in conversation
with SANDEEP
narayan
Tell us how your started your musical
endeavor and how it was to move from
a different country and start afresh
Having been born into a very musical
household, my journey started from
the womb itself. In fact my first guru
was my mother, Smt Shubha Narayan.
But as my training went on, I reached
a point around the age of 11 where my
parents wanted me to learn from a
senior artist in India, which is when
I first moved to Chennai (taking a
temporary break from school), and
learned from Shri KS Krishnamurthy. I
spent almost about three years learning
music from Shri Krishnamurthy, which
really made my interest in Carnatic
music shoot up. After his passing in
1999, I began learning from Shri Sanjay
Subrahmanyan. Because of my move to
Chennai at the age of 11, and subsequent
visits over my high school and college
years, the permanent move in 2006 was
a much easier transition. I had a great
support system in place, in the form of
my guru, musical mentors, my family,
and a huge group of friends in Chennai.
Your all time favourite raaga to
perform at ANY stage?
One ragam I love to sing on any stage is
Durga. It is often considered a lighter
ragam in the Carnatic world, but it is
still well received even by the most
traditional and hardcore audiences.
And on a stage where listeners may
not be as well educated in the deeper
aspects of Carnatic music, ragam
Durga is always one which goes over
well. In recent years I have been
requested on more than one occasion
to sing this ragam, whether it be in
a song or a ragam-tanam-pallavi, or
just part of a ragamalika swaram
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(mix of different ragams), or part
of the ragamalika in a virutham or
slokam. It is a beautiful ragam which
I can get lost into while singing.
What do you think is the most important
aspect of Carnatic music and why?
As far as presentation goes, there are
actually two main aspects to Carnatic
music and both are equally important
for a successful performance. One is the
composed music (kalpitha sangeetham)
and one is the improvised music
(manodharma). I think that the balance
of both are what make Carnatic music
so unique. It is never enough to merely
excel in one. That is why over the years,
I have given importance to both and
constantly strive to improve on both.
I have had concerts where I finish and
get feedback such as “his swarams were
good, but he could have focused more
on the krithi rendition.” Or “the krithi
was beautiful, but the kalpanaswaram
and neraval were too much for me”!
Haha… So it is also difficult to please
everyone, but I hope to bring out both
my creativity and push boundaries
so that the final presentation is fresh.
And at the same time, maintain the
respect for the composition which has
itself evolved naturally over the years,
which has a beauty to it on its own.
Having been exposed to different cultures,
how do you think collaborations with
different artists across various genres
helps and how have you leveraged that?
Well my biggest exposure to other
cultures is in the US. Having been born
and raised in Los Angeles, California,
I grew up listening to a lot of hip-hop,
rap, and rock music. And I still do
even today. Collaborations can be hit
or miss. But I always love to interact
with other musicians and bounce
ideas off of each other. If nothing
else, it makes us grow as artists and
bring different ideas into our own
genres and performances. Even if we
don’t collaborate on a final product.
I am still exploring a lot of
combinations of styles and sounds,
and will slowly release these to the
public as I get more satisfied with
them. Ultimately, any collaboration
should be aesthetic and fresh. I don’t
want to do anything short of that.
Take us through your practice routine
My practice is anything but “routine”!
These days I do practice almost every
day, but it has become whenever and
wherever I can. People always ask if I
have a practice room or something of
that nature. But for the longest time, I
can remember just finding any corner
of the house, in any room, and sitting
down for a practice. Maybe about a 4 sq
ft area would suffice, or larger area to
accommodate my tambura! But that is
all I need, and so practice sessions for
me will happen any time I get the mood
for it. And sometimes they may end in
30 minutes if I am not feeling especially
inspired, or may go on for 3-4 hours if I
lose myself in that session. They have
been early morning, or late at night,
and any time in between. Other times
when I am not practicing, I am listening
to songs of various artists, learning
them and becoming familiar with new
ragams or a new approach to an old
ragam. Then I often try these in my own
practice, and even on stage in concerts.
I won’t say I practice on stage, but I do
find myself learning a lot from concert