Earth and Strings – Friday 24 July 2026

Sukanya Ramgopal

Sukanya Ramgopal is the first woman ghatam artiste of India and has received wide acclaim for her performance and accompaniment of leading artistes. Over the past 50 years, she has mastered the art of playing the ghatam, which is a narrow-mouthed earthen pot, in the Carnatic music genre. At age 12 years, Sukanya began training in mridangam under the able guidance of Sri Harihara Sharma and later his son, ghatam maestro Sri Vikku Vinayakram. Sukanya has mastered the unique ghatam fingering techniques and is today considered the torchbearer of the Vikku baani (tradition). She is also a proficient performer on the Konnakol (vocal percussion).

GhataTharang (multi-ghatam) is a unique idea conceptualised by Sukanya, breaking new grounds to play with 6 - 7 ghatams of different shruthis, thereby creating melody on a percussion instrument. This is the first time that a percussion instrument has come to occupy the centre stage in a Carnatic concert. She has won many awards and is a highly regarded and sought after percussionist.

Bhagyalakshmi M Krishna

Bhagyalakshmi is daughter and disciple of Morsing maestro L Bhimachar and an A- grade artiste of Bangalore. She is the first renowned female Morsing Artiste and has widely performed all over the country and abroad, participating in many prestigious festivals accompanying many eminent artists. She has received several awards to her credit.

Vani Manjunath

Vani Manjunath is an All-India Radio A-grade Flute artiste and one of the best female flautists of India. She has been playing for classical ensembles and regular concerts. She has composed music for many dance programs.

Prema Vivek

Prema Vivek is one of the top violinists who has accompanied many senior artistes and legendary musicians. Disciple of Sri H V Krishnamurthy, she had advanced training under Sangeetha Kala Acharya Neela Ramgopal and Sangeetha Kalanidhi A Kanyakumari.

Lakshmi Rajasekar

Lakshmi Rajasekar is one of the best female mridangam artiste in India and disciple and daughter of Kalashree V Gurumurthy Thangavelu. She hails from a family of musicians and started learning vocal and Bharathanatyam and had her advanced training in mridangam from Sangeetha Kalanidhi T V Gopalakrishnan. She has won many titles, prizes and awards and accompanied many musicians and given solo mridangam programmes.

Kabir Vani – Pearls of Wisdom - 25 July 2026

Seema Ovalekar

Seema is a vocalist, music educator and founder of Antarnaad, a space for learning Hindustani classical and semi classical music. She holds a master’s degree in music and has had a 12-year enriching association with the Shankar Mahadevan Academy shaping and leading their Grow With Music program as the Curriculum Head. As a Hindustani classical vocalist, her performances have spanned Mumbai, Bangalore and Singapore. She continues her own musical journey under the guidance of Vidushi Apoorva Gokhale of the Gwalior Gharana. Her artistic journey continues with a deep reverence for the profound work of India’s saint-poets. She aspires to share their timeless wisdom, curating meaningful presentations that resonate with contemporary audiences.

Sachin Bhide

Sachin hails from the educational and cultural heritage city of Pune in India, working as an IT professional in Singapore for last 20 years. He learnt tabla from renowned late Ustad Ghulam Rasool Khan and is currently training under Nawaz Mirajkar at the Temple of Fine Arts, Singapore. Sachin has had the privilege of accompanying many renowned artists both in India and Singapore.

Sachin Vartak

Sachin began his training in Hindustani music under Pandit Bindu Madhav Tendulkar. Since couple of years, he is getting Harmonium lessons under the guidance of Pandit Pramod Marathe. He collaborates with both local and established artistes at numerous events throughout Singapore.

Entwined Twins – a vocal Jugalbandhi - Saturday 25th July

Vignesh Ishwar

Vignesh is a young leading Carnatic vocalist from Mumbai, trained from age 4 under Palakkad Sri T S Anantharama Bhagawathar and since 2008 by Sangita Kalanidhi Sri T M Krishna. His sonorous voice, energetic style, perfect shruti, and innovative approach blends sincerity, creativity, and tradition. He performs regularly in sabhas and music festivals in India and concerts abroad. His awards include Isai Peroli (2023), Isai Arasar (2024), and multiple Music Academy Best Concert prizes (2019-2025).

