A renowned Saxophone expert and a Padma Shri awardee Kadri Gopalnath passed away on Friday in Mangaluru. He was 69 and was hospitalised for age-related issues.
The funeral rites of Gopalnath is expected to be initiated after the eldest son Guru working in Dubai returns to Mangaluru on Friday evening. He is survived by his wife and music director son Manikanth Kadri.
Born at Mithakere in Sajipamooda village of DK district in 1950, Gopalnath’s father Taniyappa was a Nagaswara expert. He learnt playing Carnatic music through saxophone from N Gopalakrishna Iyer.
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As reported in several interviews, As a child, Gopalnath once saw the saxophone being played in the Mysore Palace band set. Upon hearing the tone of the saxophone, Gopalnath decided to master it. His first concert was held at Chembai Memorial Trust.
Gopalnath had played at the Jazz Festival in Prague, the Berlin Jazz Festival, the International Cervantino Festival in Mexico, the Music Hall Festival in Paris, the BBC Promenade concert in 1994 at London, among others.
He was honoured with several awards including Kendra Sangeetha Nataka Academy Award and Karnataka Kalasri among others. In 2004, he received Padma Shri from then-President APJ Abdul Kalam.
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