About
SRJ Rhythm Academy is the only organisation for South Indian classical (Carnatic) percussion in Queensland (QLD), providing percussion support and solo concerts over the past 15 years.
The academy has 15 musicians, most of whom have been training for over 10 years. The organisation is led by Dr Arthavan Selvanathan, an established mridangist with over 15 years of teaching and concert experience.
As the only mridangam school in QLD, SRJ Rhythm Academy provides all Carnatic percussion support for carnatic and light music concerts in Queensland. We aim to build a sustainable teaching model so that high-quality percussion accompaniment for Carnatic music is always available in the future.
The organisation was recently registered as a not-for-profit company in January 2022.
Our curriculum
We have an extensive and accessible curriculum that allows audiovisual learning of the miruthangam syllabus, even when practising at home.
Stalwarts of our School
Sri Srirangarajapuram R. Jayaraman Iyer
Srirangarajapuram R.Jayaraman is the son of Srirangarajapuram Ramamurthy Iyer, a Sangeetha Vidwan and disciple of Umayalpuram Swaminatha Iyer, a stalwart who belongs to the family tree of Saint Thyagaraja. After learning carnatic vocal in his early years, Jayaraman Sir began learning mridangam from percussion maestro Kumbakonam Sri Rajappa Iyer in 1954. He progressed through years of rigorous training to accompany the likes of many great vocalists, including Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, Mayaram S.Rajam Iyer and Maharajapuram Santhanam. Following in his guru’s footsteps, Jayaraman Sir took up full-time teaching of this divine art in 1976, conducting regular classes in Sri Krishna Gana Sabha and Sri Balasubramania Sabha in Chennai for over 30 years. Jayaraman Sir has been instrumental in stirring creativity in the minds of some of the most enterprising artists in the field, with many students progressing to become front line artists in India and abroad.
Sri Srirangarajapuram J. Ganesh Iyer
Srirangarajapuram Ganesh belongs to the new generation of mridangists. He has learnt mridangam and ghatam under his father, Srirangarajapuram R. Jayaraman and his guru, Sri Kumbakonam Rajapappa Iyer. He started performing on stage as an accompanist at the age of 10, quickly progressing to accompanying many famous vocalists and instrumentalists in India and overseas, particularly during the Music Festival season in Chennai. Ganesh is a graded artist for All India Radio, and has often performed on both television and radio. He has won many scholarships and awards, including first prize from the VDS Arts Academy in their annual competition, Hari Hara Sharma Endowment award from the Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, and Outstanding Performance awards from the Indian Fine Arts Society and Kartik Fine Arts. Despite his professional background as an accountant, Ganesh has been teaching miruthangam for over 20 years and has helped develop many young talents.