Akshay Anantapadmanabhan

Akshay Anantapadmanabhan
Nationality	Indian
Occupation	Musician
Title	Mridangam artist

Akshay Anantapadmanabhan is an carnatic mridangam artist, composer and multi-percussionist. ^[1]

Musical career

In unique demonstrations of South Indian percussion, he has collaborated with rock, Latin jazz, American jazz, Hindustani, and jazz performers. He is an A-Grade artist of All India Radio, Chennai and a key component of the popular Indian Classical fusion groups "Carnatic 2.0 Reloaded" and "The Thayir Sadam Project." In his most recent solo project, "Re-imagining Indian Rhythms," Akshay explores the frontiers of Indian rhythms by fusing digital loopers and interactive graphics with traditional instruments like the mridangam, kanjira, konnakol, and bharathanatyam. ^[2] He has given master lectures at NYUAD (Abu Dhabi), NYU, and CUNY (New York) on an introduction to Konnakol and Indian rhythm. ^{[3] [4]}

Discography

• "Mylapore-Rap" In 2010, Akshay created a contemporary music video using ‘Konnakol’ (Indian vocal percussion) and re-contextualizing it as a hip-hop/rap genre. ^[5]
• "Konnakol Playhouse" He worked with over 1000 kids across Bangalore, India to create a contemporary music video in 2010. ^[6]
• "His Father's Voice" He performed mridangam in several tracks, including a solo track ‘Weapons of Love,’ for this feature film premiered in Hollywood in 2019. ^[7]
• "Re-Imagining Indian Rhythms" In this avant-garde solo production, He focuses on the ideas of Indian rhythm that can be connected to ideas of Indian culture. ^[8]

Awards

• Ustad Bismillah khan yuva puraskar 2023 from the Sangeet Natak Akademi, Delhi. ^[9]

References

1. Anand, Lakshmi (21 May 2020). "Akshay Anantpadmanabhan — at home in any genre". The Hindu .
2. "His Father's Voice - Rotten Tomatoes". www.rottentomatoes.com. 19 April 2019.
3. "Akshay Anantapadmanabhan – Cross-Disciplinary and multicultural perspectives on Musical Rhythm". wp.nyu.edu. New York University.
4. "These musicians got Mylapore hip-hop to Carnatic music". The Times of India . 31 August 2019.
5. Paitandy, Priyadarshini (29 August 2019). "Check out Carnatic 2.0's new video 'Mylapore Rap'". The Hindu .
6. "Konnakol Playhouse: Teaching rhythm in fun way". The Times of India . 10 May 2019.
7. Rao, Abhirami (27 June 2019). "'His Father's Voice': A story of life, love and the arts". The Hindu .
8. "Indian Music Experience (IME) Workshop". ismir2022.ismir.net.
9. "Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for the year 2023" (PDF).