Shashank Subramanyam

Shashank Subramanyam (born 14 October 1978) is a bamboo flute player from India. 

He was born to a biochemist father in the village of Rudrapatna, in Karnataka and lived in Bangalore and Chennai in his growing up years. He now lives in Chennai with his family. Subramanyam started learning music when he was very young. By the age of two and a half, he could name all 72 Melakarta scales. He first learned singing and to play the violin, but after he started playing the venu flute, he loved it and decided to focus on it. He received the Karnataka Government's music scholarship at age 5. According to legend, when he was six years old, he just picked up his biochemist father M.N. Subramanyam's flute — an amateur musician — and started playing it, surprising everyone around him. He learnt to play the flute under parental guidance, without a teacher. It is commonly accepted that Subramanyam's 1990 performance at the Madras Music Academy made him famous. Subramanyam is the youngest person to have received the Indian government's Sangeet Natak Akademi senior award. He has received many honours, including the title "Kalaimamani" from the Tamil Nadu government. The vocalist Pandit Jasraj also taught him Hindustani vocal (North Indian) music.

 Personal life 
M.N. Subramanyam, a biochemist and amateur musician was Subramanyam's father. Hemalatha was his mother. Subramanyam is the father of a son, Samvit and a daughter, Swara. He is married to Shirisha, a Bharatanatyam dancer.

 References 

Category:Living people
Category:1978 births
Category:Flutists
Category:Indian musicians
Category:People from Karnataka