His violin ways
J.R. SHRIDHARAN
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Vasu wants to promote classical music amongst the youngsters.
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SACRED MANTRA For Vasu music is a passion.
Anything that is melodious to the ear is music. This penchant one-liner sounds more like popular music director A.R. Rehman's message for an FM radio advertisement. But for 27-year-old D.V.Vasudevan from Vijayawada, fondly known as Violin Vasu, among the music circles in Andhra Pradesh, it is a sacred mantra. A mantra, which he chants religiously with unbridled enthusiasm. His passion towards music is so intense that he decided to contribute rest of his life promoting good music among the denizens. This trained musician in Carnatic vocal and violin (he holds a diploma in both segments), Vasu is on a mission to promote quality classical music among youngsters and with a missionary zeal, he, along with a few like-minded musicians, is seriously involved in many music projects in Hyderabad.
Incidentally, Vasu works as a music instructor on the campus school of University of Hyderabad. "We have launched Sanskriti, a registered organisation, to promote Indian culture and heritage in a distinguished manner. As part our programme, we designed a unique programme - Gurukulam in Hyderabad and Secunderabad," says Vasu.
What is Gurukulam and what are its objectives? "The main objective is to make our children to realise the inherent strength of the age-old culture through classical forms of music and dance," says the effervescent Vasu.
Members of Sanskriti are planning to expand their activities in different dimensions and to start with they are promoting classical music. "We have already set up Gurukulam outfits in more than half-a-dozen centres in twin cities. We are planning more such centres in twin cities.For the benefit of passionate youngsters, we have set Gurukulams in various residential areas in the twin cities thus taking music to the doorsteps. We strictly follow the syllabus, dress code, teaching methodology, which are useful to the overall development of children's music career," says Vasu.
Recently another feather decorated Sanskriti's cap, when it received the operators' license for International Award for Young People, conceived by Buckingham Palace in London under the chairmanship of Prince Philip.
Youngest group
Keen to cater to the universal audience, Vasu and Co formed a fusion music grip - DevanDrone and has performed at various cities in India. "Ours is the youngest fusion group in India and the first fusion group in AP," says Vasu with a tinge of pride. "DevanDrone" have strong classical based command over music as well as modern techniques. "We are linking the ancient to the modern trend and techniques of music with innovative compositions," he averred. All the compositions of "DevanDrone" have a universal music feel, with the roots of Indian classical background in them, which conveys to the world, how great our Indian music is. The name " DevanDrone" derives its name from the violinist Vasudevan who is the leader of this group and the flutist Dronendra Phanikumar, partner in the group - the men who made their vision a reality.
These die-hard musicians also have a roadmap to popularise the "Sabarmathi Sangeeth", which they feel was forgotten in the melee of modernisation. "Sabarmathi Sangeeth is so touching it spreads tranquility in soul. Great saints like, Meerabai, Tulasidas, Kabir, and Gurunanak wrote these songs. We the members of Sanskriti took an oath to fill the gap by building a bridge between traditional and posh cultures. We designed this programme by taking very popular bhajans of Mahatma Gandhi and giving free training to those interested. This unique music form will resound at the twin cities from October 2," Vasu said.
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