Erickavu N. Sunil is a promising young Mridangam artist from Kerala. A techie drummer he is one among the prominent disciples of the great Mavelikkara Velukkutty Nair, from whom he took advanced leaming in the art of Mridangam. In 2006 he received the prestigious "Chembai Award" for young Mridangam artist given by Chembai Memorial Trust. Won many prizes since school days he won first prize for Mridangam at Kerala University Youth Festival for four consecutive years from 1993 to 1997 representing Mar Ivanios College, Thiruvananthapuram. Later he was nominated as a member in the panel of judges for Mridangam in Kerala State Schools Youth Festival for many years.
He was born on 15 March 1977 in Haripad, Alappuzha. K. Narayana Panicker and V. Saraswathi Amma are his parents. He started learning Mridangam at the age of 4. He was introduced to the field by Krishnappa Bhagavathar, followed by M S Raju and legendary Mavelikkara Velukkutty Nair. After schooling from his native place, he moved to the capital city where he continued with his studies and was also busy with cultural activities and competitions. Star Mridangam player of Mar Ivanios College, Thiruvananthapuram, he topped Kerala University Youth Festival for four consecutive years in Mridangam since 1993.
As a performer, Sunil Narayana has accompanied musicians including Padmabhushan T. V. Sankaranarayanan, Padmasri Neyyattinkara Vasudevan, Prof. Parassala Ponnammal, Madhurai G S Mony, Prof: Mavelikkara Prabhakara Varma, Prof. Mavelikkara Velukkutty Nair, Dr. Sreevalsan J. Menon, Sankaran Namboothiri, M. Jayachandran, Avaneeswaram S R Vinu, Sriram Gangadharan, Thiruvinkad Jayaraman, Balabhaskar, etc. for their concerts. He teaches Mridangam online[4] through Skype, and has students in Germany, US & Middle East. Sunil had scripted and directed “Nadasanjeevani” – a unique program on Music Therapy, which was telecasted in Asianet Cable Vision (ACV) as 9 episodes in 2006. Sunil leads the team "Laya Vadya Sudha" - the "Tala Vadya" - Percussion Ensemble - featuring Indian percussion instruments Mridangam, Kanjira, Ghatam, Morsing, and Tabla. His wife Indu Sunil is an expert in Aksharaslokam