IPAC 2023: Strings of Gold

Embar S. Kannan is a violinist in the fields of Carnatic music and Tamil film Music. Trained in Carnatic as well as Western classical methods, he is a Grade 'A’ Top Artist on All India Radio and is universally acclaimed as a soloist and an accompanist.

His initial training in Carnatic music was with Sri Subbanna Bhagavathar and Sri Vittal Ramamurthy. In 1986, he received a talent scholarship from the Government of India and earned a place under the mentorship of Kum.A. Kanyakumari. Shortly thereafter, he received the Yuva Kala Bharathi from Bharat Kalachar and the ‘Best Violinist Award’ from the Madras Music Academy for eight consecutive years. Over the course of his Carnatic career, he has accompanied many leading artists such as T. V. Sankaranarayanan, Trichur Ramachandran, T. N. Seshagopalan, Sudha Raghunathan, Kadri Gopalnath, P. Unnikrishnan, Bombay Jayashree and S. Sowmya.

One of Kannan's prodigal accomplishments was the introduction of the silent violin to Carnatic music in 2001. Kannan received his Western classical training from acclaimed music director, Master Diwaker. Under him, Kannan entered the film industry with the movie Puli Pettra Pillai. Subsequently, he made himself an integral part of Maestro Ilaiyaraja's orchestra and with them, has played in numerous films and concerts around the world. In addition, he has played for other music directors, notably, Karthik Raja, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Vidyasagar, Sharath, A. R. Rahman and Deva.