Prasanna

Prasanna Ramaswamy, widely known as Guitar Prasanna, is an Indian guitarist recognized for adapting Carnatic music to the guitar and for his work across jazz, progressive rock, and world fusion. Born and raised in Chennai, India, he developed an early interest in the instrument after hearing a neighbour play the guitar. He received his first guitar at the age of ten and initially played Tamil and Hindi film songs while also attempting to reproduce Carnatic vocal phrases on the instrument.

During his school years, he performed with the local band XIth Commandment. While pursuing a bachelor's degree in naval architecture at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (graduated 1992), he toured India with rock bands including The Haze and Shakuni & the Birds of Prey, performing music by artists such as Santana, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Rush, Steely Dan, and Jethro Tull. His musical direction gradually expanded toward blues and jazz.

After working as a software consultant, Prasanna moved to Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music, where he majored in Jazz and Classical Composition and graduated magna cum laude.

Prasanna undertook formal training in Carnatic music for six years under vocalist Tiruvarur Balasubramaniam and for twenty-six years under violinist A. Kanyakumari. His work is noted for presenting Carnatic ragas and compositional structures on the guitar while retaining core elements of the tradition.

He has described his artistic path as rooted in Carnatic grammar while engaging with contemporary jazz and global idioms. His composition “Falsehood” is included in the book Essentials of Jazz—The First 100 Years by Henry Martin and Keith Waters. In 2014, he was a winner in the International Songwriting Contest (Jazz category) for “Springtime in New York.”

Prasanna has released multiple albums as a leader, including Guitar Goes Classical (1993), Roots (1997), Natabhairavi (2000), Electric Ganesha Land (2006), Ragabop Trio (2010), Tirtha (2011), and All Terrain Guitar (2016). His collaborative projects include:

• Ragabop Trio with Steve Smith and George Brooks
• Tirtha with Vijay Iyer and Nitin Mitta
• Raga Metal Conversations with Alex Skolnick and Anton Fig

He has performed and collaborated with musicians including A. R. Rahman, Esperanza Spalding, Joe Lovano, Victor Wooten, Dweezil Zappa, Trilok Gurtu and Umayalpuram Sivaraman, among others.

Prasanna has composed music for films, including:

• Framed (2007)
• Smile Pinki (2009)—Academy Award-winning documentary
• Vazhakku Enn 18/9 (2012) – National Award and Filmfare Award-winning Tamil film
• Algorithms (2012)
• After My Garden Grows (2014)

He has also contributed as a guitarist and arranger to film scores by A. R. Rahman, including Lagaan, Swades, Highway, Jeans, and international productions such as The Hundred-Foot Journey and Million Dollar Arm. He arranged and conducted the string orchestra for the title score of the Oscar-nominated film Lagaan.

Prasanna is among Indian composers who have worked on Academy Award-winning films, alongside figures such as Ravi Shankar and A. R. Rahman.

Prasanna founded the Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music in 2009 with support from the Marg Group of Companies and served as its president for nearly five years. The institution combines elements of the Indian gurukula tradition with contemporary Western music education models.

He has delivered lectures, workshops, and residencies at institutions including Harvard University, MIT, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Berklee College of Music, and Osnabrück Institute of Music. He is affiliated with ASCAP as a writer and publisher, is a member of the American Federation of Musicians, and serves as a voting member of the Recording Academy.

He has also mentored young guitarist Maya Neelakantan, who gained international attention in 2024 for her Carnatic interpretation of “Last Resort.”

Prasanna was voted among the “Top 50 Creative Indians” by Open Magazine in 2010. In 2006, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award for Carnatic music from H.H. Sri Jayendra Saraswathi.

Currently based in New York City, Prasanna continues to perform internationally, record, compose, and engage in music education initiatives that bridge Carnatic tradition and contemporary global music practices.