r a v i k i r a n m u s i c . c o m

Father Narasimhan with Ravikiran

"With mikes all around him and his hands full of biscuits, all the time playing, the child gave out correct answers", stated The Music Academy's journal in 1969, of two-year-old prodigy Ravikiran's demonstration. Born on February 12, 1967, Ravikiran stunned the music world with his ability to identify and render about 325 ragas (melodic scales) and 175 talas (rhythmic cycles). He was also able to answer complex technical questions on various aspects of Carnatic music when quizzed by luminaries such as Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Pandit Ravi Shankar, M S Subbulakshmi, Flute Mali, Palghat Mani Iyer, T N Krishnan, Ramnad Krishnan and Alla Rakha.

His proclivity for music had been identified and nurtured by his father Chitravina Narasimhan even when Ravikiran was a toddler, and within a few months, Ravikiran made his first appearance in April 1969 at the Malleshwaram Sangeeta Sabha, Bangalore.

Soon, other leading music organisations in India, including The Music Academy and Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai, and Shanmukhananda Fine Arts, Mumbai, invited Narasimhan to present Ravikiran's unique talents.

Major newspapers - The Montreal Express, The Hindu, The Times of India, Indian Express etc - and magazines showered superlatives and hailed Ravikiran as an "unprecedented phenomenon". The Chennai-based weekly, Ananda Vikatan, proclaimed that he was "the crown prince of music". The Astrological Magazine of India, went so far as to prove that Ravikiran was the re-incarnation of his legendary grandfather, Gotuvadyam Narayana Iyengar.

The Music Academy, Madras, awarded the two-year-old, a monthly scholarship for the next few years.

Amidst all the public speculation about the child's precocity, Narasimhan declared that Ravikiran's talents had as much to do with nurture as with nature. Narasimhan's theory was borne out by the fact that Ravikiran soon gained eminence in the field of Carnatic music.