KV KRISHNA PRASAD
THE JOURNEY WITH MUSIC
MUSIC
NAADOPASANA
Krishna Prasad’s remarkable strengthened voice; resonant with deep devotion and tristhayi sanchara makes him unparalleled in his rendition while appealing to a wide range of audience. His pleasing persona coupled with his supreme voice control, admirable command over the nuances of rendering; be it manodharma, raga alapane or simply the aesthetics of shastriya sangeetha, intonations, voice modulations and many such characters stands him apart. Mainly by his guru’s tutelage, his rendition of Tanas of different types such as Shankha, Ghanta, Mayura, Chakra, Nabhi, Bringa, Markata etc amuses the audience with his vocal capacities. His regnant confident stage presence combined with unstated humility has brought in many accolades and preference.
Krishna Prasad’s innovativeness is also seen in the combination of swaras he sings that brings in zeal of joy with his accompanists and the listeners. He also has the ability to smartly judge his audience and cater to their interests. He makes sure that the audience is always captivated and has their complete attention with brief informative narrations that he delivers before every piece he presents. By the end of a concert, Krishna Prasad would have taken the listener into a world of color, beauty and transcendental bliss. Astounding voice control, unrivalled manodharma and impeccable aesthetic sense of the art, these are some of the qualities that describe Krishna Prasad’s music.
GAANA JNANA SUDHA
Gaana Jnana Sudha is the concoction of gaana bhakti and jnana bhakti. While a rasika awaits to listen to the melodious renderings of Karnatik music, he would also be enlightened with the understanding of the composition and its significance. Sri K.N. Venkatanarayana presents the discourses elaborating the essence and the nuances in the composition, the technical aspects of style and format of the krithi that would be presented and mainly the values of Karnatik music. Subsequently, Krishna Prasad justifies the glory of these compositons with his mellifluous renderings. This concept of gaana and jnana has helped reach the common man by yielding the traditional form to the public. They together have the credit of bringing into light various rare compositions and its composers.
LECTURE DEMONSTRATIONS
Krishna Prasad is prolific in presenting the facets of Karnatik music though his effective lecture demonstrations. The exemplified narration, correlation to the facts and figures, without disturbing the history or scientific particulars of a subject renders him as one of the learned artists for his age. He has won many accolades for his presentations on Ugabhogas, Thillanaas, Dasa Sahitya, Gamaka Sangeeta, psychology of Ragas, Vaggeyakaras and their lives etc.
Krishna Prasad is also widely recognized for his uncanny series of presentation on life of Sri Swami Vivekananda - The supreme authority of Indian Nationalism called ‘VIVEKA NAMANA’. His passion for the subject gleams in his lectures with, life history of Vivekananda and harmonized music. The lectures primarily targets a young audience immersing them in the glory of Swami Vivekananda and giving them a fresh perspective to their dedication to life. Shimoga, Kundapur, Mangalore, Bangalore are few places where the Viveka Namana team has reached people over the patriotic spectrum.
STUDENT TRAINING
Krishna Prasad heads a music institution –‘Sri Vidya Kala Kendra’ and is actively involved in teaching Karnatik music to a wide range of students across the city. He teaches traditional music in a revolutionary way, with great focus on technique and foundation, and has a unique methodology of teaching.
As much as Krishna Prasad stresses on the growth of the performing ability of a student, he also ensures that it is not only about the performance, but also about the love and understanding of the entire tradition and the overall personality development of a student. The Goshti Gayana is another trademark feature of the Guru R.K Padmanabha bhani that Krishna Prasad continues as a legacy and encourages the middle aged and the elderly to render the sampradaya krithis. The idea here is to sensitize more and more people to Karnatik music and its gigantic treasury. He has been conducting ‘Gaana Chakra’ which is an opportunity for students to present their understanding of music and 'Nadanweshane' which is yet another platform that he has provided for his students to learn the art of performing and presenting that includes lectures and presentations on Karnatik music.
A unique opportunity for students everywhere today to learn Karnatik music is through the gurukula system of teaching where the guru and the students reside together and the tutelage spreads throughout the day. Krishna Prasad avails this traditional system of teaching via workshops that he conducts often and keeps it open for students and alike. These workshops are highly structured with a clear curriculum and are usually conducted outside the city spanning 3 days to a week. Each workshop emphasizes on varied aspects of Karnatik music including voice culture techniques, breath control techniques, voice production techniques, raga development techniques, presentation techniques etc. The knowledge imparted is wrapped in fun activities like quizzes, games, debates and intellectual discussions.
MUSICAL TRIPS
Krishna Prasad organizes various musical trips for his students to places like Tiruvarur, Tiruvayyar, Ettayapuram, Srirangam, Kumbhakonam, Bhadrachalam, Sonda, Varanasi. Manasa Sarovar, Vishakapatnam, Pancha-Rama kshetras, etc and on the trip, he and his students have performed compositions of the composers; Tyagaraja, Dikshitar and Shyama Shastri etc, at temples in each of these towns. It is proved to be much more than an educational trip for his students. He has several such projects like this on the anvil, to expose students to the rich traditions of the art beyond the class room.