidhushi Sukkanya Ramgopal and Vidwan V Suresh. Rooted firmly in the tradition of Carnatic Classical Music, Udupa has extensively widened the boundaries of his repertoire with a wide range of pathbreaking collaborations.
He is the founder and director of “The Udupa Foundation”, a registered charitable trust founded in 2015, with the aim of promoting music, performing arts and culture.
He is the Brand Ambassador for Harman AKG Microphones.
He is one of the few musicians from India to perform at the prestigious “United Nations” in March 2011. He has performed at the most prestigious venues in the world including Carnegie Hall – New York (USA), Sydney Opera House - Sydney (Australia), The Kennedy Centre - Washington D.C. (USA), Royal Festival Hall - London (UK), Wortham Centre – Houston (USA), and others.
He has accompanied eminent South Indian Classical Musicians including Sarvashree M.Balamuralikrishna, M.S.Gopalkrishnan, R.K.Srikantan, T.N.Krishnan, T.K.Murthy, Palghat Raghu, Umayalpuram K.Sivaraman, Guru Karaikudi R Mani, L.Subramaniam, N.Ramani, K.J.Yesudas, T.V.Gopalkrishnan, Mysore Nagaraj & Mysore Manjunath, V Kamalakar Rao, Yella Venkateswara Rao, Nedunuri Krishnamurthy, R.Vishveshwaran, Ganesh & Kumaresh, A.V.Anandh, T.V. Sankaranarayanan, T.N.Seshagopalan, A.K.Palanivel, Trichy Sankaran, Srimushnam Raja Rao, Thiruvarur Bhakthavatsalam, A.K.C Natarajan, Mandolin Srinivas, Chitravina Ravikiran, R.K.Padmanabha, Jayanthi Kumaresh, R.K.Suryanarayana, Basavanagudi G Nataraj, T M Krishna, Sanjay Subrahmanyan, Aruna Sairam, Sudha Raghunathan, Bombay Jayashri, M S Sheela and others.
Apart from playing authentic Carnatic Classical music, he has performed in many Hindustani Classical, Fusion, Jazz, Blues, Flamenco, Celtic Music, Latin Music, Arabic Music, Japanese Music, Talavadya (Percussion Ensemble), Bollywood Music, European Folk Music, Symphony Orchestra, and has been part of numerous International Music Festivals with renowned Indian Musicians like Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Ustad Sultan Khan, Pandit Jasraj, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Pandit Birju Maharaj, Pandit Anindo Chatterjee, Ustad Shahid Parvez, Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, Pandit Kumar Bose, Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani, Loy Mendonsa, Hariharan, Trilok Gurtu, Sivamani, Ranjit Barot, Louis Banks, Niladri Kumar, Ronu Majumdar, Taufiq Qureshi, Fazal Qureshi, Amit Heri, Lucky Ali, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Bikram Ghosh, Rahul Sharma, and Western Musicians like John Mclaughlin, Larry Coryell, Hubert Laws, Ernie Watts, Airto Moreira, John Kaizan Neptune, Lewis Pragasam and others. He has also worked with many leading music directors from the Film industry in India.
Udupa is part of his own Carnatic World Music band “Layatharanga”, Flamenco band “Indialucia” and Carnatic-Jazz cross over European band “Saagara”. Udupa has been a part of several global symphonic and chamber orchestras around the world - Fairfax Symphony Orchestra (USA), Kwazulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra (South Africa), State Philharmonic Orchestra of Sibiu (Romania), Sinfonia Baltica (Poland), Leipzig Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra (Germany) and Royal Symphony Orchestra of Oman.
Udupa has given concerts under the auspices of prestigious Sabhas all over India and abroad, including USA, UK, Canada, South Africa, Brazil, Columbia, China, Australia, Russia, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, France, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Norway, Italy, Austria, Finland, Turkey, Ireland, Slovenia, Czech Republic, New Zealand, Luxembourg, Romania, Ukraine, Indonesia, Mauritius, Re Union Island, Singapore, Malaysia, Bangkok, Dubai, Muscat, Doha, Sri Lanka, Bahrain, Iran, Morocco and Kuwait.
Music lovers from across the globe celebrate the finesse of his fingering, the dexterity and speed of his intricate rhythmic designs, and his contagious energy and charm on the stage.
