WELCOME TO KALAIMAMANI G HARISHANKAR ADMIRERS CIRCLE

Convener and Secretary: Nerkunam Sankar

I dedicate this blog to my Guru Sri G HarishankarABOUT SRI G HARISHANKAR

“As a luminary enthralling millions of hearts with his incredible caresses on a simple     frame drum called Kanjira”,“As a legend who rewrote the concept of emancipated yet sophisticated percussion”,“As a true artiste with humility and devotion”,

Sri Harishankar’s passing away at the age of 43, six years ago, came as a rude shock to the followers of Carnatic music. His fans include frontline musicians, who miss him a lot on stage. Such was his captivating style.Born to T.T.Govinda Rao and Lakshmi Bai on June 10, 1958, Sri Harishankar  started playing the ganjira even when he was three years old. who was with Southern Railway, started training him methodically. By the time he turned five, he was playing for Bhajans.He had a stint with Madras Sri A. Kannan before coming under the tutelage of Ramanathapuram Sri C.S.Murugabhupathy.  

First concert

He played his first ever concert when he was seven years old . Sri Harishankar was a regular in MLV’s(Smt. M L Vasanthakumari) concerts after he was introduced to her by mridangam vidwan Thanjavur Sri Krishnamurthy Rao. MLV saw to it that Sri Harishankar honed his skills under Palghat Sri Mani Iyer for about two years.

Sri Harishankar had accompanied all the great doyens of yore such as Semmangudi Sri R Srinivasa iyar, Smt. M.S.Subulakshmi, Smt. D.K.Pattammal, Sri. D.K.Jayaraman, Sri. K.V.Narayanaswamy, Dr. Sri. M. Balamuralikrishna, Lalgudi Sri G Jayaraman, Sri. Mali and Sri. N. Ramani to name a few. He played with Sri Pt. Ravishankar, Sri Pt. Birju Maharaj and Sri Ustad Zakir Hussain. He was graded “A Top” by AIR and was also part of the vadya vrinda group.

Recipient of titles

Recipient of many titles including Kalaimamani and Sangeeth Natak Academy, Harishankar travelled widely in India and outside. Many musicians feel that Sri Harishankar’s talent is a gift of God that made him synonymous with his instrument. His deft handling of the Ganjira, anticipatory flourishes, memory power in reproducing all that was played by the Mridangam player during the thani rounds never failed to amaze the rasikas and the artists. Musicians especially recall the clarity of his Ganjira and the drum effect that he could produce. And the fact that he was at home in handling even difficult Pallavis without any rehearsal. Kudos to his admirers for having got up a function to pay tribute to this great artist.