Radhika Veena Sadhika | |
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| Born | Radhika Umdekar Budhkar 1982 (age 42–43) [1] Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India |
| Occupations | Vichitra Veena and Sitar Player |
| Parent(s) | Shriram Umdekar and Smruti Umdekar |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | Indian classical music |
| Instrument | Vichitra veena |
| Website | www.veenavenuartfoundation.com |
Radhika Umdekar Budhkar also known as Radhika Veena Sadhika is a vichitra veena player and veena teacher from Madhya Pradesh, India. She is the world's first woman vichitra veena player.
Sadhika comes from a family ofmusicians who migrated to Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh several generations ago. [2] Her grandfather Balabhau Umdekar was a trained vocalist in Gwalior Gharana. [3] He was also the court musician of Scindias, the rulers of the then princely state of Gwalior. [4] Similarly, her father Shriram Umdekar who is a sitar and rudra veena player, used to play and teach sitar, surbahar and rudra veena. [3] [4] Radhika started learning music from her father. [3] Her first vocal performance was as a child. [3] She first studied classical vocal and sitar. [3] By the time she was 12, she began to be known as a sitar player, earning a double MA and several gold medals. [4] After much research, she and her father got to know aboutthe Vichitra Veena[ clarification needed ] and she began to play the instrument. [3] Because of the size and weight of the Veena many did not learn how to play the instrument. Later, she trained under mohan veena maestro Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. [3] Currently she resides in Navi Mumbai, where she runs her Institute Veena Venu Art Foundation. [5]
Sadhika started her music education by studying classical vocals and sitar and later started focusing on vichitra veena in her early teens. [3] She is recognized as the world's first woman vichitra veena player. [4] She performed at the Saaz-e-Bahar at NCPA, an annual instrumental music festival organized by the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA). [3] She introduced a lighter and improvised version of the instrument. [5] While the traditional vichitra veena is 5 feet long and weighs 5 kg, Radhika's version is only 48 inches long and weighs 2 kg. [5]
Sadhika has won several fellowships and scholarships and has performed at many music festivals in India. [6] Besides performances, she also teach veena at the Veena Venu Art Foundation at Navi Mumbai. [3]