Trichy Sankaran entered the world in Trichy, within India’s Madras state. Awards for his percussion work came his way by age thirteen, and participation in the yearly Karnatak Music Festival followed the next year. Between 1969 and 1971 he supported Karnatak musicians during their EMI India sessions, reuniting with some of the same artists for further recordings in the 1980s. His relocation to Toronto occurred in 1971, after which he served as founding director and professor of Indian Music Studies at York University, holding those positions for decades. Karnatak artists across North America have shared stages with him, and he has maintained an annual return to India for touring. Numerous solo recitals and broadcasts helped elevate the kanjira and mridanga to recognized solo-instrument standing.
Several albums bear his name as leader, while original scores for Toronto’s Evergreen Club, the city’s contemporary gamelan ensemble, also stand to his credit. International engagements have taken him abroad alongside the percussion collectives Nexus, World Drums, and Musaic. The University of Victoria in British Columbia conferred an honorary doctorate of music upon him in 1998.
