Born in 1924 in the village of Naiathangarai, Kerala, Shri T.K. Murthy received his training in Mridangam from the eminent teacher Tanjavoor Vaithianatha Iyer. Proficient both as a soloist and accompanist he has developed a distinctive style of playing the Mridangam — poised and dignified. In the course of the past several decades Shri Murthy has accompanied most of the eminent Carnatic musicians. He has been honoured for his work by the Tamil Nadu Eyal Isai Nataka Manram. For his eminence in music and his contribution to its enrichment Shri T.K. Murthy receives the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Carnatic instrumental music.

Vidwan T.V.Gopalakrishnan hails from a family of musicians spanning over two centuries. He is one of the rare musicians who is equally proficient in both Carnatic and Hindustani Vocal, mrudangam and violin. T.V.Gopalakrishnan started playing the mridangam at the age of four and had his arangetram at 6. He is one of the senior most disciples of Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar. Gopalakrishnan was given the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1990. He has been awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in the year 2012. In 2018, he was awarded a doctorate by Bharatidasan University for his research on the topic Layathwam in Carnatic music. In his career spanning over five decades, many honours and awards have been bestowed on Dr.TVG. A few awards are Sangeetha Kalanidhi Award from Madras Music Academy , 2014 Padma Bhushan, 2012

Nagaswara Vidwan Sembanarkoil S.R.G. Rajanna belongs to a tradition that has entered its seventh generation beginning from Pallavi Vaidyanatha Pillai. With a performance career spanning for over 65 years, Rajanna is one of the most revered Vidwans globally.

Known for the rendering of Rakti Melam, a unique type of composition which requires great rhythmic prowess, is the pride of the Sembanarkoil tradition.

Rajanna and his brother have been honoured with many awards that include Kalaimamani, Thiruvengadu Subramania Pillai centenary award and T.N. Rajarathinam Pillai award. Rajanna was honoured with the Tagore Puraskar award by the Sangeet Natak Akademi.

For some years after his brother’s retirement from the field, Rajanna continued to play solo.

Umayalpuram Kasiviswanatha Sivaraman (born 17 December 1935) is a senior most Carnatic mridanga vidwan. He is the son of Sri P. Kasiviswanatha Iyer and Srimati Kamalambal. His father was a medical doctor by profession but encouraged his musical pursuits. He learned the art of the carnatic mridangam from four illustrious masters of the art - Sri Arupathi Natesa Iyer, Sri Tanjavoor Vaidyanatha Iyer, Sri Palghat Mani Iyer & Sri Kumbakonam Rangu Iyengar. He graduated from The University of Madras with a B.A. & B.L. He was conferred the award ‘Padmashri’ by the Government of India in 1988. He received Sangeet Natak Akademi award for mrudangam for the year 1992. He was conferred Kalaimamani, awarded by the Iyal Isai Nataka Mandram of Tamilnadu. He had been appointed ‘State Artiste’ of the Government of Tamil Nadu from 1981 for a period of six years. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honor, on the occasion of the country's 61st Republic Day observance on 26 January 2010. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Kerala in 2010. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 2001.

Guruvayur Dorai born on 2nd July 1935. He is one of the most senior-most exponents of the South Indian classical Mrudangam percussion instrument, He had his initial training under Palghat Subba Iyer and E.P. Narayana Pisharody, and later from the legendary master Palani Subramaniam Pillai. Initiating his concert performances at the age of eight, Guruvayur Dorai has performed on the concert platform for the past 60 years. His wide range of efforts in the field of mridangam and music have helped propagate the art around the globe. Some of the awards: . Sangeetha Kalasikhamani, 2003 by The Indian Fine arts Society, Chennai Sangeet Natak Akademi Award 1996 Kalaimamani, 1990 by the Govt. of Tamil Nadu Sangeet Natak Akademi Tagore Ratna 2011

