Grandson of the legendary Chitravina genius Gottuvadyam Narayana Iyengar, Shashikiran was born to Chitravina Narasimhan, a musician of great merit, and Choodamani on the 10th of September, 1971. As a toddler, Shashikiran's talents were nurtured and honed by his father with such care that by the age of two, Shashikiran stormed the music world as a child prodigy who could identify 275 ragams, demonstrate complicated talams and answer technical questions pertaining to Carnatic music. This mind-boggling feat, achieved until then by only one other genius, his brother Chitravina Ravikiran, won rave reviews from musicians, rasikas and the press, alike.
Shashikiran's first guru was his father. At the age of nine, he started giving vocal concerts in tandem with his sister Kiranavali, winning the hearts of audiences everywhere. Later, he underwent advanced musical training from Sangita Kalanidhis Smt T.Brinda and Shri T.Viswanathan, having won the Ford Foundation scholarship to learn the Veena Dhanammal bani. Shashikiran did his Bachelor of Arts in Music from the Madras University, where he placed first. A Masters in Music from the same university followed, where he won the Gold Medal. Currently, he is doing his PhD in 'Distance learning in Carnatic music through IT and electronic media'.He also holds a Diploma in Audio and Video Technology.
Shashikiran later honed his musical capabilities under the late Calcutta Shri K.S.Krishnamoorthy. Since then, there has been no looking back for Shashikiran. He now has a vast experience of over 3000 concerts, lecture demonstrations, jugalbandhis and fusion concerts in India, the USA, Canada, Australia, UK, Singapore, Malaysia and UAE. He also has the advantage of being a mridangist, having trained under the late Palghat Sundaram.
Shashikiran was the lead male vocalist in Chitravina Ravikiran's ballet, Lakshmi Prabhavam, premiered in the USA, which performed to packed halls and standing ovations in over twenty cities in the US and Canada, between March and June 1997.
He has compered and conducted several quiz programs, participated in panel discussions and presented papers in major centers like the Rice University, Houston, Enthomusicology Society, Indiana State University and Drew University, New Jersey. He has been featured by the National Radio, Purdue, USA and the USA and Singapore television networks. He has also taught at the Cleveland State University, Ohio and the Oakland University, USA. He has also conducted numerous workshops, which have benefited several hundreds of students all over the world.
He is the founder-director of Srishti's Carnatica Private Limited along with popular Carnatic musician S.Sowmya and is also the Managing Trustee of Carnatica Archival Center. He was the former Course Director and Chief Co-coordinator for the International Foundation for Carnatic Music. He has also had many successful years of experience in management, administration, co-ordination, public relations, concept-designing and marketing.
Shashikiran is a much sought-after guru and has students all over the world. His deep knowledge, vast repertoire and innovative teaching methods have made him a very popular teacher. His students look up to him as a role model and inspiration. Many of his disciples are performers themselves, including Radhika Murali, Nivedita Narayanan , Vibhav Mouli and Sandeep Bharadwaj.
Shashikiran is also an expert in Voice Culture. Through his intense and exhaustive research on the different facets of the human voice, he has designed several innovative Voice Culture exercises. These exercises have proven useful to several hundreds of students as well as musicians.
Shashikiran has recently authored a book 'Carnatic Fun-task-tic – Learning Carnatic Music is Fun!' for beginners, advanced level students, performers and teachers of Carnatic music. The book includes his Voice Culture exercises, apart from the traditional varisais, practice planners, worksheets, voice management techniques and FAQs.
In recent years, Shashikiran has teamed up with his cousin Chitravina P.Ganesh to perform vocal duet concerts. Popularly known as the Carnatica Brothers, they have won critical acclaim for their imaginative and emotive style of singing.
