Padmashree saxophone player, Mangaluru's Dr. Kadri Gopalnath no more
Mangaluru: Renowned saxophone exponent Kadri Gopalnath died at a private hospital here early on Friday, family sources said. He was 69 and had been ailing for some time. Gopalnath is survived by wife, two sons and a daughter.
A Padma Shree awardee and one of the pioneers of music in the saxophone in the country, he had the distinction of being the first Carnatic musician to be invited in the BBC Promenade concert in the Royal Albert Hall at London in 1994.
Gopalnath's son, Manikanth Kadri is a noted music director.
Family sources said he was admitted to hospital here on Thursday after a complaint of back pain and breathed his last early Friday following a cardiac arrest.
Apart from the sobriquet 'Saxophone Chakravarty' (Emperorof Saxophone), Gopalnath was bestowed with many awards such as Kendriya Sangeet Natak Akademi, Kalaimamani of the Tamil Nadu government, Karnataka Kalasri, Gana Kala Bhushana and Naada Gandharva just to name a few.
He had played the saxaphone for Tamil film 'Duet' helmed by the late director K Balachander with musical score by A R Rahman, popularising the otherwise lesser known instrument among audience in Tamil Nadu.
Condoling his death, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa tweeted: "Kadri Gopalnath's death is an irreparable loss to the music world. I'm deeply saddened with his demise."
The funeral will be held on Saturday after his elder son Guruprasad who is working in Kuwait reaches here. Gopalnath's body will be kept at the town hall here for the people to pay their last respects, sources said.
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China's Global Times, Xinhua X-account handles blocked in India
New Delhi, May 14 (PTI): The X account handles of Global Times and Xinhua on Wednesday showed that it has been withheld in India in response to a legal request.
An email query sent to the Ministry of Electronics and IT elicited no immediate reply in this regard.
This development comes in the backdrop of Beijing announcing Chinese names for some places in Arunachal Pradesh, which the neighbouring country claims as the southern part of Tibet.
India on Wednesday outrightly rejected as "vain and preposterous" China renaming some places in Arunachal Pradesh and said such attempts will not alter the "undeniable" reality that the state "was, is, and will" always remain an integral part of India.
"We have noticed that China has persisted with its vain and preposterous attempts to name places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
"Consistent with our principled position, we reject such attempts categorically," he said.
