Carnatic Music Percussion Artist Ganapathy Subramanyam known as Karaikudi Mani. He involved with Carnatic music at the age of three and soon abandoned his vocal training in favour of learning the Mridangam. He began performing regularly at a time when another player of the mridangam, his idol Palghat Mani Iyer, was in his prime. He took further lessons under the tutelage of Haihara Sharma, after moving to Chennai and received his first national award at the age of 18 from the then President of India, Radhakrishnan.
He conducted and orchestrated several concerts, notably a collaboration with Sri VS Narasimhan in 1990 presented Melodyssey, a project with 40 artistes, including Western and Indian Instruments. This won widespread appreciation and was released on tape. His brainchild the concept of “Thani Avarthanam” concerts became popular in the Carnatic Percussion. Whilst Thala Vadya (Percussion ensemble) concerts in Carnatic music were not unheard of, the concept of just two percussion instruments performing solos without any other ‘Sruthi’ performers (e.g. vocal, violin) had never been attempted.
In 1993, Karaikudi Mani presented his first Thani Avarthanam concert along with the late Kanjira wizard G Harishankar. This spellbinding performance is regarded a landmark moment in the classical percussion field. It has revolutionised the role of the Mridangam, proving that as an art form, South Indian percussion instruments can be played as solo instruments in their own right. A concept initiated by Mani has since been undertaken by several leading Mridangists who have also performed Thani Avarthanam concerts. Since then, Mani has conducted several “Thani Avarthanam” duet concerts featuring leading percussionists on Ghatam, Thavil, Chendai.