Vignesh collaborates with veterans like Umayalapuram K Sivaraman, in projects like UNISON with Rithvik Raja, jugalbandis with Kaustuv Kanti Ganguli, and Bharatanatyam scores. Holds a master's degree in sound/music technology.

Kaustuv Kanti Ganguli

Dr Kaustuv Kanti Ganguli is a professional vocalist, scientist, and musicologist trained in Hindustani music tradition. He is a disciple of Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty. Hailing from the Patiala gharana, he is proficient in Khayal, Thumri-Dadra, Bhajan, and other allied musical forms. He was initiated into music at an age of 4. And has been performing in India and abroad since the age of 12 in prestigious concerts.

Some of his accolades include 'Scholarship to Young Artiste' from the Ministry of Culture (2010), President's Award for winning the All India Radio National Competition (2011), Scholarship from the National Center for the Performing Arts (2012), ‘Gaanwardhan’ award, Pune (2018), 'Yuva Gaandharva Puraskar', Kankavli (2019), etc.

Kaustuv is also an active academician, currently a Professor of Computing at the Zayed University, UAE

Sayee Rakshith

Sayee Rakshith is a prodigious young Carnatic violinist trained initially by Sri V Ramani, and subsequently by Sri K G Rajesh, and Sangeetha Kalanidhi A Kanyakumari. He refined his vocal skills with maestros Sri Neyveli Ganesh, Sri A S Murali, and Sri Rajkumar Bharathi, while excelling as a music producer, arranger, composer, and proficient armonium/keyboard player. Since age 10, he has performed with top Carnatic artistes in India and abroad, and is a key member of the band Staccato.

Praveen Sparsh

Praveen Sparsh was trained under Sri Guruvayur Dorai and is one of the most sought after Mridangam artistes in the field of Carnatic music, and performs regularly with stalwarts. He is part of several ensembles and holds regular master classes.

Subhadeep Kumar Biswas

Subhadeep is a young Indian classical musician specializing in harmonium and vocal classical. He is tutor in Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society. He commenced his musical training at an early age, delving into harmonium and classical vocal under the guidance of his father Dilip Kumar Biswas. He advanced his studies in harmonium under the mentorship of Pandit Jyoti Goho, while his vocal training flourished under the guidance of Pandit Sandip Bhattacharjee who hails from Kirana Gharana. He is presently under the guidance of Tanmay Deochake. He also holds a B.Tech degree in Computer Science and Engineering from MAKAUT, West Bengal. He has several awards to his credit.

Vimal Venkatram

Vimal has been playing tabla from the age of 5 and has learnt under the legends Ustad Alla Rakha and Ustad Zakir Hussain. He has also undergone training in the Farukhabad style of tabla with Pandit Arvind Mulgaonkar. Vimal has performed the world over with many artistes like Kala Ramnath, Manish Pingle, Arnab Chakrabarty, Vinayak Chittar and at prestigious venues in Bombay, Delhi and at MahaKumbh 2025. He has also performed with leading Carnatic artistes. He is also a member of Singapore band called Bandwidth. He has also been an external examiner for the tabla students of Guru Mihir Kundu. He is currently the Vice President, Asia Pacific and Japan at Speedata, a semiconductor startup and leads their business for this region.

Unison – SamaGama – Carnatic Male Chorale 26th July 2026

Dr Sanjay Subramaniam

Dr Sanjay, a Critical Care physician by profession, is an accomplished musician having performed to high acclaim in several places. After initial training in Delhi, Sanjay had advanced training from Sangita Kalanidhi Sri Neyveli Santhanagopalan and enriched his repertoire by learning compositions from eminent musicians such as Sri PS Narayanaswami. Sanjay has been a regular performer in the music season in Chennai since 2006 and in US at numerous Carnatic Music Festivals in several cities.

Sanjay established Abhinay School of Music and Dance in 2008. The school has been successfully imparting online and in-person training in Carnatic Classical Vocal to aspiring and serious students. He regularly organizes workshops for students in Seattle and St Louis. In addition, he is the Founder and President of Abhinay Fine Arts, the premier non-profit organization, that has been promoting Indian Classical Music and dance in the greater Seattle area. One of his major accomplishments was organizing the first ever Carnatic Music choir in the area in 2016 that featured over 100 participants.

