Chitravina Ganesh, world-record setting slide instrumentalist and vocalist, is the grandson of the legendary Gottuvadyam Narayana Iyengar. He stormed into the world of carnatic music even at the tender age of two and a half. Trained by Chitravina maestro Narasimhan (his maternal uncle), Ganesh was able to identify and render around 225 Ragas and 175 Talas and answer numerous other technical questions with ease.
Ganesh also had the rare privilege of learning from Sangeeta Kalanidhi T Brinda for a few years and is among the best chitravina performers in the country today. In May 2004, he set a record for the longest concert by any slide instrumentalist in the world by playing non-stop for 32 and half hours in Chennai, India. A top rank artiste of All India Radio and Doordarshan, Ganesh has performed in tandem with Ravikiran as Asia Brothers and also accompanied top notch artistes like Smt T Mukta, Dr Balamuralikrishna in several concerts and recordings. He participated in numerous festivals across the world and worked with world musicians to perform fusion concerts. Ganesh presented his talent playing chitravina as a substitute to vocal in various Dance Melodies.
Ganesh is also a highly competent vocalist and teams up with his cousin, K N Shashikiran, to present vocal duet concerts as ‘Carnatica brothers’. He has toured the world extensively and performed in major venues all over India, USA, UK, Europe, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New zealand and the Middle-East. He also holds the world record along with Shashikiran, as the first vocal duo pair to perform non-stop for 24 hours. Ganesh is highly passionate about teaching Carnatic music and various instruments. He have many disciples across the world.
Ganesh has also been featured as a vocalist and chitravina artiste in melodic ensemble, Vintage Virtuosos. Some of his albums include Music of the world (released in France), Resonating Ragas, Sixth element, Samarpanam, Navagraha Krtis and Rama Vaibhavam Bahu daari. Ganesh played chitravina instrument in many Regional movies recordings. Ganesh is invited by many universities such as Cleveland, Michigan and Oakland University School of Music to be a guest faculty to teach music during his visits to US.
Ganesh also plays Hawaiian guitar and has given many Jazz and fusion concerts all over the world. He has shown a flair for composing as well, having already created few varnams, krtis, tillanas and a few instrumental pieces. He has bagged several awards such as Yuva Kala Bharati (Bharat Kalachar, Chennai), Gandharva Vidya Dhara (Irai Pani Manram, Chennai), Best Pallavi Award (Music Academy, Madras), Best concert Award (Narada Gana Sabha, Chennai and Music Academy Chennai ), Best Pallavi Concert Award on the Chitravina (Karnataka Gana Kala Parishad), Maharajapuram Vishwanatha Iyer Award and the Asthana Vidwan of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, to name a few.