Sri Mohan Chandrasekaran is a top ranking Violin Maestro in the World of Indian Classical Music, whose career has entered the sixth decade. Sri M.Chandrasekaran was born in a family of traditional musicians on the 11th of December 1937. He was initiated into Carnatic music by his mother late Srimathi Charubala Mohan, a talented carnatic musician. Smt.Charubala Mohan was the only guru for Sri M.Chandrasekaran on violin. Within a short span, his mother inculcated in Sri Chandrasekaran the essence of carnatic music and he started giving public performances at the age of eleven. He has the honor of participating in many Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan since its inception in 1955. The Government of India honored him with the prestigious “Sangeet Natak Academy Award” in 1986. He has been honored with Kalaimamani Award by the Tamil Nadu Government in 1982. Sri M.Chandrasekaran started a Trust along with his family and disciples in memory of his mother Late Smt.Charubala Mohan, namely “CHARUBALA MOHAN TRUST” in the year 1998.

Born in 1940 in Trichur, Kerala, Shri Trichur Vaidyanatha Ramachandran received his initial training in Carnatic vocal music from Shri Varkala Subramania Bhagavatar and then from Shri Tripunithura R. Krishna Iyer. In the 1960s, he was a student of Shri G.N. Balasubramaniam, his principal mentor in music. His training under the master was further fortified by his discipleship with Shrimati M.L. Vasanthakumari, who was herself a senior disciple of Shri G.N. Balasubramaniam. For a period of ten years, Shri Ramachandran has also trained in Hindustani music under Shri Krishnanand of the Kirana gharana. An outstanding vocalist in the field of Carnatic music, Shri Trichur Ramachandran has built his art on the foundation created by his guru, but has shaped it in all respects by his individual genius. Ramachandran is recipient of Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2003. He also received the Padma Bhushan award from the Government of India in 2003. He also received the title of Sangeetha Choodamani by Sri Krishna Gana Sabha in 2001. He Among plenty of titles and accolades, he is also the recipient of Vidhya Tapasvi title from TAPAS Cultural Foundation in 2009.

Vikku Vinayakram was born to Kalaimaamani T. R. Harihara Sharma, a talented musician and superlative teacher, Vikku took up playing at a very young age. Vikku Vinayakram was a child prodigy, with his concert career beginning at the age of 13. The year of birth of the Ghatam Maestro is 1942 & his arangetram was on March 5, 1955, when he was just 13 at the Sri Rama Navami festival. T. H. Vinakayaram is also the first South Indian musician to be awarded the Grammy for Best World Music Album for his participation in Mickey Hart's Planet Drum in which he played ghatam and morsing. He donated all the proceeds from the award to a charity organization in south India.
The Indian Government decorated him with the Padma Shri award.

Vidwan Trichy Sankaran on born 27 July 1942, is an Indian Mrudangam percussionist, composer, scholar, and educator. Sankaran had his early musical training first under his cousin, P. A. Venkataraman, and later became the star disciple of the mridangam maestro, Pazhani Subramania Pillai. He made his debut at the age of 13 in a concert given by the Alathoor Brothers at Nanrudayan Temple in the town of Thiruchirapalli. Trichy Sankaran is acknowledged as one of the foremost virtuosos of the mridangam and also plays the kanjira on occasion. Since the early 1970s, he has performed and recorded in a number of cross-cultural projects. Sankaran has been living in Toronto since 1971. He is the founder of the Tyagaraja Aradhana in Toronto and is a professor of music at York University. He has regularly performed at all leading organisations in Chennai every December Music Season and continues to accompany a wide array of top ranked musicians. As a performing artist of international repute, Sankaran has received numerous honours and awards. The titles include: Sangeetha Kalanidhi from Madras Music Academy-2011, Sangeet Nataka Academy Award from the Government of India. He was also nominated as the Professional of the Year by the executive committee of the Indo-Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Toronto.

Vidwan T.V.Sankaranarayanan(Tiruvalangadu Vembu Iyer Sankaranarayanan) born on 7th March 1945 is a leading Carnatic vocalist, known for his music that stems from the style of his late uncle-guru, Madurai Mani Iyer. He was born in Mayiladuturai of Thanjavur district in the state of Tamil Nadu in south India. At the age of nine, he started learning music from his uncle, Madurai Mani Iyer. He made his debut on the concert platform in 1968. Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1990. Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 2003. Sangeetha Kalanidhi by the Madras Music Academy in 2003.