Deepak Iyer

Deepak began his Carnatic music journey under Mrs Rajalakshmi Krishnan and then continued his training at the Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society and is an award-winning vocalist.

A dedicated member of the Singapore Indian Orchestra & Choir (SIOC) for 25 years, Deepak has performed as a lead male vocalist in over 100 concerts locally and internationally, including tours to Mexico, Russia, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Since 2021, Deepak has been at the helm of SIOC leading its transformation into an independent performing arts company and acting as a strategic advisor.

Deepak Sridhar Bharadwaj

Deepak is a Singapore-based Carnatic vocalist who has nurtured a lifelong passion for music has been a committed member of the Singapore Indian Orchestra & Choir (SIOC) since 2011, participating in several signature productions.

Dushyant Madhavan

Dushyanth, a research engineer in NTU, has learnt Carnatic Music for over 10 years in India. He has been an independent artiste performing Indian cinema music and classical fusion across several venues in Singapore including events such as Kala Utsav 2019. He joined the acclaimed Singapore Indian Orchestra and Choir (SIOC) in 2023.

Narendra Suhas Jagannathan

Suhas at an early age learnt the fundamentals of Carnatic music from Mrs Radha Badri, an accomplished Carnatic singer in Chennai. Since 2011, he has been a student of the Hindustani vocal discipline under Gurus in Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society, where he has been part of many solo and group performances. Suhas has been an active performing member in the Singapore Indian Orchestra and Choir since 2022. Over the years he has performed at notable Singapore venues.

Madrasmail Kajan

Kajan is a percussion artiste. Kajan learnt this mridangam from his guru Isai Kalaimamani Kannadasan from the age of 9. Kajan has performed for leading artistes in Singapore, Malaysia, India and Australia, and besides being a Mridangam artist, he can play other percussion instruments like Morsing, Ghatam Tabla and Rhythm pad. He is an active artiste of Singapore Indian Orchestra and Choir (SIOC).

Dr L Madhavkrishnan

Madhavakrishnan is a Carnatic music violinist, currently based in Singapore. He began his musical tutelage under Sri C N Srinivasa Murthy, a disciple of violin maestro Lalgudi Sri G Jayaraman. He has performed at some prestigious venues in Singapore

Thantakorn Lakanasirorat

Thantakorn is a violist and educator with a distinguished performance career in Singapore and Thailand. A graduate of the Royal College of Music (London) and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Singapore), he earned a First-Class Bachelor of Music degree with Honours. He also received the Best Graduates Awards, Wu Tsung Kan Book Prize, and Diploma in Music with Distinction. He has refined his craft in masterclasses with important figures in international viola arena such as Ori Kam, William Coleman, and Jane Atkins.
As an orchestral musician, Thantakorn has performed with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Metropolitan Festival Orchestra, The Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra. He has held principal viola positions with the Asian Cultural Symphony Orchestra, NAFA Orchestra, and the NUS Symphony Orchestra.

Seasons Within - Bharatanatyam Dance - Sunday 26 July

Meera Balasubramanian

Meera is a dancer, choreographer, actor, and founder of Kalpavriksha Fine Arts (KFA). Trained under Smt Ranganayaki Jayaraman and Sri Haripadman, she continues her artistic journey under Sri Vikas Parayalil and is mentored by Rama Vaidyanathan. As a Bharatanatyam artiste with over 25 years of experience, Meera has performed internationally and represented Singapore through NAC-supported projects, the Asean cultural platform, and the High Commission of India. Among her notable works is Kasi – Dance of Infinity, a production commissioned by Esplanade, Singapore. At KFA, she trains over 150 students, many of whom have successfully completed their Arangetram.

Sudha Raghuraman

Sudha is an acclaimed Carnatic vocalist, composer, and educator whose artistry is deeply rooted in a rich musical lineage. Born into a family steeped in the classical arts, Sudha received her initial training in vocal music from her father, the late Sri O S Sridhar, and soon after, came under the meticulous and transformative tutelage of her grandfather, the revered Sangeetha Bhushanam Sri O V Subramaniam. She also honed her skills in violin under the guidance of the late Sri V Janaki Raman, developing a nuanced understanding of melodic structure and orchestration. A versatile and widely travelled performer, Sudha has graced some of the most prestigious stages and festivals across India and internationally. Beyond performance, Sudha has made a significant mark as a composer. Her musical sensibilities, informed by a unique upbringing that blended the richness of Carnatic tradition with the aesthetics of Hindustani music, have led to over 500 recordings and numerous acclaimed compositions for classical dance productions and Carnatic ensembles. Her music was also featured in the classical dance segment of the Commonwealth Games inaugural function in New Delhi.

