Vidwan Sumesh S Narayanan

Vidwan Sumesh S Narayanan is a vibrant mridangist and a key member of the fusion bands IndoSoul and Sparsh. He has also acted in the movie, Sarvam Thaala Mayam, directed by Rajiv Menon Rajiv Menon is one of the most acknowledged, talen >> Read More... with music by AR Rahman. He makes his music and is releasing an EP soon. Besides all this, he designs bespoke furniture and hopes to open a woodworking studio by the end of the year. Sumesh studied at St. John's Besant Nagar and during his school days, he was the only one in his class who played the mridangam while others were into guitar and keyboard.

He got permission from the kind school Principal, Mrs. Ajitha Mathews, to use the bulk of his lunch period to practice on the school guitar. He was a fixture in all the school's cultural programs and went caroling for several years. As a rambunctious toddler, he accompanied his mother to her orchestral performances in Bombay, unfailingly gravitating to the percussion section. The family moved to Chennai soon where his mother insisted that her son accompany her to the many concerts.

Sumesh was entranced by the mridangist in TV Sankaranarayanan's concert, putting team throughout, not moving out of his seat. After the concert, the mridangist beckoned to 8-year-old Sumesh and asked him if he could learn mridangam. That mridangist was Thiruvarur Bhaktavatsalam. His first class was on July 8th, 2000. He would go to Bhaktavatsalam's house every weekend at around 9 am and stay till 2 pm. Besides his lesson, much time was spent observing other students being taught.

The first three years were purely mechanical rudiments. Sumesh had to be pressed to practice and would do so only for a few minutes or just before the next class. During his summer vacations, he would be with the teacher throughout. In 2004, he entered advanced training. Delhi Sairam, mridangist, senior student of Bhaktavatsalam, and a regular on the concert scene, mentored Sumesh, getting him to listen to many recordings of other styles of mridangam. He had his arangetram in 2005. He then did the competition circuit extensively. In 2007, he participated in 18 competitions and won the first prize in all 18. That got him a lot of exposure.