MUSIC
I am basically a carnatic music lover. My journey in music started when my sister started to learn a string instrument called veena at a very young age. I used to accompany her for the music class and whenever the teacher takes a break I used to try out the instrument out of curiosity.
Gradually I started playing the basic lessons in the veena while my sister was progressing well. My mom then bought her a veena which gave me full liberty to practice on it. With this basic interest and curiosity I started to listen to carnatic music and intuitively I started to identify the various raagas.
As I grew up, my interest towards classical music became two folds when I had the opportunity to acquaint myself with a great musician named Tanjore Sankaran, a Mridangist. Yes, he became our neighbor when I was doing my college. Since he was a musician I had the opportunity to meet up with various musicians who come to his house for rehersals. That's how I developed interest in the wind instrument called FLUTE.
With his help I bought a flute from a musical shop and started practicing on my own. Today I have three flutes in different pitches and whenever I get a chance I love to play them. I enjoy playing some cine songs and infact I have performed in stage once. I professionally learnt the percussion instrument called Mridangam from my guru Tanjore Sankaran who unfortunately passed away suddenly due to ill health. He is someone who I cannot forget in my life.
I also play some songs and classical tunes in keyboard and may be I have somehow inspired my son Raagav who has now started to play some songs in the same keyboard. I listen to a lot of carnatic songs by various artists and once I used to be very regular in attending music festivals which are most famous in Chennai. My favorite artist is K.J. Yesudas and I almost have all his collections.
I listen to various instruments like Mandolin, Nadaswaram, Veena, Sarangi, Flute, Sitar and many more. I have a good collection of vocal carnatic songs of legendary singers. I fondly remember the day when I had the great opportunity to sit on the stage with the late vocal Mastero Maharajapuram Santhanam in the Music Academy. I got this opportunity through my Mridangam guru because he was not able to accompany his guru Srimushanam Rajarao who was playing the concert on that day. I was given the task to carry the spare mridangam and sit with him on the stage as a helper.
I certainly owe a lot to my guru for the great friendship and love we shared. Mr. Tanjore Sankaran was a big fan of my artworks and used to appreciate me a lot. There were lot of other friends who encouraged me in this field and made me listen to a lot of music and my special thanks to all of them as well. Music is divine and I am not a saint to proclaim this.