Kalasree Vanaja Sankar

Kalasree Vanaja Sankar, also known as Vanaja Sankar and officially known as Vanajam P S, hails from Thalayoparambu town in Kerala. She resides in Piravom, Kerala. Her maternal grandmother, Parvathy (Pappy), was a natural singer. Her father, the late P.P. Sankar, was a self-taught singer who could also play flute and ghatam. She is married to T.P. Raghavan on 29 May.

She has a granddaughter named Aneesh, born on 15 August. Vanaja started to take music lessons from her father. She later learnt from a relative, Kesavan Bhagavathar. She is also proficient in Bharatanatyam and Kathakali dance forms. She always participated in the school's and college's art and cultural competitions. Vanaja Sankar went to AJ John Memorial High School. She entered RLV College of Music and Fine Arts, Thrippunithura, in 1976 to study a seven-year course in music (Ganabhooshanam and Ganapraveena courses).

Vanaja Sankar was a former Music Teacher at Government Girls High School, Peruva in Kottayam district, former Assistant Professor at Chembai Memorial Government Music College, Palakkad, from 1987-90, former Assistant Professor at Government RLV College of Music and Fine Arts, Thrippunithura, from 1990-97, former Professor, from 1997-2000 and former Principal at Chembai Memorial Government Music College, Palakkad, former Professor, in 2000, and former Principal at Government RLV College of Music and Fine Arts, Thrippunithura, and former Principal at Sree Swathi Thirunal Government College of Music (SSTC), Thiruvananthapuram. She received the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award (Kalasree title) in 2012.

She has been in the Carnatic music field for four decades. Her debut classical concert was at Chottanikkara Devi Temple in 1980 during her Ganabhooshanam course. She has been taught Carnatic music by some of the big names, such as Aryanad Sadasivan, Ochira Balakrishnan, Changanassery Janardanan, Avaneeswaram Ramachandran, and Tripunithura Lalitha. The late Maharajapuram Santhanam has been her inspiration.

Her memorable experiences include a concert performance at Chembai Swamy's house in Kottayi, Palakkad, and composing and singing Yeshusuprabhatam in Sanskrit for a CD. She has a YouTube channel called Kalasree Vanaja Sankar, where she has uploaded many concert recordings. She takes one-to-one online Carnatic music classes through Google Duo.