G Ravi Kiran – Podcast
From his role as an engineer to his somewhat unconventional musical trajectory to his passion for the trinity, particularly Muthuswami Dikshitar, Carnatic vocalist Sri. G Ravi Kiran articulately gives us a glimpse into his thoughts. He leaves us with a rendition of ragam Varali – a shloka of Adi Shankara followed by Muthuswami Dikshitar’s kriti Mamava Meenakshi.
This podcast is part of the Quarantunes series, featuring Indian Classical Musicians, recorded during the worldwide shutdown resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Released one by one, the full series is at https://lakshmianand.com
Sri. Ravi Kiran was initiated into Carnatic Music by Smt. Gayatri Keshavan and Smt. Vasanta Ramanujam. He trained for over a decade under Padma Bhushan Sangita Kalanidhi Dr. RK Srikantan. Since 2002, he has been learning from Sri. TM Krishna.
Sri. Ravi Kiran has won the Outstanding Vocalist Award (Sub-Senior), and Best Concert Award (Sub-senior) from The Madras Music Academy, the 1st Prize at the All India Radio National Competition and other awards.
Passionate about the compositions of Muthuswami Dikshitar, he founded Guruguhaamrta, a trust dedicated to increasing awareness of the rich legacy of Dikshitar. Through Guruguhaamrta, Sri. Ravi Kiran conducts several programs dedicated to the composer – such as a regular akhandam (day long musical offering) at Ettaiyapuram where Dikshitar’s samadhi is located, National Level competitions on Dikshitar kriti-s, the ‘Dikshitar Choir’ and other such projects. Sri. Ravi Kiran is also in the process of singing and archiving all Dikshitar kriti-s in the raganga raga-s of the Venkatamakhin Tradition. Volume 1 of this CD has been released and Volume 2 is under production.
According to me, this was by far one of the most insightful podcasts in the quarantunes series! His honest take on how he is grappling with an upset routine owing to the lockdown, his love and passion for Carnatic music and his candid account of his late foray into the professional Carnatic music circuit and his sincere endeavors in the form of Guruguhamrta was so refreshing and of course inspiring!! It debunks many a myths in the race to make it big early and also reassures that you are never too old to plunge into your passion while keeping your day job! Thank you Sri G Ravi Kiran for sharing thoughts and Lakshmi Anand for bringing his thoughts to us!!!