"Music Is an Art and It Should Flow From Your Heart"

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1. Tell us more about your background and journey.

I have been listening to music from childhood, for my mom is a Classical music teacher. It was hard to understand in the beginning but just like mathematics, the solutions are within, I found it very interesting.

It’s a journey of understanding, decoding and embracing music along with learning new each time you touch it. In fact, the learning process never ends, so continues the journey.

2. When did you first decide you wanted to pursue music and how did you start?

I started learning music seriously from the age of 7 from my mother, later learned under the supervision of great maestros. I was fascinated by western music during teenage and was captivated by Opera, the western classics. I searched for a better teacher to acquire the vocal technique and ended up with YouTube tutorials and self-taught and was recently continuing the vocal training from professionals.

I was able to introduce Opera at the age of 16 to a wide audience in Kerala in addition to other genres and branches of music which I find myself comfortable with. Music was a companion to me, more like an intimate feeling, and that’s the point I decided to pursue music.

I don’t always like to be on the stage instead I really find myself behind the screen as an originator, minstrel, composer, preceptor and a tutor.

3. Who is your favourite artist and why?

Naming one favourite artist is a puzzlement. I adore a lot of great musicians. Rather than a person a team or a band made the wow factor. I am an admirer of A R Rahman sir and Vidyasagar sir for their sensational musical wonders. Luciano Pavarotti is my personal favourite opera singer and many more great singers and composers which I can’t easily name without a description.

Most of the musicians sing or compose from their heart with all catharsis. Which are and will be added to my playlists.

4. Can you throw some light on opportunities one gets as a singer?

As I mentioned before it’s all about catharsis. A singer will be taken directly to the heart of the Rasika if there is an emotional flow in his singing. Talent is always appreciated and on each stage, a singer will be living his dreams.

5. Is format training required or can one train themselves purely on the basis of talent?

A talented singer is like a raw diamond and a trained singer is like a clear cut diamond. Well, you know the difference. It is the same diamond but better when is trained properly. So as my opinion talented singer can shine with limits whereas when you move through the experience and proper training you will be glowing limitless.

6. What piece of advice would you like to give to future and aspiring artists?

There are no shortcuts. You should be competing with yourself to make you better every day. Music is an art; it should flow from your heart. Learn to appreciate, understand your mistakes, appreciate who points them out and start developing. The process of learning never ends; which means learn every day to be the best in the genre you choose. At the end of the day, sleep peacefully appreciating yourself and arranging yourself to learn more tomorrow.

7. Which is your favourite book and why?

I’m not much of a reader but I do find time to read books when people suggest books. ‘The Essential Rumi’ is one of my favourite books for the Sufi mystic poetry and exquisite literature. I’m love reading Dan Brown, Henry Thoreau as well as the Old English literature texts along with Malayalam short stories. Reading gives imagination a room and it helps me lot in connecting emotions in lyrics while composing too.

Interview by - Benil Joseph