Varijashree Venugopal

Varijashree Venugopal, born in Bangalore, India on 6 March 1991, is a Grammy nominated Indian singer and flautist. In 2024 she received her first Grammy nomination along with Jacob Collier and Anoushka Shankar for the work A Rock Somehere. She works as an independent artist featuring with bands such as Charkafonics, EYM Trio, Snarky Puppy and is the creator of the art form "Carnatic Scat Singing" which is a blend of carnatic music and Jazz.

Early life

Varijashree was born to an Indian Brahmin family of HS Venugopal and TV Rama both accomplished musicians. She was found to have the rare ability to identify about 40 ragas at the age of one and a half and about 200 ragas at the age of 4. She was initially trained by her father and then started undergoing formal training in Carnatic music under Vidhushi H. Geetha at the age of 4. She later underwent learnt rare compositions classes an essential for Vidwath ( Senior level performance artistry training ) from Vidhushi Vasantha Srinivasan and Vidwan D.S. Srivatsa.

Her music has been vastly shaped by her guru Gaanakalanidhi Vidwan Salem P. Sundaresan. She is also a trained and accomplished flutist with her father Vid. H. S. Venugopal being her guru from the past twelve years. Her first format concert was conducted at the Bangalore Gayana Samaja at the age of seven.

Varijashree is part of the Bangalore band "Chakrafonics" along with musicians Praveen D Rao, Ajay Warrier and Pramath Kiran. Chakrafonics is famous for its unique blend of traditional classical music with other genres of music.

Her works also include singing and composing for Kannada soaps and is popularly known for rendering her voice for Helvanakatte Giriyamma and Magalu Janaki for which she has received widespread public acclaim.

Music Training

+ Guru Genre Time period Description HS Venugopal and Rama Venugopal Carnatic 1992–present Started her initial lessons as a toddler. Vidushi H Geeta Carnatic 1998–2005 Foundations in carnatic music. Sri. Vid. Sundareshan Carnatic 2005–2011 Furtherment in music and training. Vidhushi Vasantha Srinivasan and Vidwan D.S. Srivatsa Carnatic 2008 Rare compositions of Saints.

Experiments with World Music

In 2018, Varijashree started to explore world music and Jazz in particular owing to a childhood inclination and started posting a unique blend of her thought process which added layers of carnatic music into Jazz for which she coined the term "Carnatic Scat" singing. She used the online medium to reach out to audiences and artists alike. To her surprise found people such as Bobby McFerrin reaching out to her trying to understand the new progress in the field. It was then that her collaborations started with bands such as EYM Trio, Snarky Puppy as well as several independent artists such as Hamilton Hollanda started.

Kalaarnava Music Festival

Varijashree along with her father H.S Venugopal and her mother are the running directors of the Bengaluru Based Art Festival Kalaarnava ( meaning the blooming of art forms ) which has been an avenue for performing artists of all kinds from across the globe. The festival has been running since the year 2005. The festival has featured artists all across the country including Hariharan (singer) and S. P. Balasubrahmanyam who were awardees of the festival's event presentation Kalavatamsa.

Awards

In 2024 she received her first Grammy Nomination in the Best Global Music Performance category for "A Rock Somewhere," by Jacob Collier

She has also received several awards which include recognition from the state and central governments of India.

Albums

Varijashree has music albums ‘Arpana’ and ‘Upasana’, and the recently released ‘Mela raga malika’, ‘Bidiru’ and ‘Kaayo enna gopala’ to her credit. She has scored music for the documentary films like ‘Ashtaavadhaana’ directed by Vid. Shataavadhani Dr.R.Ganesh, short films 'Chiguru' and 'Little Treasures' directed by Sri Karthik and Sri Vivek Aaraga.

She is featured in several tracks on "Sensurround", the third album of the Italian group "Trio Bobo", a side of the Italian progressive group Elio e le storie tese.

She has also created an independent album 'Vari' in collaboration with Grammy awarded artist Michael League along with the team including Hamilton Hollanda, Rajesh Vaidhya, Pramath Kiran, Praveen D Rao.

The album features 7 tracks with each bringing a unique dimensional flavor which expresses the Indian way of thought and its universalness which enables a smooth blend of multiple art forms.

Performing Bands

Band Name Language Co-artists Genre Chakraphonics Multi lingual Pramath Kiran, Praveen D Rao, Ajay Warrier Carnatic Fusion EYM Trio Multi Lingual Elie Dufour, Yann Phayphet, Marc Michel Jazz Collaboration with Micheal League Multi Lingual Rajesh Vaidya, Micheal League, Pramath Kiran and others Multi Genre Collaboration with Trio HLK Carnatic Scat Rich Harrold Rich Harrold, Ant Law, Rich Kass

Filmography

+ Songs in Commercial Films as lead. Song name Movie Language Co-artists Music direction Darling Darling Darling Kannada Anoop Seelin Anoop Seelin Madhura Madhura Kadala Theerada Bhargava Kannada Anil CJ Anil CJ Neene Nanna Alapane Kadala Theerada Bhargava Kannada Solo Anil C J Yaare Neenu Chathure Tagaru Kannada Solo Charan Raj Paayum Theeye Por Tamil Sanjith Hegde Sanjith Hegde Naa Pranam Mehbooba Telugu Solo Sandeep Chowta Saptaswara Aachaar and Co Kannada Solo Bindumalini