”You can’t fool today’s audiences” says the Carnatic percussionist

Art And Artistes has released the eighth video in their iconic web series 'Inner Voice' featuring Padma Shri Sri T H Vikku Vinayakram. The maestro of classical music shares his philosophy, past experiences and thoughts in this webisode titled #InnerVoiceEp8.

In this video, the Grammy award winner T H Vikku Vinayakram speaks about his unique instrument - the Ghatam, an earthen pot the veteran uses as a musical instrument. “For me my Ghatam is my life. Ghatam is both my life and my body” he says. 

One fond memory for Carnatic percussionist T H Vikku Vinayakram was when he was 12 and he found a pearl in a shell during the Ram Navami festival at Tuticorn where his father was also performing. An announcement was made that because Vinayakram had found the pearl, he would also go on to shine like one in his life. 

The maestro also shared his journey in western music saying, “Zakir Hussain was the one who helped me. He taught me each piece and I rehearsed like this for a month. My first Kecheri (performance) was in New York, Bottomline. That was the first time I was playing to a western audience. I was overwhelmed with the audience response when I played the Tabla and the Ghatam at the live concert.” 

According to the Padma Shri T H Vikku Vinayakram the audience today is aware of the intricacies of music. He adds, “The current audience is well versed with music. Before it was not so, but now most people in the audience understand music due to different circumstances. They understand taal, they have advanced knowledge of music and one cannot fool today’s audience.”

He considers his gift a blessing from God concluding that, “It is god’s grace that we have what we have.” T H Vikku Vinayakram was awarded the prestigious Padma Bhushan this year and is the principal of Sri Jaya Ganesh Tala Vadya Vidyalaya in Chennai, India.  This is an academy that was established by his late father and teacher in 1958 and it continues to produce gifted artistes in Carnatic percussion.

Art And Artistes, founded by Durga Jasraj in 1999, jointly run by Durga Jasraj & Neeraj Jaitly for the past 5 years, is a one stop spot for all genres of Indian music. Art And Artistes has created and produced Musical properties like Tiranga, Panchtatva, Idea Jalsa, among others, featuring more than 10,000 Musicians across more than 100 genres of Indian Music.