NAVYA C
"Sound of
Music"
conversations with Guitar Prasanna
Guitar is one of those musical instruments which have a global
appeal and scores much high in terms of expressivity and emotions.
Some of those emotions which cannot be expressed through a vocal
performance were greatly expressed by guitar legends since the times
immemorial. However, when it comes to Carnatic music, guitar was an
instrument that was highly unlikely and unheard of. The main reason
for it is because- Carnatic music tends to be more of gamaka based
which involves the instrument to be suitable for playing sliding notes.
While Veena , one of the prime Carnatic music instruments is adoringly
used for this purpose, the placement of frets and the spacing made it
convenient to use. However, with guitar, there is one musical master
who brought it the cult Carnatic status- along with fluidly playing any
other genre under the sun- and enthralling the audience since decades.
His understanding of music is universal and doesn’t confine to just
one genre. He keeps reinventing himself, brainstorming his ideas and
keeping up the game with his unique thought and perception of the art
form. This naturally led him to be the most admired Carnatic music
guitar player in India along with a fantastic global musician who knows
how to effortlessly fuse genres from one style to another. Despite
being from a technological background, his roots remained in music
and he continues to make waves with his unique performances that
give electric guitar a cult status for sure. He also made the non-guitar
lovers appreciate the beauty of the instrument through his mellifluously
funky renditions. He is none other than Guitar Prasanna, a gifted
musician with individualistic thought when it comes to making music
and entertaining the audience with the same. He is one perfect example
of the fact that- an artist needs to innovate himself continuously and
stay at the moment! The Score has had a great privilege to speak to
the fantastic musician on the eve of his performance hosted by Banyan
Tree events in Hyderabad this month.
10
The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com