‘Namma Mysooru Huduga’ Subramanya Rao!
Mysore, as we all know, is famous for its culture and artistic people. Great musicians have been born and brought up here from centuries. Subramanya Rao, who lives in Srirampura of the city, is one such young lad who has attained success early in his life and plays instruments as much as his age ! He is now 27 and plays almost 27 to 28 musical instruments.
by Phalgunn Maharishi
Being born into an artistic family, Subramanya Rao was influenced a lot by his mother who was a violinist and sister, a classical dancer. Subramanya is a graduate from D. Banumaiah’s and also pursued his Diploma in Audio Engineering from SAE Institute, Bangalore.
Subramanya started learning Mridangam under Bhakthavatsalam when he was just seven-years-old which he continued for the next five years. “I always had a keen interest in learning music from my very early age. My desire for the musical instruments led me to Raju Ananthaswamy who was then teaching Karnatak classical music at ‘Natana.’ I had been there to learn Karnatak vocals but instead started laying my hands on tabla and accompanied Raju Sir for nearly seven years,” said Subramanya while speaking about his early music classes.
Subramanya, whom we can consider as a bank of folk musical instruments, plays Djembe, Darbuka, Chende, Dholak, Dufna, Dholki, Tamte, Nagara, Mridangam, Tabla and many other percussion instruments totalling up to 20 and above — all which he can play at a time! According to him, some incidents which took place between himself and his family members have been real inspiration behind his desire to learn different musical instruments. He then explained, “My whole family is into music and my cousins and others used to jam together playing various musical instruments during our family gatherings. When I tried to join them, I was frequently being told to learn music and then touch the instruments. Such incidents helped me make my mind towards learning music.”
Subramanya is an active member of Mandya Ramesh’s ‘Natana’ from the past 11 years and has also worked with Dr. B. Jayashree’s ‘Spandana’ theatre group for a number of plays. He mainly concentrates on theatre music and acting and has worked for 1,069 plays as of now throughout the nation including repeated shows. He and Murali Sringeri have composed music for plays like ‘Dhaam Dhoom Suntaragaali’ which was performed in AHA! International Festival at Ranga Shankara, ‘Noorondu Huli’ and ‘Alilu Ramayana’ with Natana, Mysore. He has also attended Hampi Utsav, Sonda Utsav and National School of Drama’s Bharat Rang Mahotsav with Spandana Theatre Group.
Subramanya said, “My parents have always been my biggest support. Yes! My father was initially not happy with my decision of pursuing a career in music and theatre. He had a feeling of insecurity until I started playing percussion for the early episodes of Ede Thumbi Haaduvenu.” He also added, “Mandya Ramesh and Dr. B. Jayashree have supported me a lot in theatre and when it comes to music, Ravi Shankar of AarKey Creators has always been a backbone for me. Words are just not enough for me to thank them.”
Subramanya has accompanied many great artistes like Shankar Mahadevan, Praveen Godkindi, Ashwath, Praveen D. Rao, Pallavi Arun and Dr. B. Jayashree for their live concerts and albums. He has also worked as a rhythm arranger for many music albums among which “Marathenendare Mareyali Hyaanga,” “Thaaye,” “Ranga Ganapa” and “Bannada Badukina Chinnada Haadugalu” are noted ones. He also has worked with great composers like Harris Jayaraj, Ilayaraja, Shankar Ehsaan Loy and Guru Kiran for their film songs. His recent work was for a Hindi song “Havan Karenge” from Bhaag Milka Bhaag composed by Shankar Ehsaan Loy for which he has played Kanjira.
He also is a part of a renowned Mysore-based folk band known as “Haiklu” for which he handles the rhythm section. Lead vocals are by Nagesh, rhythm guitar by Pradeep Kiggal, bass guitar by Bobby Moyabo and many other folk musicians play on board with the band. The band has so far given several performances in Gokarnothsava, Shivaji Janma Dina at Ravindra Kalakshetra, Adichunchanagiri and Vanaranga to name a few.
While speaking about his work in Kannada Film Industry, Subramanya said, “It is sad, but there seems to be no value for creativity here. Almost all music composers except a few use pre-recorded loops. I am a small person to tell this, but as a musician I would love to be treated well in my own land by our own music composers.”
While speaking about his ambitions and aims in music, Subramanya said, “I am really ambitious to receive the prestigious ‘Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar’ given by Sangeet Natak Akademi. I never apply anywhere, but let’s see where the fate takes me,” with a confident smile. He even commented, “I am interested in teaching music; not in a commercial way but in a social way. I teach music for those children who are not able to pay fees and learn. I am now associated with Mythri Charitable Trust, Nireekshe and Raja Maja by Natana to teach music for such children.” He soon added, “Any such children who are unable to pay fees but interested in carrying forward the folk music can contact me. I would really be happy to teach them. I also admit that I keep travelling across the country and may not be available to teach them on a regular basis, but I surely will find time for them.” Musicians can be found in plenty, but with such great persona are very rare to be seen.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / July 08th, 2014