Erickavu N Sunil

Erickavu N Sunil started learning the Mridangam at the age of four. His initial Gurus were Late Krishnappa Bhagavathar and M S Raju. He had his advanced studies in mridangam from the Legendary Maestro Sangeetha Kalacharya Late Professor Mavelikkara Velukkutty Nair.

An A-grade artist of All India Radio and Doordarshan, Sunil has accompanied musicians including Padmabhushan Sangeetha Kalanidhi T. V. Sankaranarayanan, Padmasri Neyyattinkara Vasudevan, Padmasri Prof. Parassala Ponnammal, Madhurai G S Mony, Prof: Mavelikkara Prabhakara Varma, Dr. K. Omanakutty, Prof. K. Venktaramanan, Dr. S. Sowmya, Kunnakkudi Balamuralikrishna, Dr. Sreevalsan J. Menon, Sankaran Namboothiri, Thiruvengadu Jayaraman, Sharreth, M. Jayachandran, Balabhaskar, etc. among many others. He teaches Mridangam online[4] through Skype, and has students in Germany, US & Middle East.[5] Sunil leads the team "Laya Vadya Sudha" — the "Tala Vadya"—Percussion Ensemble—featuring Indian percussion instruments Mridangam, Kanjira, Ghatam, Morsing, Tabla, Mizhavu, etc. Sunil had scripted and directed Nadasanjeevani—a unique program on Music Therapy, which was telecasted in Asianet Cable Vision (ACV) as 9 episodes in 2006.

Awards, achievements, and titles:

He is an A Grade Mridangam artist in All India Radio and Doordarshan.
He received the prestigious "Chembai Award" (the award given to outstanding young Mridangam Artist) by Chembai Memorial Trust, Trivandrum in 2006.
He received the "Pathiramkulangara Devi Chaithanyashri" title in 2019 from Pathiramkulangara Devi Temple, a major temple in Alleppey District under Travancore Devaswom Board.
He was awarded the Junior Research Fellowship by the Department of Culture, Government of India (2011-'12).
He was awarded the Senior Scholarship by the Department of Culture, Government of India in (1996-'97).
He won first prize and gold medal in Mridangam at the Inter-university National Youth Festival held at Gulburga, Karnataka, during January 1995.
He was the winner in Mridangam at Kerala University Youth Festival for four consecutive years (from 1993 to 1997) representing Mar Ivanios College, Trivandrum. While at school, he received several prizes.
He was nominated as a member in the panel of judges for Mridangam in Kerala State Schools Youth Festival for several years.