Talent
His first vocal concert was at the age of 9, when he sang in tandem with his younger sister Kiranavali. Since then, there has been no looking back for Shashikiran. He is now an established vocalist with a vast experience of over 1000 concerts including lectures-demos, jugalbandis and fusions in prominent organizations in India, USA, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia and so on. He has been regularly featured in Radio, Television networks and commercial albums. He also has the added advantage of being a mridangist, having trained under the late Palghat Sundaram.
He obtained a Bachelor's degree in Music from the University of Madras where he ranked first. Then followed a Master's degree in Music from the University of Madras where again his talents showed as he was a Gold Medalist. He is currently working towards achieving a Doctorate on "Teaching Methodology in Carnatic Music". Alongside he also holds a diploma in Audio and Video Technology.
Shashikiran has won laurels many a time for his talent. He was awarded the Rani Sethulakshmi Bai Memorial Award in 1990, the Best Pallavi Singer for his concert at the Rasika Ranjani.
Shashikiran doesn't limit his himself
to field of music alone. He contributes to other websites and newspapers through
articles and reviews. Sabha in Trichy which was a series
featuring many eminent musicians. In 1997 he received an award
for being the Best Exponent of Any Raga from the Music Academy. Also included
among this never ending list of accolades are an award from the Carnatic
MusicAssociation of North America in 1998 for being the Best Vocalist and
finally the Bharat Nirman Excellence Award in
1999 for meritorious accomplishments in diverse fields of
activity that have immensely contributed to the Nation's progress. He is the
youngest person and the first musician in India to receive this honour .He was
the recipient of the Ford Foundation scholarship on the
"Vina Dhanammal Bani" in 1990. His recent
awards are Yuva Kala Bharathi-2001 -2002 & Outstanding Young Indian
by Jaysees - Special millennium Honor award.
He was the lead male vocalist in
Chitravina Ravikiran's ballet, Lakshmi
Prabhavam, premiered in the US, which performed to
packed halls and standing ovations in over 20 cities in the USA
and Canada in between March and
June 1997
.
He has conducted and compered several quiz programs,
participated in panel discussions and presented papers in major centres like the
Rice University, Houston; Ethnomusicology Society, Indiana State
University; Drew University, New Jersey.
He was featured by the National Radio, Purdue,
USA and US and Singapore
Television networks
He is the Founder and Managing Director for
Srishti's Carnatica Private Limited along with noted Carnatic
vocalist S.Sowmya and is also the Managing Trustee of
Carnatica Archival Centre. He was the Former Course Director
and Chief Co-coordinator for the International Foundation for Carnatic
Music
. His success as a concert artiste has been immense and he is a very well known young artist of the present generation. He has had over five years of successful experience in management, administration, co-ordination, public relations, concept-designing and marketing.