Leading the cause in Carnatic flute heritage conservation, education and promotion

Carnatic Flautists: Rising Legends

First Legends  |  Rising Legends  |  Parampara Shashank Subramanyam  is one of the most prodigious flautists in the world and arguabl... thumbnail 1 summary

Shashank SubramanyamShashank Subramanyam is one of the most prodigious flautists in the world and arguably the greatest living Carnatic flautist today. Born as a child prodigy to Subramanyam, a biochemistry professor and a disciple of Dindugal S P Natarajan (the direct disciple of Flute Mali), his father introduced to him the basics of flute playing after realising that by the age of 2 Shashank was able to identify all the 72 melakartha ragas. He then took to the flute at the age of 6 in 1984 and by 1990 he was performing in the top concert circuits in both India and abroad. His career-defining moment came when the Music Academy invited Shashank, just 12 years old, to perform in the senior most performance slot "SADAS concert" at The Music Academy, Chennai 1 January 1991, a record that is yet to be broken.  Adept in all the 72 melakartha ragas of the Carnatic system, he is an A-Top AIR and Doordarshan artiste and has given over 2000 concerts. He has released over 65CDs and 6 DVDs of music albums and videos. He has performed in most of the world's leading major music festivals, before the royalties of Europe, the most prestigious music venues and had collaborated with some of the leading Jazz bands and musicians in the United States and Europe. His greatest contribution to the Carnatic flute was the introduction of the transposed fingering technique and the use of the double octave blowing technique in his performances. Self-taught in his flute training, his training with vocal maestros R K Srikantan and Palghat K V Narayanaswamy together with  percussion masters such as Tiruchur Narendran and Karaikkudi Mani provided him with the necessary grounding to bring out the best of the Carnatic vocal form on the flute. Being a student of Hindustani classical music as well, he is currently learning advanced training in Hindustani music with the Hindustani vocal maestro Pt. Jasraj.


Ludwig PeschLudwig Pesch is probably the first European to pursue the study of Carnatic music & flute to a professional level. He was a music student at the University of Freiburg (Germany) & was a recipient of the prestigious Indo-German Cultural Exchange Programme & the DAAD (Deutscher Akademsicher Austausch Dienst). He completed his Diploma Course (First Class) in Carnatic music at Kalakshetra & learnt Carnatic flute under the late Ramachandra Shastry (disciple of Palladam Sanjeeva Rao) for 15 years. He is the co-founder of a major music documentation centre & archive in Chennai, Sampradaya. He had given many lecture demonstrations, solo performances & has also worked with top ranking musicians in India & abroad. He has also initiated Carnatic music rehabilitation projects & special music education on Carnatic music in Germany. He is also the author of several music books including the widely acclaimed "The Illustrated Companion to South Indian Classical Music" the first of its kind in the world for a global audience.


J A JayanthJ. A. Jayanth is a child prodigy and is the grandson of one of Flute Mali's favourite disciples T S Sankaran. He started his training with his grandfather at the age of 5 and also received vocal training from his grandmother V. S. Sundari. He then took to the flute at the age of 7 and started to play the complex ragam-thanam-pallavi (RTP) segment in three speeds of what it would normally take years of practice to achieve. He was given an A grade ranking by AIR at the age of 21 and had performed in some of the most prestigious music festivals and concert venues in India and abroad. He had also given Jughalbhandis with several leading Hindustani musicians. Currently he is receiving advanced training in Carnatic music from the Carnatic vocal maestro Sanjay Subramanyam.

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