# Kanniks Kannikeswaran

Krishnamurtha Kannikeswaran, alternatively known as Kanniks, is an Indian-born American musician, composer, writer, and music educator based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Often described as ‘The Magic Musician from Madras’, Kanniks has worked on numerous productions, choral performances, lectures, and workshops.

## Career

Kanniks trained in the classical Carnatic and Hindustani music traditions of India. He founded the Greater Cincinnati Indian Community Choir in late 1993 and produced his first musical production, "Basant - A Musical Celebration of Spring", in 1994. His productions combine Indian voices and chants with Western choruses and orchestral arrangements. Kanniks has assembled and led Indian American choirs in 10 cities in the United States.
His doctoral work is on the music and life of Muthuswami Dikshitar (1775-1835), an Indian composer. He regularly presents lecture demonstrations on the music of Dikshithar at the prestigious Music Academy in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. His articles on music have appeared in online forums, and he has contributed to music columns in newspapers.

## Collaborations

Kanniks has collaborated with musicians from around the world including John Morris Russell, Mrinalini Sarabhai, Mallika Sarabhai and others. His collaboration with the Gundecha Brothers resulted in ‘Guruguha Dhruvapada’ - a dhrupad concert featuring kritis of Dikshitar rendered in the classical dhrupad style. He has worked with conductor Catherine Roma who has conducted several of his productions including Shanti. He has also worked with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. He recently collaborated with the Korzo theater in the Netherlands, the United Nations Association International Choir in Houston and with the National University of Singapore Indian Instrumental Ensemble, the NUS Symphony orchestra, the Dario Fo choir and the Residentie Orkest in The Hague, Netherlands.

## Teaching

Kanniks has been an adjunct faculty member of Musicology at the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati, since 1994. Kanniks also conducts classes outside the University in Indian classical music for children and adults of all age groups. He is the founder of the American School of Indian Art (ASIA). He was a visiting artist at the University of South Florida.

## Awards and recognition

* Lifetime achievement award from the SRGMPDN forum in Washington DC (Sep 2014)
* Lifetime achievement award from the Geeva Foundation, Louisville KY (May 2014)
* Ohio Heritage Fellowship - Ohio Arts Council - 2011
* McKnight Visiting Composer Residencies - American Composers Forum - 2011
* Inaugural Award for the Advancement of Dharmic Arts and Humanities - Hindu American Foundation - 2013
* Best Lecture Demonstration/Paper at 81st Annual Conference of the Music Academy - Madras - 2007.
* Individual Artists Fellowship from the Ohio Arts Council (2003)

## Research

The Indo Colonial Music of Dikshitar: Kannikeswaran has done extensive research on the Indo Colonial Music of Dikshitar and the nottusvara sahityas. Kanniks presented a lecture demonstration on this topic at the Music Academy - Madras in 2007 and in 2008, released the first-ever recording of the Nottusvara Sahityas in the voice of his daughter Vidita Kanniks with western (largely Celtic) orchestration. This recording ‘Vismaya - An Indo Celtic Musical Journey’ was released both in India and in the United States. He also presents his work at the Annual meetings of the Society for Ethnomusicology. He has presented thematic programs on this topic in the presence of India’s former president Dr. Abdul Kalam, India’s former ambassador to the US Meera Shankar, and at the Media Rise Festival in Washington DC. He has presented talks, lectures/demonstrations, and articles on this topic in various places in North America (including venues such as Berklee College of Music, The University of Cincinnati, The University of Texas at A&M, and more), Singapore (National University of Singapore), Trinidad and India (Bangalore International Center, IIT Madras and more).
Dikshitar and dhrupad: Kannikeswaran has researched the various aspects of Dikshitar’s music - particularly the similarity between Dikshitar’s compositions and Dhrupad. He collaborated with the Gundecha brothers to present "Meditative Moments: Guruguha-Dhruvapada", a unique concert that highlighted Dikshitar's compositions that have similarities with Dhrupad, in Houston in 2012 and in Cincinnati in June 2014. He has numerous articles and lecture demonstrations to his name on this topic.