Erode Nagaraj is a professional musician, who plays the

mridangam The mridangam is a percussion instrument of ancient origin. It is the primary rhythmic accompaniment in a Carnatic music ensemble. In Dhrupad, a modified version, the pakhawaj, is the primary percussion instrument. A related instrument is the ...

. He learned initially from Palladam V. Ramachandran and has been the disciple of

Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman Umayalpuram Kasiviswanatha Sivaraman (born 17 December 1935) is an Indian musician and exponent of the Carnatic percussion instrument, the mridangam. He is a recipient of the Padma Vibhushan as well as the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. Earl ...

for over 28 years. He has been a

lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

in the Thanjavur Vaidyanatha Iyer School for Percussion in

Madras Music Academy Madras Music Academy is one of the earliest established music academies in South India. Before the concept of infrastructure was introduced to India in the early 1920s, it was a gathering for elite musicians simply called (and is still more ...

for 18 years. He also conducts online classes for performers and students internationally. Erode Nagaraj discovered great interest and passion for rhythm in his early childhood and was formally initiated into the art of mrudhangam by Palladam Sri. V. Ramachandran when he was 7 years old. He was a disciple of

Sangeetha Kalanidhi Sangeetha Kalanidhi or Sangeeta Kalanidhi (Tamil: சங்கீத கலாநிதி, Sanskrit : संगीत-कला-निधि) (''sangeetha'' = music, ''kala'' = art, ''nidhi'' = treasure or ocean) is the title awarded yearly to ...

Padma Vibhushan The Padma Vibhushan ("Lotus Decoration") is the second-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "exceptional and distinguished service" ...

Umayalpuram Sri K. Sivaraman and has been under his tutelage since 1990. He learnt to play for many intricate and complex thAlAs as part of his advanced training. In his schooldays, Erode Nagaraj was a regular at several district and state level competitions and has earned many accolades and distinctions. IN 1993 he made his debut performance in the Chennai music circuit. The Department of Culture awarded him a scholarship for the years 1994-1996. He is an "A" Grade artist and has been performing in

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All a ...

(AIR) and

DD Chennai DD Chennai, formerly known as DD Madras, is a state-owned television channel telecasting from Doordarshan Kendra, Chennai. History Doordarshan Kendra Chennai was inaugurated on 15 August 1975. The service had been extended to the entire stat ...

since 1994. His laya vinyasam (mrudhangam solo) in a rare talam, 'misra thriputa' (rendu kalai) in AIR and in Adhi talam at

were lauded by vidwans, and others in the Carnatic music scene. He has performed in the National Program of Music in the Trinity Festival of AIR and in the Akashvani Sangeeth Sammelan. He has performed for organisations like the

Narada Gana Sabha Narada Gana Sabha is one of the foremost music associations in the city of Chennai, India. It regularly organises programmes during the Chennai Music Season. History The Narada Gana Sabha was founded on 9 February 1958, in Mylapore. After fun ...

, Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, the Indian Fine Arts Society and Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha since 1994. His lecture demonstrations and interactive sessions have also received remarkable appreciation. He is proficient in teaching fingering techniques and laya intricacies, and has been training students in India and abroad for over two decades. He has a penchant for all forms of music. He rendered

konnakol Konnakol (also spelled Konokol, Konakkol, Konnakkol) ( ta, கொன்னக்கோல் koṉṉakkōl) ( ml, വായ്ത്താരി) is the art of performing percussion syllables vocally in South Indian Carnatic music. Konnakol is th ...

(verbal rendition of jathis and phrases that are played in mridangam) to the playing of his Guru 'Laya Jyothi' Umayalpuram Sri K. Sivaraman with Steve Coleman (saxophone) and Vijay Iyer (jazz pianist), in the Madras Cricket Club. His mrudangam solo in a rare talam, sankeerna chapu, has been recorded for Samudra, London. G.K.Foundation Trust honoured him in their anniversary function held in 2001, alongside the legendary musician Sangeetha Kalanidhi Palghat Sri K.V. Narayanaswamy, where Padma Sri K.J. Yesudas honoured the artistes. He has featured in print media like

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

Dinamani ''Dinamani'' is a Tamil language, Tamil daily newspaper. The newspaper was established in 1933 and is owned by The New Indian Express Group. The first edition was published on 11 September. It is printed and published from Bangalore, Chennai, C ...

Kalki Kalki ( sa, कल्कि), also called Kalkin or Karki, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. He is described to appear in order to end the Kali Yuga, one of the four periods in the endless cycle of exist ...

and

Virakesari ''Virakesari'' is one of the leading Tamil daily newspapers in Sri Lanka. It is the oldest and the largest circulated Tamil Newspaper in Sri Lanka. Virakesari is owned by Express Newspapers (Ceylon) (Private) Limited, a leading print and web ...

(Sri Lankan magazine) and in online media like Chennai-Online and

Tamil Television Network Tamil Television Network (TTN) is a France-based Tamil language satellite television channel. Its main audience were Sri Lankan Tamils living in Europe, Australia and the Middle East. The channel mainly broadcast films, live broadcast of football ...

. He has also performed in

DD Podhigai DD Podhigai is Doordarshan's Tamil language channel. It is broadcast both terrestrially and via satellite. History Doordarshan Kendra Chennai's (''சென்னை தொலைக்காட்சி நிலையம்'') Regional sate ...

, Sun TV,

Raj TV Raj TV is a Tamil language Indian general entertainment channel based in Chennai, India, which was launched on 14 October 1994. Rajtv became as the second most popular channel in Tamil. It is available through digital and mobile entertainment ...

, Raj Digital Plus and in WIN-TV in their special programmes. Besides playing the mrudhangam Erode Nagaraj has been an avid blogger. In addition to being a full-time professional mrudangam artiste, he lectured at the Thanjavur Vaidhyanatha Iyer School for Percussion of the

from 1998 to 2016.

References

External links

Read Erode Nagaraj's Bio on Scott Robinson's page on South Indian Percussion Artists
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nagaraj, Erode 1970 births Living people Mridangam players Tamil musicians 21st-century drummers