Vidwan Trichy Sankaran (b. Poovalur, Madras Presidency, India, July 27, 1942) is a South Indian percussionist, composer, scholar, and educator. He is acknowledged as one of the foremost virtuosos of the mridangam, a barrel drum used in Carnatic music, and also plays the kanjira on occasion. Since the early 1970s, he has performed and recorded in a number of cross-cultural projects.
Sankaran has lived in Toronto, Ontario, Canada since 1971 and is a Canadian citizen. He is the founder of the Tyagaraja Festival in Toronto and is a professor of music at York University. He has regularly performed at all leading organizations in Chennai, India every December Music Season and continues to accompany a wide array of top ranked musicians.
Background
Born in the year 1942, Sankaran had his early musical training first under his cousin, the late Sri P. A. Venkataraman, and later became the star disciple of the legendary mridangam maestro, the late Sri Pazhani Subramania Pillai. He made his debut at the age of 13 in a concert given by the Alathoor Brothers at Nanrudayan Temple in the town of Trichy, Tamil Nadu.
Since then he has performed with all top ranking Carnatic musicians, including Sri Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Sri Chembai Vaidhyanatha Bhagavatar, Sri Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, Sri Musiri Subramania Iyer, Sri Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Sri G. N. Balasubramaniam, Sri Madurai Mani Iyer, Sri T. R. Mahalingam, and others.
Winner of the All India Radio gold medal in 1955 and the President of India award in 1958, Sankaran is one of the world's top ranking mridangam players. In addition to being the most sought after successor to the style of Pazhani Subramania Pillai, Sankaran has cultivated and infused new dimensions to the art of performing on his instrument, thus making his style innovative, yet treading ever so finely within the confines of tradition.
He has developed over the years a unique style of accompaniment trademark to only himself for which he is highly sought after amongst musicians, percussionists, audiences and connoisseurs alike. The forte of his style includes the most superior of nadai calibration, subtle koraippu structure, innovative mora – korvai permutations and most significant of all; his innate ability to present performances in any tala combination, not compromising detail or structure. Added to his reputation are, his tala-specific renditions, highlighting patterns contouring the tala orientation. His lyrical displays of rhythmic aesthetics in mridangam playing have been the object lessons of the percussionists' logistics.
He has dedicated himself for the cause and propagation of Carnatic music in North America in more than one way: as academician, global artist, composer, and collaborator.
Teaching
Sankaran is the Founding Director of the Indian Music Program and a Professor of Music at York University in Toronto, Canada, where he has been teaching since 1971. In addition, he has also conducted workshops and seminars at Wesleyan University, the Berklee College of Music, the University of Michigan, the California Institute of the Arts, the University of Illinois, McMaster University, Cornell University, and Dalhousie University. He has made valuable contributions at many scholarly conferences across North America and has also published a number of his works in the leading journals of the continent. He has also written a textbook on the mridangam, which defines the basic techniques and principles of Carnatic percussion, entitled The Rhythmic Principles & Practice of South Indian Drumming.
Sankaran is also the founder and artistic director of Kalalayam, an institution dedicated in cultivating the nuances and techniques of the Pudukkottai style of percussive embellishment. He has successfully trained many South Asian and North American students on the mridangam, kanjira, ghatam, tabla, and other Western percussion instruments. He was the pioneer in starting the Thyagaraja Festival in Toronto which has flourished into an annual event hosting a series of concerts featuring top ranked musicians from India, identifying and promoting talented youth in North America and endowing scholarships to students pursuing a career in music.
International tours
Sankaran has performed far and wide at major festivals in India, Southeast Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Australia, and North America. With over half a century of concert experience in Carnatic music, he has accompanied over five generations of musicians.
