Kandiah Anandanadesan

🪔 About

Kandiah Anandanadesan (1961 – April 16, 2020) was a highly regarded Sri Lankan-British mridangam teacher and artiste in Carnatic music. Born in 1961 in Thellipalai, Jaffna, in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka, he received his early education at Union College and Mahajana College. He honed his skills in mridangam under the tutelage of Guru K. P. Sinnarajah. Anandanadesan relocated to London in the late 1980s, where he established himself as a prominent mridangam teacher. He founded the musical institute 'Ananthalayas' in Harrow, North London, which became a significant center for Carnatic percussion education. Over three decades, he trained hundreds of students not only in mridangam but also in other traditional Carnatic percussion instruments such as ghatam, kanjira, morsing, and thavil. Many of his disciples went on to become performing artistes, accompanists, and mridangam teachers themselves. Known affectionately as 'Anandan master', he was a well-known figure in the wider Tamil cultural scene in London. His institute, 'Ananthalayas', organizes an annual concert called 'Natha Vinotham', with proceeds dedicated to charitable causes in the Tamil homeland. Kandiah Anandanadesan passed away on April 16, 2020, in London at the age of 58, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.