THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: He started displaying his talent in music at the age of two. Now all of 17 and after a gap of five years, Ananthapuri Ananthakrishnan S R has embarked on a unique feat. The youngster is taking part in a marathon flute concert at Melpathoor Auditorium in Guruvayoor.
The Thiruvananthapuram-based lad hopes to enter the record books. Ananthakrishnan began the feat at 6.30 am on Thursday, accompanied by mridangam and ghatom artists. The performance will continue for 36 hours, with the music prodigy only taking five minutes break in an hour, according to father K C Suresh Kumar. “The performance is also a dedication to his gurus Palkulangara T N Saraswathy Amma and Shiva Ramakrishna Iyer. The keerthanas which are being played for this concert were taught by them. He was the sole student for both the gurus.”
Ananthakrishnan, a class XII passout, started dabbling with music and musical instruments at a very young age. So much so that, by the time he turned 12 years, he had mastered 12 musical instruments apart from vocals. Proficient at playing the guitar, flute, violin, mandolin, bulbul tarang, veena, harmonium, khanjira, ghatom, keyboard, tabla, mridangam and veena, he started learning music and flute from Saraswathy Amma and Shiva Ramakrishna Iyer.
His arangetam was held in 2011, at the age of 12.
“For his arangetam, he had given a five-hour-long performance. As part of the concert, he had given separate instrumental as well as vocal Hindustani and Carnatic concerts,” said Ananthakrishnan’s mother. On choosing Guruvayoor, Ananthakrishnan’s parents say the place holds a special place in their heart. “It was here he marked his arangetam. We are very happy that he got the chance to perform the marathon concert at the same auditorium. Being a flute concert, what could be a better place to perform than at Guruvayoorappan’s abode!”, she said.
The 17-year-old is also bright in academics. He achieved 85 per cent in his Class X11 examinations and also recently gave wrote the LLB entrance examinations. “He hopes to pursue law. At the same time, Ananthakrishnan wishes to pursue music parallelly,” said his father. The concert will go on till 6.30 pm on Friday.