with Sanjay Suresh – Violin | Sankaran Bhattathiripad – Mridangam
Padma Sugavanam – Vocal
My story starts in the beautiful, quaint city of Ottawa in Canada – where I was born. My parents noticed that I loved singing as a child, and had to be pulled away from mikes! Although they had no background in music, they returned to India when I was hardly 4, with a vision that I should sing. Whatever I am today, is on account of their foresight and encouragement towards my music!
I started lessons with Smt. Geetha Ramachandran, and later trained under Sangita Kala Acharya Smt Seetha Rajan, in the ‘Semmangudi bani’. For 20 years, I trained in a Gurukulam environment – and spent nearly all waking hours at the Guru’s house. I even did my B.A.(Music) through correspondence, and soaked in music through the day – listening, analyzing and discussing music, witnessing my Guru’s practice, teaching juniors, researching…more
Sanjay Suresh – Violin
Sanjay Suresh began training in Carnatic vocal with his mother Vanitha Suresh at age 3 and learned violin from Shri C N Srinivasa Murthy (disciple of Shri Lalgudi Jayaraman) at age six. He commenced his training under Sangita Kalanidhi Chitravina N Ravikiran since age 9 and was presented in his arangetram in a unique manner by his guru as both solo violinist (with Mrdangam stalwart Mannargudi Easwaran & Kanjira exponent Shri B S Purushottam) and accompanist (for leading Vocalist Sikkil Gurucharan) in Chennai, India in Brahma Gana Sabha’s Music Festival on July 30, 2017. An eighth grader in Middleton, WI, Sanjay was also awarded the highest rating for Western solo at the State Level in 2017. Sanjay has won numerous prizes in Cleveland and has accompanied several leading and upcoming musicians in the Chennai music season and in the US. He is currently also under the tutelage of his Parama Guru Shri Chitravina Narasimhan.
Sankaran Bhattathiripad
Sankaran Bhattathiripad is a talented and sensitive percussionist. A disciple of Sri E P Narayana Pisharody and Sri K Parameswaran Namboothiri (AIR Thrissur), he accompanies leading artists on mridangam.
