MANJUNATH NS
Gear
Bio
Manjunath NS, an Indian drummer, is well known in both national and international music spheres for his versatile playing of the Drum kit. He fits in seamlessly in Carnatic Classical, Hindustani Classical, Indian Classical Dance Forms, Fusion, Film and World Music genres. He has accompanied musicians from different styles of music like his Guru Taalyogi Pandit Suresh Talwalkar, Pandit Vishwamohan Bhatt, Ranjit Barot, Fazal Qureshi, Kathak Dancer-Shama Bhate, Maya Rao, Sitar Ravi Chary, Veena Rajhesh Vaidhya, Jayanthi Kumaresh, Punya Srinivas, Saxophone Kadri Gopalnath, Violin Kanyakumari, Ganesh and Kumaresh, Jyotsna Srikanth, Bala Bhaskar, Chande Vidwan Mattannoor Shankarankutty, Mridangam KV Prasad, Thavil Karuna Murthy, Mannargudi Vasudevan, Ghatam Giridhar Udupa, Guitar Prasanna, singers Aruna Sairam, Shounak Abhisheki, Jaiteerth Mevundi to name a few.
In the Indian Cinema Music circuit, Manju has toured extensively and accompanied artists from legendary SP Balasubramanyam, KS Chitra, Mohammad Aziz, Shankar Mahadevan, Hariharan to Shaan, Sadhana Sargam, Kunal Ganjawala, Raghu Dixit, Vijay Prakash, Suresh Peters, Naresh Iyer, Haricharan, Jonitha Gandhi, Shaktishree Gopalan, Flautist Naveen Kumar, Bass Guitar Keith Peters, Mohini Dey, Keyboards Stephen Devassy and music directors Hamsalekha, Gurukiran, Arjun Janya, Sax Raja, Ramesh Narayan, Mano Murthy, J Anup Seelin among others.
With his unique taste of adaptability, he has been collaborating with many musical bands like Pakistani Sufi-Rock band Junoon, Pandit Suresh Talwalkar’s TaalYatra, Beat-Boxer Shlomo from UK, Ghatam Karthick’s Heart-Beat Ensemble, Layatharanga, Bennet and the Band, Jyotsna Srikanth’s Bangalore Dreams, Raga Garage, Sweden Krystal String Quartet, Cover Story, Stephen Devassy’s Solid Band, Bala Bhaskar’s Big Band, The Raghu Dixit Project and various classical and contemporary dance companies. Manju is also one of the founder member of the fusion band “V5 The Gang” led by the veena maestro Rajhesh Vaidhya which has made its niche mark in the music industry with its intricate compositions and sounding.
This Bengaluru boy has been featured at the London South Bank Center, London International Arts Festival, London Jazz Festival, Kings Place London, Washington DC Strathmore Theatre (Nancy Hanks Center) USA, Edinburgh Jazz Bar, Hippodrome at Eyemouth Scotland, “The Canteen” Bristol, Milaap Fest at Liverpool U.K, Phoenix Orphium Theater (USA), Sweden Octavium Theater, BBC Radio-London, Radio Resonance 104.4-London, Insync Music Channel India, Pune Taal Chakra Festival, Raighad Chakradhar Samaroah, PALM Expo Mumbai, Times Rock festival (Bangalore), The Hindu Fest, Madras Music Academy and several other prestigious arenas including various television shows. Actively touring and performing at countries like USA, UK, Scotland, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Singapore, Seychelles, Australia, Arab Countries and others have made him boom as a promising artist at a very young age.
Manju has been a dedicated student of music from the young age of 11. He began his musical journey as a drummer under the tutelage of Guru BS Sukumar (Drums Babu). His initial musical inspirations were drums Sivamani, Arun Kumar, Ghatam Giridhar Udupa, AR Rahman, Zakir Hussain, Trilok Gurtu and Lewis Pragasam. He then went on to learn Carnatic classical music system with Gurus Ullur Nagendra Udupa and SV Giridhar. Presently under the guidance of the Tabla Maestro, Taalyogi Pandit Suresh Talwalkar, Manju is learning the nuances of the Hindustani classical rhythm system and the aesthetics of Laya.
He has successfully completed the Trinity Guildhall London gradation for drums with a distinction ranking till Grade 3. In 2016, the world-renowned Croatia drum camp celebrated its 10th year anniversary where legendary artistes Steve Gadd, John Riley, Horacio-el Negro Hernandez, Pete Lockett, Claus Hessler and Kepa conducted master classes for a selected bunch of 50 drum students from across the globe, Manju was one among them. Of late he has been taking private classes from Ranjit Barot and Gino Banks.
