Crossing East Music Featre: Violinist Aishu Venkataraman

Aishu, born Aishwarya Venkataraman in Northridge, California, grew up surrounded by music and musicians. Born into a family of rich musical ancestry on February 25, 1993, Aishu began her training in violin at the very early age of two-and-a-half. Aishu, started on a 1/8th size violin at a very tender age of two and a half. At age four, she started learning the Carnatic or South Indian style of music under the tutelage of the eminent violin maestro T. N. Krishnan. Her father, Vinod (V.R.) Venkataraman a native of Bombay India is a professional Mridangam (South Indian percussion drum) player and a professor of Applied Mathematics. Vinod has served as an integral collaborator with many legendary Indian performers including acclaimed musicians like Professor T. N. Krishnan's, Dr. L. Subramaniam, Gottovadyam Ravi Kiran and Flutist Shri K.S. Gopalakrishnan and has performed with jazz greats like Hubert Laws, Stephane Grapelli, Larry Coryell, Alice Coltrane, and Emil Richards. Together father and daughter tour in a group called Divine Strings. For more info go to divinestrings.com. This piece was produced as a newshole feature for the Crossing East Asian American history series.