Shashank Subramanyam

Shashank Subramanyam
[[File:s Shashank at Dhaka Shashank performing at Bangalore - Jan 2017 |frameless|upright=1]]
Background information
Birth name	Shashank Subramanyam
Born	Hassan district, Karnataka
Genres	Carnatic music
Occupation(s)	Musician / instrumentalist
Instruments	Venu flute
Years active	1984–present
Website	shashank.org
Notable instruments
Venu flute, Bamboo flute (Bansuri)

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Shashank Subramanyam is a Grammy nominated renowned exponent of the Bamboo Flute from India and specialises in Indian Classical Music. He was a child prodigy and began performing from his age of 6 in 1984 and has performed in the top circuit for three decades.

Shashank Subramanyam was born in 1978 in a Tamil Brahmin family in Rudrapatna, India to Hemalatha and Subramanyam. His forefathers belong to Tirunelveli dist of Tamil Nadu. He was trained by his father and by vocalists R.K. Srikantan, Palghat K.V. Narayanaswami, and Hindustani music under Pandit Jasraj. Shashank is married to Shirisha, a Bharatanatyam dancer. Shashank and Shirisha have a daughter Swara and son Samvit and live in Chennai, India.

Shashank performed for the general public in 1984 for the first time at the age of 6.

Shashank began performing at the top circuit in 1990 with major performances in Adelaide, Australia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and in Singapore followed by his major performance at Shastri hall in Dec 1990. His career-defining moment came when the Music Academy invited Shashank, just 12 years old, to perform in the senior most performance slot "SADAS concert" at The Music Academy, Chennai 1 January 1991 – a record that is yet to be broken.

Shashank has been a senior flautist in the field of Carnatic Music and has collaborated with host of musicians from India and around the world including John McLaughlin, Paco de Lucia, The New Jungle Orchestra, Mikkel Nordso, Terry Riley, Ustad Shahid Parvez, Zakir Hussain, Ustad Sultan Khan, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Ronu Mazumdar, Ustad Shujaat Khan, Debu Choudhury

Shashank performs in a wide range of concert environments from the pure Indian classical, Symphonies, Jazz and cross over projects. He has led many ensembles and also has been a guest artist on many famed bands like Remember Shakti, New Jungle Orchestra, etc.

Shashank has evolved a Flute playing style of his own and has been an inspiration to flute players in India and around the world. Some of his techniques including the use of multi flute transposed fingering technique and dual octave production has won him world acclaim. Specialized in Carnatic classical and trained in Hindustani Classical music, he incorporates patterns of improvisation from both systems of Music from India and uses a range of flutes to cover octaves that are not supported by the traditional Carnatic flute. Shashank is known for his intricate and intense (Improvisations), melodious keerthana ( composition) renderings and pulsating kalpanaswaram (Faster and rhythmic improvisations). His concerts generally include a Ragam Tanam Pallavi as a central piece, normally composed by Shashank himself.