At 70, M Sankaranarayanan, renowned Carnatic singer is as passionate about Carnatic music as he was 30 years ago.

Son of a Carnatic musician, he says, Carnatic music runs in my veins. A well-known singer in Chennai, M Sankaranarayanan shifted to Mumbai two months ago and felt the need to familiarise people with Carnatic music. Currently, he also heads the music department of Fine Arts, Chembur and has trained more than 100 people.

He says, The lack of quality trainers prompted me to train people in Carnatic music.

Born in Kallidaikurchi in 1933 Sankaranarayanan developed a keen interest in the form at a very young age and trained under Late Sri TR Balasubramanian, Tanjore Sri SK Kalyanaram and Sangeetha Kalanidhi and Sri TM Thyagarajan.

Despite a full fledged job with India Cement Ltd in Chennai, he regularly took part in concerts, gave performances on AIR and was on the faculty for Kalapeedam, a music school in Chennai. He says, I always managed to take time out for programmes and to train people.

Although Sankara-narayanan is not averse to other kinds of music, he says the quality of music has gone down. He says, I enjoy listening to Hindustani music and Mehedi Hasan. But I feel there is no charm left in todays music compositions.

According to Sankaranarayanan the best age to start training as a Carnatic vocalist is as soon as one can read properly. Talking about his future plans, He says that although training is his top priority he will be leaving for Chennai for a month-long programme in Dec.

Call 34201196

rachana@mid-day.com