"Thousands of Westerners are familiar with Carnatic music now"

Trichy Sankaran, an Indian percussionist, composer, scholar, and educator has been awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 2011. He is acknowledged as one of the foremost virtuosos of the mridangam by the Carnatic music world. Sankaran has lived in Toronto since 1971 and is a professor of music at York University. Trichy Sankaran is currently touring Australia with Lalgudi siblings GJR Krishnan and Vijayalakshmi. He speaks openly with Kulasegaram Sanchayan at the SBS Studios in Sydney.