Dr. Abdul Kalam, Ms. Pratibha Patil and Ramnath Kovind at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan in New Delhi. Awards and honours • Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knighthood) by Govt of France 2022 (to be bestowed) • Grammy Nomination for the CD album with Guitarist John McLaughlin for the year 2009. • Sangeet Natak Akademi’s senior award of Govt of India for the year 2017 bestowed by Hon. President of India. • "Kalaimamani" from the Government of Tamil Nadu for the year 2001. • "A Top" ranking in the All India Radio and TV. • Empaneled under outstanding category of Artists in ICCR, Govt of India (1995) • "Kuzhal Arasar" in 2003 from the prestigious Kellogg School of Management, Chicago. • "Proclamation to the city" award by Cities of Tulsa and Memphis, USA. • Rotary Club awards of excellence 1995 and 1997. • Asthana Vidwan of Sringeri bestowed Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Sringeri in the year 2000. • Direct A grade ranking at his age of 14 in 1993 in the All India Radio and TV. Countries performed Shashank has performed and taught in prestigious institutions in India and over 50 countries around the world including India, USA, China, Canada, Macedonia, Hungary, Bangladesh, UK, France, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Iran, Morocco, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines and Korea. Style and Contribution Specialized in Carnatic classical music and trained in Hindustani Classical music as well, he incorporates patterns of improvisation from both systems of Music from India and uses a range of flutes to cover octaves that are not supported by the traditional Carnatic flute. Shashank is known for his intricate (Improvisations), melodious keerthana ( composition) renderings and pulsating kalpanaswaram (Faster and rhythmic improvisations). His concerts generally include a Ragam Tanam Pallavi as a central piece, normally composed by Shashank himself. Several valuable contributions to the field of Flute playing including the following. • Introduced and furthered the revolutionary Multi Flute Fingering technique in Carnatic Music performances that have inspired scores of Flute players and Musicians from India and around the world. • Shashank style of Flute playing techniques that helped reproduce the human voice better and solved many old issues of fingering techniques. • Claw shaped fingering technique that has eased playing fast phrases, produce echo effects among many