"Namesakes" Make Music Joyful...
By T.M.Anantharaman
BANGALORE, March 3: "Mind and Body, Heart & Soul,"
is the jingle melody that exhorts through a TV visual thousands
of cricket lovers to become chest-thumping, swarming, swirling
admirers of the men in blue viz the ubiquitous Indian cricket
team. The well- rounded, french-bearded, cheer-leader who eggs
on the crowd is none other than a Tamilian who is also well-versed
in carnatic music.
Besides, this Tamilian music director who leads a three-member
team and is now ranked one of the top-most Hindi film music
directors in India today. He is of course the well-known Shankar
Mahadevan who is part of the trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. They have
scored super hits in Hindi films with the music of Dil Chahta
Hai, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna and Taare Zameen Par just to name
some.
Few, however, know that Shankar Mahadevan is an engineering
graduate who initially trained for carnatic classical music
and was a student of the Mumbai-based, well-known musician and
teacher Smt.Balamani who also happens to be the first guru of
one of carnatic music's brightest jewels, Bombay Jayashri. Shankar
Mahadevan in his early years before he got involved with playback
singing and composing film music used to give carnatic music
concerts in Mumbai and had earned quite a name as a promising
singer. But destiny dragged him to Bollywood and soon he made
a name for himself as both a very unique playback singer and
a popular music director. His album "Breathless" was
a smashing hit.
But there is another youngster who is also well-trained in carnatic
music who is fast emerging as a bright star in the carnatic
music circuit. He is another Shankar Mahadevan...well almost
one can say because his father, the legendary Padmabhushan and
Sangeetha Kalanidhi T.V. Sankaranarayanan, introduced at last
week's Bangalore concert the youngster as his son Sankaran Mahadevan.
The only difference is in the name... Sankaran instead of Shankar.
Both are trained in carnatic music, one has branched off and
attained pinnacle of popularity in film music, while the other
has just begun his musical journey. Those who have listened
to TVS's son Sankaran Mahadevan see in the youngster the potential
to shine as a bright star that will adorn the carnatic music
firmament in future.
"The art of music is so deep and profound that it has to
be approached with a lot of intensity, laced with great, affectionate
joy," says a quote carried by Shankar Mahadevan the film
music director in his website. The other Sankaran Mahadevan
carries in his music a lot of intensity and enhances his singing
with much affection and joy, qualities that he is easily able
to transmute to the rasikas of carnatic music. Here's to wishing
a lot of success to both the musicians. May they bring more
intensity and affection and joy to their music to make it truly
deep and profound and providing true happiness to the listeners
in the years to come.
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