Geeta profiles Akshay Ananthapadmanabhan, a Ph.D. percussionist who advocates for percussion artistry and technology integration in music, exclusively for Different Truths.

Akshay Ananthapadmanabhan started playing the mridangam at the age of five in Mumbai, Shanmukhananda Hall. T.S. Nandhakumar was his first guru. He left for the U.S. at the age of nine. But he continued learning from Dr. Venkat Natarajan, a disciple of Vidwan TH Subhashchandra, later his guru and mentor.

“I had a very different arangetram experience; actually, it was my second big stage performance,” says Akshay. “Chitravina Ravikaran sir sang, Subhash sir was on the ghatam and konnokol, Venkat sir was on the kanjira, and I played the mridangam.” This was in the US.

After completing his masters in engineering, Akshay moved to Chennai. It was a music technology program for his PhD that instigated him to pursue music as a profession.

Akshay is passionate about Indian percussion, including mridangam and konnokol. He is a musician, curator (MMM, Manhattan Music Mash, Drive East, Cornelia Street Cafe, Indian Raga), and researcher (music technology). He has been involved with IIT Madras and NYU in projects connected to multi-cultural music, creating automated music descriptors for Carnatic music. Through this, he has two international academic publications related to automated stroke transcription and stroke analysis of the mridangam.

How was his experience in Chennai?

“I had to start from scratch, but with a lot of hard work and the right opportunities, things are working out well. I have been playing in the Chennai December Music Season from 2002 onwards. Last year, I received the Best Mridangist award in the afternoon slot at the Music Academy. I have had the opportunity to perform with senior artists like RK Srikantan, OS Thyagarajan, Chitravina Ravikiran, Rama Ravi, and Shashank, as well as young established musicians in my generation like Ramakrishnan Murthy, Sandeep Narayanan, Sriranjani Santhanagopalan, Rithvik Raja, Vignesh Ishwar, Ashwath Narayanan, Jayanth (flute), Sruthi Sagar (flute), and many others.

“Last year, I toured Europe with Shanthala (flute), and this past spring I had the opportunity to go on my first full US tour with senior artist OS Thiagarajan and Mysore Srikanth (violin). This fall, I will be touring with Sudha Raghunathan in the US.

“While the music season is an experience by itself here, this year-round Chennai is different. Everything quietens down once the seasonal frenzy is over. But then, there are all kinds of art and artists in the city, and various concerts and festivals are happening. One gets to meet people, interact, and exchange ideas. It is inspiring and energising.” However, Akshay has been fortunate to have had the right kind of support from all sides.

How is performing in India different from that abroad?

“Here the focus is on classical. The core is Carnatic. Though there are other art forms as well, the audience is tuned more to Indian music. Abroad, I also do collaborative music with jazz and other genres. I also organise workshops and have been invited to give percussion clinics at universities. In Europe, I have noticed that people stay till the end, and the reception for percussionists and other instrumentalists is instant.”

Here, people often leave once Thaniyavarthanam starts.

“That should change. Audiences should listen to the percussionists/pakka vadyam. The folks who note down Raga and Krithi’s names in every concert may consider taking a few notes during the taniavarthanam as well. What nadai(s) were played? I don’t know if there is something that will keep them engaged. At the same time, perhaps the onus is more on us; maybe we should do something to captivate the audience. We need to practice as a team.

Also, today there is very little time to play Tanis, maybe five to 10 minutes in two-hour concerts. With other percussion instruments on stage, there is little time to paint a story the way the giants of Mridangam used to. Then there are the very normal power cuts. But Akshay has learned to deal with it. “You just have to go on as though nothing has happened. Concerts may be better without microphones. Soundcheck is urgently needed in all concerts, and real sound engineers are a necessity.” One place where Akshay has enjoyed performing is at the Kapaleeswar temple. You get a good feeling there, he says.

Are there any interesting experiences here?

“At the Maha Kumbh in Varanasi, I played the mridangam with Aditya Prakash. It was for a department of Harvard students studying the social aspects of the Kumbh. There were others in the audience as well. There were thousands of people and a mad rush. One tent was full of sadhus talking about religion and philosophy, chanting, smoking, etc.; another was where food was being cooked… That was a unique experience.”

In the US tour, I was asked by OST sir to incorporate Konnokol in my taniavarthanams.” After the performance, people came and said they really liked the Konnokol with Mridanagm idea. Konnokkol is a representation of the rhythm in vocal format (he gives examples). I watched and absorbed the concept of Konnokol as a performative art from Subash sir.”

‘What was most striking about your Guru?

“He could bring life to a performance. Bhava. Life goes beyond volume. Mridangam has to bring the character of the voice. It must express subtlety. He was very inspiring. A very jovial person.”

Some of the artists Akshay admires are Palghat Raghu and Palghat Mani Iyer, TK Murthy, Palani, TVG, Karaikudi Mani, and others.

I helped organise a recent workshop on rhythm in collaboration with Abu Dhabi University. We brought scholars from different parts of the globe to discuss rhythm. We discussed music technology, musicology, and neuroscience. (In neuroscience, the research is on motor skills, brain functions, and how the brain perceives rhythm). There was Indian music and African drums. “During one of my talks, I demonstrated the longest tala in Indian music. Simhanandha tala is a 128-beat cycle with irregular angas. Interestingly, I found out that a similarly long cycle also exists in Arabic music.”

Fresh and young, Akshay is working towards a bright future as he follows his passion.

“Indian Raga is an organisation that I have been collaborating with. They brought me on as one of their first fellows with the vision to create new-age digital pieces for Carnatic music. Since then, we have worked on the IR Fellowship, which happens once a year for different age group categories, but for folks on the cusp of either becoming a full-time musician, thinking about the idea, or ones who already are.”

Akshay continues, “Aside from that, we have worked on Indian Raga Labs, which is for students of music to become exposed to the studio and video experience while also creating a final product, and it happened in every major city in the US as well as in Chennai and Bangalore.”

Photo by the author and picture design by Anumita Roy

Geeta Varma

Geeta Varma is a poet, an author and a journalist based in Chennai. She has worked as a teacher and a freelance journalist for some time. She has to her credit two books of poems and is a regular contributor to a few online magazines. Her next book will be published soon. She lives in Chennai with her husband Shreekumar Varma and has two sons, Vinayak married to Yamini, and Karthik.

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