The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Musical journey of a vocalist

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 21, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Musical journey of a vocalist

If the Government and the corporate world support the art of music, it will flourish, vocalist Keerti Kumar tells Rasheed Kappan

FROM BEING described as "promising" with a "bright future," he has learnt to actually conquer the heights and show the way to youngsters. Winning accolades from audiences and critics alike, Hindustani vocalist Keerti Kumar Badseshi has today emerged as a name to reckon with in classical music circles.

An electronics graduate, Keerti is the disciple of well-known Hindustani vocalist, Vinayak Torvi, who was himself trained by the greats, Gayanacharya Gururao Deshpande and Bhimsen Joshi. Pandit Torvi, on a concert tour to Gulbarga in 1992, had heard Keerti's audio recordings. That was enough for him to take Keerti under his tutelage. Keerti had had his initial training from Ramachari Jalihal and Geeta Gayatri Chakravarthy of Gulbarga. He began his stint as a performer early in life, at an age considered "tender."

He was only nine when had the big honour of singing in front of renowned vocalist Ustad Gulam Mustafa Khan. At the end of the performance, the ustad is said to have thrust his hand into his pocket, pulled out all the money there and presented it to Keerti with the words "is paise se doodh piyo aur gaate raho." He was declared the best at the inter-university competition organised by Gulbarga University in 1992.

Two years later, he won the State-level Yuva Prathibha competition organised by the Karnataka Sangeeta Nritya Academy. He was first again at the 10th Yuva Sangeet Nritya Mahotsav held at the South Central Zone Cultural Centre in Nagpur, in 1996. Keerti was given the honour of representing Gulbarga district at the prestigious Mysore Dasara. He was also part of the Mysore Dasara Palace Concert in 2001. A graded artiste of All India Radio and Doordarshan, Keerti performs for various radio and television programmes.

As a teacher, Keerti has realised the growing interest in Hindustani music."The interest is coming back. I currently have 25 students, some of them software engineers and Ph.D holders. I believe, if the Government and the corporate world take more interest and supports the art, this tradition will flourish," he feels.

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