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T S Nandakumar
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Mumbai, Maharashtra India
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One Man "Sounds's" Different |
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Mridangam and Me |
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Native Drums |
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T. Shankaranaryanan Nandakumar (T. S. Nandakumar) was born on 17 March 1958 in Ambalappuzha, Kerala, India. He is the son of Balakrishna Panicker and Shrimati Saraswati. He comes from the family of the well known nadaswaram duo, the Ambalapuzha Brothers. A child prodigy, Nandakumar had only talent with which he conquered the world of music with his beats on the mridangam. He learnt mridangam under the guidance of Kaithavana Madhavdas in the gurukula samprada tradition and acquired proficiency as Laya Vidwan .
Nandakumar developed a strong interest in music when he was four years old. He gained a reputation as an accompanist to some well known names in carnatic music such as Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, M. D. Ramanathan, S. Ramanathan, R. K. Srikantan, Bhimsen Joshi, M. Balamuralikrishna, T. N. Krishnan, L. Subramaniam, N. Ramani, K. J. Yesudas, N. Rajam, T. K. Govinda Rao, Nedunuri Krishnamurthy, T. V. Gopalakrishnan and several others. He has taken up his life mission to perpetuate Indian ancient art form and has dedicated himself in teaching the same to hundreds of students worldwide.He was quoted as "Guru of all musical things" and "The Master Of Rhythm" by The Times of India.
Besides being an amiable accompanist[4], Nandakumar has shown a flair for teaching and training students in a number of music institutions and fine arts sabhas in Mumbai. Not content with just training, he has found a medium for the students to hone their skills and play in unison.TSN's percussive Arts Centre which is a composite unit drawn from talented teenagers. He trained his students in instruments like mridangam, konnakol, thavil, ghatam, kanjira, and morsing used in playing for ensemble. Under his tutelage, the ensemble has been performing with excellence. Having performed all over Mumbai and in the south of India, he came out with Jewels Of Rhythm album which was a dramatic commercial success.
Nandakumar has been promoting Indian carnatic music both as a teacher and a performer[6]. He had the privilege of performing for various festivals all over the country, besides giving performances for All India Radio and Doordarshan.
He has conducted several musical concerts, lectures cum demonstration and workshops in India as well as abroad like Lamar University of Houston, Indiana University of Pennsylvania and several others to train students and build their rapport with artists by accompanying them. Nandakumar has adapted to the modern world to take in students from age 8 to 68, and bring them to the performance stage in an ensemble format within months of starting their training. In return he achieves intense dedication and exceptional results from pupils who otherwise would not have participated in the traditional teaching model. Most all of his students are graded artists in All India Radio and are full-time professionals in this field. They are also following the new path trail marked by their guru by spreading the knowledge of Carnatic percussion to their own ever growing number of students around the world in the same innovative way so that the vision of their guru Nandakumar is successfully achieved. Another of Nandakumar’s important contributions of major significance to Carnatic percussion music is his willingness to teach older students based outside of India who begin their training with him without any background in Carnatic percussion or Indian culture.
Nandakumar has earned several awards. He received the LifeTime Achievement Award from Shanti Foundation, Chennai for his contributions to the field of Indian classical music. He was honored by the Cleveland Tyagaraja group with the 'Best Teacher Award' where M. Balamuralikrishna and Nirupama Rao, Indian Ambassador to the United States was the guest of honor, and the Bharat Ratna M. S. Subbulakshmi Best Teacher Award from the Shanmukhananda Fine Arts and Sangeetha Sabha, Mumbai.He was also felicitated and honoured by Shri R. K. Laxman the cartoonist.
Pittsburgh University in America conducts special classes in percussive arts for which they have enlisted Nandakumar. He used to conduct classes in the Venkateswara Temple, Pittsburgh; Academy of Indian Music, New Jersey; Switzerland and several places in other countries. He also conducted 24 hours non stop Akanda Seva Bhajan with his students in Mumbai for the tsunami-affected victims of India.Nandakumar composed and released Jewels of Rhythm Vol 1, Jewels of Rhythm Vol 2 and Jewels of Rhythm Vol 3 which were performed by his students at the ages of nine and ten respectively, and Vibrative Rhythms which is a fusion of Carnatic, Hindustani and Western music as a one-man ensemble of mridangam, konnakol, thavil, ghatam, kanjira and the morsing played by himself.He also started the Guru Sishyas Talavadya Kutcheri Concept i.e. Guru -himself and Shishya - students Performance.
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