Sound Engineer... Musician.... Singer.... Composer.....Lyricist.... Dramatist....  

 Gopal Venkataraman is the Chief Sound Engineer of Zen Sounds, and is a renowned devotional music composer and singer. Ven, as he is commonly known, has been performing and composing for the Vidyanjali Orchestra (www.hindutemplerhythms.com) since 1992.  He descends from a family which boasts one of India’s foremost Bharata Natyam Abhinaya exponents, Padmabhushan Smt. Kalanidhi Narayanan, and in fact got his musical training from a young age from his aunt, the late Smt. Vijayalakshmi Sitharaman in Madras. Since then, he has grown to author many devotional songs, including numerous Thillanas in multiple ragams and thalams.  He has scored the lyrics and music in multiple lauguages for dance events and dramas, such as the Hindu Temple Rhythms presentation of “Daksha Yagnam,” “Sita Swayamvara” and the epic dance drama, “Origins.”
    

     In addition to his vast talent and vision as a Classical artist, he enjoys performing as a singer and musician in numerous creative and film music efforts. Gopal, one of the winning singers on the Indian TV show, Sapta Swarangal, spent the past 14 years as lead singer for the North American Hindi Film Band, Ishara, which has brought Bollywood and related film songs to life on stage across the US for more than 18 years. Gopal recently led a new generation of the Ishara team, with his keyboard artistry and vocal leadership as fresh budding performers Krithika and Raksha teamed up with veteran performers Vidya and Anjali to present a musical fiesta in multiple languages for over 8,000 visitors to Michigan's grand India Fest 2004, sponsored by www.miindia.com. In addition, his devotion to the musical genius of Ilayaraja breathed energy as he teamed up with Drummer and Visionary Producer, Murali Iyer and Wizard Keyboardist and Musical Futurist, Sridhar Vaidyanathan to pull together their group, Ganavil and present a tribute to the Maestro, with the touring event, Ilayaraagangal in tamil.

     With Zen Sounds, Ven's palette of offerings expands to include the perfect combination for medium to large-size events with top of the line sound equipment and his ear for fine-tuning to multiple acoustical locations. Zen Sounds offers full service audio as well as experienced Indian-American DJ services.