THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Right from when he could remember, Devanand S P has been listening to ghazals. Music has been weaved into his life since he could remember. When he was just five years old, he sang for the first time on stage. And at age nine, he made his official stage debut singing Mehdi Hassan’s ‘Navazish Karam’.
Devanand says growing up in a household of music lovers had its effect. His father Padmakumar is a known ghazal singer. “Ghazals and Hindustani music would be always playing at home. That’s what I grew up listening to. So it was natural that I developed an affinity for Hindustani music. I started learning at age nine,” adds the young vocalist, who stays at Nanthancode.
At 23, he is all set to enthral music connoisseurs of the city at the prestigious Soorya Festival on Friday. The festival is being held at the Ganesham auditorium in Thycaud. Devanand will be performing Hindustani classical music accompanied by Akhil T R on harmonium and Jayalal Jayakumar on tabla. “I am overjoyed that I will be getting such a big stage,” says Devanand who finished his degree in Carnatic Vocal music from Sree Swathi Thirunal College of Music, Thycaud. “I wanted to understand Carnatic music and that’s why I took it for my degree,” he says.
All Devanand dreams of is to create a new and unique sound. “There was a lot of melody in songs in the old days. I intend to recreate that good old charm in songs by recreating the melodies,” says the musician who idolises Jagjit Singh. He is presently working on a new composition, a mix of Western and Gazhal.
There is not a moment devoid of music in his life. He is either listening to it, thinking about it or singing. “Music has the power to heal people and transport them to another world like nothing else can,” says the passionate singer.