Biography

Nerkunam Sankar is a professional kanjira player based out of the capital city of Tamil Nadu, Chennai. He is one of most famous artists in the field of Carnatic music. He started playing kanjira at the age of 12; he is the last disciple of kanjira maestro, Sri G Harishankar. Nerkunam traveled far and wide with Guru Harishankar and started his initial training in Carnatic percussion under Sri Shrivanchiyam K Gopalan and Sri PT Subramaniam. Born in 1979 to Shri K Suriyanarayanan and S Vasantha in the native Nerkunam village (Tamil Nadu), Nerkunam Sankar later settled in Chennai for his studies and music. He has earned an MA (Rhythmology) and an M Phil degree from the Department of Indian Music of the University Of Madras. He is an ‘A’ Graded artist from All India Radio. He started an organisation called Kalaimamani G Harishankar Admirer's Circle after the demise of G Harishankar. Every year, he organises a remembrance day and honours a senior musician with the award called G Harishankar Memorial Award. Nerkunam has a wealth of experience accompanying great musicians including Guruvayur Sri Dorai, Dr Sri TK Murthy, Mannargudi Sri Eshwaran, Sri Srimushnam Rajarao, Madurai Sri TN Seshagopalan, Thiruvarur Sri Bhakthavatsalam, Kadri Gopalnath, Sri TV Sankaranarayanan, Naively Sri Santhanagopalan, Sri OS Thyagarajan, Sri TM Krishna, Sri Sanjay Subramaniam, Smt Sudha Ragunathan, Sri Ashok Ramani, Smt Nithyasrimahadevan, and many others. He has toured Mauritius with Shri Madurai GS Mani for ICCR in 2009. Awards: All India Competition conducted by All India Radio, Chennai in 1999 Honored with the title Asthanavidwan from Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam Honored with Yuvakala Bharathi title from Bharathkalachar, 2011 Selected as the Young Artist by Eyal Esai Nadaka Manram