Listeners who are embarrassed at their inability to properly pronounce the names of Indian musicians should take comfort in the presence and importance of the clay drummer who is most often known as Mani Iyer. And a probably even larger segment of the music listening population, folks who don’t approve of long drum solos, will also appreciate the fact that one of Iyer’s missions in life has been to get mridangam players to cut back their tani avarthanam, or solo spot, back to the ten-minute realm, as he felt the ever-expanding drum solos of twice or even three-times this length were turning into something in the nature of a circus act. He was the son of a well-known musician in his region, Tiruvilvamalai R. Sesha Bhagavatur, and began studying at the age of nine under Sathapuram Subbier. At 13 he made his performance debut backing up the virtuoso singer Chembai Vaidyanitha, the older established pro causing something of an uproar amongst the audience by bringing such a young player onstage with him. When the barely teenaged Iyer was able to keep up the singer’s often blistering pace, a new star of the mridangam was born.

He began studying with mridangam performer Tanjore Vaidyanatha Iyer and refining his knowledge further. Entering into contact with another important Indian musical family, he began collaborating with Pudukottai Dakshinamurthi Pillai in a series of recitals. His reputation spread, and among other musical abilities, he was known as a drummer who paid attention to the use of space. He also began to downplay the traditional drum solo section, expressing the belief that in these situations, drummers tend to simply play whatever patterns they may have memorized from practice at home, a type of music that can be interesting in limited doses, but not deserving of the proliferating space it was beginning to receive from other, more showy mridangam players. He became an accomplished vocalist and felt that drummers would play better if they actually knew the vocal parts to the songs they were accompanying. Indian classical music critics often feel that this man’s attention to detail and expanded technical knowledge of the entire ensemble’s music helped to kick-start what would be heard as a new era in percussion playing in this genre.

In 1965, he was invited to perform at the Commonwealth Music Festival in London and the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. This was the beginning of many concert appearances abroad as interest in Indian classical music mushroomed internationally. In 1978, he toured the United States for the first time, accompanied by his son T.R. Rajamani. Other regular playing partners include violinist V. Lakshimarayana Subramaniam, with whom he recorded the album South Indian Strings for Lyrichord in 1992; the female singer D.K. Pattammal, with whom his first concert performances are the stuff of legends; fellow percussionist Zakir Hussain; and British string-mangler John McLaughlin.

Ref : AllMusic.com