One such family is that of Kondapalli Chidambara Nataraja. Walking in the footsteps of his father, Kondapalli Chidambara Raja decided to take up music as a career. From 2000-2002, he pursued his MA (Mridangam) at Potti Sriramulu Telugu University in Hyderabad under Padma Shri Awardee Dr Yella Venkateswara Rao. Chidambara Nataraj’s guru Yella Venkateswara Rao had performed Nava Mridangam by playing nine different Mridangams at the same time. So, five years ago, an idea to play 18 tablas at the same time occurred to him while his master Yella Venkateswara Rao sang nine different ragas.

Source: Indian Express November 28, 2021 15:07 UTC