P N Vikas

Vikas is a well-known choreographer and Nattuvangam specialist. He was a tutor in Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society from 2015 to 2025 and has groomed many talented students. He has made invaluable contributions to the Singapore Indian arts scene. Many of his senior students have become regular performers in Chennai.

L Saravanan

Saravanan is the founder and director of Vamshidwani, established to promote the growth of Carnatic flute in Singapore in 2007. He holds a master’s degree in Indian music from the Annamalai University and has is now Flute faculty member in Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society. As a respected and a recognised performer, he has performed globally and Saravanan has accompanied some of the finest musicians of India. He has accompanied several dancers.

T Ramanan

Ramanan began learning the mridangam at the age of 12 under the tutelage of late Sri R Thangavelu in Kuala Lumpur. In 1981, he joined Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society and studied under Sri Karaikudi R Krishnamurthy. He performed his mridangam arangetram during a concert by Sangeetha Kalanidhi T V Sankaranarayanan that same year. Over the past 40 years, Ramanan has performed with numerous accomplished musicians and dancers both locally and internationally, providing mridangam accompaniment for over 400 Bharatanatyam arangetrams.

What Say You? = Sunday 26 July - 4pm - 5.30pm

T. Raja Segar – Moderator

Raja Segar is currently Editor, Tamil Murasu. As Editor, he oversees both the print and digital platforms of daily Tamil Murasu and Tabla!, the English weekly. Before SPH, Mr Raja Segar was CEO of Hindu Endowments Board (HEB). He has also served as CEO of SINDA and as AVP of MediaCorp’s Vasantham Central. His other jobs were with MINDEF as Head, Education and Career Transition, Business Course Manager at Institute of Technical Education and Economics lecturer at Nanyang Polytechnic. Raja Segar has been part of many government and statutory board committees. Currently, he is a member of the National Integration Committee and National Translation Committee. At community level, he is Chairman of ATAM, a charity that promotes and preserves Indian folk arts and he is a member of Ramakrishna Mission’s Boys’ Home Management Committee. Raja Segar holds a Bachelor of Economics and a Master of Finance qualification and is a trained teacher. He has taught Economics and Finance at both government and private schools.

Nora Samosir - Panelist

Nora Samosir is a professional theatre practitioner and voice teacher, who has acted in more than 100 stage productions and also in films and on television. She is part of the duo Wandering Women who have devised and performed three work-in-progress performances entitled Wandering Women: Water (2018), Wandering Women: From Kurukshetra to Magdala (2019) and Wandering Women: Sites (2024), all iterations of a practice research performance project based on the lives of Draupadi and Mary Magdalene. Her other research strand, combining her undergraduate training in linguistics with her postgraduate interest in the performance of popular culture, is in Hallyu – Korean pop music, films and serialised dramas. Currently at LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore, she is the Voice specialist in the BA Acting and BA Musical Theatre programmes of the School of Dance and Theatre.

Dr Nidya Shanthini Manokara - Panelist

Nidya Shanthini is a dance and theatre practitioner-researcher, educator, performer and dramaturg. With her PhD in Theatre Studies from National University of Singapore and classically trained in bharatanatyam, in her collaborative performance-as-research projects Dr Shanthini interrogates the intersection of movement, dance and theatre to critically analyse performance-making. Her key works include the Wandering Women trilogy (2017-2024) on Draupadi and Mary Magdalene with Nora Samosir and the ongoing Pickling Perfect on female agency and culinary practices with Melissa Quek. She serves as an external assessor with the National Arts Council and is the resident dramaturg with contemporary dance company, RAW Moves. Her current research involves artistic citizenship and community making. At LASALLE College of the Arts, Dr Shanthini oversees theory classes across BA Acting, BA Musical Theatre and BA Dance in School of Dance & Theatre.

