Many Bangalore artistes have taken Indian classical music to global platforms. Their collaborations with artistes of various styles of music and the blending of genres has inspired many youngsters to pursue an education and career in music. One such is 25-year-old Manoj Vasishta.
Manoj started learning music at the age of four, under the tutelage of Uma Ramachandra in Tumkur.
Speaking about his journey into the world of music, Manoj says, “I do not come from a family of musicians but my parents are ardent lovers of classical music. This motivated them to enroll me in a music class. They have been very supportive of my career choice. Having P Shivkumar and P S Prasanna Kumar for gurus instilled a thirst for knowledge in me.” Currently, this young artiste is pursuing music under the guidance of Ganakalabhushana R K Padmanabha.
He believes that practice, patience and perseverance are the key words for a music student.
Manoj started performing in concerts, in Karnataka and parts of India, at the age of 10.
He also released a music album, Tatva, based on Tatva Padagalu, the eternal poetry of saints unbounded by caste, time and genre. It was produced by Manas Audio, a label jointly started by Manoj and Praveen D Rao, a musician. “This album comprises compositions by saints and philosophers like Purandaradasa, Kanakadasa and Vadiraja. The music composition of these songs is not confined to any particular genre,” Manoj says.
Praveen, also Tatva’s music director, has blended Indian classical music with sounds of Qawali, Sufi and such. There’s also Kannada interpretation of a Bengali song by G S Shivarudrappa, rendered in the folk style, baul. The album also features popular musicians like Ustad Faiyaz Khan on sarangi, N S Prasad on mandolin, Shruthi Kamath on sitar, Srinivas Achar on guitar, Celeb on bass guitar, Varijashree Venugopal on flute, Gurumurthy Vaidya on tabla, Pramath Kiran on percussion scape and Sathyamurthy on dholak.
No wonder the seven songs that make for Tatva, have a contemporary feel to them.
Manoj, an MBA graduate, was judged the first runners-up in the Confident Star Singer contest in season one and secured second place at the MSIL Nityotsava grand finale. “These achievements provided me a platform to establish myself as a professional artiste,” he says.
Manoj has been performing at several events like Siddarameshwara Jayanthi at Belur, Vajramahotsava at Siddaganga Mutt in Tumkur, 69th Kannada Sahithya Sammelana held at Tumkur, Hampi Utsava conducted in 2008, and has been awarded Gayana Shree in 1998 and Gana Kogile in 2000 by Karnataka Patrika Sangha.
On the future, he says, “I would like to promote music by bringing out many more albums and continue pursuing my own passion for music.”