Mangaluru, Nov 4, 2014: Ankush Nayak, a talented Mangalorean sitarist has bagged first prize in International Students Talent Hunt-3 held at the American University of Arizona. The competition had musicians, dancers and martial arts performers from all over the world including India, Spain, China, South Korea, Kuwait,Mexico and many other countries.
Ankush’s performance received a thundering standing ovation at a packed Gallagher Theater. Ankush is a Master student at the University of Arizona. He was accompanied by Karthik Srinivasan on Mridangam, a PhD student at the same university.
Twenty three year old Ankush is the son of educationists Narendra L Nayak and Ushaprabha N Nayak of Mangalore. He is a technologist, researcher and musician, and has several achievements to his credit in all these fields. He started learning the Sitar at the tender age of 9 from Ustad Rafique Khan, a sixth generation Khandani Sitarist.
He’s a graded artiste of All India Radio, and has performed for Doordarshan and All India Radio several times. He is also a member artist of the SHIVA Fusion Music group, an indo-western fusion band comprising of internationally renowned musicians and music directors. Ankush is also a proud alumni of Expert PU College, Mangalore and NITK,Surathkal.