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Thrissur C. Narendran is a renowned Mridangam artiste from Kerala, India. His intricate rhythmic patterns, sense of proportion, sharp anticipation, short & carefully thought out phases of silence, and the ability to give the Mridangam the much-needed soft touch make Trichur C. Narendran a class apart. Narendran has accompanied more than five generations of musicians, from Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar to Sreevalsan J. Menon.

Narendran was born to Late Venugopala Raja of Manakulam Palace (the royal family of Thalapilly, Trichur, Kerala, India and Late Sarojini.V.Raja on December 15, 1951 . Narendran inherits a legacy of performing art. Manakulam Late Valiya Kunhunni Raja “Kakkad Karanavarppad”, the progenitor of the Temple of performing Art ofKerala – “Kerala Kalamandalam” was his maternal grandfather. He grew up with his brother (violinist C. Rajendran) and sister (vocalist Prema Balachandran) in an ambience of Music and Art.^[1]

Born in a family of musicians and scholars, Narendran was initiated into an early training in Mridangam by Sri Kongorppilly Parameswaran Namboodiri who spotted his talent during a dance rehearsal at an annual family get-together at Manakkulam Palace, and started teaching Narendran the basics of Mridangam when he was just seven. It was David Bhagavathar of Kunnamkulam who instilled in him the interest in music and inspired him to seriously take up the Mridangam. Later it was Sri E P Narayana Pisharodi and Koduvayur Radhakrishnan who gave him further training. Narendran had the rarest privileges to be one of the early disciples of Sri Palghat R Raghu from 1973.^[2] It was the scholarship awarded by the Goverment of India that provided the fecundity for him to learn the finer and the most intricate techniques of mridangam playing from Mridangam Maestro Padmashri Sri Palghat Raghu .

Narendran has been exposed to the concert platform from a very early age of 10.

• He has played for Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar and K.J. Yesudas at Peringode at the age of 15 along with his brother Thrissur.C.Rajendran.
• Narendran had the rare privilege of performing together with his guru Palghat Raghu in the Jass Yatra Festival in Bombay in the year 1978.
• Since then he has been accompanying throughout India with maestros like Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, Semmangudi Srinivsa Iyer, M S Subbulakshmi, Palghat K V Narayanaswami, Dr M Balamuralikrishna, T M Thyagarajan, Nedunnoori Krishnamurthi, Voletti Venkateswarulu, Dr S Ramanathan, D K Jayaraman,M D Ramanathan, S Kalyanaraman, Maharajapuram santhanam, D K Pattammal, T Brinda, M L Vasanthakumari, K S Narayanaswami, T N Krishnan, Lalgudi G Jayaraman, M S Gopalakrishnan, Dr S Balachandar, Dr N Ramani, L Subramaniam, T Viswanathan, John Higgins Bhagavathar, M Chandrasekharan, V V Subramanyam, R K Srikanthan, T R S, T K G, Madurai G S Mani,T N Sheshagopalan, Trichur V Ramachandran, T V Gopalakrishnan,T V Sankaranarayanan, Neyyattinkara Vasudevan, K J Yesudas, O S T, Bombay Sisters, E Gayathri, Padmavathi Ananthagopal, Rajeswari Padmanabhan, Karaikkudi Subramanian.
• He has provided accompaniment to the present day vidwans like U Srinivas, N Ravikiran, N Vijay Siva, P Unnikrishnan, Sanjay Subramanyam, T M Krishna, Srivatsan J Menon, Sudha Raghunathan, Bombay Jayasree,S Sashank, and so on. He also has many foreign concerts to his credit :-
• 1982- USA With K S Narayanaswami
• 1982- JAPAN with Dr L Subramanyam
• 1983- USA – Canada - England with K V Narayanaswami
• 1987- DUBAI - Muscat with K V Narayanaswami
• 1989- USA with Bombay sisters
• 1995- USA with Padmavathi and Jayanthi
• 1996- He was a part of the 50th year celebration of UNESCO in FRANCE
• 1997- USA with Bombay Jayasri
• 2001- USA With P Unnikrishnan
• 2008- GERMANY & FINLAND With Karaikudi Dr.S Subramanian & Shankari Krishnan
• He further Taught Mridangam in San Diego State University USA as a visiting professor during 1984' to 1986 and accompanied visiting artistes like R K Srikanthan and E Gayathri on Mridangam

It was at the age of 17 that he won first prize in A I R Music competition. In the Commercial CD relleased by A I R of Palghat K V Narayanaswami, with M S G on the violin, Narendran has provided mridangam accompaniment.Later he got job in A.I.R in 1992. He is a now a Top rank artiste of All India Radio.

Awards and Accolades.

• Thanjavur Vaidyanatha Iyer award by Sri Ragam Fine Arts NADAKKANAL In 1999
• Maharajapuram Santhanam Foundation Meritorious award in 1999
• VANI KALA SUDHAKARA by Thyagabrahma Gana Sabha in 2000
• ASTHANA VIDWAN OF KANCHI MUTT in 2001
• LAYAVADHYA CHATHURA BY ANNA NAGAR MUSIC CIRCLE TRUST & SADGURU SANGITA VIDYALAYA IN 2010
• LAYA VIDHYADHARA by IRAIPANI MANDRUM Kottivakkam in 2011
• Laya Kala Vipanchi From Dr M. Balamurlikrishna on December 31st 2011

Narendran moved to Chennai in 1973. He is now retired from All India Radio and settled in Chennai.

• [1] - KutcheriBuzz.com
• [2] - The Hindu
• [3] -carnatica.net
• [4] -carnaticcorner.com

• [5] - The Hindu
• [6] - Youtube.com
• [7] - Youtube.com
• [8] - Youtube.com