Aravind Haridas is delighted about striking the high note. This third year engineering student from Thiruvananthapuram bagged the top prize in the non-percussion section at the National Inter University Youth Festival held last month in Kolhapur.
Speaking about the recent success and his love for the violin, he says, “It was a great experience. Most of the participants were from North India and played instruments such as shehnai and sarangi. In the final round, we had to perform for 15 minutes. I played ‘Maamava Karunaya’ in Shanmukhapriya.”
Aravind comes from a musical background. He is the nephew of mridangam exponent Kadanad VK Gopi. His father Kadanad VK Haridas is a well-known Carnatic violinist, vocalist and lecturer at Swathi Thirunal College of Music in Thiruvananthapuram. “I took to the violin at the age of five. My father was my first guru. In 2008, I got Government of India’s Centre for Cultural Resources and Training scholarship. Since then I have been learning from V. Sasikumar, violinist and former All India Radio artiste,” he says.
Although Aravind began performing at a tender age and has accompanied many Carnatic artistes, including his father, at concerts, his arangetram as a solo artiste was in 2014.
Apart from classical music, Aravind also performs fusion concerts. “I wanted to try my hand at different genres,” he says. Aravind performs Carnatic, film and fusion pieces with his band ‘5 miles to Freedom’ and has rocked the stage at several college festivals in and around Thiruvananthapuram.
Though he thoroughly enjoys fusion music, classical is where his heart lies. The challenges posed by a Carnatic concert, he says, is much bigger than playing fusion.
“Fusion is a by-product of classical music. It gives you a lot of freedom to innovate. But in a conventional concert, I have to play and improvise within the set framework. That is a real challenge,” he adds. Fusion, for him, is more of a hobby.
His idols are violin greats Lalgudi Jayaraman and M.S. Gopalakrishnan. Practice, he believes, is the key to success He is amazed by the dedication of artistes like MSG. Aravind often joins his father when he takes classes at home.
But Aravind doesn’t want to turn a full-time violinist right after college. He hopes to find a job first and work for a couple of years. “I have much to learn before turning a professional musician, I would like to be familiar with all the facets of violin and strengthen my playing,” says Aravind, who is also a vocalist and plays the keyboard as well.
