Shankar Tucker is an American clarinetist and music composer. He rose to fame with the popularity of his online music series called "The ShrutiBox". The Shrutibox, features his fusion compositions and was released online on media sharing platforms like Youtube

YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

 and Soundcloud

SoundCloud

SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform which allows collaboration, promotion and distribution of audio recordings.-History:SoundCloud was originally started in Stockholm, Sweden, but was established in Berlin, Germany in August, 2007 by sound designer Alex Ljung and artist Eric Wahlforss...

.

Early life and education

Shankar grew up in Massachusetts. He was named Shankar as suggested by Amritanandamayi whom his family follows. As a high school student, Shankar was drawn towards Indian classical music on listening to "Remember Shakti" by John McLaughlin

John McLaughlin

John McLaughlin may refer to:*John McLaughlin , Scottish professional footballer who played for Clyde, Greenock Morton, Millwall, Dunfermline Athletic and Motherwell...

 and started playing on his own. Shankar graduated from New England Conservatory in Boston, where he studied orchestral clarinet performance. He started taking lessons in Indian classical music from Peter Row, a sitar player. Eventually he obtained a scholarship to study with flute

Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

 maestro Hariprasad Chaurasia

Hariprasad Chaurasia

Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia is an Indian classical instrumentalist. He is a player of the bansuri, the North Indian bamboo flute. Chaurasia is a classicist who has made a conscious effort to reach out and expand the audience for classical music.-Early life:Hariprasad Chaurasia was born in...

 in Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

. Apart from clarinet Shankar knows to play tabla, kanjira, piano, bass and guitar.

The ShrutiBox

Shankar started off "The ShrutiBox" in spring 2011. The songs in The ShrutiBox are a fusion of Indian classical music and jazz. Most songs are a re-recordings of popular Indian songs including an instrumental version of A R Rehman's "O Saya". Several young Carnatic and Hindustani vocalists and instrumentalists, including Vidya and Vandana Iyer, Nirali Kartik, Mahesh Vinayakram, B. Sree Sundarkumar, and others have performed in The ShrutiBox. Shankar himself has played most instruments in the songs. The included songs are :

1. O Re Piya/ Rolling in the Deep - ft. Rohan Kymal
2. Munbe Va - ft. Vidya and Vandana Iyer
3. Night Monsoon (Instrumental)
4. Guru Brahma - ft. Mahesh Vinayakram, Shree Sundarkumar
5. Ja Ja Re - ft. Nirali Kartik
6. Nee Nenaindal - ft. Vidya Vandana
7. Moments And Centers (Instrumental)
8. Lemongrass (Instrumental)
9. O Saya (Instrumental)
10. Sonu (Instrumental)
11. Dhun in Raag Mishra Pilu (Instrumental)
12. Sapnon Se Bhare Naina - ft. Rohini Ravada
13. Manmohini Morey - ft. Aditya Rao
14. Ashai Mugam ft. Vidya and Vandana Iyer
15. Aaj Jaane Ki Zid Na Karo - ft. Rohini Ravada

Popularity

The ShrutiBox Youtube channel amassed more than three million views in around six months. Songs from the ShrutiBox also featured in MTV India's Roots program which features artists with strong South Asian music influence. Shankar Tucker is an invited speaker at TEDx Gateway conference in Mumbai. He is also set to be the first speaker at TEDxNITCalicut.