Unlike most artistes, 27-year-old classical musician K V Krishna Prasad believes in explaining every facet of a musical composition to his audience, be it the lyrics, the composer or the historical details behind a composition. Being a practicing civil engineer, Prasad uses all aspects of his scientific training to logically explain the meaning either behind a Tyagaraj or a Dikshitar krithi during his performances.
KP, as Prasad is affectionately called in music circles, has just returned home after a hectic tour involving 19 classical concerts apart from lecture demonstrations and workshops from the west to east coast of America. On the invitation of the Krishna Vrundavan organisation, New Jersey, he was at the annual Vasantotsav Festival where to his amazement, the audience lapped up the traditional and chaste format of Carnatic classical music.
“I went with the intention of singing light music, including Dasarapadas and Bhavgeet. However, the response to the classical format was so overwhelming that I sung only krithis and varnams,” he says. “A few groups of music lovers followed me from one end of America to another, grasping the nuances of this traditional form, putting in queries, and eliciting lot of interest which goes to show the continued acceptance of these genres,” he adds.
KP, who received long standing ovations at Boston and San Francisco, shares that his “rendering of raga Amritvarshini for two hours at the Siddhivinayak Temple in San Francisco coincidentally saw continuous rains for three days in that area, which had been facing drought for eight months.”
The young artist sketches the concept of selected works of music with a modern touch explaining the importance of classical music and human emotions or explaining the contribution of Saint Haridas towards social reformation. “I make my format interesting for today’s audience as music is not just for entertainment but also for dealing with issues like depression, stress, and behavioural problems,” he says. “I did a lecture demo along with Dr Girija, a psychologist from Stanford University, explaining how our music frequencies affect the emotions of people. Apart from this, concentrating on a group of 75 youngsters, I spoke on the ‘role of Carnatic music in academic curriculum’ at San Jose, California.”
A student of eminent Carnatic vocalist Vidwan R K Padmanabha, KP started studying music seriously from Class X. “I had to wait for one-and-a-half years to become his disciple as he was testing my interest in music,” he says.
The young vocalist, who has created and composed new ragas, can sing for five hours continuously. Every day, he practices rigorously for two hours, culturing his voice: singing long notes, at all octaves, varying his speed, aligning his shruti as well as practicing breath control.
“I was asthmatic once but because of my disciplined practice, I no longer suffer from this debilitating problem,” he shares.
The young artist also runs an academic institution, Our School, which facilitates learning through various art forms. “We have no desks, only wooden platforms and every student learns an art form. Instead of nursery rhymes, they sing Lambo dara laku... . My students, who sing well, excel in academics too,” he says.
“I have more than 100 students who are at the performing level. Holding musical dramas, we prepare them from day one to put up musical shows on their own, to write their dialogues, compose music and present various art forms. I also teach underprivileged children and my dream is they should be performing at the prestigious Gayana Samaj,” he says.
Influenced and inspired by his banker-philanthropist father K N Venkatnarayana, KP has a mega project on the cards. He will be organising a cultural extravaganza, Sri Ramasamarajya Pattabhishekha, in which all the top musicians of the country will participate.
He also wishes to set up a Carnatic Music Research Centre in Bengaluru which would have music labs and instrument labs to study and conduct research on this ancient art form in detail.
