Owing to India's vastness and diversity, Indian music encompasses numerous genres in multiple varieties and forms which include classical music, folk, rock, and pop. It has a history spanning several millennia and developed over several geo-locations spanning the sub-continent. Music in India began as an integral part of socio-religious life.
Uppalapu Srinivas was an Indian mandolin player in Carnatic classical music and composer. Because he was a child prodigy, he was sometimes called the Mozart of classical Indian music.
Shankar Lakshminarayana, better known as L. Shankar, is an Indian violinist, singer and composer who also goes by the stage name Shenkar. Known for his innovative contributions to world music, he is often regarded as one of the pioneers of East- West fusion, blending the rich traditions of Indian classical with Western genres such as jazz, rock, and electronic music. His world music albums with the band Shakti during the mid-70s became the ‘standard to gauge the playing and composing abilities of any world musician following in Shakti's expansive wake”. He is credited with inventing the stereophonic double violin (known as the LSD - L.Shankar Double Violin), which covers the orchestral string family's range. In 1990, Shankar's talam-bending Pancha Nadai Pallavi' album was on the Billboard top ten world music chart for three months becoming the first traditional Indian record to reach those heights. His 1995 Raga Abheri album was nominated for a Grammy Award, in the Best World Music Album category. With Peter Gabriel, he worked on the Grammy winning album Passion(1989), the soundtrack album for Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and wrote and performed vocals on Mel Gibson's 'The Passion of the Christ' (2004) which won a Dove Award for Instrumental Album of the Year at the 36th GMA Dove Awards. He also worked on the soundtrack for the 2002 film Queen of the Damned with Jonathan Davis and Richard Gibbs and recorded eight songs of which five were picked for the movie. Additionally, he collaborated on the original score for NBC's hit TV series Heroes with Wendy & Lisa. As an acclaimed musician, Shankar is ranked as one of the top famous male violinists by Ranker and one amongst the greatest violinists of popular music by Digital Dream Door. His extensive body of work spans a wide spectrum of genres, encompassing vocal and instrumental compositions.
Subramaniam Lakshminarayana is an Indian violinist, composer and conductor, trained in the classical Carnatic music tradition and Western classical music.
Aathira Krishna is an Indian violinist. She holds the Guinness World Record for her 32-hour-long non-stop Carnatic violin solo concert. She is among the youngest cultural ambassadors of India.
Balabhaskar Chandran was an Indian musician, violinist, composer and record producer. He is best known for promoting fusion music in South India. Hailing from a musically affluent family, he was introduced to the world of instrumental music at the age of three by his uncle B. Sasikumar, a laureate in Carnatic music.
Trippunithura Narayana Krishnan was an Indian Carnatic music violinist. Along with Lalgudi Jayaraman and M. S. Gopalakrishnan he was considered part of the violin-trinity of Carnatic music. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1980. He was also the recipient of the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour, in 1992, and earlier, the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour, in 1973.
Louis Banks is an Indian film composer, record producer, keyboardist, and singer. He has often been referred to as the 'Godfather of Indian jazz'.
Dr.M.Narmadha born 11 April is a celebrated popular third generation heritage violinist who performs solo violin concerts in both Carnatic and Hindustani classical systems of Indian Music.
Manoj George is an Indian violinist and a music composer. He performed as the conductor, string arranger, solo violinist and choral arranger of 3 Grammy Award Winning albums : Winds of Samsara, in 2015, Divine Tides in 2022 for the Best New Age Album & Divine Tides in 2023 as the Best Immersive Audio album. He is reported to be the first Indian violinist recognised by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, The Grammys, United States and the first Malayali violinist to receive the honour. Manoj George has won several accolades for his Music Compositions including a nomination to HollyWood Music in Media awards and Silver Medal from Global Music Awards.
Ambi Subramaniam is a violinist, composer, and educator. He started performing on stage when he was six years old and was described as the "new king of Indian classical violin" by the Times of India.
Sithara Krishnakumar is an Indian playback singer, composer, lyricist, classical dancer and an occasional actor. She predominantly works in Malayalam cinema in addition to Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films. Sithara is a well known singer who is trained in Hindustani and Carnatic classical music traditions and is also a recognised ghazal singer. She is the recipient of several awards which includes three Kerala State Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer.
Jyotsna Srikanth is an Indian-British violinist and composer, performing Carnatic music and Western classical music.
Pradeep Rangaswamy Kumar is an Indian playback singer and music director who has worked in Tamil language films. After beginning his career as a Carnatic musician, in the 2010s, he has regularly collaborated with composers Santhosh Narayanan and Sean Roldan.
Mahesh Raghvan is a Carnatic music fusion artist. He is known for playing Carnatic music on the iPad on an app named GeoShred.
Aneesh Vidyashankar is a violinist, composer and architect. He is best known as the "Walking Violinist". for his ability to walk and play fusion music on the violin, amidst the crowd. He was introduced to Carnatic Music at the age of three and was formally trained by his father S.R Vidyashankar, who hails from the Lalgudi Jayaraman school of violin playing. Aneesh was a child prodigy and gave his first solo violin performance on stage, when he was six years old.
Mylapore Sundaram Anantharaman was an Indian Carnatic and Hindustani violinist. He was an exponent of Parur style of violin playing. He received several awards including Kalaimamani Award and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.
Vadakkencheri Sri Krishna Murari, commonly known as VVS Murari, is an Indian classical composer, violist, and violinist,organizer.He is the founder of VVS Foundation.He is the son of V.V.Subramanyam
