Ragini Sri
Ragini Sri Mani hails from Chennai, India and has 25 years of training in Carnatic Music from several eminent musicians. Even at a tender age she displayed exceptional musical abilities which her maternal grandmother recognized and thus arranged for formal training in music, with initial lessons under Smt. Bharathi Mani. She went on to receive a strong foundation from Karur Sri Krishnamurthy Bhagavathar. She also underwent rigorous musical exercise under renowned musicologist Smt. T.Padmhasini, under the gurukula system for a brief period. It was tutelage under musician-musicologist Kalaimaamani Sangeetha Kala Aacharya Smt. Sulochana Pattabhiraman that proved to be a major turning point in Ragini Sri's career, with the former being a mentor in music and in life. Ragini Sri further undertook advanced training from Kalaimaamani Sri P. Vasanthkumar and Dr. Sriram Parasuram. Having blossomed into an exceptional student and quick learner, she sought to explore other genres of music, which led her to learning Hindustani music from vocalist Dr. Lakshmi Sriram, western genres from Mr. Augustine Paul, Music Director of the Madras Musical Association Choir. Her credentials also include achieving Grade 8 in theory and voice from Trinity College of Music, London.
She is grateful and indebted to each of her gurus for their magnanimity in imparting their knowledge to her in spite of her being someone else’s student at each instance. Now donning the role of a teacher herself, she works towards putting her unique and diverse learning experiences together for the benefit of interested students in the Seattle area.
A snapshot of Ragini Sri's musical career :
B grade artist All India Radio.
Pride of the Ashram (Awarded by academician Mrs. Lata Rajnikanth, wife of the Indian actor Padma Vibhushan Sri Rajnikanth) - 2004.
RMKV AWARD OF EXCELLENCE from Rasika Fine Arts, Chennai.
Over 1000 concerts as solo artiste at national and international venues, performed Carnatic, Contemporary and Popular (Film) music.
Performed annually for over a decade at the Margazhi Utsavam / December Music Season Festival at Chennai, India
Solo performance and performed as part of the celebrated Pancharathna group rendition by all the top musicians of the Carnatic music fraternity at Tiruvayyaru Tyagaraja Aradhana.
Worked for/with legends such as music directors Maestro Sri. Ilayaraja, Sri. AR Rahman, Sri. Yuvan Shankar Raja, Sri. Imman, Sri. Harris Jayaraj, Sri. GV Prakash, Sri. Stephen Devassy, playback singers Sri. S.P. Balasubramaniam, Sri. Srinivas Doraisamy, Smt. Sujatha Mohan, Sri. Benny Dayal, Sri. Vijay Prakash, Sri. Unnikrishnan, Sri. Mano, Smt. Swetha Mohan, Sri. Haricharan, Sri. Madhubalakrishnan, veena artiste Sri. Rajhesh Vaidya.
Selected by the Govt. of Tamilnadu (Iyal Isai Nataka Mandram) to perform at concerts all over the state.
Performed at prestigious venues such as Madras Music Academy and Shanmukhananda Hall Mumbai, cultural festivals, film audio launches and radio stations.
Won appreciation from stalwarts such as tabla maestro Sri. Zakir Hussain, Sri. Lalgudi Jayaraman Sri. Ganesh & Sri. Kumaresh, Smt. Jayanthi Kumaresh, Sri. Hariharan , Smt. K S Chitra, Smt. Aruna Sairam, Film Directors Sri. K Balachandar and Sri. Mani Ratnam.
Participated in and won several reality TV music shows such as Super Singer (Vijay TV), Sapthaswarangal (Sun TV), Ennodu Paattu Paadungal and Ragamalika (Jaya TV)
Served as judge and mentor for participants in reality TV music shows, school and college culturals
While she has dedicated her life to music, she also has other interests and creative pursuits. She is a professional dubbing artiste, having notably lent her voice for the actor Kajal Agarwal in the Tamil movie Thuppaki among other films such as Sarabham, Kadhai Thiraikkadhai Vasanam Iyakkam, Kappal. She has also been invited for celebrity shows on Tamil television and also hosted some herself. She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer and has even given a few stage performances. She loves reading, watching movies. She enjoys cooking healthy meals, being a very health-and-fitness-conscious person. She is also a regular practitioner of yoga.
She currently lives in Bothell, WA with her husband Sriram Ramesh, a versatile percussionist.