David Nelson

🪔 About

David Nelson is a distinguished American mridangam artist, scholar, and educator in the field of South Indian classical music. His journey into Carnatic music began in 1970 when he studied mridangam with Sri C. S. Sankarasivam and vocal music with Sri S. Ramanathan in Madurai, South India. He continued his training with Sri Ramanathan and Ramnad Sri V. Raghavan at Wesleyan University, and later with his principal mentors, Sri T. Ranganathan and Sri T. Viswanathan, at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) and Wesleyan University. Nelson earned his M.F.A. in music from CalArts in 1975 and a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University in 1991. He also expanded his rhythmic studies to include kanjira with G. Harishankar and jazz drumset. Nelson commenced his career of performing and teaching South Indian drumming in 1975. He has held various academic positions at Wesleyan University, including Visiting Artist (2000), Artist-in-Residence (2001), and currently serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Music and Global South Asian Studies. At Wesleyan, he teaches courses on South Indian Percussion, Solkattu, and Introduction to South Indian Music. As a performer, he has extensively accompanied renowned Carnatic musicians such as T. Viswanathan, D.K. Jayaraman, Jon Higgins, and N. Ramani, touring internationally. He is also a respected accompanist for Bharatanatyam, having performed with dancers like Lakshmi Knight, Aniruddha Knight, and Hari Krishnan. Beyond performance and teaching, Nelson is a prolific author. His publications include his dissertation, "Mrdangam Mind: the tani avartanam in Karnatak Music," a major article "Karnatak Tala" in the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, and two books: "Solkattu Manual: an introduction to the rhythmic language of South Indian Music" (2008) and "Konnakkol Manual: an advanced course in solkattu" (2019). Awards & Honours: Kala Seva Mani (2013), Padmashree Palghat Raghu Memorial Award (2016).