Lineage

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

Humble Beginning to a Voyage

His grandmother (Athai paati) Late Alamelu who raised him along with his parents at his tender age was a pillar of strength to the family. She was a great visionary, blessing Sankaranarayanan always to become one among top Mridanga Vidwan in the music field. She calibrated Sankaranarayanan’s interest over layam keenly & appreciated his natural playing in 5 litre palm oil tin and motivated to play more always. Sankaranarayanan used to sit along with all Mridangam vidwans who accompanied his father weekly Navavarnam songs renditions and Saturdays and Ekadasi bhajan sessions. He also played with them using his palm oil tin as Mridangam in every session when he was around 3 years. Thus it became an early call to pursue mridangam formally in an actual instrument.

Tutelage

He started his formal basic training at age of 3 from Vidwan Kumbakonam Sri Ganesan who taught him beginner lessons and his father’s younger brother Vidwan Papanasam Sri R Kumar who taught him and his elder brother Sri Shiva Ramani alias Murali. Later Sankaranarayanan had strong foundation from Vidwan Melattur Sri L Balasubramaniam from whom he had training of both Pudukkottai & Thanjavur bani. He also learnt few lessons from Vidwan Pammal Sri Krishnamurthy for a few days.

His father took Sankaranarayanan to a lot of concerts to listen to other mridangam artists and observe and assimilate how they accompany songs. During one such concert visit with his father at Pammal Sangeetha Sabha, a vocal concert of Padma Bhushan Sri T V Sankaranarayanan, in which Legendary Mridangam Artiste & Sangeetha Vidwan Nadabrahmam Srimushnam Sri V Rajarao Sir accompanied him. Watching the young boy’s constant tapping on his thigh while listening songs during full concert, Sri Rajarao Sir suggested his father to move to Chennai City so it helps the boy consistently 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 fortunately happened on Saraswathi poojai. Witnessing him playing Mridangam & Dolki, Sri Rajarao Sir asked his father to bring him home for further guidance from the very next day the auspicious Vijayadasami, but on the condition that he stops playing Dholki since it may interrupt the formal mridangam lessons for few years and asked for a minimum time frame of a year to gear him up towards high standard music concert level. As he mentioned soon within the year Sankaranarayanan started accompanying music concerts since age 9 for great Musicians like Sethalapathy Sri Balasubramanian, Trichy Sri Ganesan, Karur Sri Krishnamurthy and so on. After 4 years Sankaranarayanan’s family moved to Chennai City and he pursued gurukula style of learning from Sri Rajarao Sir.

Sankaranarayanan is so fortunate and blessed to get training from all his gurus sincerely. He continues his tapas in Naada Layam with great joy & gratitude with constant learning to groom continuously and persistently to master the great art form day by day with passion accepting & sharing to others gracefully. He owes all his accomplishments to his Parents, Alamelu Athai Paati, all of his Gurus’ & their blessings along with great masters of music. According to Sankaranarayanan, his thirst for learning and intense practice with complete focus to perfect the great art form is amplifying every moment of his life. He feels fully blessed by the divine energies from higher above.

Also he strongly believes that “Mastery over an art form comes with spark, passion & regular practice with techniques & discipline only, there is no alternate to excel with shortcuts !!”