Neela Ramanuja

A degree in business and a good career at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) did not stop Neela Ramanuja from embracing music as her career. Coming from a family of musicians, she started training in Carnatic music at the early age of five. She has collaborated with many dance teachers so far. She has had her musical training under eminent musicians. ‘I have learnt so much from all the teachers. My very ambitious dance teachers and the high creative standards they set challenged me to compose new music and new shows every year. This has nurtured the creative side in me and made me a better artist,’ says Neela. She travels with her troupe for the remainder of the year to the United States, France, Italy, Holland and Germany. She gets to take on interesting assignments with teachers abroad, keeping her motivated.

She is a graded artist (B-High) at All India Radio and the Indian Television. Neela has performed at various concerts across India. She particularly enjoys singing for dance shows and has won special acclaim from distinguished dancers and critics from all over the world. She has been honoured with the title of Kala Arathi Ratna and Kala Arathi Vibhushana by the Arathi School Of Dance, Phoenix. Shruthilaya School of Dance awarded her the title Gaana Shikhaamani.

Kala Sri N G Ravi

Also known as Nada Gambhira Ravi, he is a senior mrudangam Vidwan of the state of Karnataka, India. He is a disciple of Ganakala Bhushana T.A.S. Mani of Bangalore and Padma Bhushan Umyalpuram K. Sivaraman of Chennai. He has been playing the mrudangam for over 50 years and has accompanied several eminent musicians as well as dancers. He has been touring extensively in Europe and USA since 1986. Ravi has been awarded titles like Laya Vadya Shekhara, Kala Arathi Rathna, Nrithya Kala Nipuna, Kala Arathi Vibhushana, Nada Chinthamani, Sangeetha Parampara Nidhi and Vaadya Shikhamani. He was awarded Karnataka state’s prestigious government award Karnataka Kala Shree for the achievement in the music and dance field in the year 2004.

A.P. Krishna Prasad

Krishna is one of the leading musicians in the world of music. He was introduced into the musical world at an age as tender as 4, and was found to have an immaculate style and innate creativity. After his initial tutelage under his father, a well-known flautist, Vidwan A.V. Prakash, the flute continued to be his instrument of choice. He has been mesmerizing the audience with his maestro Vidwan Dr. N. Ramani, Vishweshwaran, Uma Rao and Padmini Ramachandra, among others. He has accompanied eminent dancers, including Sarvashree Chitra. Apart from playing authentic Carnatic music, he has performed and worked with many leading music directors. He has given many fusion, jazz, blues, world music and jugalbandhi concerts, and has been a part of numerous international music festivals. With extensive global touring, he has enriched his music under the auspices of prestigious sabhas all over India and abroad, including USA, Japan, Switzerland and South Africa, widening his nuances gained from all schools of music.

He is a trained live sound engineer and has a certified training course under Meyer Sound (LASSET) in Thailand and Electro Voice (EV), working with leading music directors in Singapore. This rich experience in the music field has helped him work with leading music directors.

Arunkumar

Over the years Arunkumar has carved a niche for himself in the world of percussion as one of the few drummers who does inter-disciplinary music. He has trained in jazz drumming under his father B.S. Sukumar and the renowned drummer Ranjit Barot.

Arun also trained in Carnatic percussion under Sri. S.V. Giridhar and Sri. Anoor Anantha Krishna Sharma. He has performed for legends of different genera of music, like Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna, Dr. S.P. Balasubramanayam, Dr. K.J. Yesudas, Dr. L. Subramaniam, Sudha Raghunathan, Pandit Ronu Muzumdar, Pandit Vishwamohan Bhat, tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussian, violin maestros Ganesh Kumaresh, Hariharan and Shankar Mahadevan, and many other legendary musicians. He has been conferred the title Kanchi Asthana Vidwan from Sri. Mutt Kanchipuram. Arun has been awarded The Endorsement by the world renowned cymbal company Zildjian and world renowned percussion sticks company, Vic Firth.

Pramath Kiran

Pramath Kiran a well know percussionist from India and hails from a musical background. As a world music artist, he initially learnt the tabla (classical Hindustani instrument) under the tabla maestro Pt. Udayraj Kapoor. Later he was trained by Vidwan Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma to play morsing (jaws harp) in traditional Carnatic style.

He is well known for his traditional and intricate style of playing these instruments, with a blend of modern accompaniment techniques. In several music festivals across the world he has accompanied several star wards like Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna, violin maestro Dr. L Subramaniyam, santoor maestro Pt. Shivkumar Sharma and Pt. Rahul Sharma, violin duo Ganesh Kumaresh, Chitraveena Ravikiran, violin maestros Mysore Nagraj and Dr. Manjunath, Pt. Purbayan Chatterji, and veena maestro Dr. Jayanthi Kumaresh, to name a few. Pramath Kiran is the founding member of LAYATHARANGA, India’s top world music bands featuring Indian and world percussion. He has toured several countries like UK, USA, Australia, Poland, Luxembourg, Singapore, Malaysia, Middle East and many more. Pramath Kiran is a part of other bands like ‘Indialucia’ from Poland and ‘Shastriya Syndicate’ from India.

Pramath is also well known for his music endeavours in playing several world percussions like djembe, congas and cajón. He has performed and recorded with several jazz musicians like Louis Pragasam, Spinifex Orchestra (Holland), Amit Heri, Asaf Rabi, Leszek Hefi, Bartek and Keith Peters, to name a few.

He has been awarded the following:

CMANA Award – Best Percussionist 2009 from Percussive Arts Centre, Bangalore.

Ananya Award – Best Percussionist 2007 from ANANYA Foundation, Bangalore.