Meenakshy Bhaskar - Panelist

Meenakshy is the Artistic Director, Bhaskar’s Arts Academy. Born into a distinguished family of artistes in Singapore, Meenakshy Bhaskar was immersed in Indian classical dance from an early age, training in Bharatanatyam, Kerala Natanam and Kathakali under her parents, the late Sri KP Bhaskar and Santha Bhaskar. Her artistic foundation in Bharathanatyam was further deepened through mentorship with the late Guru Kutralam Ganesan Pillai and his senior disciple, Muthulakshmi.
While Bharatanatyam is her core discipline, Meenakshy’s artistic journey has been shaped by extensive training across multiple Indian classical forms including Kathakali, Mohiniyattam, Kuchipudi, and Odissi, alongside exposure to Southeast Asian and global dance traditions and Modern Dance. Her work as a choreographer is driven by a deep interest in the intersections between tradition and contemporary lived experience. She has consistently explored cross-cultural collaboration as a means of expanding the expressive possibilities of Indian classical dance. Notable works include Butterfly Lovers, which bridges Bharatanatyam with Chinese dance aesthetics, and Vinayaka, a series of collaborations with Indonesian artists integrating Balinese and Javanese movement vocabularies and her latest cross-cultural collaboration, Radin Mas with Sriwarisan. These works reflect her commitment to creating meaningful artistic exchanges grounded in mutual respect and integrity of form. As Artistic Director of Bhaskar’s Arts Academy in Singapore and Director of its California branch, Meenakshy’s practice extends beyond performance into mentorship, curriculum development, and community engagement. She has dedicated much of her career to nurturing the next generation of dancers, creating original Arangetram margams, and shaping pedagogical frameworks that balance rigour with relevance.

Dr. Chua Soo Pong - Panelist

Chua Soo Pong is an internationally recognised academic and cultural leader in the performing arts and award-winning theatre director with a distinguished career in arts higher education and the creative industry. Dr. Chua’s devotion to the promotion and practice of Chinese performing arts, culture and multiculturalism has spanned over four decades. His sustained commitment to provide guidance and assistance to dance, drama and Chinese opera groups is due to his conviction of guarding cultural heritage, and fostering creativity and innovation.
He taught at NUS, NTU and NIE and was the Founding Director of the Chinese Opera Institute, Singapore and the School of Performing Arts at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (1999-2000) .
As an advocate of cross-cultural theatre and dance, Dr. Chua directed Baba play “Butterfly Lovers” in 1986. Ramayana and Mahabharata in Chinese was premiered in Japan and Singapore in 1989 respectively. He also produced a cross-cultural puppet show version of Ramayana with puppeteers from China, Cambodia and Singapore in 2018. As an advocate and creator, Dr. Chua has written over 20 original operas, which to date continue to be staged by local and overseas groups.

Sabanitha Shanmugasundram - Panelist

Sabitha is Head, Content Commissioning, Content Standards & Community Engagement at Mediacorp. She oversees Mediacorp’s Content Commissioning for the English, Chinese, Malay & Indian language, and is also the Head for Community Engagement Partnerships for Mediacorp. She leads Mediacorp’s Customer Group’s efforts in developing effective programming and content integration strategies across its multiple platforms. Sabanitha brings with her 25 years of experience and expertise in the entertainment industry in Asia, across marketing communications, programming, channel management, and media distribution.
Sabanitha is also a Bharathanatyam artiste trained by Neila Satylingam, Apsaras Arts Singapore. Sabanitha is a Director on the Board of SIFAS’s Production Company and AGAM Theatre Lab.

Shantha Ratii – Panelist

Shatha is the head of Shantha Ratii Initiatives. She is recognised as amongst the foremost Kuchipudi dancers today. Trained in Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi and Kathakali and Kalaripayettu, she is a multi-faceted personality - a Dancer, Choreographer, Educator, Arts Promoter and Filmmaker.
Creating new audiences for the arts has been a conscious and concerted commitment, one of which led her to become a TV producer, researching, scripting and interviewing prominent Arts personalities in New York. Shantha Ratii is hailed as the “Dance Icon of Singapore” and was recently awarded by Times of India’s Power Icon Award and Bharatha Kala Ratna by IPAC.
Since her return to Singapore, she has been creating multi-cultural and cross-disciplinary works with Chinese, Malay, Western Contemporary, Flamenco. She successfully runs a Mentorship Program to help young promising dancers to understand and dive deeper into their respective art forms.

