T. H. Vikku Vinayakram: Master of the Ghatam – Podcast 207

Published: Oct. 17, 2016, 9:31 p.m.

This was an amazing experience!  We sit down with one of the great families of rhythm for a live performance and interview.  TH Vikku Vanyakram and family will be back in NYC, starting Oct. 24th teaching an incredible workshop on rhythm.   Recorded at the East Indian Music Academy, this is a legendary lineup: TH Vikku Vanyakram,  Uma Shankar -ghatam Selva Ganesh, Swaminathan - khanjira, konnakol. A. Ganesan - morsing Avirodh Sharma, tabla Special thanks to Avorodh Sharma for expertly mixing and hosting us. TH Vikku Vanyakram  Rhythm has always been a quintessential facet of Carnatic music, and in the modern generation of percussionists, perhaps no other individual has mastered the intricacies and the laya endowments of the ghatam to such a great degree as Sri Thetakudi Harihara Vinayakram. T.H. Vinayakram, affectionately known as Vikku, has transformed himself into an international celebrity with his imaginative and beautiful drumming on the ghatam. Well known as a Carnatic artiste, Vikku came to international prominence as part of the famous fusion group Shakti, and went on to participate in many other international fusion music projects. WEBSITE V. Selvaganesh Selvaganesh Vinyakaram is the world’s premiere performer on the kanjira, the South Indian frame drum. The T.H. Vinayakram,  he is also a veteran of the fusion group 'Remember Shakti' with John McLaughlin. His solo album Soukha (2006) featured all of the members of Remember Shakti, as well as his father and Masters of Percussion sitarist Niladri Kumar. Selvaganesh is also a major force in Tamil film making circles, composing songs in a beguiling mixture of genres, from folk to hip-hop to romantic ballads, and backed by a wide array of players from all over the world. Avirodh Sharma is one of the leading Tabla Players from the West Indies and the United States. He is featured on Zee TV, TV Asia, NPR radio on the leonard lopatte show, NY Daily News, and at the end of 2015 making an appearance on the Starz Network Season Premiere, "flesh and bone"..