Awards
Trichy Sankaran receiving honorary Doctor of Music degree, University Of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, 1998
As a performing artist of international repute, Sankaran has received numerous honors and awards. The titles include:
- Tala Kalai Arasu (Bharati Kala Manram, Toronto)
- Laya Sikhamani (Bhairavi, Cleveland)
- Nadha Laya Brahmam (Bharathi Vidya Bhavan, Trichy)
- Tala Vadya Prakasa (CMANA, New York)
- Sangeetha Choodamani ( Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai)
- Viswa Kala Bharathi (Bharat Kalachar, Chennai)
- Mridanga Kala Shironmani (Percussive Arts Centre, Bangalore)
- Asthana Vidwan (Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, Kanchipuram)
- OCUFA teaching award (Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Association, Canada)
He was also nominated as the Professional Of the Year by the executive committee of the Indo-Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Toronto. He has received the prestigious Palghat Mani Iyer Award from the Percussive Arts Centre, Bangalore, the Chowdiah Memorial Award from the Karnataka State, and Sri Pazhani Subramania Pillai Award from the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. In 1998 he received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the University of Victoria, in British Columbia, Canada, for his achievements in the academic and professional fields. He has also held honorable positions at The Glenn Gould Foundation and Canada Council.
Work with ensembles
In addition to his usual traditional settings, he has performed with gamelan, jazz, electronic, and African music ensembles, and World Drums in fusion concerts. He has performed in jugalbandhi concerts with Ustad Vilayat Khan, V. G. Jog, Zakir Hussain, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Shanta Prasad, and Swapan Chaudhuri, to name a few. As a composer, Sankaran has to his credit numerous pieces in the genres of gamelan, jazz, traditional Western classical orchestra, and various instrumental ensembles respectively.
Sankaran has also worked in the fields of jazz, electronic music, and free improvisation with the composers David Rosenboom, Richard Teitelbaum, Charlie Haden, Pauline Oliveros, Paul Plimley, the Jazz Orchestra of York University, Anthony Braxton, Dave Brubeck, Glen Velez, Nexus, and World Drums.
Personal
Sankaran lives in North York, Ontario. His daughter is the vocalist/pianist Suba Sankaran. A York University graduate, she is a freelance performer in Toronto and has her own group called Autorickshaw, which specializes in contemporary and instrumental fusion themes (Indo-jazz). Suba, along with her father Trichy Sankaran and wind specialist Ernie Tollar, perform as Trichy's Trio. She also performs jazz numbers with the group Retrocity.
Trichy Sankaran has also been involved with numerous multi-cultural initiatives, such as performing at Toronto's Yonge & Dundas Square as a headliner of the 'desiFest' May 2007 South Asian Canadian music festival founded by youth entrepreneur Sathish Bala.
Discography
Released in North America
Instrumental ensemble/fusion
- 1975 - Suitable for framing - with David Rosenboom and J. B. Floyd (ARC Records)
- 1993 - Whirled - with Oilver Schroer (Big Dog Music)
- 1996 - Oliver Schroer and the Stewed Tomatoes - with Oilver Schroer (Big Dog Music)
- 1998 - Ivory Ganesh Meets Doctor Drums - with Paul Plimley (Songlines)
- 1999 - Catch 21: Trichy's Trio - with Suba Sankaran and Ernie Tollar (Deep Down Productions)
- 1999 - Innovative Music Meeting - with Rajesh Mehta and Rohan De Saram (True Muze Records)
- 2004 - Maza Mezé: Secrets Moon Magic - with John Wyre and Suba Sankaran (CBC)
Traditional Carnatic
- 1990 - Laya Vinyas - Mrdangam Solo (Music of the World)
- 1993 - Sunada - with Karaikudi Subramaniam (Music of the World)
- 1997 - Lotus Signatures - with Dr. N. Ramani (Music of the World)
- 2001 - The Carnatic Violin - with Prof. T. N. Krishnan (Kriyative World Music)
Released in India
- 2001 - Kutcheri: Live at Kalakshetra - with Sanjay Subramanyan (Charsur Digital)
- 2002 - Mukhari - with Chitraveena Ravikiran (Rajalakshmi Audio)
- 2005 - Gajaleela - Mridangam and Kanjira Solo (Charsur Digital)
- 2007 - Kutcheri: Live in Chennai - with Lalgudi G. J. R. Krishnan and Lalgudi Vijaylakshmi (Charsur Digital)**
- 2007 - Live at Music Academy Madras - with Malladi Brothers (Rajalakshmi Audio)**
** - Forthcoming
Books
- 1977 - The Art of drumming: South Indian Mridangam. Toronto: Private Edition
- 1994 - The Rhythmic Principles & Practice of South Indian Drumming. Toronto: Lalith Publishers
- 2003 - Frame Drums of South India: A Handbook on Solkattu (Rhythm Solfege). Toronto: Lalith Publishers.
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