Erode Nagaraj discovered great interest and passion for rhythm in his early childhood and was formally initiated into the art of mrudhangam at the tender age of 7 by Palladam Sri. V. Ramachandran. He had the privilege of becoming a prime disciple of Sangeetha Kalanidhi Padma Vibushan Umayalpuram Sri K. Sivaraman and has been under his tutelage since 1990. In order to explore the nuances of this majestic art form, Erode Nagaraj learnt to play for many intricate and complex thAlAs. He pursued intensive and advanced training under his revered Guru.

 
In his schooldays, Erode Nagaraj was a regular at several district and state level competitions and has earned many accolades and distinctions. His debut performance in the Chennai music circuit happened on Friday, the 16th of April 1993. The Department of Culture, Ministry of Human Resources & Development, Government of India, awarded him a scholarship under the scheme "Scholarship to Young Artistes in different Cultural Field" during the year 1994 – 1996 (F2-53/94/CH2). He is an "A" Grade artist and has been performing in All India Radio since 02/06/1994 and in Dhoordharshan Kendra (Chennai) since 17/09/1994. His laya vinyAsam (mrudhangam solo) in a rare thALam, ‘misra thriputa’ (reNdu kaLai) in AIR and in Adhi thALam at Dhoordharshan, Chennai were lauded by vidhvAns and rasikAs. He has performed in the National Program of Music in the Trinity Festival of AIR and in the Akashvani Sangeeth Sammelan.

 

 

He has been performing in many renowned and esteemed organisations (sabha) like The Music Academy, Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, The Indian Fine Arts Society and Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha since 1994. His lecture demonstrations and interactive sessions have also received remarkable appreciation. His focus has always been on preserving the cultural heritage of this art and on making constructive contributions to present it to the world without compromising the shAsthrA or grammar.

 

He is proficient in teaching fingering techniques and laya intricacies, and has been training students in India and abroad for over two decades. He has a penchant for all forms of music. He rendered konnakol (verbal rendition of jathis and phrases that are played in mrudangam) to the playing of his Guru ‘Laya Jyothi’ Umayalpuram Sri K. Sivaraman with Mr. Steve Coleman (Saxophone) and Vijay Iyer (jazz pianist), in the Madras Cricket Club. His mrudangam solo in a rare thAla sankeerna chapu has been recorded for Samudra, London. G.K.Foundation Trust honoured him in their anniversary function held on 31st July 2001, alongside the legendary musician Sangeetha Kalanidhi Palghat Sri K.V. Narayanaswamy, where Padma Sri K.J. Yesudas honoured the artistes.  

He has been featured print media like Dhinamani, Kalki and Veera Kesari (Sri Lankan magazine) and in online media like Chennai-Online and TTN – the Thamizh Oli Network of Europe. He has also performed in Podhigai, Sun-TV, Raj-TV (DVD of the concert has been released by Raj Video Vision), Raj Digital Plus and in WIN-TV in their special programmes. Besides playing the mrudhangam Erode Nagaraj has been an avid blogger, voicing for disability amidst his many witty posts and travelogues.  

In addition to being a full time professional mrudangam artiste, he had served as Lecturer in The Thanjavur Vaidhyanatha Iyer School for Percussion, The Music Academy, Chennai from 1998 - 2016.