Artist Information Vinod Venkatraman was born into a family of rich musical ancestry. He began performing at a very early age of seven. Venkataraman had his initial training in mridangam from Vidwan Trichy Raghava Iyer, and later from one of the greatest exponents of the mridangam Palghat R. Raghu. A graduate in mathematics, Venkataraman has performed extensively all over Indiam Indonesia, Singapore, Canada, Europe and the United States. He has to his credit numerous concerts with legendary greats like Prof. T.N. Krishnan, L. Subramaniam and Gottuvadyam Ravikiran to name a few. Intelligent planning, innovative accompaniment and mathematically precise patterns are the hallmarks of Venkataraman’s technique. As one newspaper critic remarked, “Venkataraman is able to work the double rhythms with dizzying speed and dexterity, his fingers suggesting 10 separate drumsticks in a blur of motion”. In the jazz arena, Venkataraman has collaborated with legendary Jazz artists like Stephane Grapelli, Larry Coryell, Hubert Laws and Alice Coltrane. He hs been a featured artist at the John Coltrane Jazz Festival, Los Angeles World Music Festival and many others. A resident of Long Beach, California, and a professor of Mathematics, Venkataraman continues to impart the knowledge of Music and Math through the age old Indian tradition of Gurukulavasam.