Dr. N. Ramani was one of the first Carnatic musicians to come to wider, Western attention. The Soul of Indian Flute (World Pacific WPS 21456) followed the release of Balachander's Sounds of the Veena Featuring the Flute of Ramani (WPS 21436). He was born in 1934 in Tiruvarur in Tamil Nadu, the birthplace of the Tyagaraja, Muttuswamy Dikshitar and Syama Sastri trinity. From early boyhood he studied with his grandfather A.N. Iyer and then T.R. Mahalingam, both respected flautists. By the age of 12 he was accomplished enough to be performing on All India Radio. He has occasionally duetted with the Hindustani flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia -- the first occasion was 1971. Other jugalbandis have included partnerships with the vocalists Balamurali Krishna and Pandit Jasraj, the violinist T.N. Krishnan and the sarodist Amjad Ali Khan. He has pursued a parallel recording career for a variety of labels including EMI India and Magnasound/OMI and Shankar. ~ Ken Hunt