V. Shankaranarayanan
V. Shankaranarayanan is one of the most promising Carnatic vocalists to break into the scene. This Singapore-based musician, who after an engineering and management degrees is vice-president of an MNC bank, has been able to balance both the roles perfectly. His foray into Carnatic music began while he was a child, pushed on by his very encouraging father, N.V. Subramaniam.
Trained by Vaigal Gnanaskandan, T. R. Subramaniam among others, Shankarananarayanan’s first full-fledged concert was for a Chennai sabha when he was just nine years old. Influenced strongly by Madurai T. N. Seshagopalan, Shankaranarayanan is an A grade artiste with All India Radio. He performed ‘live’ for the first time in Kerala under the aegis of the Sree Poornathrayeesa Sangeetha Sabha. This much-sought after vocalist shares his thoughts on music and more…
Do you feel that your generation is a bit unlucky that there are very few masters alive who could have been an inspiration and virtual gurus for musicians like you?
Yes. There are very few masters of the like of KVN or D. K. Pattammal from whom we could have learned so much more. What we do is look up to our immediate seniors, listen to the recordings of the masters and make an attempt to improve.
You are one of the very few artistes who perform without the help of notes. Is this learning by heart a bit too tough?
Oh! At times, like my concert here, you may forget a line or a word. But personally I like it like this, this spontaneity. I have always sung like this. It gives you the chance to watch the reaction of the audience, can go along with the accompanying artistes setting the right balance. With notes you naturally tend to look at them, sometimes not able to keep track of what’s going on around. I’m comfortable without the notes.
Your choice of ragas and krithis were different. How do you prepare for a concert?
I usually get some info about the venue and audience beforehand. For this sabha concert I enquired what the singers earlier had sung, a little bit about the pulse of the audience. This helped me make a preliminary selection for my concert. Some of the choices are unprepared. Again for this concert I struck on Revathi raga after I got up from a short afternoon nap. Revathi kept ringing in my mind and I decided I sing that later in the evening.
How is the music scene in Singapore?
Of late it has certainly picked up. We, a group of musicians and music lovers formed the Music Circle in 2007. The objective of the group is to propagate Carnatic music. We have chosen theme based concerts. The Music Circle has in the last three years invited eminent artistes to present a variety of thematic Indian classical music concerts in a chamber environment. The concerts have covered a wide range of themes around composers, festivals etc. The singer either delivers a lecture before or after the concert for around 30 minutes. Apart from concerts we intend to promote and nurture talents.
(V. Shankar Narayanan performed at the Sabha in September)