Shashank

Flautist

Shashank Subramanyam is a Grammy-nominated renowned exponent of the Bamboo Flute from India and specialises in Indian Classical Music. He was a child prodigy and began performing from his age of 6 in 1984 and has performed in the top concert circuit for over three decades. He is the youngest recipient of the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi's senior award by Govt. of India to be awarded by the Hon. President of India for the year 2017.

Early Life
Shashank Subramanyam was born in Rudrapatna, India, to Hemalatha and Prof. Subramanyam. His forefathers belong to Tirunelveli dist of Tamil Nadu. He was trained in Carnatic Music by his father and by vocalists R.K. Srikantan, Palghat K.V. Narayanaswami, and Hindustani music under Pandit Jasraj. Shashank is married to Shirisha, a Bharatanatyam Dancer. He had no Gurus for Flute playing and was mostly self taught. Shashank and Shirisha have a daughter Swara and son Samvit and live in Chennai, India.

Performance Career
Shashank performed for the general public in 1984 for the first time at the age of 6. Shashank began performing at the top circuit in 1990 with major performances in Adelaide, Australia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and in Singapore followed by his major performance at Shastri hall in Dec 1990. His career-defining moment came when the Music Academy invited Shashank, just 12 years old, to perform in the senior most performance slot "SADAS concert" at The Music Academy, Chennai 1 January 1991.

Shashank has worked extensively presenting collaborative performances with host of musicians from India and around the world including John McLaughlin, Paco de Lucia, Wuppertal and Shanxi Symphony Orchestras, The New Jungle Orchestra, Mikkel Nordso, Terry Riley, Ustad Shahid Parvez, Zakir Hussain, Ustad Sultan Khan, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Ronu Mazumdar, Ustad Shujaat Khan and many others

Shashank performs in a wide range of concert environments from the pure Indian classical, Symphonies, Jazz, Films and crossover projects. He has led many ensembles and also has been a guest artist on many famed bands like Remember Shakti, New Jungle Orchestra, Blue Lotus, Shashank Meets Lelo Nika Trio, etc.

Awards and recognitions
Sangeet Natak Akademi Senior Award by Govt of India for the year 2017
Grammy Nomination for the album Floating Point with John McLaughlin – 2009
Kalaimamani the state award / title from the Tamil Nadu Government in the year 2001.
A Top Ranking in the All India Radio
Empaneled artist of the ICCR under Outstanding / senior category since 1995.
The National Integration Award ( Spirit of Unity series) – 1991
“Kuzhal Arasar” from the prestigious Kellogg School of Management, Chicago - 2002
Asthana Vidwan of Sringeri Mutt, by His Holiness Shankaracharya of Sringeri, Karnataka – May 2000
“Proclamation to the city” award by Cities of Tulsa and Memphis USA 2010 and 2014
Shashank was awarded a direct "A" Grade ranking in the All India Radio and Doordarshan (TV) at his age of 13.
The BBC World TV telecast a documentary on Shashank titled “Destination Music” in 2006

Landmark Concerts
Now with over 30 years of a successful career in the field of Indian Classical Music, Shashank’s landmark concerts include Rashtrapathi Bhavan (The President's Palace at New Delhi) in 1992, Skopje Jazz Festival – Macedonia, Copenhagen Jazz Festival – Denmark, National Theater in Taipei- Taiwan, Fajr Music Festival in Tehran-Iran, Fes Festival in Morocco, The Smithsonian, Kennedy Center and National Academy of Sciences in Washington D.C., J. Paul Getty Hall - Hollywood, Cerritos Performing arts center in Los Angeles, Eastman School of Music - Rochester, World Music Institute - New York, Asian Art Museum - San Francisco, Xebec Hall and Across Fukuoka in Kobe and Fukuoka, Japan, Hong Kong Museum of Art - Hong Kong, World Flute Conference - Nashville, Sawai Gandharva Festival - Pune, Saptak Festival - Ahmadabad, Dover Lane Music festival - Calcutta, India Music Group - Bombay, Theater De- La-Ville, UNESCO & Musee Guimet in Paris -France, Tropical Institute - Amsterdam, The Lowry in Manchester-UK, The Sage in Gateshead - UK, Modigliani Hall -Padova-Italy, Museum Rietberg –Zurich, The Adelaide Festival- Australia, Improvisation Festival in Lausanne- Switzerland, Seoul Plaza in Seoul- Korea and a host of other prestigious institutions across the world.

Countries where Shashank performed

India, USA, China, Canada, Macedonia, Hungary, Bangladesh, UK, France, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Iran, Morocco, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines and Korea.

Contributions 

Several valuable contributions to the field of Flute playing including the following. 

Introduced and furthered the revolutionary Multi Flute Fingering technique in Carnatic Music performances that have inspired scores of Flute players and Musicians from India and around the world.

Shashank style of Flute playing techniques that helped reproduce the human voice better and solved many old issues of fingering techniques. 

Claw shaped fingering technique that has eased playing fast phrases, produce echo effects among many others. Especially the work done on how best to produce faster taans effectively spanning various ocataves, intricate slides between notes and octaves, gamakas, reduction of stress on fingers with invention of easier finger movements, among many others.

Dual Octave Sound production technique producing two octaves simultaneously, new ways using flute playing techniques to present Kalpana swaras and Tanam in Carnatic Music portraying a combination of Vocal / Instrumental styles and unique sounds produced only on the Flute.

Advanced breath control techniques, tonguing techniques, use of percussion like fingering technique on the Flute among scores of other contributions which are difficult to explain in writing that have overall improved ways of Flute playing immensely. 

Co-creator of Shashank style of Carnatic Flute, a near perfect bamboo flute that solved age old defects that existed with the instrument.

Publications

Shashank has over 70 CDs and several DVDs to his credit. Do visit the store to view / buy some of them.

Source: http://www.shashank.org