Anoor Anantha Krishna Sharma is a mridangist from India. Hailing from a family of musicians, he started performing at a very early age and has carved a niche for himself.
Early life and background
Vidwan Anoor Anantha Krishna Sharma who hails from a family of musicians was born to Vidwan Anoor R Ramakrishna and Smt. Sree Lakshmi. His father Anoor Ramakrishna was a violinist, and a teacher in the Dept. of Music of Bangalore University. His elder brother, Vidwan Anoor Dattatreya Sharma is also a Mridangam artist. His grandfathers Anoor S Shamanna was a renowned veena player and his brother Anoor Suryanarayana was a renowned vocalist and Nattuvanar. Anoor Anantha Krishna Sharma initiated his learning of Mridangam under Vidwan R A Rajagopal, who was a Mridangam / Ghatam artist and a senior staff of All India Radio, Bangalore. He attended Acharya Patha Shaala in Basavanagudi and graduated in Bachelor of Arts in music.
Career
As an artist, Anantha Krishna Sharma started performing professionally at the age of fifteen. He has accompanied many artistes such as Dr. R.K.Srikantan, Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna, M. L. Vasantha Kumari, VedaValli, T. V. Gopalakrishnan, Dr. N. Ramani, K.S. Gopalakrishnan, B.N. Suresh, Violin Trio of H.V.Krishnamurthy, Anoor Ramakrishna, A. Veerabhadraiah, Lalgudi Jayaraman, M. S. Gopalakrisnan, Sudha Raghunathan, T. V. Shankaranarayana, Bombay Sisters, Madurai T. N. Seshagopalan, Trichur V. Ramachandran, Dr. S.Ramanathan, Sanjay Subrahmanyan, P. Unni Krishnan, T.M. Krishna, Maharajapuram Santanam, T. R. Subrahmanyam, Vijay Siva, Neyveli Santanagopalan, Rajkumar Bharathi, M.S. Sheela, R.K. Padmanabha, D.V. Nagarajan, Nagavalli Nagaraj, Usha Char, Sukanya Prabhakar, Nagamani Srinath, S. Shankar, Bombay Jayashri, Charumathi Ramachandran, S. Sowmya, O. S. Thyagarajan, A. K. C. Natarajan, R.A. Ramamani, Prof. T.N. Krishnan, R.R. Keshavamurthy, Ganesh and Kumaresh, Mysore Nagaraj /Dr.Mysore Manjunath T.R. Srinath, Dr. Doraiswamy Iyengar, Chitraveena Ravikiran, U. Srinivas, Kadri Gopalnath, T.S.Satyavathi, Dr. Jayanthi Kumaresh and C.Honnappa Bhagavathar many more. Anantha Krishna Sharma has travelled across the globe as an accompanying artiste and for conducting workshops. Some of his performances abroad are:
European countries such as Germany, Netherlands, Italy and Switzerland.
USA for AKKA conference
Amsterdam for performance with Iranian, Turkish, Afghan and Spanish Musicians called EthnoRhythmics
USA Directing a Jugalbandi team with Vidwan Pranesh and Vidwan Praveen Gotkhindi called “Ganga Kaveri” and gave concerts all over USA.
Anantha Krishna Sharma besides being a Mridangam artist also can play other percussion instruments such as Dolu, Tabla, Pakhawaj. He is also a vocalist and a composer. His talent has been tapped for other non-classical forms of music like light music, film music, folk and devotional, even for ballet and audio cassettes and CD’s.
He has composed music for many orchestrations and ensembles. His compositions have been regarded as highly imaginative, aesthetically appealing and encompass an amazing complexity and intricacy of rhythm blended in the musical notes. Some of his orchestrations are:
Composed music for ballet titled “Kaishika”, which was staged in UK in February 1995
Composed music and intricate patterns which blend with the compositions for an ensemble for Percussive Arts Centre, “VRUSHTI”. Composed music for a unique composition called “Panchajanya” with 5 different Ragas and Nadais with interesting rhythmic notations.
Composed rhythmic patterns for an ensemble of Sri Ayyanar College of Music, “LayaLahari”.
Composed and Directed an ensemble containing 25 different instruments with a very special rhythmic notations on the occasion of 25th year of Thalavadyotsav, a percussion festival organised by Percussive Arts Centre
Composed and directed a “Folk Ensemble” containing only folk instruments with varied folk patterns knit together.
Directed many orchestrations in which renowned musicians like Dr. R. K. Srikantan, M. S. Sheela, Dr. Suma Sudhindra and many more have performed.
Composed some interesting “Thillanas” which is released in a CD sung by Asthana Vidushi M. S. Sheela
Composed music for Sanskrit Verses on Hindu GOD’s. Produced & Released by “Roots Music” for 53 albums.
Composed music for a traditional Kathak performance by Nirupama and Rajendra
Composed and directed rhythmic patterns using classical and folk percussion instruments for special ensemble named Laya Lavanya
Composed and directed a unique rhythmic programme in which utensils from kitchen, furniture and miscellaneous items found at home were used to create a percussion ensemble.
Recognition
“Best Mridangam Artist” in 1981 by Gayana Samaja
“Laya Kala Prathibhamani” Title and Vidwan H. Puttachar Memorial award by Percussive Arts Centre in 2000
"Asthana Vidwan" of Sri Kanchi Mutt in 2010 by Sri Kanchi Mutt
Disciples
Vidwan Anoor Anantha Krishna Sharma has trained many percussion artistes like Arun Kumar, G.Guruprasanna who are taking the percussion field of music to greater heights.