The sisters, Saroja and Lalita are a prominent duo, who are known for their balanced approach to concert presentation. Disciples of T K Govinda Rao, the Bombay sisters, as they are popularly known, have graced the Carnatic music stage with distinction. They are known for neat renditions of songs and competent handling of improvisations. They have a large number of cassettes and albums to their credit and have performed globally. Through their Muktambaram Trust the sisters have been promoting many young artists in a big way.

VV Subrahmanyam is a much sought after musician by the Carnatic music fraternity, and hails from a family of musicians. He had his initial lessons from his father and advanced training from Thirupunitura Narayana Iyer, father of Sangeetha Kalanidhi Prof. TN Krishnan. He made his debut at age 11 and began his career accompanying Chembai Sri Vaidhyanatha Bhagavathar. His pure genius is evident in his innovation, creativity, accompanying skills, teaching, and research methods. His bowing technique has universal acclaim. His music is pure, melodic, and rich in raga bhava and lyrical excellence. He is both, an outstanding soloist and accompanist. He has composed quite a few varnams, krithis, thillanas, bhajans, English notes, and has discovered ragas such as Priyaranjani, Radhapriya, and Sanchari. He has authored books as well—Violin Varalaaru and a book on Swathi Tirunal called Sathyameva Jayathe.

Vidwan Sri Karaikudi R. Mani is a very leading Mrudanga vidwan in Carnatic music fraternity. Karaikudi Mani was born on 11th September 1945 at Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu. He is the son of T. Ramanatha Iyer and Pattammal. He became involved with Carnatic music at the age of three and soon abandoned his vocal training in favour of learning the mridangam. 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. In 1999 he received the national award from Sangeeth Natak Academy. He Received NAADA BRAHMAM title from Naradagana Sabha in the year 2018. In 1986, he started an ensemble, called Sruthi Laya, that combined melody and percussion. Three years later, he founded the Sruthi Laya Seva School that now has centres at Chennai, Bangalore, Australia, London, US, and Canada. His latest venture titled Amrutham – Fusion for Freedom is an effort. Apart from that, he has also collaborated with Japanese musician John Kaizan Neptune to create an album named Steps in Time. In this album, Guru Karaikudi Mani has created a unique synthesis of shakuhachi and Indian percussion. In 2011, he played on Paul Simon's album So Beautiful or So What. He founded a magazine called Layamani Layam

Born on 20 December 1945 in Darapuram, Tamil Nadu, Shrimati Suguna Varadachari received her training in Carnatic music from P.K. Rajagopala Iyer, Musuri Subramaniya Iyer, and K.S. Krishnamurti. Together with vocal music, Shrimati Suguna Varadachari acquired proficiency in playing the Veena. Over the years, Shrimati Suguna Varadachari has won recognition as a distinguished Carnatic vocalist. She has been on the faculty of the University of Madras from 1984 to 2004, and has been associated with many prestigious institutions as a member such as Board Member of the Central University of Performing Arts, Chennai; and the Expert Committee Member of the Music Academy, Chennai. She has attended many national and international seminars, and has presented many lecture-demonstrations on music. A top-grade artist of All India Radio, Chennai, she has performed widely in many prestigious festivals in India and abroad, and has many recordings to her credit, such as Melodies of Musiri, Adarsha, Sri Venkatesha, Compositions of Shri MM Dandapani Desikar. The Disciples Forum has documented her in an Audio-Visual documentary.

Yella Venkateswara Rao was born in 1947, in the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh in a family of musicians to Rama Murthy and Mahalaxmi. He started his music training at the age of 7 in vocals, violin and veena, apart from mridangam but, later, concentrated more on mridangam and trained under his uncle, Yella Somanna, a known mridangam guru, who later adopted the young Rao. On the academic front, he graduated in Arts (BA) and secured his master's degree in Public Administration (MA) and started his career by joining Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University, Hyderabad, as a faculty member. He worked at the university for 27 years in various capacities such as the professor and head of the department of Music and, later, as the Dean of the School of Fine Arts during which time, he is reported to have started several new courses at the university. Concurrently, he was also associated with the All India Radio, from 1963 to 1989, in capacities as an instrumentalist, staff artist, composer and mridangam artist.

