Erode Nagaraj is a professional musician, who plays the mridangam. 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 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

Padma Vibhushan The Padma Vibhushan ("Lotus Decoration") is the second-highest 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". All persons without ...

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 ...

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

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, Dinamani,

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

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(Sri Lankan magazine) and in online media like Chennai-Online and Tamil Television Network. He has also performed in DD Podhigai, Sun TV, Raj TV, 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