S.BALACHANDER

Sundaram Balachander was a prominent Indian veena player with a unique style, remarkable as a classical musician in that he was self-taught. He is also known for his work in cinema, his writing and his polemics. Balachander was a true larger-than-life personality, yet always managed to combine his eccentricity with a musicianship that commanded respect from all quarters.

CHITTI BABU

Chitti Babu was born to Challapally Ranga Rao and Sundaramma of Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh. He was a child prodigy, who made his debut concert before his teens. He first learnt from Appalachariar and later was a prime disciple of Emani Sankara Sastry. He is said to have received a spontaneous gift of a pendant from the Maharaja of Mysore. The reason for the gift is supposed to be for his excellent concert comparable to Veene Sheshanna. Some others say that it is for in-depth explanation of a song of Thyagaraja. One day in the 2008 Music season of Madras Music Academy was dedicated to Chitti Babu.

VEENAI DHANAMMAL

Veenai Dhanammal was a highly accomplished Carnatic musician, and the torchbearer of the school of Carnatic music that goes by her name. She was both a vocalist and a performer on the veena. The prefix "Veenai" in her name is an indicator of her exceptional mastery of that instrument.

MANNARGUDI EASWARAN

Mannargudi Easwaran is a leading contemporary mridangam vidwan and exponent of the Carnatic musical tradition. He is a staff artiste of All India Radio and has received several prestigious awards, including Kalaimamani from the Government of Tamil Nadu in 2003 and the Palghat Mani Iyer Award in 2006.

GANESH AND KUMARESH

Ganesh and Kumaresh are a well known duo of violin players who are a part of the South Indian music fraternity (Carnatic music). They are best known as modern contemparary artists and incorporate a lot of fusion more than the traditional styles of classicism in their music. They are a dynamic duo of violinists, who have carved a niche for themselves in this era of great violinists.

M.S.GOPALAKRISHNAN

M.S. Gopalakrishnan (born June 10, 1931) is one of the well known violinists of the 20th Century in the field of Carnatic music. He is a recipient of the prestigious Sangeetha Kalanidhi award in 1997. He is commonly grouped with Lalgudi Jayaraman and T.N.Krishnan to be called the violin-trinity of carnatic music.

KADRI GOPALNATH

Kadri Gopalnath is an Indian saxophonist and one of the pioneers of Carnatic music on the saxophone. Kadri Gopalnath was born in Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka. He acquired a taste for music from his father Thaniappa, a nadhaswaram vidwan. Young Gopalnath once saw the saxophone being played in the Mysore palace band set. Thrilled on hearing the vibrant tone of the saxophone, Gopalnath decided to master it. It took him nearly 20 years for him to conquer the complex western wind instrument and he was eventually crowned as the "Saxophone Chakravarthy".

G.HARISHANKAR

Shri G. Harishankar was a renowned player of the kanjira, a tambourine used in the Carnatic music of South India. To date, he is the only Kanjira player to be awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, the highest national recognition given to performing artists.

LALGUDI JAYARAMAN

Born in the lineage of an illustrious disciple of the great saint musician Thyagaraja, Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman inherited the essence of Carnatic music from his versatile father late V R Gopala Iyer who trained him meticulously in the violin.

PALGHAT T.S. MANI IYER

Palghat T.S. Mani Iyer was one of the leading mridangists in the field of Carnatic music and the first mridangist to win the Sangeetha Kalanidhi and Padmabhushan awards. He was a legend even in his lifetime, one of the all-time greats, a genius at innovation. His scintillating performances were an unforgettable treat to the audience. 'Palghat' on a poster or just a 'Mani' was sufficient to attract the crowds in droves. It would be no exaggeration to say that Palghat Mani Iyer raised the status of the mridangam and the mridangist to dizzy heights. An artiste of few words, he would sit on the dais all attention to the vocalist or violinist, a picture of dignity and composure.

R.PRASANNA

R. Prasanna is a South Indian Carnatic musician who is one of the very few people who play the south Indian musical art form of Carnatic music on the electric guitar. He not only plays carnatic music but is also a jazz musician. Some also categorize Prasanna's music under world fusion.