Along with playing the drumkit, Manju's prowess lies in world percussions, electronic drums and percussion and Konnakol (recitation of Indian drums syllables). He is also a graded artist in Morsing (Jewish Harp) from All India Radio (AIR). Being one of the most sought-after musician for both live concert and studio work Manju has been actively involved in the music circuit around the world.
A truly multi-faceted and humble musician that he is, Manju is proud to endorse world drum cymbals brand - "Zildjian."
Website: http://zildjian.com/artists/manjunath-ns/
In the Indian Cinema Music circuit, Manju has toured extensively and accompanied artists from legendary SP Balasubramanyam, KS Chitra, Mohammad Aziz, Shankar Mahadevan, Hariharan to Shaan, Sadhana Sargam, Kunal Ganjawala, Raghu Dixit, Vijay Prakash, Suresh Peters, Naresh Iyer, Haricharan, Jonitha Gandhi, Shaktishree Gopalan, Flautist Naveen Kumar, Bass Guitar Keith Peters, Mohini Dey, Keyboards Stephen Devassy and music directors Hamsalekha, Gurukiran, Arjun Janya, Sax Raja, Ramesh Narayan, Mano Murthy, J Anup Seelin among others.
With his unique taste of adaptability, he has been collaborating with many musical bands like Pakistani Sufi-Rock band Junoon, Pandit Suresh Talwalkar’s TaalYatra, Beat-Boxer Shlomo from UK, Ghatam Karthick’s Heart-Beat Ensemble, Layatharanga, Bennet and the Band, Jyotsna Srikanth’s Bangalore Dreams, Raga Garage, Sweden Krystal String Quartet, Cover Story, Stephen Devassy’s Solid Band, Bala Bhaskar’s Big Band, The Raghu Dixit Project and various classical and contemporary dance companies. Manju is also one of the founder member of the fusion band “V5 The Gang” led by the veena maestro Rajhesh Vaidhya which has made its niche mark in the music industry with its intricate compositions and sounding.
This Bengaluru boy has been featured at the London South Bank Center, London International Arts Festival, London Jazz Festival, Kings Place London, Washington DC Strathmore Theatre (Nancy Hanks Center) USA, Edinburgh Jazz Bar, Hippodrome at Eyemouth Scotland, “The Canteen” Bristol, Milaap Fest at Liverpool U.K, Phoenix Orphium Theater (USA), Sweden Octavium Theater, BBC Radio-London, Radio Resonance 104.4-London, Insync Music Channel India, Pune Taal Chakra Festival, Raighad Chakradhar Samaroah, PALM Expo Mumbai, Times Rock festival (Bangalore), The Hindu Fest, Madras Music Academy and several other prestigious arenas including various television shows. Actively touring and performing at countries like USA, UK, Scotland, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Singapore, Seychelles, Australia, Arab Countries and others have made him boom as a promising artist at a very young age.
Manju has been a dedicated student of music from the young age of 11. He began his musical journey as a drummer under the tutelage of Guru BS Sukumar (Drums Babu). His initial musical inspirations were drums Sivamani, Arun Kumar, Ghatam Giridhar Udupa, AR Rahman, Zakir Hussain, Trilok Gurtu and Lewis Pragasam. He then went on to learn Carnatic classical music system with Gurus Ullur Nagendra Udupa and SV Giridhar. Presently under the guidance of the Tabla Maestro, Taalyogi Pandit Suresh Talwalkar, Manju is learning the nuances of the Hindustani classical rhythm system and the aesthetics of Laya.
He has successfully completed the Trinity Guildhall London gradation for drums with a distinction ranking till Grade 3. In 2016, the world-renowned Croatia drum camp celebrated its 10th year anniversary where legendary artistes Steve Gadd, John Riley, Horacio-el Negro Hernandez, Pete Lockett, Claus Hessler and Kepa conducted master classes for a selected bunch of 50 drum students from across the globe, Manju was one among them. Of late he has been taking private classes from Ranjit Barot and Gino Banks.
Along with playing the drumkit, Manju's prowess lies in world percussions, electronic drums and percussion and Konnakol (recitation of Indian drums syllables). He is also a graded artist in Morsing (Jewish Harp) from All India Radio (AIR). Being one of the most sought-after musician for both live concert and studio work Manju has been actively involved in the music circuit around the world.
A truly multi-faceted and humble musician that he is, Manju is proud to endorse world drum cymbals brand - "Zildjian."
Website: http://zildjian.com/artists/manjunath-ns/