INTRODUCTION

Born in the family of percussionists, Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan took to Mridangam very early in life. His first teachers were his grandfather Sri Thiruvarur Kunju Iyer and his uncle Sri Tiruvarur Nagarajan. His natural sense of rhythm and comparability with instrument made him perform in concerts even as he was learning. He then became a disciple of Mridangam maestro Shri Karaikudi Mani.

Under Sri Mani's guidance, Vaidyanathan grew into a full-fledged mridangist with a capacity to accompany all the leading musicians. He has accompanied most leading musicians, such as Dr. Balamuralikrishna, Smt M.L. Vasanthakumari, Dr N. Ramani, Sri Maharajapuram Santhanam, Sri K.V. Narayanawamy,Smt D.K. Pattamal, Sri Nedunuri Krishanmoorthy, Sri T.V. Sankaranarayanan, Sri M.S. Gopalakrishnan, Sri T.N.Krishnan, Sri U.Srinivas, Smt Sudha Raghunathan, Smt Padmavathy and Jayanthy,Ravikiran., etal.

He served SIFAS, Singapore as a full time teaching faculty during the year 2001 to 2003. During this period, he identified many talents and groomed them to perform extraodinarily. Four of his SIFAS disciples, gave Arangetram in Mridangam and have been performing in various concerts too.

AWARDS

* "Accompaniement Awards" during the annual music festivals

§ The Shri Krishna Gana Sabha 1978

§ The Music Academy 1981

§ Gold medal in the "All India Radio" music competition 1982

* First prize in the Palghat Sri TS Mani Iyer Anniversary Celebration

* YUVA KALA BARATHI title from the Bharat Kalachar in 1993

* Twenty over prizes in various music festivals in India & Australia.

EXPERIENCE

He has accompanied numerous vocalists to play mridangam. Here are the names of some of the well known singers whom he has accompanied.

Sangeethakalanidhi K.V. Narayanaswamy

Sangeethakalanidhi D.K. Pattamal

Sangeethakalanidhi Nedunoori Krsihnamurthy

Sangeethakalanidhi B. Rajam Iyer

Sangeethakalanidhi Maharajapuram Santhanam

Shri S. Kayanaraman

Sangeethakalanidhi M.L. Vasanthakumari

Dr M. Balamuralikrishna

Sangeetha Kalanidhi T.K. Govinda Rao

Sangeetha Vidwan P.S. Narayanaswamy

Prof T.R. Subramaniam

Sangeethakalanidhi Mani Krishnaswamy

Shri T.V. Sankaranarayanan

Shri Madurai T.N. Seshagopalan

Trichur Shri V. Ramachandran

Smt Charumathy Ramachandran

Dr K.J. Yesudas

Smt Sudha Raghunathan

Smt Radha & Jayalakshmi

Bombay Sisters

Shri O.S. Thiagarajan

Rudrapatnam Brothers

Shri Neyveli Santhanagopalan

Smt S.Rajam

Sathur Subramaniam

Salem Desikan

Bombay Jayshree

Smt S Sowmya

Smt Nithyasree Mahadevan

Shri T.M. Krishna32

Shri Sanjay Subramaniam

Shri P.Unnikrishnan

Hyderabad Brothers

Malladi Brotehrs

Smt Aruna Sairam

Smt M.S. Sheela

Shri Ashok Ramani

Hyderabad Sisters

Thiruvengadu Jayaramn

Smt Nagamani Srinath

Smt Sukanya Prabhakar

Shri N.R. Prashanth

Other than accompaning Vocalists, he has accompanied many instumentalists too.
Some of the stalwarts are named here, whom he has accompanied.

Shri S. Balachander

Shri R. Venkataraman

Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan

Shri T.N. Krishnan

Shri M.S. Gopalakrishnan

Dr N. Ramani

Shri Kadri Gopalnath

Sikkil Sisters

Shri Ravikiran

Smt E. Gayathri

Lalgudi GJR Krishnan & J.Vijayalakshmi

Kum Kanyakumari

Shri V.V. Subramaniam & V.V. Ravi

Shri U.Srinivas

Ganesh & Kumaresh

AS A "AIR" GRADE A ARTIST

Performed in many Akashvani Sangeet Sammelans where the audience pool is specially invited, also played for many special programmes of AIR.

The following is the list of artists whom he has accompanied in various Akashvani (AIR) Sangeet Sameelans:

§ Sangeetha Kalanidhi R.Vedavalli

§ Sri Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan

§ Smt Charumathy Ramachandran

§ Smt Sudha Raghunathan

§ Smt Radha & Jayalakshmi

§ Bombay sisters

OF WORLD FAME

He has travelled extensively for ovrseas music performances of various artist, and here is the list of some that he remembers:

* May 1991, at Sydney, Australia – Sydney Tamil Manram for a Vocal Recital by Sri Trichur V. Ramachandran and Smt Charumathy Ramachandran

* May 1991, at Singapore - SIFAS accompanying Sri Trichur V. Ramachandran

* Dec 1991, at Malaysia accompaning Veena recital of Smt E. Gayathri

* Oct 1992, at USA & Canada accompaning Vocal by Smt Sudha Raghunathan on a 2 month music tour

* Jul 1993, at Singapore - inaugural ceremoney of Sivan temple, accompaning the following vocalists

·     Sri Nedunuri Krishnamoorthy

·     Sri T.V. Sankaranarayanan

·     Sri Rajkumar Bharati

·     Smt Sudha Raghunathan

* Jul 1993, at Singapore, SIFAS - vocal by Sri Nedunuri Krishnamurthy and Smt Sudha Raghunathan

* Sep 1993 at Bahrain & Doha - accompaning Smt Sudha Raghunathan for vocal

* Apr 1994 at Hong Kong, Phillipines, Indonesia and Singapore, accompaning Smt Sudha Raghunathan for Vocal

* 1995 at South Africa - accompaning Smt Sudha Raghunathan for Vocal

* May 1995 at USA - Bhartaiya Vidya Bhavan accompaning Smt Sudha Raghunathan for Vocal

* 1998 at USA - Licoln Centre, accompaning Smt Sudha Raghunathan for Vocal

* 1998 at Malaysisa accompaning Smt Sudha Raghunathan for Vocal

* 1999 at Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Muscat accompaning Smt Sudha Raghunathan

* 1999 at USA accompaning Smt Sudha Raghunathan for Vocal

*2001 to 2003, Numerous concerts held at Singapore, including the musical events on the inaugration day of World Class theatre "The Esplanade", at Esplanade of Singapore