Bengaluru is a city that is home to a number of musicians. The city is rich in its culture and heritage so, it doesn’t come as a surprise that it houses some of the country’s best musicians. Ranging from classical instrumentalists to bassists and drummers, the range is wide. We bring you stories of 13 city-based musicians who we cannot get enough of, right now.
Deepika Sreenivasan, mridangam artiste
“I play the mridangam, which is like a two-headed barrel drum. It is mostly used in carnatic music. I started learning mridangam when I was around four-years-old. My sister is a vocalist, so, my parents thought that it would be a nice idea for me to learn an instrument that I could accompany my sister with. When my parents asked me which instrument I wanted to learn, I said the mridangam, They were really happy and had no issues with it. It was only later that I got to know that not many women play the mridangam.”
Shalini Mohan, bassist
“I play the electric bass, which can be looked at as the lowest-pitched instrument in the family of guitars. It’s a beautiful instrument that connects first and foremost with the rhythm section of an ensemble, either the drums or percussion. But it can also be played melodically and harmonically alongside instruments like the violin, guitars, piano etc. In my opinion, it’s the most versatile instrument that holds the entire sound of an ensemble together. While it can groove and provide a solid foundation to other instruments, it can also step up and be used to play a wild solo piece. Every characteristic of the bass guitar is also what I identify with as a person.”
Vishnu Ramprasad, navtar artiste
“The instrument that I play is a unique nine-string instrument that I designed, invented and patented called the navtar. The reason this instrument is special and unique is that it’s the first instrument in the world that combines a fretless section like a sarod or an oud or a violin or a cello with a fretted section like a guitar, sitar or a mandolin. Along with these two sections, there is also a third harp. These are 12 harp strings that can be tuned to various scales and ragas. You can think of it as three instruments in one. I come from a family of Indian classical musicians, so I studied carnatic music. But I’ve also grown up playing western classical jazz, rock and multiple styles of music. I wanted to find my unique voice. Just playing the guitar was not giving me that special sound that I was looking for.”
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Apoorva Krishna, violinist
“From a young age, I would fiddle around the keyboard and sing. I would listen to my grandmother sing, she is a carnatic vocalist. My mom is also a singer. My dad is a percussionist. So, I grew up in such an environment. We attended a concert of my current teacher Anuradha Sridhar, where she was playing the violin, I happened to point at the instrument and my mom found that I was fascinated with the sound of the instrument. Then I started learning the violin, where my teacher would pick me up from school and I would practice for four to five hours in her house. With time, it became a part of me.”
Arun Sivag, percussionist
“I am a percussionist specialising in Indian folk and Afro-Cuban music. The beats of Indian folk music and the vibrant rhythms of Afro-Cuban traditions resonate deeply with my soul. The percussive elements in these genres are not just instruments; they are storytellers conveying tales of heritage and emotion. I draw my inspiration from nature and the sounds around me in everyday life.”
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Ramana Balachandran, veena artiste
“I started out with mridangam when I was four. My mom used to play the veena at home, and when I was nine, I found out a mistake in her playing while she was practicing something. She asked me to play it and I was able to play it to some extent. She took me to her guru, Nagalakshmi, under whom I trained for three years. And after that, my father has been my music guru. And with respect to veena techniques, I’ve been largely self-taught. My love for the veena happened organically.”
Anshuman Upadhyay, drummer
“I’m a drummer. I’ve been playing the drums since high school and professionally I have been playing around 5-6 years now. I started playing drums primarily because I had a sense of rhythm right from a very young age. I would be taking spoons and forks and knives and banging them all around the sofa and the house. During my boarding school days, we used to have hobby classes every Tuesday and Thursday and I was made to take western piano but then our teachers kept leaving and they started using that western piano room to teach the drums. I was in the sixth grade and the drum instructor asked me, “hey, why are you just sitting around? Why don’t you just come and try picking up a beat?” And the moment I played that first beat, I was like, wow. This is something. I had an instant connection with it. Once I picked it up, I just never looked back.”
Hemanth Diwakaran & Heramb Diwakaran, flautists
“We play the flute. The carnatic flute to be more specific. We had two choices when choosing an instrument to learn. We had the mridangam and flute because our father used to play both of them. We were very young and as kids, you can’t appreciate the nuances of an instrument until you get to some age. Our father used to play both instruments but when he was going to concerts we used to carry the mridangam. At home he used to play the flute, so, we were inclined towards it. Also, the flute always has this instant appeal.”
Sunaad Anoor, kanjira artiste
“I was born into a family of musicians. I’m the fifth generation musician in my family. I have been studying mridangam under my father and currently under my uncle. His son is a child prodigy who plays the mridangam and many other percussion instruments. In 2007 or 2008, he was already playing in concerts. He asked me to accompany him to one of the concerts. While practicing, one of the artistes asked me to play the kanjira. I thought it was a small instrument, so, it would be easy to play. But it turned out to be very difficult because it had to be played with one hand. My cousin taught me some basic techniques to play it and following the performance, many people started reaching out to me. That’s how it all began.”
Tony Das, guitarist
“I play the guitar. An instrument of contradictions! It is at once irreverent and polite, gigantic and miniscule, fiery and emotionless — but beautiful in every avatar. Growing up, I listened to such a wide range of music, but as beautiful as the sound of the piano or violin was, or how powerful and commanding the drums could be, it was perhaps the guitar’s ability to be a little bit of all of these things that drew me to it. Rhythm, melody, harmony, attitude! Every musical expression is literally at your fingertips.”
Vinod Shyam Anoor, mridangam artiste
“The instrument I play is the mridangam. My father also plays the mridangam and he is very versatile with it. He sings, composes music and plays many other percussion instruments. As a kid, I had access to all the instruments my father owned. I had a dilemma as to which instrument I should play. One day, it would be tabla. Another day it would be kanjira and then ghatam. Then I started playing the kanjira but my cousin picked it up as his main instrument, so, I shifted to the mridangam. I’ve never looked back.”
Akshay Anand, mridangam artiste
“I play the mridangam and I have been playing it for the past 10 years. Music has always run in our family, starting with my grandfather. He used to play at concerts and whenever the thani avarthanam used to start in any of these concerts, my family would observe me banging on the table or keenly looking at how the instrument was being played. I even dressed up as a mridangam artiste for a fancy dress competition once. I guess, I was always destined to play the instrument.”
Karthik Mani, percussionist
“There is no one particular instrument I like. I play South Indian percussion and I play percussion instruments from around the world. I also play the drum kit. I love all my instruments. They’re all like my babies. I started learning the ghatam when I was young because I come from a musical family. Then, I stopped because there was too much music in my house that I didn’t want anymore music. One of my friends then introduced me to the drums, he had the drum kit at his home. The first time I played it, I was instantly attracted to it. I began going to his place regularly to play the drums. When I decided to take up music as a profession, I started out as a drummer and one-by-one, started playing the ghatam, the mridangam and the cajon.”
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