Sri. A. Ananthapadmanabhan, my most reverred Guru, a graduate in Mathematics, learned music from his Father T.S. Ananthakrishna Iyer,a vainika and  a professor at College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, and his sister Smt. Gomathy Chidambaram guided him. He started playing the veena as a hobby and it became his profession when he joined AIR in 1975. The great Vainika says that he has not received any systematic training in playing veena. He started playing the veena as a hobby and  used to spent hours on Saadhana/practice. He had great admiration for S.Balachander, the great Vainika and his "Gayaki Style" of playing and considers him as his role model.

Sri.Ananthapadmanabhan enjoys all types of music and is a serious student different styles of music. He has equal passion for the music of Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Pandit Ravi Shankar as much as he has for Semmangudi Sreenivasa Iyer and M. D. Ramanathan.

He has evolved his own fingering style and produce gamakas by pulling the strings rather than gliding, which needs a thorough knowledge of the position of the notes . His proficiency in playing the Sitar has helped him in gaining speed and in plucking the strings. He humbly says that his most cherished moment is performing at Thiruvananthapuram Navarathri Mandapam and never dreamt that one day he would perform at this venue where the titans once reigned.


For the past four decades, he has been a companion of ragas deeply enjoying their eternal bliss. Apart from being a noted Vainika, Sri. Ananthapadmanabhan has composed several carnatic compositions. He has also scored the background music for the award winning film `Aswatthama' and also for `Veenapoovu' and `Aparna.' He has acted in a couple of movies.

 Tracks

01-vAraNa_mukhavA-hamsadhvani-Rupakam-Koteeswara Iyer
02-shrI_ramA_sarasvati-nAsikAbhUshaNi-Adi-Muthuswamy Dikshithar
03-tAyE_tripurasundari-shuddhasAvEri-Khanda Chappu-Periyasami Thooran
04-upacAramu_jEsE_vArunnarAni-bhairavi-Rupakam-Tyagaraja
05-kumaran_tAL-yadukulakAmbhOji-Adi-Papanasam Sivan
