Srirangam Kannan is an Indian musician and artist, known for playing the morsing

Morsing

A morsing is a wind percussion instrument, mainly used in the Carnatic music of South India and Sindh . It can be categorized under lamellophones, which is in the category of plucked idiophones...

. He has a degree in mathematics.

Profile

Vidwan Srirangam S. Kannan was born on 5 May 1952 in Srirangam

Srirangam

Srirangam , Old name is Vellithirumutha gramam and Tamil name is Thiruvarangam , is an island and a part of the city of Tiruchirapalli , in South India....

 to K Sathyamurthy and Kamalam. Growing up, he had little experience with carnatic music

Carnatic music

Carnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu...

.

When he was 19 years old he heard a concert where Sri Pudukkotai S. Mahadevan played the morsing

Morsing

A morsing is a wind percussion instrument, mainly used in the Carnatic music of South India and Sindh . It can be categorized under lamellophones, which is in the category of plucked idiophones...

. Shortly afterwards, he became Mahadevan's disciple. He also learned more aboutlaya

Laya

"Laya" may refer to:People* Laya , a Chinese Indonesian surname* The Layap people of the Himalayas* Laya , Telugu movie actress* Jean-Louis Laya , dramatist...

 from Kanadukathan Rajaraman, a kanjeera and mridangam artist and a friend of Mahadevan. By age 23, Srirangam Kannan had started his career as a full-fledged morsing artist.

After graduating from university with a degree in mathematics, he joined Indian Bank

Indian Bank

Indian Bank is a major Indian Commercial Bank headquartered in Chennai , India. It has 22,000 employees, 1923 branches and is one of the big public sector banks of India. It has overseas branches in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and 229 correspondent banks in 69 countries...

, where he worked for 30 years before retiring in 2000 after having become manager.

He continues to play in concerts across India. He also performs regularly for AIR Chennai.

Awards and honours

Srirangam Kannan has been the recipient of many awards and recognitions, listed here.

• Awarded Mannargudi Natesa Pillai Award, instituted by Sri Raagam Fine Arts, Chennai, presented by Dr. M Balamuralikrishna in 1996.
• Kalaimamani Award by the Government of Tamil Nadu in 1998
• Best Upapakkavadhyam Award from the Music Academy, instituted by Dr. Ramamurthy, in 1998 & 2001.
• Honoured as the Asthana Vidwan of Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam in the year 2000.
• Best Upapakkavadhyam Award from Narada Gana Sabha, instituted by Obul Reddy, in 2003.
• Lifetime Achievement Award in the field of Carnatic Music from the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam in 2003.
• A Top Graded artiste in All India Radio
• Meritorious Award for achievement in Carnatic Music, instituted by the Maharajapuram Santhanam Foundation, Chennai in 2005.
• Vani Kala Sudhakara award for the most proficient morsing vidwan, instituted by Sri Thyaga Bhrama Gana Sabha, Chennai in 2005.
• Lifetime Achievement Award in the field of Carnatic Music from Sri Sachidananda Swamy of Datta Peetam, Mysore in 2006
• Nada Vidya Bhupathi, instituted by Nada Dweepam Trust, Chennai in 2009.

Tours and Concerts

Listed here are Srirangam Kannan's tours and concerts.

• 1988: Festival of India in USSR with Shri. Karaikudi R Mani and Dr. N Ramani
• 1990: Tala Vaadya Concerts in France, Italy, Belgium and the UK.
• 1990: Participated in the Collegium Instrumentale Hale, Chamber Orchestra in Germany, presented by Dr. L Subramaniam
• 1991: Tala Vaadya ensemble conducted by Zakir Hussain in Malaysia.
• 1992: Tala Vaadya ensemble organized by Indian Council for Cultural Relations in Hungary, Germany, and the UK.
• 1997: Indian Independence Golden Jubilee Celebration at New Delhi, Tala Vaadya ensemble with Umayalpuram Sivaraman and Pt Kishan Maharaj.
• 1998: Participated in the International Music Festival, held at Helsinki, Finland
• 1998: Participated in the Telstra Adelaide Music Festival, Australia.
• 2000: Participated in the Jazz Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark.
• 2000: Participated in the World Expo, Hannover, Germany.
• 2000: Participated in the Czech Republic Day Festival, Prague, Czech Republic.
• 2001: Participated in the Fusion Music Concert by Australian Art Orchestra with Shri. Karaikudi R Mani held at the Opera House, Sydney, Australia.
• 2001: Tala Vaadya ensemble presented and conducted by Percussive Arts Society at SAMI, Sweden.
• 2001: Participated in the Queensland Biennial Festival of Music in Australia with 'Sruthi Laya' of Shri Karaikudi R Mani.
• 2002: Tala Vaadya ensemble conducted by 'Sangeetham' at Sadlers Wells UK.
• 2003: Participated in the Music Festival organized by 'Sangeetha Swaram', Malaysia.
• 2006: Participated in the Indian Council for Cultural Relations sponsored concert in Fiji Islands and Australia