After her BE graduation (Telecommunication) she had tried her hand at a number of good paying jobs, but they only paid her well, not made her happy. So finally Anjana P Rao decided to turn her passion for Carnatic classical music into her profession. She is at present working as a curriculum developer at Shankar Mahadevan Academy. “I sketch out syllabi for Carnatic classical music courses on the online platform. Huge number of artists throughout the world is connected to this platform and I’m enjoying this profession,” says Anjana. Anjana, a Carnatic classical musician, started her music classes when she was four-years-old, from HS Nagaraj who was her mother Rekha P Rao’s guru too.
“When we were in Shimogga, my mother took me to her music classes. I was 11 months old then. The soothing music won me over and I wanted to pursue a career in it at an early age,” she says. After covering elementary lessons from Vid H S Nagaraj, she trained further under Vid Maruthi Prasad and, at present, she is taking advanced lessons from Vid T S Satyavati. “Music is reflection of one’s own personality and it transports you from a materialistic to a cosmic world. I forget all my worries. I owe my talent to the great gurus who helped me experience this bliss,” says Anjana. Anjana has also been teaching few students and feels that teaching is one of the best modes of learning too. She feels teaching has helped her in performing better on stage. “As present generation, we have lot of opportunities. Gone are the days when parents feared about their children taking up music as their profession.
It is always better for an individual to take up their passion as their profession as they can do better,” says Anjana. Anjana has received several scholarships including Karnataka Sangeeta Nrithya Academy-1996, a special certificate 3-year course ‘Sangeetha Koustubha (Vidwat) with a scholarship from Shri D Subbaramaiah Fine Arts Trust from 2004 to 2006 and Inlak India fellowship for Karnatic Music singing-2017. She has performed across the country at various shows such as Sri Vidya Ganapathi suvarna mahotsava, Shimogga-1998, Saamskritika Sourabha- Department of Kannada and culture, Yuva Sourabha - Department of Kannada and culture (Bengaluru) and Kalavantha-2016, an international music festival held in Bengaluru. In a constant pursuit of learning, Anjana is planning to do a research in Carnatic classical music. To contact, mail her at anjana.prahallad@gmail.com.