“Beats with an emotion only gives a meaningful rhythm for life” ©️rsankaranarayanan

Lineage

Sankaranarayanan hails from traditional musical lineage being the great grandson of Padma Bhushan Papanasam Brahmasri Sivan. Sankaranarayanan is so fortunate to be blessed with both Sruti & Layam running in his blood & veins. His father Papanasam Sri R Ramani Bhagavathar is an eminent Nama Sankeerthanam exponent & Philanthropist whom also one of the direct disciple of Papanasam Sri Sivan, Needamangalam Sri Krishnamurthy Bhagavathar & Dr S Rajam a famous musician cum artiste. His Mother Smt Ananthalakshmi alias Raji Ramani was a performing singer and bhathanatyam dancer at her younger days following Panthanallur Bani.

Humble Beginning to a Voyage

His grandmother (Athai patti) Late Alamelu whom raised him accompanying his parents at his tender age was a pillar of strength to the family. She was a great visionary, blessing the child always to become one among top Mridanga vidwan in music field. She caliberated keenly his interest over layam & appreciates his playing in 5 litre palm oil tin and motivates to play more always. Sankaranarayanan use to sit along with all mridangam vidwans who accompanies his father during every friday’s Navavarnam songs renditions, all saturdays and Ekadasi bhajan sessions as Mridangam and attempts to play and match the rhythmic grooves to the songs that he listens and try to replicate the beats in it when he was around 3 years. Thus it has become an early call and initiated by his parents towards his formal training on actual instrument.

Tutelage

He started his formal basic training at age of 3 from Vidwan Kumbakonam Sri Ganesan and his father’s younger brother Vidwan Papanasam Sri R Kumar. Later he had strong foundation from Vidwan Melattur Sri L Balasubramaniam to whom he had training of basics in both Pudukkottai & Thanjavur bani. He also learnt few lessons from Vidwan Pammal Sri Krishnamurthy for few days.

His father takes Sankaranarayanan to lot of concerts to listen the live music ambience. During one of the incident at Pammal Sangeetha Sabha, his father took him to a vocal concert of Padma Bhushan Sri T V Sankaranarayanan, in which Legendary Mridangam Artiste and Sangeetha Vidwan Naadabrahmam Srimushnam Sri V Rajarao Sir accompanied him. Watching the young boy’s constant tapping on his thigh while listening songs, he asked his father to move to Chennai City so it helps for boy consistently to groom further in Mridangam. Soon within months he saw closely Sankaranarayanan accomapnying his father’s nama sankeerthanam at Kavignar Sri Narayanan’s residence at T Nagar during an annual event Purattasai Sanikkizhamai bhajan which was fortunately happened on Saraswathi poojai. Witnessing him playing Mridangam & Dolki, Sri Rajarao Sir asked his father to bring him home for further guidance the very next day the auspicious Vijayadasami, yet on a condition to stop playing Dholki since it may interrupt the formal mridangam lessons and asked for a minimum time frame of a year to gear him up towards high standard music concerts level. As he mentioned started accompanying music concerts since age 9.

Sankaranarayanan is so fortunate and blessed to get training from all his gurus sincerely and continuing tapas in Naada layam with joy and gratitude with constant learning to groom continuously and persistent to master the great art form day by day with passion.

Performer

R Sankaranarayanan is a well known Mridangam performer and one among the leading artistes of South Indian Percussion. His rendition is a power packed extempore playing with dexterity in handling the instrument, finer touches with nuances & rich tonal quality. In addition to that, his ease & fluidity in playing matches his finger’s speed with his stream of thought. Further to it, each and every stroke of his playing, is meant for his clarity with control, sound balance & rendering beats with emotions soulfully. Sankaranarayanan’s multiple variety of phrases & patterns which outpours the resonance with flair & flamboyance adds more aesthetical value & different dynamics of the sound thoroughly.

Sankaranarayanan loves to accompany to the style of each performer and try his best to give utmost support musically to enhance and make every concert successful as a team player.

