Palghat Ramprasad

Palghat Ramprasad is a Carnatic vocalist from a distinguished musical family: he is the grandson of the mridangam maestro Palghat Mani Iyer, great-grandson of the vocalist Shesha Bhagawathar, and great-great-grandson of Ramaswamy Bhagawathar. His father is the violinist Palghat T.R. Rajaram, whom he names as his only guru. He first appeared on the concert platform in 1988 at the Youth Association for Classical Music in Chennai, aged under eight, and was named best artist of that series; he was known as a child prodigy through the 1990s and established himself as a leading vocalist in Chennai in the 2000s. He runs the Palghat Mani Iyer School of Music. Alongside music he works as a development economist, holding a PhD in Economics from the University of Georgia.