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Born into a family of artists – dramatists and musicians alike – I demonstrated a keen interest in performing arts (especially music), from the tender age of three. My formal training also began around this time; and owing to my family’s long tryst with music, I was lucky enough to learn in an immersive environment – one that resembled the gurukula style of learning.

 

Thus began an arduous yet enriching musical journey. Over the course of the next twenty-odd (and counting) years, I had the opportunity to train under a spectrum of gurus from different schools of the Carnatic idiom, perform at over 500 venues and receive a number of notable accolades across the country.

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My formal training began under M.S.N. Murthy, an A-Top grade violinist based out of Vizag. At a very young age, I was deeply moved by his musicality and owe it to him for instilling in me immeasurable love for music.

 

I then moved on to learning from Sangeeta Kala Acharya Smt. Neela Ramgopal in Bangalore, and D. Raghavachari (of the Hyderabad brothers fame). Currently, I am under the tutelage of Sri Malladi Suribabu.

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What started as a fun game of moorchana sing-along with my mother snowballed into a lifestyle as I went from grasping basic Carnatic concepts to receiving the prestigious Senior scholarship from the Department of Culture (GoI); to being awarded the Balashri award from H.E. President of India by the age of fifteen.

 

I have also had a strong affinity towards academics – an inclination towards writing and social responsibility put me on the path of pursuing journalism - in which I hold both undergraduate and master’s degrees (while simultaneously pursuing a master’s in Indian Classical music).

Having explored Indian Classical Music, I then moved on to unify these dispositions by studying ethnomusicology at the University of Manchester, an exercise in paralleling my knowledge of Carnatic music with an empirical understanding of musical evolution across cultures.