Collaborator

R Sankaranarayanan accompanied several stalwarts of carnatic music like Chevalier Dr M Balamuralikrishna, Dr T K Govinda Rao, Padma Bhushan Sri P S Narayanaswami, Padmashri Dr N Ramani, Clarinet Everest Sri AKC Natarajan, Dr T V Gopalakrishnan, Padma Bhushan Madurai Sri T N Seshagopalan, Madurai Sri G S Mani, Manakkal Sri Rangarajan, Padma Bhushan Sri T V Sankaranarayanan, Sethalapathy Sri Balasubramanian, Sri O S Thyagarajan, Bombay Sisters, Padma Bhushan Dr Sudha Raghunathan, Violin Maestros Sangeetha Kalanidhis Lalgudi Sri GJR Krishnan & Lalgudi Smt Vijayalakshmi, Padmashri Bombay Jayashri, Violin Maestros & Grammy Awardee Sri Ganesh Rajagopalan & Sri Kumaresh Rajagopalan, Chitra Veena Maestro Sangeet Samrat Sri N Ravikiran, Violin Maestro Nagai Sri R Muralidharan, Smt Suguna Purushotthaman, Smt Suguna Varadachari, Sangeetha Kalanidhi Sri Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Sangeetha Kalanidhi Sri T M Krishna, Flute Maestro Chevalier Sri. S Shashank, Hyderabad Sisters, Priya Sisters and many more.

Sankaranarayanan also accompanying several leading top class young vidwans & vidhushis as well. He has also collaborated in many Jugalbandhi concerts with leading Hindustani musicians like Pandit Ronu Mazumdar, Ustad Shahid Pervez, Pandit Tejendra Mazumdar , Pandit Rakesh Chowrasia and Saxophone Maestro Sri George Brooks so on.

Sankaranarayanan had a great fortune to accompany Harikatha Doyens like Smt Banni Bai, Smt Thanjavur Smt Kamalamurthy & Kalyanapuram Sri Aravamudaachariyar.

Hailing from a traditional Nama Sankeerthanam family back ground Sankaranarayanan accompanies even now his father Veteran bhagavthar, scholar & philanthropist Sankeerthana Kalanidhi Papanasam Sri R Ramani Bhagavathar. Other than his father he is so blessed to accompany several stalwarts of nama sankeerthanam like Pithukkuli Sri Murugadass, H H Sri Haridass Giri Swamigal (Guruji ), H H Sri Namananda Giri Swamigal ( Namaji ), Gemini Sri Balu Bhagavathar, Sethalapathy Soundararajan Bhagavathar and not to miss his grandfather Naada Sudhaarnava Papanasam Brahmasri Kunjumani Bhagavathar and many more. Also he has accompanied several Thiruppugazh concerts with Brahmasri Delhi Sri Raghavan Guruji, Purasai Sri Arunagiri. Also special mention to Sri V. Lakshminarayana Bhagavathar to whom he has documented around six varieties of Thiruppugazh Sandha Talam, with whom whom he has done lecture demonstrations as well.

According to him, a collaborative mind set is certainly aligned together with all artistes on stage adding more richness to the melody & rhythm understanding the depth & the emotion of the music to be performed over all enhancing the compositions that are all made with lyrics or notations to elevate the taste of various audiences in ecstasy.

Educator

Sankaranarayanan teaching many aspiring learners of different age groups. He has passionate and dedicated disciples from India, Canada, Europe, Middle East Countries, USA. His teaching deals not just theoretical lessons in class sessions, also the intricate techniques with variety of styles in practical. He also pass the legacy of his guru’s style with the emotion through beats & finer details of playing with ease & dexterity for songs and solo aspects. In addition to the regular classes, he educates through master classes, workshops & lecture demonstrations. Sankaranarayanan is mentoring several music students to acquire and imbibe the knowledge of music especially South Indian rhythm in Mridangam playing and art of Konnakoal - Vocal percussion and its beauty. Also he instructs many passionate learners in few Music Schools & couple of colleges in India, USA & Canada as a guest lecturer.

Spotlighting Talents

Sankaranarayanan gained good experience & meticulous planning strategies by assisting his Guru in organizing concerts and coordinating the events for several top music organizations for several years. He always encourges all young aspiring talents & performers for their artistry in their respective art form. In addition to that, he is also providing regular platform to promote young musicians & facilitate them to perform live concerts spotlighting best talents almost every month in GTA (Greater Toronto Area) Ontario. He is the Founder Director & C.E.O., of Naadalayam Arts & Music, Toronto ON-Canada

Also being a Honorary Secretary of Sri Radhakrishna Sankeerthana Samajam Trust, He is also assisting his father to promote some of the best talents among young musicians by promoting their music during annual event Sangeetha Mahotsavam Festival at Chennai, UNESCO - recognized one of the Creative City.