Young Voices
Sruti|February 2018

Young Voices

Young Voices

Ramana Balachandhran, a young veena prodigy from Bengaluru, has performed far and wide in India. He is the recipient of the CCRT national level scholarship for veena and the Dr. M.S. Subbulakshmi Fellowship Grant from the Shanmukhananda Sangeeta Sabha, Mumbai. In recognition of his extraordinary talent Ramana was granted an age waiver by Prasar Bharati for the All India Radio audition. This young vainika has received commendable reviews and has bagged several prizes and awards from organisations across the country.

During a freewheeling conversation with Sruti, Ramana is level headed and mature in his replies to our questions.

Tell us about your gurus.

I initially learnt vocal music from my mother Sharanya Balachandhran, a disciple of Mythili Jagannathan and Mythili Kannan. I also started learning mridangam at the age of four with Satyakumar. My mother used to learn the laya exercises herself to teach me since I was too young to read. My mridangam training continued for a short while under Nagendra and later Ranganatha Chakravarthy with whom I enjoy a wonderful relationship. He makes sure that I understand the need for a fine balance between complexity and saukhyam.

My veena training started with my mother’s guru B. Nagalakshmi, a granddaughter of Karaikudi Subbarama Iyer (brother of Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer) quite unexpectedly. After she moved from Tiruchi to Bengaluru, my mother took me to her teacher when she noticed a certain flair for the instrument in me. The training with her exposed me to a gayaki style of playing the instrument. Sahitya was always a primary concern. She was both a guru and an affectionate senior. I learnt from her for a period of three years.

This story is from the February 2018 edition of Sruti.

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This story is from the February 2018 edition of Sruti.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.