Keynote Player Sathya - K.Sathyanarayanan
Keynote player Satya
Identified as one of the child prodigies of his generation, Satyanarayana has been performing on the keyboard since he was 6 years old. When he should have been watching Cartoon Network or playing with a Playstation, he was playing the keyboard on stage to an awestruck audience. Over a period of time, we heard less about him and his music.
Hearing that he was performing at Bharati Vidya Bhavan in an afternoon slot, I decided to go for it. His first choice was Mysore Varadachari’s krithi in Ragam Gowlai ‘Pranamamyham’. He was simply flawless and frankly it would be very hard to find fault with his skill or talent. The concert was on 23rd November afternoon which happened to be Satya Sai Baba’s birthday and Satya chose to play a very very short Sai Bhajan ‘Sri Guru Parthivasa’ in Ragam Brindavani. He took care to announce that it was a Sai bhajan and the quoted the lyrics because otherwise only Sai devotees will recognise it !
Satya has been fortunate to train under several prominent musicians such as Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna, Violinist Kanyakumari, Mandolin U.Srinivas (another child prodigy) and also western keyboard from Alphonse and Sadanandam. All this reflected in his music, and it was nice to see him enjoy playing it. He played a song which I could not place but could identify the Ragam as Bilahari. There was so little crowd and I was sitting alone or else the usual whispering, murmuring and nodding of heads would have revealed the song. Especially in the case of an instrumental performance, it would help enthusiastic but not so knowledgeable audience enjoy better if the artiste announced the details of the songs.
The next was another lovely composition by Papanasam Sivan in Ragam Lathangi ‘Piravaa Varam’. Satya could bring emotion out his instrument. There was a single request from a person from the scanty audience which was Patnam Subramania Iyer’s Sanskrit composition ‘Raghuvamsha Sudha’ in Ragam Kadanakuthuhalam. Some of these Ragam names such as Kadanakuthuhalam simply fascinate me.
His father ( who was playing the Tampura ) was interrupting the concert speaking about Satya and his success story which was basically highlighting his achievements and marketing him.
It’s important to have encouraging & supportive parents and absolutely understandable for them to be ambitious for their children but sometimes too much exposure and too early can limit the growth factor. Talent works better coupled with maturity atleast that’s my opinion. Maybe it’s child or parent specific because just imagine if my parents waited for my dormant talent to surface and also had waited for me to mature..... it would have been forever ! It’s got nothing to do with the prodigy, it’s the average audience mindset...... they see a young child perform amazingly and go hoo-haa over about it and that puts a pressure on the child to perform better, tending to forget that he or she is already giving their best ! For the audience it’s just the fact that the artiste has be there for too long. I know of few extraordinarily talented children who later are disappointed that they don’t get the same attention they got as a child.
How less do you explain that somebody who has been the youngest to receive the Kalaimamani award ( quoting his father, to get an afternoon slot with a meagre audience. One of the biggest reasons is that vocalists are preferred to instrumental especially during the season !
Hearing that he was performing at Bharati Vidya Bhavan in an afternoon slot, I decided to go for it. His first choice was Mysore Varadachari’s krithi in Ragam Gowlai ‘Pranamamyham’. He was simply flawless and frankly it would be very hard to find fault with his skill or talent. The concert was on 23rd November afternoon which happened to be Satya Sai Baba’s birthday and Satya chose to play a very very short Sai Bhajan ‘Sri Guru Parthivasa’ in Ragam Brindavani. He took care to announce that it was a Sai bhajan and the quoted the lyrics because otherwise only Sai devotees will recognise it !
Satya has been fortunate to train under several prominent musicians such as Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna, Violinist Kanyakumari, Mandolin U.Srinivas (another child prodigy) and also western keyboard from Alphonse and Sadanandam. All this reflected in his music, and it was nice to see him enjoy playing it. He played a song which I could not place but could identify the Ragam as Bilahari. There was so little crowd and I was sitting alone or else the usual whispering, murmuring and nodding of heads would have revealed the song. Especially in the case of an instrumental performance, it would help enthusiastic but not so knowledgeable audience enjoy better if the artiste announced the details of the songs.
The next was another lovely composition by Papanasam Sivan in Ragam Lathangi ‘Piravaa Varam’. Satya could bring emotion out his instrument. There was a single request from a person from the scanty audience which was Patnam Subramania Iyer’s Sanskrit composition ‘Raghuvamsha Sudha’ in Ragam Kadanakuthuhalam. Some of these Ragam names such as Kadanakuthuhalam simply fascinate me.
His father ( who was playing the Tampura ) was interrupting the concert speaking about Satya and his success story which was basically highlighting his achievements and marketing him.
It’s important to have encouraging & supportive parents and absolutely understandable for them to be ambitious for their children but sometimes too much exposure and too early can limit the growth factor. Talent works better coupled with maturity atleast that’s my opinion. Maybe it’s child or parent specific because just imagine if my parents waited for my dormant talent to surface and also had waited for me to mature..... it would have been forever ! It’s got nothing to do with the prodigy, it’s the average audience mindset...... they see a young child perform amazingly and go hoo-haa over about it and that puts a pressure on the child to perform better, tending to forget that he or she is already giving their best ! For the audience it’s just the fact that the artiste has be there for too long. I know of few extraordinarily talented children who later are disappointed that they don’t get the same attention they got as a child.
How less do you explain that somebody who has been the youngest to receive the Kalaimamani award ( quoting his father, to get an afternoon slot with a meagre audience. One of the biggest reasons is that vocalists are preferred to instrumental especially during the season !
About the Author:
Sandhya Shankar belongs to a well respected business family in Chennai. She is a Life Skills & Corporate Trainer by profession. She is an avid reader and a natural writer, who has written several poems and articles. She even presented her poems as a reading at the British council. She has keen interest in all art forms and has explored many different forms of painting like stained glass and Tanjore being among them.
Music being her first passion, she had her formal training under Terakotti Chandrasekharaiah at Bangalore and later briefly under Mrs Champa Kumar. She is a regular visitor of concerts, theatre and other live performances. Her witty reviews have gained a loyal and interactive readership for their sound technical commentary and relevance for every kind of melophile, from the casual-goer to the ragam expert, frequenting Chennai’s rich music scene.
(*The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of Music of Madras.)
(*The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of Music of Madras.)
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