Osman Abdul Hamid - Panelist

Osman started his career in dance back in 1978 when he joined the People’s Association and Sriwana. Now with over 47 years of experience, he has taught in numerous schools and produced and directed many productions and collaborations. He is seen as one of the drivers of the arts in Singapore's Malay arts scene, a well-respected peer and teacher. In recognition of his talents and dedication to promoting Malay dance in Singapore, in 1993 Osman was conferred the prestigious Singapore Youth Award (Service) and the Young Artiste Award by the National Arts Council. He was awarded the Public Service Medal in 2018 for his contributions to the community. In 2023 he was conferred the Cultural Medallion Award by NAC and in 2024 he was awarded the Steward of Intangible Cultural Heritage by NHB On 13 May 2009, Azrin Abdul Rahim and Osman spearheaded and directed Era Dance Theatre Limited as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee.

Krishna – The Blue Magic - Sunday 26 July

Dushyanth Sridhar

Dushyanth is a well-known Vedic scholar, discoursing on ancient scriptures and has captured the minds of the old and the young alike. He can cativate the audience with his flawless English, popular lingo and catchphrases, and is arguably the wittiest of storytellers.

He has authored the Ramayaņam (Vol-1)', a 'National Bestseller', for HarperCollins Publishers India (2024) that sold over 50,000 copies, and has authored a brilliant coffee table book titled 'Vedanta Desika, the peerless poet preceptor' for the JSJS trust (2018). His lucid narration and display of acumen throughout the book earned the appreciation of literary aficionados. In the last decade, he has organised heritage tours to 200 temples spread across 7 countries.

He has conceptualised and produced classical dance productions like Agre Pashyami, Ramayaņa Sudha, Ramanuja Darsana, Srīnivasam Prapadye and Aranganin Padaiyil. He has acted as the protagonist in the movie 'Vedanta Desika' (2018), and has directed the award-winning Sanskrit movie Sakuntalam (2023). He has also made a guest appearance in the 'Periyava” TV series (2023).

He manages Desika Daya, a charitable trust that has carried out extensive cultural and spiritual activities and which has attracted enthusiastic participation from young and old alike. He is a recipient of numerous titles. He is an alumnus of BITS, Pilani, and interned at the Indian Institute of Science. He is currently based in Bengaluru, India.

Anahita and Apurva

Sisters Anahita and Apoorva are renowned Indian Carnatic classical musicians, trained under Sangeet Samrat Chitravina N Ravikiran. Initially they began their training under their grandmother Smt Shanthi Jayaraman. Recognized as child prodigies, they have won prestigious awards, including the CCRT Scholarship, Madras Music Academy Best Performer Awards, and MS Subbulakshmi Fellowship.

Anahita and Apoorva are widely recognised as leading voices in the Indian Carnatic classical music tradition today having performed across India and internationally, captivating audience with their varied content, ranging from popular compositions to lesser-known gems. As producers, researchers, and educators, their body of work includes captivating audio and video productions, music therapy explorations, and music rooted in tradition and scholarship. They have worked with very leading dancers and now accompany Sri Dushyanth Sridhar for musical discourses.

Bombay V. Anand

Anand is a distinguished violinist and senior disciple of violin maestro Sangitha Kalanidhi A Kanyakumari. A graded artiste of All India Radio, Anand is a highly sought-after violinist who has accompanied numerous senior and emerging artistes. His performances have graced prestigious sabhas and organizations across the globe. Anand has made significant contributions to Singapore's cultural scene. Alongside his wife, Vaishnavi Anand, he co-founded CHETHAS – Center for Wholistic Enrichment through Arts.

Mumbai R Subramaniam

Subramaniam is a disciple of the legendary mridangam Vidwan Shri Karaikudi R Mani. He had his formative training under guru Shri K V Narayanaswamy, at Rasika Ranjani Sabha, Mumbai. He later came under the tutelage of Sri Karaikudi Mani. At present he is receiving training from Vidwan Sri R Ramesh, who is the foremost disciple of Sri Karaikudi Mani.

A resident of Singapore, he is a well sought after mridangam accompanist and Guru, having trained many students who are performing at various levels.