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He’s just 25 and has opted to be a full-time musician. Saxophonist Prasant Radhakrishnan explains why. MADHUMITHA SRINIVASAN

Looking every bit the typical urban youngster, US-based saxophonist Prasant Radhakrishnan effortlessly states names of famous Carnatic musicians, ragas, explains technical terms like ‘gamakams’ and comments on the sabha trend here. “There will be many who can replace me in the corporate world, but not when it comes to music” says Prasant explaining his decision to take up music full-time.

Beginnings

Disciple of renowned saxophone artist Kadri Gopalnath, 25-year-old Prasant took to playing the sax in grade III as part of the school band. “I was introduced to my guru, then performing in the US, as a sax player. I played one of my silly band songs; he apparently thought it was good and said I should come to India to learn formally” he recounts. From 1996, Prasant spent every summer in India, gurukulam style, to learn from his guru. “I learnt about all aspects of life, not only about music.” Slowly he rose to performing with his guru on stage and also on his own.

Speaking of his style, “My guru’s style is obviously in my blood. That is not going to change. But my personality is also reflected in my music. It’s generally more relaxed and I try to perform more vocal-oriented pieces on the saxophone. I don’t try to play to the gallery. I play for myself.”Prasant’s recent concert in the city, where he was accompanied by V. Suresh on the ghatam and Trichur Narendran on the mridangam, was organised by Gatsby. He has so far released three classical albums; Swara Sudha (2000), Duality (2004) and East Facing (2007).

Other interests

It’s not just Carnatic music that he is interested in. “I was attracted to Jazz because it is similar to Carnatic in many ways” reveals Prasant. He formed VidyA in late 2005; the other members being David Ewell on the acoustic baseand Sameer Gupta on the drums. Their music “is based on a raga but has a Jazz feel to it.” What does he hope to achieve? “I want to create more awareness about Carnatic music among western audience. And since I am from the U.S., people there find it a lot easier to communicate with me.” To help him achieve that, Prasant gives lecture-demonstrations and presentations with his team, which makes his job of explaining what exactly is going on in a concert easier. Asked about the possibility of composing for films, Prasant, who has composed music for dance and stage performances, says, “I am open-minded in terms of what I like. If an opportunity comes my way I would take it up.”

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