|
North-South link through Music
 A young man who is well versed both in carnatic and hindustani music, who plays flute and shehnai with equal ease is making waves at present in the world of music.
Visveshwaran, a flutist who played for G Ramanathan, the popular Music Director of yester years, is this young mans father from whom he has acquired this musical talents.
Venkatraman alias Shyamili Venkat as he is fondly known, is the young man who mesmerises the listeners with his rendition in Flute and
shehnai.
"My first guru was my father... I learnt to play on the Flute only from him... There was seldom a Tamil film in those days, in which his flute couldn't be heard....." says Venkat when he reminisces about his father.
In a family of four daughters and two sons, Venkat is the youngest son who has taken after his father. His sisters are married and
settled, while his elder brother is looking after the lands in their native village.
His interest in music was innate and so he decided to learn to play on the Flute. Arduous training and effort have brought him up to this level.
 Apart from his father, he learnt from Raghu and Ravi who are known as the 'Chennai Brothers'. He has played as an accompanist for many eminent vidhwans on the stage.
Venkat has played on the Flute in the 'Mahaperiyaval' troupe of Vikku Vinayakaram, the popular Ghatam artiste. He joined the six year certificate course in 'Venu Gana Vidyalaya' run by the Chennai Brothers and passed out successfully. Raghu is working as a professor (Flute) in Tamil Nadu Music College.
While talking about his speciality, Venkat says that he played 'base flute' continuously for two hours which is an achievement on
its own. He says that one plays on base flute only at the end of a concert and that too one or two songs at the most.
When he heard Ashok Kumar playing on his shehnai in radio and television, he was enthralled and decided to learn shehnai and became Ashok Kumar's student.
He plays on both the instruments with equal expertise and says that there are plenty of differences between both the instruments. Many albums have been produced and released on his performance with the flute and shehnai in them. Though he was working in private companies in the initial stages, he later chose the musical field as a full time profession.
 He joined Kalaimamani Usha Parameshwaran and her 'Natya Arunanjali' troupe in 1984 and till 1987 he was with them conducting Indo-German cultural programmes. He has also successfully given flute concerts abroad, especially in Singapore and Germany.
In 1987, one heard his flute concerts continuously in Taj Hotel, Chennai. He also participated in many musical programmes in AIR and Television channels.
His most memorable and unforgettable concert was in Bharat Kalachar in Dec. 2000, (Pranavanadham Music Group), where at the beginning of the function, he played on base flute and on his shehnai which drew applause and immense appreciation from the audience.
He feels that while playing on base flute, the audience go in to raptures, which give them- the artistes real satisfaction.
Their appreciation and applause gives them the recognition in their respective fields, he affirms.
He wants to achieve a lot in his field and his future plan and wish is to introduce new dimensions in carnatic music by combining the flute and the
shehnai.
He feels happy when he sees the younger generation paying more attention to carnatic music and says that it is a healthy trend.
According to him this art is growing and will continue to grow in future without any doubt.
When one sees Shyamili playing on his flute and shehnai, one is certain to feel that when it comes to good music, there is no division between the north and the south. True indeed!
KTSRI
Translated by Radha N
|