Vidwan Haridwaramangalam A. K. Palanivel (1948 in Tamil Nadu, India) is a senior artist of the Indian drum thavil. A. K. Palanivel first learnt thavil under the tutelage of his father S. Kumaravel. From 1959 onwards, he was given extensive training from T.G. Muthukumara Swamy Pillai. He has performed widely in India and abroad accompanying senior artists and participating in ensembles of instrumental music and also dance. In 2001 he received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri in 2004. Sri A K.Pazhanivel is also presently serving as the honble secretary of the Thiruvayyaru Thyagaraja Aradhanai Committee.

Kanyakumari is a native of Vijayanagaram, Andhra Pradesh and has been living in Chennai for more than 4 decades.She belongs to a family of musicians. Her parents Sri Avasarala Ramarathnam and Smt. Jayalakshmi encouraged her immensely to pursue music. She was fortunate to be a sishya (disciple) of 3 great legendary gurus, Ivaturi Vijeswara Rao, M. Chandrasekaran and M. L. Vasanthakumari. A Kanyakumari was awarded the Sangeetha Kalanidhi award of the Madras Music Academy for the year 2016. She is the first female violinist to get the award. Other awards include Padma Shri (the fourth highest civilian award) awarded by Indian Government 2015 The prestigious Sangita Kalanidhi award (for the year 2016) from the Madras Music Academy, Chennai Kalaimamani from Govt. of Tamil Nadu Top Rank by A.I.R Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, 2003, She was selected for Limca Book of Records 2004 for her various achievements in music as a versatile woman violinist. She is a dedicated teacher and has taught numerous students in India and abroad, many of whom are very popular artists.

Aruna Sairam was born in Mumbai into a musical famiy. She received vocal training from her mother Rajalakshmi Sethuraman, who was a student of the Alathur Brothers and Thanjavoor Sankara Iyer. It was Sangita Kalanidhi Smt. T. Brinda, who trained her in the style of Veena Dhanammal. She is presently holding the Vice-Chairmanship of the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi, Delhi since 2015.
Aruna Sairam has won many national and international awards.
PadmaSri from the Government of India.
Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Government of India – 2014
U S Congress Proclamation of Excellence.
Kalaimamani by the Government of Tamil Nadu – 2006.
Aruna Sairam is regarded as the Music Ambassador of India.

Vidwan Tiruvarur Bhaktavatsalam born on 25th November 1956 is a frontline mridangam Vidwan, hailed from a family of traditional musicians in the Tanjore district of Tamil Nadu, India. Bakthavathsalam had his initial tutelage from his maternal uncle Thiruvarur Krishnamurthy and was further groomed by his mother T. R. Anandavalli, herself a talented musician. He has been played in prestigious Jugalbandhi concerts featuring Carnatic and Hindustani maestros. He has been performing for the last FOUR decades, accompanying a galaxy of musicians of THREE generations. For his aesthetic and embellished accompaniment on the Mrudangam, he has been bestowed with awards like Sangeet Natak Akademi award by Govt. of India, Kalaimamani by State Govt of Tamil Nadu, Vishwakalabharati, Mrudanga Chudaroli, Lifetime achievement award by Shanti Arts Foundation. He is also Asthana vidwan of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam Mutt.

Vidwan Nagai R.Muralidharan -Born in 1958 in Chennai. He received his initial training in music from his mother Shrimati R. Komalavalli. He was further groomed in his art by Shri R.S. Gopalakrishnan. Over the years Shri Muralidharan has won recognition as a distinguished violinist. A regular performer on All India Radio and Doordarshan, he is proficient both as a solo performer and accompanist. He has performed widely, and has accompanied many eminent vocalists in the field of Carnatic music. Shri Muralidharan has been honoured with many titles and awards which include the Raja Annamalai Chettiar Memorial Award by the Music Academy, Chennai (1993), the Kalaimamani title bestowed by the Tamil Nadu Eyal Isai Nataka Manram (2003) Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.etc.