G.V. Atri

Who is G.V. Atri?

G.V. Atri was an Indian singer in Kannada language. He was born in Kanakapura and raised in Bangalore city. He died under very tragic circumstances along with 5 of his family members during a bath in a river at Sringeri. Thus Kannada lost a very enterprising, experimental and a magnetic musical personality.

G.V. Atri specialized in sugama sangeetha, the modern singing form. He was trained in Hindustani form of Indian classical music during his formative years under guru, Sheshadri Gavai of Bangalore. He also sang as a play back singer for more than a dozen Kannada movies. He was very popular in performing live on public stage with variety of songs.He was popularly known as ” Junior P.B. Sreenivas”, as his voice resembled that of the ace play back singer of yester years, P.B. Sreenivas.

He composed and sang a few thousand songs encompassing musical repertoire of romantic, devotional, patriotic, folk and children’s songs for many of his albums. He was also a member of the Karnataka Sangeetha Nrithya Academy, a Karnataka Government institution. He was very active in successfully organizing music oriented social events such as sugama sangeetha seminars, recognition to yester year musicians and music competitions.

He was noted for organizing a music workshop for the benefit of inmates of a Bangalore prison. He believed that music improves the qualities of a human being and thus it could reform even criminals.

He founded the “Sangeetha Ganga” a premier foundation and music school to train and encourage young and upcoming singers in Kannada. Many young talents have benefitted from Sangeetha Ganga. Many awards have been instituted after his name by public cultural organizations to unearth young talents and encourage them, thus commemorating his memory.