VITTAL RAMAMURTHY

Vittal Ramamurthy is a leading and popular violinist in the Carnatic music tradition of South India. He is an outstanding soloist as well as an excellent accompanist. He is a Grade 'A' artiste of All India Radio and has performed extensively in National Radio and Television, in addition to live concerts.

FLUTE RAMANI

Padmashri Nadesan Ramani also known as 'Flute Ramani' is a renowned Indian Carnatic flautist from Tiruvarur, Tamil Nadu. He is a disciple of the legendary T. R. Mahalingam, known more commonly as "Mali," who first popularised the Carnatic flute in Indian music. The birthplace of Ramani is symbolic in that Carnatic musicians consider Tiruvarur the sacred sanctuary of Carnatic music, being the birthplace of the "trinity" of Carnatic composers, Saint Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Shastri who laid the foundation for the tradition.

CHITRAVINA RAVIKIRAN

Chitravina N. Ravikiran is a composer of Indian Carnatic music. He has been called the "Indian Mozart". He is probably most famous for his concept of "melharmony", which is harmony which stays within the melodic rules of an Indian raga (musical mode). Considered a virtuoso chitravina player, he has been described as "probably the greatest slide instrumentalist in the world today" by Radio Australia. Ravikiran has also played the slide Hawaiian guitar, and is an accomplished vocalist. He invented a variant of the chitravina called the navachitravina, which is smaller and has a clearer tone in the higher frequencies. He currently resides in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

SAKHA RAM RAO

Sakha Rama Rao (Sakharam Rao) is an Indian musician credited with having re-introduced the south Indian chitravina (or "gotuvadyam") to the concert scene. However, it was his father, Srinivasa Rao, who made the pioneering effort towards the reincarnation of the chitravina in modern times. He was an ardent music lover and an amateur artiste himself. He started experimenting with a slide on the tanpura (a four-stringed instrument, usually used as a reference drone in Indian music). Sakha Rama Rao was drawn to this instrument since childhood. He was able to perceive its tremendous potential to produce high-class music.

EMANI SANKARA SASTRY

The prodigious training he had from young age under his unsparing guru-his father, reflected in abundance in his tuneful, melodious and technique perfect concerts. His graceful playing on the veena in strictly traditional style evoked a reverential listening. Emani gave concerts throughout the length and breadth of India. His participation in east-west music festival, Tansen festival, Vishnu Digambar festival, sur singars Haridas sangeet sammelan and other prestigious music conferences won him distinction in the field of music. He established a distinctive style of his own and to him goes the credit of bringing veena to its place of pride.

TRICHY SANKARAN

Trichy Sankaran is a South Indian percussionist, composer, scholar, and educator. He is acknowledged as one of the foremost virtuosos of the mridangam, a barrel drum used in Carnatic music, and also plays the kanjira on occasion. Since the early 1970s, he has performed and recorded in a number of cross-cultural projects. Sankaran has lived in Toronto, Ontario, Canada since 1971 and is a Canadian citizen. He is the founder of the Tyagaraja Festival in Toronto and is a professor of music at York University. He has regularly performed at all leading organizations in Chennai, India every December Music Season and continues to accompany a wide array of top ranked musicians.

MANDOLIN SRINIVAS

Upalappu Srinivas also known as Mandolin U. Srinivas and U. Shrinivas, (born February 28, 1969) is a musician in the Carnatic musical tradition of southern India. He came to prominence not only for his playing but for his choice of instrument: an electric mandolin (the acoustic instrument is incapable of sustaining notes or producing the "slides" between notes necessary for Indian music). In recent years he has toured with John McLaughlin as part of the group Remember Shakti. His brother U. Rajesh is also an accomplished mandolin player.

L.SUBRAMANIAM

Dr.Lakshminarayana Subramaniam is an acclaimed Indian violinist, composer and conductor, trained in the classical Carnatic music tradition and Western classical music, and renowned for his virtuoso playing techniques and compositions in orchestral fusion.

GHATAM GIRIDHAR UDUPA

Ghatam Giridhar Udupa is a leading percussionist from India.He plays the ghatam, which is a percussion instrument used in Carnatic music (South Indian classical music) . He is the son of acclaimed Mridangist Vidwan Ullur Nagendra Udupa. He has been critically acclaimed by the press, and has been compared with Ghatam legend Vikku Vinayakram.Udupa currently resides in Bangalore.