Madras A. Kannan

Madras A. Kannan was a Mridangam exponent from Tamil Nadu, India. Due to his outstanding performances in the field of percussion, he is often called as the Mrudanga Samrat which literally means "Emperor of Mridangam". He received several awards including Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and Kalaimamani.

Biography A. Kannan was born in 1920 in present-day Chennai, Tamil Nadu. At the age of six, he learned Mridangam from Peetambara Desai. Later he became a disciple of Thanjavur Ramadas Rao. At the age of 12, he recited the Mridangam in front of Maharaja Krishna Rajendra Wadiyar at the Mysore Palace. In 1981, he was appointed as a state artiste by Tamil Nadu government. He has played with noted carnatic musicians including Tiger Varadachariar, Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Chembai, M. Balamuralikrishna, G. N. Balasubramaniam, Madurai Mani Iyer, Dandapani Desikar, Sirkazhi Govindarajan, S. Somasundaram, T. N. Seshagopalan, U. Srinivas, N. Ravikiran, Sriram Parthasarathy and Parur Sundaram Iyer.