At two years old, Rahul Vellal wasn’t humming absent-mindedly—he was identifying devotional and film songs. Up to 50 of them. His parents took the hint early, enrolling him in Carnatic music classes by the time he turned four. Long car rides became his first concert halls, the stereo filled with the voices of Carnatic greats, quietly shaping a childhood steeped in raga and rhythm.
“Back in childhood, I didn’t take music up to perform on big stages, but simply because I was enthusiastic about learning new things,” says Vellal. “Since I started very young, I have spent a lot of time with music, which has enriched my life in multiple ways.”
By six, he was ready for his first concert—after relentless practice that would intimidate most adults. What he remembers from that day is less about nerves and more about discovery. “I discovered Raga Amritavarshini—a Carnatic raga associated with rain—and it ended up pouring heavily that day!” he says, still amused by the coincidence.
Now 18 and training under the acclaimed Carnatic duo Ranjani-Gayatri, Vellal’s voice carries a composure that belies his age. At the third edition of the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art’s CentreStage Weekend, his rendition of Rangapura Vihara had the audience quietly humming along. As he sang, his hands moved instinctively—claps and finger counts marking talas with the ease of muscle memory rather than calculation.
A computer science engineering student in Bengaluru, Vellal approaches music with both reverence and analysis. “Everything about this artform is fascinating. It has a structured rhythm cycle, and the skill of the vocalist lies in improvising within this structure,” he says. Manodharma—the art of on-the-spot improvisation—is where he feels most alive. “This cannot be learnt but only be imbibed by exploring music and practicing.”
Gamaka, too, holds a special fascination. “In Western music, the notes are generally straight and plain, but when a gamaka is introduced in the scale, the vocalist uses rapid curves and oscillations in the space between two notes to embellish the sound,” he explains, describing a nuance Carnatic musicians instinctively feel but rarely verbalise.
Having performed at the Mysuru Dasara Festival and the Madras Music Academy in the country, Vellal had his first international Carnatic music concert at Abu Dhabi in 2018, which was followed by performances in 11 countries including the United States, South Africa, and Australia. In 2020, he was also awarded the Global Child Prodigy Award.
Carnatic vocalist and Vellal’s first guru, Dr Suchethan Rangaswamy, still remembers how his journey began with him when Vellal was a young boy of four. “Rahul has always had extraordinary vocal skills for his age. His precocious talent and clarity of voice made it evident back then that he was a prodigy in the making,” Rangaswamy, who has seen Vellal’s skill refine over time, says with a feeling of confidence and pride.
Vellal’s days are fluid rather than regimented—listening to recordings of past masters, preparing for concerts, recording sessions—though voice culture practice remains non-negotiable. “Throughout my school life, I managed my time well. My passion for music naturally drove me to practice more and balance it out with academics,” he says. Music, he believes, trains more than the voice. “It has inculcated in me discipline, focus, concentration, and the ability to learn new things quickly… qualities that have helped me in every field of life.”
Offstage, he unwinds with the western piano—his personal stress-buster—or spends evenings playing cricket and badminton. Yet even relaxation feeds back into thinking about sound.
Looking ahead, Vellal is clear about what he doesn’t want: tampering with Carnatic music’s grammar. What he does want is exploration. He hopes to study other Indian and Western musical traditions while standing firmly within Carnatic’s classical spine. “I don’t see any direct links between music and engineering,” he admits, “but I feel that both expect one to learn at every stage and constantly improve themselves.”
His long-term vision sits precisely at that intersection. Vellal wants to understand what shapes voice quality, what separates a good singer from an extraordinary one, and how technology can assist without intruding. He imagines a software that tracks pitch accuracy, tools that analyse a vocalist’s natural texture, and sound-engineering solutions that help singers project better—technology not as a crutch, but as a quiet collaborator.
For now, he continues to do what he has always done: practice, listen, improvise, and learn. The rain may not pour every time he sings Amritavarshini—but the sense of wonder clearly hasn’t stopped.