He used his `flower pot' to bag a Grammy

bangalore: customs officials at the san francisco airport stoppedhim to find out what the `flower pot'' shaped object he was carrying was. they were dumbstruck when vikku vinayakram told them it was a musical instrument. and to prove his point, he sat down and started playing it. as his fingers flew magically over the `pot'' which is called ghatam, the officials were bowled over.with every respect, they saw him through the formalities. thetakudi harihara vinayakram or vikku as he is known, became the first south indian to win the best world music album grammy in 1991 for his piece in mickey hart''s `planet drum''. he plays the ghatam, the ancient percussion instrument of south india, which is a mud pot with a narrow mouth. vinayakram donated all the royalties he received from the award to kanchi kamakoti peetham. in bangalore to play at a programme organised by the royal klm dutch airlines, vikku, spoke to the times of india after a sterling performance that captivated the audience. klm manager (passenger sales, south india) k. rammohan said the airline has decided to promote talented artistes in india. vinayakram, son of the noted and talented musician and percussionist, kalaimamani t.r. harihara sharma, was a child prodigy who started his concert career at the age 13. vikku, lifting the 5-kg ghatam, said he played the soundtrack for monsoon wedding and along with his son v. selvaganesh, played the sound track for the film kamasutra. it''s all in the family. his troupe includes his younger brother t.h. subash chandran, also an accomplished ghatam artiste and perhaps the greatest modern day exponent of konnakol. vinayakram has two sons who are currently making name for themselves in the field of carnatic percussion, namely, the elder selvaganesh and the younger t.h.v. umashankar. unlike his father, however, selvaganesh''s chosen instrument is the khanjira, the south indian version of the tambourine. umashankar has taken up his father''s instrument, the ghatam. vikku''s son-in-law raja rao is also part of the troupe. ``we are coming out with a new album sabdakshara__ a percussion music, which is being released in india and abroad simultaneously in the next 10 days. our earlier album was impressions. we have participated in all jazz festivals in germany, austria, italy, scandinavia and the netherlands. we have also performed at the royal festival hall and queen elizabeth hall in london.'''' vinayakram is also noted for his accompaniment in the first carnatic concert given at the united nations in new york by m.s. subbulakshmi in 1966. vinayakram first became known in the west in the mid-70s as a member of the group shakti, which consisted of jazz guitarist john mclaughlin, violinist l. shankar, tabla virtuoso zakir hussain, and vikku. the extraordinary speed and precision of his duets with zakir hussain captivated international audiences.