Guitar Prasanna

Fun fact: In my 3rd year at IITM, Prof. L.S. Ganesh (Humanities) who was one of my most ardent supporters and a great Rock singer himself came home one day and told my parents "The world doesn't need another engineer from your home but desperately needs a musician from your home" or something to that effect. It was so heartwarming and inspirational! 

Guitar Prasanna is one of the most renowned and internationally acclaimed artists to have emerged from the Indian Subcontinent. He is a pioneer in performing the traditional Indian Classical Carnatic music art on a modern electric guitar and is known worldwide for that innovation. He was given a Lifetime Achievement Award for Carnatic music by H.H. Shri Jayendra Saraswathi In 2003. Most recently, Guitar Prasanna was awarded the coveted Distinguished Alumnus Award for 2021, from his Alma Mater, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. Along with Pandit Ravishankar and A.R. Rahman, Prasanna is the only other Indian composer to have scored the music for an Oscar winning film - Megan Mylan’s “Smile Pinki” which won an Oscar in 2009. A R Rahman has called him “A living hope for quality music.” 

Prasanna also is recognized internationally for his expertise in Jazz, Rock and Fusion music, performing and recording with multi Grammy winning artists such as Esperanza Spalding, Victor Wooten, Joe Lovano and others. His collaborations over the last 25 years with Indian music legend A.R. Rahman in numerous movie soundtracks has made him a household name with Indian film music fans. A passionate educator and entrepreneur, Prasanna founded Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music, India’s first College of Contemporary music and one of the largest music colleges in South Asia.