User:Shatatantri/Madan Oak

Madan Oak is a disciple of the world-renowned Santoor Maestro Pandit Shivkumar Sharma. He has been studying Indian classical music for over 22 years. Born in Pune, Madan has a Masters in Physics and has majored in Computer management. Before taking up Santoor, he studied classical vocal music and tabla. After being astonished by a live performance of his Guru Pandit Shivkumar Sharma at a concert in Pune, Madan decided to concentrate only on Santoor.

He is a recipient of the 1986 All India Radio Best Instrumentalist National award and has performed on the AIR Pune Radio Station on numerous occasions. He has given many public concerts in India and USA. He has also performed at various fusion concerts with groups of Western Jazz musicians. He has also been featured on TV programs and at various venues like IndiaFest-99, India Association of Southeast Texas, Lata Mangeshkar Foundation, San Francisco World Music Festival 2003, BMM and Basant Bahar, to name a few.

On August 16, 2007 the day came when Madan presented Raga Puriya Kalyan during Guru Pournima Celebrations held in Pune, India in front of an ecstatic audience and acclaimed critics that included none other than his own Guru Pandit Shivkumar Sharma.

In October 2006 Madan started the Shatatantri Academy of Indian Classical Music and Dance in Dublin. Madan along with other noted artists conducts classes that are held on weekends. In addition to offering classes, this academy offers certification exams in Indian classical music and dance under the affiliation of Gandharva Mahavidyalaya of India. For more information please visit www.shatatantri.com.

Besides music, Madan is into IT consulting and currently is helping Cisco with building Business Intelligence strategies and architecture.